Boxful wants to help cramped Hong Kong residents store their stuff, on-demand style

Life for Hong Kong residents is cramped. The city is the fifth most densely populated urban area in the world, and the third most expensive to buy real estate. As a result, both the rich and the poor are packed like sardines. Either you live in a tiny apartment and can’t fit anything in it, or you live in a tiny apartment because you’re too broke to begin with.

So it comes as no surprise that Hong Kong entrepreneurs are taking on-demand goods storage, a concept slowly spreading across the United States, and bringing it to the fragrant harbour. Norman Cheung, CEO of Boxful, hopes to introduce a new model for warehouse despository that gives city residents a little more space. He and co-founder Carl Wu have scored US$1.5 million in funding for the venture, from angel investors that haven’t been revealed to the public.

Upon request through Boxful’s web or mobile apps, the company delivers weather-proof, stackable boxes sized 22 x 15 x 12.7 inches to customers looking to pack up their stuff. Boxful team members then drive the boxes to a warehouse facility. The company charges a monthly rental fee of HK$49 (about US$6) per box stored, along with a flat fee of HK$100 + HK$25 (US$13 + US$3) per box upon retrieval. The company does not charge for initial pickup.

According to Cheung, Boxful’s business model differs from Hong Kong’s traditional storage model because most warehouses set rental rates of about HK$1000 (US$ 130) for a minimum three-month storage period. Pick-up and drop-off services, while optional, can cost up to HK$500 (US$65) per trip. Customers must also either purchase paper boxes or provide them themselves.

Cheung says that Boxful can price out Hong Kong’s incumbents through two main means. First, its warehouses are strategically placed in quieter parts of the island, which lowers overhead in rent.

“We have a warehouse in the south of Hong Kong Island where we’ll store everything,” says Cheung. “We’re able to do this because we have our own fleet. So our cost savings are massive compared to the traditional warehouse guys, since most of them are strategically located near the subway.”

Second, by managing space allocation completely in-house, Boxful can ensure that no storage space is wasted. This entails using standardized, stackable boxes. It also leaves the storing to the pros, whereas traditional storage facilities let customers fill designated space on their own. Often, that means rooms full of hastily stacked boxes of all sizes – and space wasted is money wasted.

“We only charge their customers for what they actually use, whereas with a traditional storage provider you have to rent the entire room even if you don’t use the whole space,” says Cheung. “So even if you only have one box, we can work with you.”

In essence, Boxful opens the market for storage by streamlining parts of the booking and management processes. It likely spends more on labor, logistics, and technology than traditional facilities and makes less money per customer. But by making storage more feasible for the average consumer, more customers will hopefully shell out.