Tag Archives: North East

News

Online marketplace for self-storage targets North East following six-figure investment

AN ONLINE marketplace for self-storage secured a six-figure investment.

Explorage.com, based in North Wales, has also garnered funds from a syndicate of angel backers led by Camau Nesaf’s Huw Bishop, the Wales Angel Co-Fund, and Menai Science Park (M-SParc) on Anglesey.

They are initially targeting partnerships in the north east of England before taking a regional rollout approach, according to founder Anna Roberts.

“We are currently forging links with independent storage operators in Tyne and Wear,” she said.

“Our partnerships manager is spending much of his time in the region to help understand the local market and customer base – we are excited to see what comes of that.”

Anna drove the raise forward after initial prototyping for the platform was halted during the Covid-19 pandemic.

She could see the benefits of an easily accessible, integrated online service were clear.

The business was part of the first cohort to graduate from M-SParc’s Level-Up Accelerator programme, from which they also secured non-equity funding.

Worth an estimated £48 billion, the global storage market is big business. There are approximately 27,000 new storage bookings each month in the UK, yet finding, comparing and reserving the right solution is inconsistent and long-winded.

Anna said: “It sounds simple, and it is. Explorage.com will offer a frictionless online facility for customers to find, compare and instantly reserve self-storage.

“Our revenue model means Explorage is risk free for storage operators; they can gain greater customer exposure and receive secured reservations 24/7, whilst diversifying the source of their bookings, expand with more confidence, and fill up new and vacant space quicker.”

Anna’s inspiration for Explorage is driven by a desire to help people and a focus on doing the right thing for customers.

Several hires have already been made as the company prepares for regional rollouts throughout the UK, before scaling up internationally to take advantage of opportunities with overseas partners.

“There’s an obvious gap in the market and I’m determined Explorage will be the solution that both storage users and providers come to love,” said Anna.

“We have a rapidly growing list of storage operators waiting to sign up to the platform, however learning from other marketplace successes, we are taking a concentrated approach to regional rollouts and product improvement.

“We are keen to talk to storage operators interested in listing on the site and look forward to building long term relationships with them and the industry as a whole.”

Visit www.explorage.com for more information.
Charity & CSR, Marketing, PR and SEO, News, North of England

Digital marketing agency announces new charity partnership — and pledges free marketing advice

A Newcastle-based digital marketing agency has announced a new charity partnership to benefit charitable organisations in the area. Glass Digital, based in Ouseburn, has partnered with Connected Voice to share their digital marketing expertise with local charities for free.

Connected Voice is an initiative in Newcastle and Gateshead that works with charities to improve their business knowledge and boost their profiles. They partner with successful businesses in the area and ask them to provide useful skills and insights to small charities, such as marketing, accounting, HR, and event organising.

This connects the charities with experts who can either raise their profile or provide services and education free of charge, which they may not have the budget for otherwise.

The team at Connected Voice got in touch with Glass Digital — which specialises in organic search, technical SEO, and other kinds of digital marketing — to ask if they’d be able to provide training to charities in the region that need assistance with their online visibility. This training could be over the phone, face-to-face, or during a workshop, and Glass Digital have committed to spending one hour per month with various charities in the region to develop their marketing skills.

The first charity Glass Digital assisted was Friends of Jesmond Library, part of the Community Libraries Network, a nationwide organisation sharing advice and help for community-run libraries. The group must raise £30K a year to keep Jesmond Library open, so an effective marketing strategy is crucial for getting the word out and bringing in donations.

Glass Digital advised Friends of Jesmond Library on their website and social media efforts, including reviewing their existing work, identifying shortcomings, and highlighting opportunities to generate more organic traffic.

Jennifer Macdonald, Glass Digital’s Head of Marketing, says:

“I was delighted when Connected Voice got in touch to ask if we would help charities in the local area. It is something I had already been looking into, as I think it is really important to help businesses in the region — especially charities, who would otherwise struggle to obtain our kind of services.

“My first meeting with Friends of Jesmond Library was a huge success, and I received great feedback from them and Connected Voice. During the session, I tried to give the charity advice that would be affordable, efficient, and effective by sharing information about Google tools, PR, social media, and organic search. I provided Chris, their Founder, with a document to enable him to share my tips with the wider team and national Board, which seems to have been well received.

“I am looking forward to doing more of these projects in the future, as it not only feels like Glass Digital are helping charities, but also like we are benefiting the region. The North East has some amazing charitable organisations which are crying out for free expertise, so if we can help even a handful of them it will be a worthwhile achievement.”

Chris Clarke, Director/Trustee of Friends of Jesmond Library, says:

“The first thing that I would emphasise is that the Board was very grateful for Glass Digital’s independent, expert advice. We were relieved that they found our efforts to date reasonably good, and that we can implement their suggestions without unaffordable expenditure or even unachievable technical expertise.

“There is quite a shopping list of specific action points. Personally, I will be stepping up my efforts on Facebook, and I will make myself more aware of events such as World Book Day. I was particularly interested in Jennifer’s explanations of how Google works, and I’ve also looked at Google analytics with more interest since our meeting!”

India Gerritsen, Volunteering Development Officer at Connected Voice, says:

“Connected Voice has a new arm ‘Sector Connector, Newcastle’ in hopes to support local Newcastle charities by pairing them with local businesses who are willing to offer pro-bono advice and support. Marketing and social media is an area that many charities are in need of support with. We approached Glass Digital on the basis that they have skills in this area, and a portfolio to prove it!

“The charity we paired them with initially wanted to know more about them, and after sharing their portfolio was keen to work with Glass Digital. The experience has been very positive so far – they met face-to-face with the charity, took photographs for their socials, and also provided written advice on how to market their events in a way that would be more successful. The charity contacted me to say the meeting was “very helpful.”

“From Connected Voice’s perspective, it was lovely to have a business keen to support a local charity, and in turn, support our newest venture. We plan to stay in touch and see how this relationship progresses.”

After a successful meeting with Friends of Jesmond Library last week, Glass Digital is looking forward to meeting and helping other charities through their new partnership with Connected Voice.

Business & Property News, Logistics, News, North of England

UK fulfilment company expands operations with North East warehouse

Order preparation and fulfilment company, Systemise Fulfilment have expanded their UK operations once again with the launch of a new warehouse facility in the North East, creating a number of new jobs in the region. This follows a period of fast growth for the company, which has seen them open six warehouse facilities in the UK, US and Europe over the last two years.

The latest facility which opened on 1st April 2022 is managed by Marc Dady founder and director of successful North East based company, 365 Fulfilment Ltd. Marc and his team have joined Systemise Fulfilment as a Licensee Partner to support other eCommerce and Amazon Marketplace businesses with all their prep and order fulfilment needs. 

Marc Dady speaking about the opening of the new warehouse shared: “I’ve seen the journey Systemise Fulfilment has gone through since starting out in 2016. They’ve grown rapidly and established not only a UK but globally recognised brand thanks to the exceptional service they deliver. When the opportunity came up to work alongside the team at Systemise Fulfilment, to establish their presence in the North East, it was a no-brainer. 

“We’re excited to be working alongside Kev and Kylie, founders and directors and their team at the HQ in Scunthorpe to assist and support more UK based eCommerce companies to scale up and optimise their businesses. 

“The amount of support and training the team in Scunthorpe has already provided has been absolutely top-notch. They’ve gone above and beyond, even outside of office hours to help us get everything set up, so we were prepared for partner shipments straight away. 

“We’ve already gained a highly experienced warehouse team, who are backed by the Systemise Fulfilment unique processing streams system, focused on speed of shipping, quality control and excellent communication. Since launching, we’ve begun shipping our first pallets for great new partners who’ve already commented how they are loving the clear communication and speed of processing. We are looking forward to onboarding multiple more partners throughout the year and assisting them in growing their individual businesses.” 

The new warehouse facility has created a number of new jobs in the region and is set to continue to offer more opportunities as the business grows. Currently, the company is looking for new team members of all abilities including, apprentices and graduates in both their North East and Scunthorpe locations. 

Kevin Blackburn, Co-founder and director of Systemise Fulfilment added: “We’re so happy to have Marc and his team join us on our mission to help support and fuel the growth of eCommerce businesses across the globe. We believe in building a strong network of prep services and order fulfilment warehouses, that are managed by passionate, experienced, proven and knowledgeable teams that give our partners the platform to grow and achieve their goals. Building our global network allows our customers to expand internationally, throughout the UK, USA and Europe to help meet the increasing demand in the eCommerce industry.

“The continued growth in Scunthorpe and now opening the warehouse in the North East means we’re hiring for roles across multiple disciplines including warehouse operations, business development, sales and marketing, customer support, human resources, technical support, software engineers to continue to evolve our technologies and systems.”

To find out more about the open roles and future opportunities at Systemise Fulfilment, visit their careers page here: www.systemisefulfilment.co.uk/careers