Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter
ISS is the most comprehensive source for self-storage news, feature stories, videos and more.
Flexistore Taps Into Technology to Scale Its Norway and South Africa Self-Storage PortfolioFlexistore Taps Into Technology to Scale Its Norway and South Africa Self-Storage Portfolio
When a company finds a fool-proof formula for success, it’s only natural that it should replicate it. In fact, it’s how Flexistore is expanding its portfolio of self-storage facilities across Norway and South Africa. The operator is scaling rapidly by tapping into development innovation and technology. Learn how and what’s next on its horizon.
4 Min Read
Norway-based self-storage operator Flexistore has developed nearly 40 sites since it launched in 2018. Its rapid expansion is testament to its mission to develop innovation that focuses on scalability.
After selling his successful data-center business, company founder and CEO Geir Tellefsen decided to pursue self-storage as a “safe investment.” What he discovered once he started investigating was an industry that pretty much operated “like it was 1985,” he says. “It was very surprising to me that it wasn't digitized.”
That’s when Tellefsen came up with a concept that leverages innovation to maximize self-storage business scalability and operational efficiency. Since opening its first test sites in Norway in 2019, Flexistore has added 29 locations in Norway and seven in South Africa. It’s also developing a facility in Finland and another in the U.S. In total, the company has 38 operating properties and another 17 under development. Last year alone, it opened 12 sites in two markets and plans to launch 20 more in 2025.
Building a New Idea
One of the reasons Flexistore has been able to expand so rapidly is it has learned to accomplish a great deal with a very small staff. On the development side, it has created a streamlined installation system, StoreBuild, which makes it easy for one person to easily manage 10 openings within a single market. The “Lego kit,” as Tellefsen describes it, comprises 68 parts that were custom-engineered for the purpose of converting an existing building to self-storage. The process is fast, cost-effective and doesn’t require specialized skills.
“Everyone who can install a kitchen can also install self-storage,” Tellefsen says.
StoreBuild comes with Flexistore’s operational technology, which gets a new storage facility up and running quickly. “When we install the doors, we get a room list that goes into our system, and then it gets onto the platform immediately. It's very quick, from being built to being operational,” Tellefsen explains.
The company’s streamlined development process also reduces waste compared to traditional self-storage construction methods. “With our building kit, there's hardly any wastage,” Tellefsen says. If there are leftover components after a new build, Flexistore sends them to the next site.
Urban-Centered ‘Micro’ Storage
Another of Flexistore’s success strategies has been to focus on urban “micro” sites that are less than 10,000 square feet. This approach gives the company an edge over its competitors, Tellefsen notes. “We can do it at the same cost as running a big site because it's automated.”
The average unit is 30 square feet, with the largest being 150 square feet. “It's substantially smaller rooms than traditional self-storage,” Tellefsen says, adding that its innovative building system would work “just as well” at big sites.
Streamlined, Intuitive Technology
All Flexistore facilities operate with no onsite staff, using automation and specially designed software. In fact, its 31 Norwegian sites are managed by a team of five: a project manager who oversees development of new sites; an operations director who ensures all facilities are running smoothly; a person who maintains the physical locations; and two representatives who handle customer service.
Integral to keeping staff requirements low is staying ahead of customer needs. For Flexistore, that means continuously improving its mobile app, which tenants can use to rent units, access the facility and complete other tasks. Great attention is paid to the app’s integration with hardware at the store level, particularly as the company has developed its own door-lock and unit-sensor hardware, both of which can be installed cost-effectively without an electrician.
People are “perfectly happy” to use the app or the company website, Tellefsen says. In fact, they prefer it.
“What we found is that as we expand, the number of service calls has not increased, which is very surprising,” Tellefsen says. “When we get customer feedback, we keep improving the app design and procedures, how they work, the integration to hardware at the stores, and so on. And the more we do that, the less customer service it is.”
At Flexistore, renting a unit never takes more than three minutes, Tellefsen explains. That’s the time from when the customer see’s the company’s ad to when they can open their unit door. But a super-fast rental process is just the beginning. The mobile app can also allow a tenant to open the facility gate, access the elevator and check the temperature inside their unit. “We hardly get anything less than five stars on the ranking [platforms], so I think the customer loves it,” Tellefsen says.
In addition to its focus on growth, Flexistore will continue to optimize its technology to make the customer experience even better. “It's more about how can we further improve the backend, so we can do an even easier job and make it possible to scale it even faster,” Tellefsen says.
Rachel French is a freelance content writer and copywriter. Her background is in business-to-business media and copywriting for web applications. She’s covered a range of industries and markets including self-storage as well as financial, food and beverage, healthcare, and nutraceuticals. She previously worked for Inside Self-Storage as an intern turned associate editor.
About the Author
You May Also Like
