Bounce, a service allowing hundreds of UK local shops to earn money from luggage storage, is seeking more sites as it expands through towns and cities.
Bounce’s Léa Brutkiewicz, responsible for growth of the service in the UK, Ireland and France, said the company now has around 350 locations in London, and its website shows a presence in 70 UK towns and cities.
Asked about where the company is to add sites, Brutkiewicz told Better Retailing: “Any cities or towns, anywhere in the UK.”
Brutkiewicz said the company offers a 50/50 revenue split, with a standard price of £3 per bag, per day, in London, meaning £1.50 commission per bag.
“A lot of shops tell us it is about more than the commission. When customers drop their luggage, they take the opportunity to buy an additional drink or food,” she added.
Explaining how the service works, Brutkiewicz said: “The customer can book storage online via the website or app in a few seconds, then drop the luggage where they choose and explore the city before returning when they need to pick it up. The process is simple and easy to follow. Partners provide a secure area for the luggage. Often they are using designated rooms or a portion of their existing storage space, so it’s very practical – they turn their under-utilised space into revenue.”
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The company also provides partnered sites with PoS material, including posters, enabling them to offer the service to people in the shop.
Brutkiewicz said: “Everything we provide to the store has QR codes, so people can walk in, scan the code and book, and hand over their luggage.”
London is one of the busiest of the more-than-2,000 towns and cities it operates around the world, with the partnered sites in the capital described as “very satisfied”.
Asked what makes a store a good match for the service, Brutkiewicz said: “The areas that work best are cities and towns. The higher the footfall, the better, so sites next to transportation hubs, museums or attractions are perfect.”
Case study
Beter Retailing interviewed a London retailer providing the service for two years about how it has performed.
The store is a small newsagent just outside central London and is not close to any major transport hubs or attractions.
With an average of two-to-three Bounce users a day, the store receives approximately £1,369 a year in profit from the luggage-storage service.
The shop owner said approximately 10% of users buy additional items while visiting.
Based on the convenience industry’s average basket spend, this is worth an additional £707.19 a year in revenue.
Asked if they’d recommend it to other stores, they said: “It’s relatively low volume, but also very low effort. It takes up a bit of space, but if you have that available, it can be worth doing.”
Read more about convenience retail services
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