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Smart Storage sales double, to expand

Tuesday, October 02 10:38:58

Smart Storage, the start-up home storage unit firm that featured on Dragon's Den, today said it is hiring new staff as sales double every year and as it looks beyond Ireland for growth.

The company said it has seen increased demand for its range of under stairs storage solutions, creating 3 direct and 11 indirect jobs this year.

With fewer people trading up to bigger homes, there is a need for discrete additional storage in existing properties and demand for experienced fitters to sell and fit the units, it said.

With over 2,000 units installed in Ireland to date, Smart Storage's turnover has doubled every year since trading began, and this month, five Smart Storage units a day, are being manufactured, sold and installed in Ireland.

With sales doubling every year, Smart Storage's business focus is to expand their markets overseas and to develop a pipeline of new innovative storage solutions for the homeowner.

Paul Jacob, founder, also recently changed his business model to cope with the increase. With the backing of Enterprise Ireland, he has now launched into the UK and has his sights firmly set on additional markets, including North America and Canada.

"Smart Storage has found a growing niche in an economic downturn. Our business model has altered as the demand for Smart Storage has increased. We now supply our product in pack form to fitters that we train at our head office in Co. Wicklow and they sell and fit in their local areas covering the island of Ireland, England and Scotland. With the help of our Irish manufacturers, we have modularised the unit and we now concentrate on the relationships we have with our fitters, our customers and developing new markets and expanding our product range. The further spin off of this new way of doing business, is that tradespeople who may be struggling in this downturn, and who want to increase their portfolio of work, can now do so, by selling and installing Smart Storage units. We supply them with a full marketing pack and they market, sell and install in their areas. We now have 11 fitters around the country, in Dundalk, Monaghan, Northern Ireland, Westmeath, Limerick, Cork, Kerry, Waterford and the South East and our existing installers in the greater Dublin area. We are now exporting to London, Birmingham and will shortly start in Scotland and we are actively pursuing sales and fitters in our next target markets based on the major urban centres around the UK," Paul said.