Storage for Online Businesses
As an online business owner, you know how important it is to have reliable storage for your products where you know they will be both safe and easily accessible. More and more purchases are done online now, so it’s even more important to ensure you have enough storage for all your products.
A physical store can be very expensive, but when running an online business you need a place for all your business and commercial storage. Even for smaller businesses, this can’t be done from your home alone, so that’s where self-storage units come in.
What type of online businesses use self storage?
- eBay sellers
- Amazon retailers
- Facebook Marketplace
- Etsy crafters
- Gumtree sellers
- Depop sellers
- Vinted sellers
- Anyone who sells online!
Why should you use self storage for your online business?
- A safe, secure place to store stock, equipment or tools
- Cost-effective – no business rates, contract fees or leases
- A range of different sized units to choose from
- Flexibility to upsize or downsize according to your business needs
- 24-hr access to your unit for your convenience
- Use it as an office space with no long-term ties
There are many benefits of using a storage unit rather than a warehouse. The added flexibility that a storage unit adds makes them more appealing to many, allowing more and more businesses of all sizes to operate purely online.
Not only do they offer the flexibility in terms of access (allowing you to use them whenever suits you rather than being restricted to set times) but also in use of the space. When using self storage you can choose how you want to use the space – whether that’s to store your products, store documents or use it as an office.
eBay sellers
eBay is a marketplace both for second-hand items that can be won via bidding in an online auction and for online businesses.
Having a storage unit can not only be useful for storing not only the products you are selling but also the packaging materials which can take up a lot of space. You can even use this space as place to sort all the admin for your online business too, so using one of Ready Steady Store’s units means you can combine the space of an office with storage for maximum efficiency.
Amazon retailers
A very popular place for online businesses to sell their products is through Amazon Marketplace. Amazon works as a platform that allows online businesses the opportunity to access a large network of potential customers without the need for a physical store.
Amazon is well known for selling almost everything you can think of so the products available can vary massively. This means the size of the products may vary, which is why having a unit can be really useful as there are different sizes available to suit each online business and the type of products they sell. These different sizes mean you can add or reduce your unit size depending on your stock.
With Amazon Prime working as a major factor in Amazon’s popularity, the shipping of products from these online businesses is often required on a very short timescale. This is why having the flexibility of one of Ready Steady Store’s units would be beneficial as there are no time restrictions thanks to the 24 hour access.
Using a Ready Steady Store unit is great no matter what product you are selling through Amazon because even if the items are bulky or heavy, they are all accessible to allow easy movement of even the most difficult items. You can also have peace of mind when storing your products due to the 24 hour CCTV.
Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace originally began as a peer-to-peer based marketplace but has now since expanded to merchants too. This means it’s a popular place for online businesses of varying sizes because there is also the opportunity to sell to more targeted audiences.
Facebook Marketplace offers the option to filter by category, price and location. This makes it easy for the user to find what they are looking for when the marketplace is so broad with categories that include:
- Clothing
- Electronics
- Furniture
- Toys
- Vehicles
- Housing
- Jewellery
- Gardening equipment
- Sports equipment
Selling on Facebook Marketplace means you can extend your reach and personalise the customer experience based on what users are already looking at. This means there might be certain products you need to store larger stocks of because they are more popular which is where one of Ready Steady Store’s units is perfect.
Sheer Glamour is the perfect example of how an entire business can be run from a self-storage unit. This online business used one of Ready Steady Store’s units in Peterborough and began with just one unit but expanded to three to accommodate the growing business.
You can access them anytime which helps adhere to the Facebook Marketplace rules that orders must be shipped within three days and received within seven days.
Etsy crafters
Etsy specialises in selling unique, handmade crafts – this can vary from artwork to jewellery and even furniture. Often sellers using Etsy are very small businesses so are not in the position to open a physical store.
However, particularly as any business grows, finding a place to store products can become difficult – particularly if the business is run from home.
This is where Etsy crafters would benefit from using a Ready Steady Store unit. There are many different sizes available so they are suitable for new, smaller businesses and well-established businesses with the easy option to move up in size as the business grows.
This is where a storage unit is more useful as there are no long term contracts tying the business to one place so there is room to grow.
Get in touch
Whether you are familiar with using self-storage or completely new, we aim to make the whole process from getting a price, to moving in, as simple and convenient as possible. The reasons why you should choose us are simple:
- Competitive prices
- 24-hour access to units
- Exclusive van hire deal with Enterprise
- Extensive security – including 24-hour CCTV monitoring
- On-site parking
- Trolleys and lift access
- Excellent 5 star rated customer service
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us and we can help you with all your storage needs.
See how it works
We also offer:
- Drive-up units and direct access units - access directly from your vehicle without entering the building
- Vehicle parking for secure long-term or overnight parking
- A wide range of packing materials and cardboard boxes in our Box Shop