BW Communities

The Warehouse That Amit Built

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[Noida-based StoreMore.in's business is unique and quite apt for Indians who have an affinity for hoarding old objects that hold emotional value. A pen that grand father gave on graduation day, a trophy won in the fourth grade and a stereo bought from one's first salary which every mechanic has refused to repair. This website offers to store all those at a rupee a day (along with other packages) at their warehouse. StoreMore.in was founded by Amit Wilson and partner Nitin Dhawan in June 2011 — as a second thought soon after they launched Star Records Management in May 2010 — an office documents storage business for entities such as law firms, marketing companies or government departments. The service is currently available in Delhi and the NCR. The concept of self storage is very common outside India especially in the United Sates but to Wilson's mind, self storage in India is unworkable. He has a valid point! Indians are service oriented people looking for services at doorstep. Whether we order a pizza, a refrigerator or a kg of potatoes we want it to be delivered as per our convenience and that too for free! Wilson twisted the self storage concept and came up with an idea where you could store anything that can be fitted in the (15 x 12 x 10) inch box. All you have to do is place an order and a pick-up person turns up at your doorstep collects the boxes and takes it to the 3500 sq.ftwarehouse. Should you need any of the items, mail the company with the bar code number of the box, it would be delivered at the doorstep for Rs 200 every trip. The warehouse is fire proof and is secured by automated locking systems. Pest control is conducted every 15 days. "The business concept sounds interesting to many and a lot of people tell us that our website looks great but when it comes to placing actual orders hardly one per cent of the total inquiries materialize into business," says Pooja Kothari, Wilson's business as well as life partner.   StoreMore.in gets about 87 unique visitors and 156 page views everyday, according to hypestat.com. Currently, StoreMore does not store items that might be bigger than the size of the standard boxes on offer and Wilson is still in the process of deciphering a business model. "The challenge with household items is their varied shape and sizes, storing them require much more storage space and you cannot stack them one over the other like in the case of boxes," Wilson explained. He gradually wants to start storing steel trunks that are commonly found in Indian houses since they are huge and sturdy to store on one over the other, but he hasn't yet thought about storing big items like spare furniture or a spare television. The business concept is unique and since there is no competition in the industry, Wilson has the first mover advantage. He is already exploring opening franchises across India and is also in process of finalizing funding for the business.  Storage has been a concern and will continue to be a major problem for businesses and also for individuals as real estate prices shoot up, and StoreMore business model can tap on to that shortage. However, StoreMore has taken long enough to narrow down to a business model – what to be stored, how to be stored and what prices to be charged for items that cannot be fitted into the standard boxes. Looking at international models of store houses or studying the packaging and shipping standards of US's fedex could come in handy for the company.