In the world of business, renting or buying extra space can be a heavy burden on your monthly expenditures.

Like, what do you do when you all of a sudden need to store 10 times the amount of stock you normally hold due to some insane customer who just can’t do without it? Where do you put it all? And once it has left? What do you fill the space with?

While it is estimated in South Africa that small and medium-sized enterprises make up 91% of formalised businesses, these questions are bound to come up more often than not, especially if business is booming. And especially if business has a habit of booming seasonally.

As your business grows and you’re forced to find extra space, finding the right solution can be imperative in helping you become a serious competitor in the industry.

So what do you do?

You find the people who have the answer, namely Stor-Age.

You see, the self-storage industry is the most obvious solution when you need that bit of extra space – and, as Business Matters – the UK’s leading SME business magazine – suggests, there are three common scenarios in which a place like Stor-Age could come in mighty helpful:

1. Broaden and Improve Your Office Space

Using a self-storage space allows you to increase and decrease your office storage space at will. End of the financial year? Go pack those documents away on a lekker shelving unit and you’re sorted.

2. Flexibility for Your Business

Some businesses need to downsize instead of expanding in different seasons of the year, and self-storage offers this flexibility.

It’s called seasonality and a great benefit of self-storage is that it can expand or downsize to fit your business, which is a vital factor for business owners of small or medium businesses. Self-storage units come in a variety of different sizes, meaning business owners are only paying for the space they need.

3. Increase Business Profit Margins

As self-storage units offer businesses additional space for less cost, they allow businesses the opportunity to buy, create, or store more stock:

With more access to low-cost storage space, it allows companies to save money as they are able to buy products in bulk. This is a great way to prevent stock shortages and supply backlog which can greatly damage a small or medium sized business and its reputation rapidly.

At the end of the day, self-storage offers businesses safety and security which larger shops cannot provide. With great security features, your business and stock are incredibly safe and secure within the unit.

Stor-Age’s list of security measures include:

• access control – all new customers are required to have their photograph taken, as well as provide proof of identity and current residential address
• electrified perimeter fencing and, in some facilities, supported by infrared beams on the inside of the perimeter fence
• computer controlled access via your dedicated personal tag which is linked to our system
• alarm systems
• 24 hour CCTV surveillance via strategically located cameras
• the unit is locked with your own padlock and you retain the key
• fire extinguishers, as well as fire detection and alarm system in some facilities

For a chance to put your own stamp on a unit and make sure it’s perfect for both employees and clients to access, pop over here for 50% off your first month.

And, if you’re worried about location, Stor-Age has 39 stores nationwide, so finding space shouldn’t be a problem:

[source:bmmagazine]