Rethinking Storage in the UK: How easyStorage Is Redefining Value, Scale and Service

Our CEO Tim Slesinger recently spoke with Patrick Hicks in a cover article for The Movers and Storers Magazine (May/June 2026) about a project he has been working on since 2017: transforming the experience of purchasing and using storage in the UK easyStorage.

The main ideas from that discussion are summarized below, including why the UK market was ready for disruption, how drive-up and mobile self-storage locations work together, why we developed our own technological platform, and our next steps.

A market that looked out of balance

The numbers didn’t stack up when Tim first looked at self-storage in the UK in 2017. The value of the UK market was approximately £750 million. The market in the US was estimated to be worth $42 billion. There are just two listed companies out of hundreds of operators in the UK.

“It simply appeared unbalanced. I thus investigated it more.

He saw a market with solid fundamentals—storage being, in his words, “the original subscription business”—but prices that drove away clients.

From “distress purchase” to part of everyday life

Storage has become a lifestyle option in the United States due to its low cost. In the UK, it was usually brought on by a stressful event, such as a divorce, a sudden move, or a loss. When something occurred to them, many purchased storage and left as soon as they could.

Tim’s theory was straightforward: if the price is sufficiently reduced, the purchase behavior will change from being event-driven to habitual. Consumers remain longer, and storage begins to seem like a typical aspect of managing a house or business.

The data supports it. The average stay duration at the time of easyStorage’s introduction was approximately 37 weeks. It’s sixty-three weeks today.

Why “easy”

Convenience was not going to be sufficient on its own. An instantly identifiable value identity is also necessary for a challenger brand, and the simple family of brands offers just that. Since easyStorage is a licensee of the Easy Group, its low pricing, mass market reach, and lack of bullshit are immediately apparent to potential customers.

Tim contends that without it, explaining what we were doing differently may have required years and a large marketing budget.

Rethinking the economics of removals

Tim is cautious not to discount traditional moves; full-service, expertly packed movers do have a place, especially for larger households with more expensive items. However, he feels that the traditional model’s economics have frequently worked against the common customer’s capacity to buy it.

There are two notable cost drivers:

• Surveys. When operators carry out many surveys for each successful booking, the cost of all those unsuccessful quotes ends up being absorbed by the customers who do proceed.
• Professional packing. Labour-intensive, valuable in the right context – but not always especially profitable, and not always necessary.

For minor tasks, the easyStorage solution is to simplify the model. Don’t fill out the survey. Allow clients to gage their own needs. For the majority of things, encourage self-packing; save specialized packing for situations where it actually provides value.

Tim compares it to the aviation industry. At one end of the spectrum is private aviation. On the other hand, there is mass-market flying. According to him, the moving and storage sector need a similar level of differentiation rather than a single cost base for each client.

Drive-up storage: a fragmented market with room to improve

We moved from mobile self-storage to drive-up, container-based self-storage four years ago. At the time, about 500 corporations ran about 1,000 sites in the UK. Without the methods, procedures, or brand discipline that a scaled operator can provide, many had developed naturally, occasionally as side ventures.

We saw a chance to improve the level of professionalism at that end of the market without sacrificing the initial appeal of value.

The franchise model – and why it works for mobile

The fact that our growth model is mixed is one of its more unique features.

Franchising was integrated into the mobile self-storage model from the start. Highly motivated owner-operators are difficult to defeat when a service is picked up and delivered at the customer’s door. Because they own the outcome, franchisees are concerned. Approximately 85% of UK postcodes are currently covered by our mobile self-storage franchise network.

Because drive-up and container sites are unmanned, combining franchised, owned, and acquired facilities is made simpler. Over the next five to seven years, we hope to have 300 container self-storage locations throughout the UK, and all three routes will be used in the rollout.

This goal is supported by an asset-backed facility of up to £180 million that was obtained from alternative credit manager Arini earlier this year. This facility will finance both the acquisition of income-generating assets in strategic markets and the statewide rollout.

Value doesn’t mean poor service

Tim draws a crucial distinction between low-quality and low-cost.

Prices on the mobile side needs to be reduced via efficiency. He contends that the drive-up industry has historically been undervalued, with container storage trading at a substantial discount to walk-in self-storage, in part due to a real quality gap: less polished onboarding, poorer branding, and more haphazard customer experiences.

That discount doesn’t have to stay that large if the product gets better.

“We do not believe in sacrificing service for price..

According to him, the opportunity is to create savings thru technology and procedural discipline, then reinvest some of those savings into improved service while maintaining a price advantage. As long as the business has scale and the operating model is sufficiently efficient, it is possible to simultaneously lower prices, protect margins, and enhance service.

VAULT: technology as the backbone

We first anticipated being able to purchase our software off the shelf. Nothing on the market, it turned out, could combine transportation, warehousing, storage, franchise administration, and invoicing in the manner that we required. Thus, we created VAULT, our own platform.

The client journey, franchise supervision, accounting and billing, and the operational connection between our many service lines are all managed by VAULT. Customers can complete sign-up, ID verification, and access arrangements on unmanned drive-up stations in a matter of minutes without the requirement for physical presence.

Even if a customer arrives early, they may still go to their unit in a matter of minutes. Modern consumers are increasingly demanding that kind of seamless onboarding.

What customers actually want

According to Tim, there are three main things that drive-up and container consumers want.

1. Confidence that they’re paying the right price.
2. Speed and ease of immediate onboarding.
3. Quick answers and genuine empathy when something goes wrong.

And lastly, departing ought to be simple. If a customer’s circumstances change, they shouldn’t find themselves locked into a lengthy contract.

Rollout, retention and small business customers

Physical rollout is the motor if technology provides the framework. In the last three years, we have opened 35 drive-up locations, and we are currently opening at a rate of about two each month.

However, growth is useless without retention. One statistic that tells us a lot is that small businesses make up about 63% of our drive-up/container clients. Small businesses, local operators, and tradespeople are the type of clients who require storage as a regular component of their operations rather than as a one-time emergency solution. If you keep the proposal reasonable, those connections become enduring rather than transient.

The Drop & Store partnership model

In order to increase coverage and boost utilization, we have increasingly collaborated with conventional removals and storage companies in addition to our franchise network.

An excellent illustration is the Drop & Store model. Customers can deliver their belongings straight to authorized partner depots and storage facilities instead than needing easyStorage to pick up every order. This lowers labor and transportation expenses, increases consumer access to and affordability of storage, and generates additional revenue for local operators with excess capacity.

For us, it increases geographic reach and scalability without requiring a comparable financial expenditure in personnel, cars, or depots. It helps partners fill available space and attract new clients. We increasingly perceive ourselves as a platform that collaborates with well-established businesses rather than competing with the conventional removals and storage sector.

A market with room to run

Since easyStorage’s introduction, the UK storage market has already grown significantly, and we think there is still a lot of space for growth. Tim contends that the British market may eventually be worth between £3 billion and £5 billion, based on US penetration.

This self-assurance also influences how we think globally. Thru a local collaboration and licensing agreement, easyStorage has already reached the Netherlands, and further European expansion is definitely on the plan. The goal is simple: to become the preferred brand for storage in the UK.

Lessons from scaling at pace

When asked what he’s learnt from developing so quickly, Tim responds with a straightforward metaphor: a stool with three legs.

Marketing. Finance. Operations.

The entire system becomes unstable if one of them is scaled too far ahead of the rest. Growth must be balanced, but it doesn’t have to be careful.

Where this goes next

We do not consider ourselves to be merely another storage operator. In order to make storage more commonplace, transparent, technologically enabled, and reasonably priced without eliminating the human element of service, we are attempting to redefine the category itself.

The economics of scarcity, annoyance, or legacy pricing have long been the foundation of most of the industry. We’re wagering on a different future, one in which storage begins to seem like a typical, reliable, scalable utility rather than a reluctant necessity.

Looking for storage?

We would be happy to assist you whether you’re relocating, clearing out space, or operating a small business that need a dependable foundation for inventory and equipment.