The self-storage market has seen its own share of challenges, change, and growth – yet many are still continually seeking self-storages for personal or business use.
Based on Mordor Intelligence’s report on the self-storage market in Singapore, it has discovered key findings pertaining to the market’s trends, growth, COVID-19 impact, and forecasts from 2021 to 2026..
Read on below for a rough summary of how the self-storage market is changing gradually during and post-COVID.
Overall market overview and key market trends
Since Singapore’s economy is progressively growing, more and more locals (and expats) are finding themselves needing more space for their personal belongings since there has been a mutual rise in Singapore’s affluence as well. More income means more spending tendencies not just towards essential goods like food and clothing, but also on personal wants – valuable art pieces, collections, limited edition toys, outdoor equipment, and so much more.
Apart from the rise of the economy and affluence in Singapore, there has also been an increase in the urbanisation on the island, with more people moving out of rural areas for a variety of reasons – employment, starting a business, and more. With all of these considered, the recent trend of smaller-sized condominiums, apartments, and residential units is a disadvantage because people are finding that their living space is not enough to house themselves and all of their belongings.
It’s not just residents taking up much of the space in urbanised areas, since the increasing modernisation sets the perfect environment for businesses to thrive. The number of business startups in the country is increasing, and they will need cost-effective options for them to store the products and goods that they are serving. Finding a building where they can settle and hold their assets is a challenging endeavour, but it needs to be done.
As a solution to these problems, Singaporeans, foreign locals, and business owners have resorted to renting out a self-storage space in Singapore so that their items are safely housed. With the Singaporean economy’s annual increase, the population and demand for storage units in urbanised areas increase as well. As a matter of fact, the self-storage market in the Lion City is expected to go up to 6.3% CAGR from 2021 to 2026, with business self-storage type holding a significant share in the 5-year forecast period.
Storage unit businesses are thriving in the industry
Since there is a relatively high demand for extra space storage in Singapore, there are a lot of choices in the self-storage market. Providers of self-storage units no longer have to rely on USPs or their brand’s establishment in order to operate successfully since the demand for storage options is too high. But the downside of this is that the market is very competitive, consisting of newer self-storage businesses to more significant global and regional players.
Every single player in the storage market does their own research on what their customer wants, the best and most efficient way of delivering what their customers want, and the most effective operational strategy to make sure that they stay in business over the forecast period.
In fact, according to recent survey findings from LOCK+STORE Singapore, approximately 50% of business users opted for storage units as a cost-effective option as compared to renting warehousing spaces or shops. With rental business outlets, one the most significant cost element is the substantial amount of rental fee, along with the changes within the economic climate. These days, business owners are starting to be extra conscious of storage fees. The flexible storage model lets business customers select from wide-ranging size alternatives based on storage needs.
For those seeking self-storages across the Asia Pacific region in 2019, the top five self-storage industry drivers include:
The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the storage market
It is no secret that the global health crisis wrought by the Coronavirus has negatively affected everything – businesses, the economy, the healthcare sector, and more. In Singapore, COVID-19 has caused the country its worst recession in almost two decades, shrinking the country’s GDP by more than just 4%.
With non-essential businesses incurring much of the pandemic’s havoc, Singapore’s self-storage market has suffered some downturns as well. But since things are slowly going back to the way it was, it is expected that businesses will recover, and likewise will the demand for self-storage units.
Considering the number of startups rising in the country, the flexible storage alternatives are in line with the needs of startups within the growing e-commerce industry and the expanding tech-savvy population, which are mainly looking for more operational flexibility and cost efficiency when operating their business. Furthermore, self-storage owners will also have to start being creative and start selling an experience – beginning with the business relationships with the customers. It will further push the sector’s growth in future to come, and this will leave a positive impact on the storage market as more seek self-storages for personal or business use.
Conclusion
While there remain setbacks for the self-storage sector, it will still persevere and evolve to meet customers’ needs over the years.
At Work+Store, we’re a storage company that offers a wide range of self-storage options to individuals and business owners seeking extra space to store. Through our flexible service terms to our extensive array of unit sizes, we’re able to accommodate business needs and support your venture.
If you wish to find out more about Work+Store and our other storage options, feel free to contact us at +65 6578 9966 or WhatsApp us at (65) 8345 9966. Alternatively, you can email us at space@workstore.com.sg for more information!