The SpareFoot Blog

This week, the Austin Business Journal interviewed Chuck Gordon about SpareFoot’s role in the tough economy.

Hard times call for prudent spending (from both consumers and businesses). Self storage companies are also putting on their “cheap marketer” hats, comparing all of their marketing efforts and realizing many of them are not sustainable in market conditions any less than a ‘boom’. This is not necessarily causing across-the-board budget cuts but rather smarter decision making about which channels are going to produce fruitful and lasting ROI. As companies increase marketing spend efficiencies they are not only laying the ground work for sustained success in a competitive market but also enabling themselves to pass additional savings on to their customers.

They haven’t!

I thought I’d clarify a few things because I can imagine it might be frustrating and even misleading if you’re searching the marketplace for individual listings only to find a bunch of traditional storage listings.

This doesn’t mean we no longer have any individual listings and we’re continuing to encourage people to list their extra space on the site.  There are plenty of people who want this type of peer storage and there are also plenty of people who want the more traditional storage options. That’s why we’re working on implementing filters to make it possible to search for only individual listings or facility listings.

So, why are you only turning up traditional storage units in your search results? There are two possibilities:

A) There are no individual listings in your area. For example, if you were searching for storage in Chicago, you’re not going to find your neighbor’s garage because there are no individual listings there. But, you can list your space and help spread the word in your area!

B) The traditional storage options are cheaper than your neighbor’s garage space. In general, your neighbor’s garage will be less expensive than a unit at your local storage facility. But not always!

Now that being said, if you’re encountering an error message when trying to list or rent space, something is not right. Don’t hesitate to send us an email: Support@SpareFoot.com

As we continue to build out the site, definitely keep the feedback coming!

P.S. – The best place to ask a question, report a problem or make a suggestion is from the “Feedback” tab located on the right side of any page or from the “Help” link on the top navigation.

Anybody can list their space on Sparefoot – both self-storage facilities and individuals.

The new art for the front page has come in.  It was done by fantastic artist, Vince Waring (vince w at gmail), who has done all the previous illustrations on our site as well.  (Take a look around and check those out.)

As you may have noticed, the site is changing every day.  We’re extremely busy rolling out and integrating many of the new features we’ve been building.  Expect a few bumps and snags along the way.  If you run into any problems, be sure to click on “Help” on the main site’s top navigation to let us know about it.

We just launched the new and expanded marketplace. In the next few days, you might notice some funny kinks on the site, but we are working hard to get those ironed out.

When many of you signed up, SpareFoot was strictly a peer-to-peer marketplace. We’re not ditching this idea. We’re simply growing the marketplace with the same goal of making it easier to find affordable storage.

Now, there are more than 100,000 storage listings of all shapes and sizes, ranging from your neighbor’s garage or spare bedroom to the units at your local storage facility.

Instead of searching from web site to web site to find the most affordable and convenient option, SpareFoot, much like Priceline, enables its users to search and find storage according to location, size, cost and amenities.

Additionally, it will be possible to fill out a storage request to receive competing bids directly from storage companies that desperately want to fill their vacant units.

Stay tuned!