October
2022

This year’s report is produced jointly with CBRE for the first time. Despite the challenges faced throughout the past year, with COVID-19 disruptions and economic headwinds, the self storage market has continued to perform strongly and investor interest continues to grow with a significant mismatch between the depth of funds targeting the sector and available opportunities.

For the first time the report also includes data from a survey of the public in selected European countries as to their perception of self storage and to gauge market awareness

 

Download the report here

 

Some of the key findings include:

Page speed is probably the purest of search engine optimisation factors, because addressing loading times improves your rankings, your user experience and your conversion rate too.  Page and site speed has become an essential part of how search engines rate your pages because Google doesn't want to deliver results that are slow loading and put users off. They're trying to present the most relevant, most appropriate websites with their results.

 

You can check your website speed using Googles Page Speed Insights

https://pagespeed.web.dev/

Here you test your site on both mobile and desktop devices and receive feedback on where you can make improvements.

Some common areas that can make a big difference in website speed are your host platform and images.  Even if your website is built and optimised to be super fast, if it's on a slow server you're not going to reap the benefits.  You may also want to consider where your hosting provider's servers are. Storing your files on servers located in the US when most of your customers are in the UK means that their request has to travel further before reaching your website files.

 

Images are often the biggest offenders when it comes to page speed. One simple change is to make sure you're using responsive images. That means your website isn't wasting time loading a desktop-sized image for your mobile website.  There are lots of great image compression tools out there, such as Tinify, which will reduce the size of your files and images without losing quality.  You could also use WebP format instead of jpg, png or gif. This format is much faster loading without losing any image quality. Bear in mind that some legacy browsers don't support WebP, so you might have to use a more traditional format as a fallback.

This years FEDESSA Conference featured an all new format including a circular stage set and a revamped Trade Show.  The circular stage was a huge hit with the 680 delegates in attendance, immersing the speakers amongst the audience and creating a more intimate interactive experience. The Trade Show was the largest FEDESSA has ever held with over 12 brand new exhibitors and sponsors. Many were making use of new technology such as Artificial Reality on their trade stands.

The speakers were engaging covering a range of issues from pricing to global political issues. David Meade’s session on 'mind your business' was one of the favourites, showing people how to improve their sales and negotiation skills while performing mind bending tricks on the way.  As always the social programme was well attended, from the Golf Session through to the silent disco at the Networking Dinner.  Feedback from delegates indicates it was one of the best FEDESSA Conferences ever.

At the FEDESSA General Council meeting in Portugal changes were made to how the FEDESSA board is elected.  A proposal was accepted that allocated specific board positions based on the size of the industry association and their contribution to FEDESSA financially.  This means the Board will always consist of members of the larger, medium and smaller associations to ensure representation of the industry as a whole.

 

A new board was elected under these new rules that consists of the following members:

 

Sweden - Peter Agren

France – Vincent Poirot

UK – Adrian Lee

Spain – Alberto Serrano Rivas

Germany – Martin Brunkhorst

Ireland – Brian Hefferon

Denmark – Anne Dorthe Schelander

 

Thanks to departing board members Christian Schmutz from Switzerland and Cesare Carcano from Italy.  Both have been former Presidents of FEDESSA, with Christian also being treasurer for many years. They have both been on the board since its inception and were also active members of the General Council before the Board was formed.

Also thanks to departing President Carlo Schwab who has completed his 2 year term as President and is also resigning from the Board with Belgium appointing a new member to the General Council.  He successfully guided FEDESSA through the COVID-19 pandemic and recent strategic planning processes.

 

At the FEDESSA Awards Dinner there was a moving presentation on the efforts from many self storage businesses to provide aid to refugees fleeing from the Ukraine conflict.  There was also a reminder that the conflict continues and many people in the Ukraine still need support and help to receive the basic necessities of life.  Delegates were asked to donate to a special charity organised by Tenby Powell. With over three decades of military service in the NZ Army, a successful business career and service on government boards, Tenby is funding his own way while in situ in Poland and Ukraine and now seeks help with sustainable funding direct assistance of essential equipment and support to the people of Ukraine.  He is looking to raise $250,000 for a full year of sustainable operations in Ukraine.

 

The FEDESSA audience generously donated over $25,000 on the night.

 

If you would also like to donate to this worthwhile cause  you can do so using this link.

Heitman Global Real Estate have purchased a 9 site portfolio in Ireland from U-Store-It for a reported land cost of €125 million plus platform costs.  Three of the sites are still under development and it is estimated that the price for the 6 operational sites in Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Waterford is around €4k - €6k per square metre or a multiple of 20-25 on EBITDA.

 

“We are pleased to invest in the U Store It platform and to work with its local team to continue to build a best-in-class storage option in the Irish and Northern Irish markets,” said Caleb Mercer, Heitman Managing Director of European Real Estate Investment. “Self storage remains an appealing real estate sector, experiencing significant demand as a result of the growing storage needs of individuals and businesses.”

Next year's FEDESSA Conference will be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, October 24-26 at the Postillion Hotel & Convention Centre. 

 

Mark the dates in your diary now for the must attend event of the European self storage industry.  Tickets will go on sale early in the new year.

FEDESSA and its associations have a range of supplier members that cover all your self storage needs  From construction and insurance to online marketing, security monitoring, architects and solar panel suppliers, just to name a few.

All our supplier members have experience and understanding of the self storage industry and deliver products and services tailored to the industry.  Some suppliers who don’t have this understanding could be quoting you on a solution that will not meet your needs as they do not understand the peculiarities of the self storage industry.

 

To see a full list of our industry suppliers sorted by category go to

https://www.fedessa.org/suppliers/supplier-directory.html

FEDESSA ASBL Registered Office
BluePoint
Boulevard Auguste Reyers 80
1030 Brussels
Belgium
 

www.fedessa.org |  [email protected]

 

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