Warehouse with ShareHouse

SELECTING THE BEST

WAREHOUSING • AFTER DEMONSTRATING SUCCESS IN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA, SHAREHOUSE, AN ONLINE MARKETPLACE FOR WAREHOUSING SOLUTIONS, IS READY TO CONQUER NEW MARKETS

DISASTER HAS STRUCK – somehow 30,000 pallets have been left in Hamburg and the pre-planned storage provider is suddenly unable to handle such a large amount. What can be done? Fortunately, there is a way to solve this problem and have all 30,000 pallets moved and stored safely and correctly within 48 hours at suitable regional facilities. The answer: ShareHouse. This real-life scenario happened only a few months ago and serves as one of a growing number of ShareHouse success stories.

Describing itself as “the Air BnB of logistic services and warehouses,” ShareHouse has taken central Europe by storm in the last 12 months and shows no sign of slowing down. Started in Germany, ShareHouse has recently expanded into Austria and is eyeing new territories at the same time as implementing strong product development. MAKE A CHANGE The idea for ShareHouse came from a growing frustration about existing practices surrounding storage logistics, particularly when seeking short- and mid-term solutions. Businesses spent time manually inputting data to extensive spreadsheets that proved to be inefficient and often inaccurate, so a digital solution was sought.

“We figured out that 10 to 20 per cent of warehouse space in Germany was inefficiently used, which is why we selected this as our starting destination,” explains Florian Loesser, business development manager at ShareHouse. For example, if a business has its peak from June till September and completely uses the 10,000 m² of the warehouse, but from September to April only 7,000 m² is used, there is a problem. ShareHouse makes sure that the free capacity will be used by another client.

“We found that there was actually a really high demand for short- and mid-term storage solutions in the industry,” says Loesser. “But there was no transparent and Germany-wide service that could handle these requests.” ShareHouse then developed a platform that could accurately and swiftly provide information on unused space across the nation, providing a solution for businesses seeking storage and those wanting to optimise their available space.

After roughly one year in Germany, expanding into Austria was a surprisingly easy process for ShareHouse. “We had already built up our brand in Germany, so people in Austria knew of us,” says Loesser. “In Germany, it was quite difficult in the beginning as no one had heard of us, but the Austrian market is growing by itself.” ShareHouse is now looking to expand into more European nations such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic and deeper into eastern Europe; therefore, doing market research on which countries to tackle next.

WHAT’S NEW However, as exciting as new territories can be, developing the current product is more important for ShareHouse than seeking expansion. “We are about to launch a new product which has had a successful soft-

launch. The new product will allow potential users to place requests on the platform and then the logistic service provider (LSP) will have the ability to quote on the requests,” says Loesser. ShareHouse experienced a 250 per cent increase in requests since the soft-launch two months ago.

Rather than having users seeking solutions by individually messaging every potential provider, users are able to broadcast their requirements to the whole platform. Those that are able to handle the request and are seeking business can respond with quotes and details. This makes the process for businesses needing solutions and those wanting to utilise their warehouse capabilities much swifter. “We are also interested in offering warehouse management systems, but this is in early days,” Loesser explains.

ShareHouse has strict rules for those that want to promote the fact they can provide dangerous goods storage as a service. An issue faced by ShareHouse is that it does not own or operate any storage units directly, therefore diligent checks must be undertaken to ensure safety and compliance.

“If a business says it has a dangerous goods warehouse, we receive their certifications and check them internally. If there are any doubts, we then discuss further with the certifying body and higher authorities. Should there be any doubts after this, we can visit and qualify the warehouses ourselves, or we refuse to use them; but this has never happened,” says Loesser.

CHALLENGE AHEAD When looking to the future for ShareHouse, Loesser says: “The biggest challenge for us going into 2020 would probably be the growth in competition. Therefore, we need to be quick in what we are doing and provide the best service. Another challenge will be found when it comes to expanding our services outside of locations like Germany, Austria and parts of Switzerland because of language barriers.”

Despite the growth in competition and the potential for language-related issues, Loesser is confident about the next 12 months due to ShareHouse’s specific benefits and ever-growing network. “The old-style competitors and normal LSPs are still around, but our USP is that we are extremely fast. We have developed a network of more than 1,000 LSPs with warehousing capabilities and high service standards, meaning we have access to more than 2.8m m² – this makes us the biggest warehouse in Germany! We are always working to increase our network and aim to be the first port-ofcall for businesses seeking solutions.” HCB www.sharehouse.eu

DIGITISATION HAS ARRIVED IN THE WAREHOUSING

SECTOR AND SHAREHOUSE IS INTENDING TO EXPAND

ITS COVERAGE AND FUNCTIONALITY EVEN FURTHER