Gavin Shields explains why self-storage facilities are moving toward 24/7 digital access. Most still operate limited hours like 9-5 weekdays, but younger customers increasingly expect click-to-book, contactless service similar to mobile stadium tickets.
You go to stadiums to watch a football match. Well, guess what? Your ticket's already on your phone. You scan, you into the stadium, you rock and roll. Why should self-storage be any different?
You know, you still see lots of self-storage sites that are open Monday to Friday, yeah, 9 to 5, and on a Saturday from 9 to 12. And that's fine, and a lot of those businesses are doing very well. This is, it's not about kind of, it's, this is about supplementing that with additional service that customers want, which I think is just increasingly important.
People want convenience, right? If you look at how that trend is on the up and up, what does that mean? That as the oldies like myself, you know, we, we filter through the system, the Gen Alphas are coming in, and again, they don't necessarily want to speak to people. They want to click-click, book-book, get it done with.