Based on the analysis of crowd storage services in Belgrade, presented in the previous section, it was concluded that there is a need to provide additional storage space in Serbia. Although self-storage companies have appeared on the market in the past few years, as well as a larger offering of storage space on self-advertisement sites, by analyzing future trends, such as new construction methods, changes in the behavior of consumer society, and the growth of e-commerce, it was concluded that user requirements for storage space will inevitably increase. In this regard, an efficient and proven solution that has been applied in the world for years was observed, and it refers to the introduction of an online platform for the regulation of crowd storage services. In order to additionally examine the justification and possibility of introducing such a platform, a survey was conducted that examines the demands of the residents of Belgrade in more detail. Namely, Belgrade is the largest, and most densely populated city in Serbia, and it is also a tourist, economic, and administrative center. The majority of migration is directed towards Belgrade, which indicates the possibility of creating a demand for storage even among visitors, not only among the population. In addition, all analyzed self-storage companies operate in Belgrade, but on the outskirts of the city, which, along with the high frequency of road traffic and the absence of alternative modes of transportation, creates a big problem for users.
Since the main motive of this part of the research was to examine the possibility and justification of the implementation of an online platform for the regulation of crowd storage services in Belgrade, the goal was to quickly and efficiently collect answers from a large group of people. For this reason, as already mentioned, an online survey was used as a research methodology. The questions in the survey were divided into two sections. The first section contained general questions, while the second contained questions regarding the subject of the research. In total, the survey consisted of 14 questions. The sample of the survey included 56 respondents who were over 18 years old and had lived in Belgrade for at least a year. The survey was conducted anonymously.
6.1. The Results of the Survey
The general questions from the survey along with the results are presented in
Table 5. General questions are primarily important for the purpose of cross-referencing with questions that are more specifically related to the research problem, and for the purpose of establishing significant connections and correlations.
The next group of questions refers to the examination of storage space offers. Therefore, the respondents were first asked a question related to the existence of excess space within their housing units. According to the results, 20% of respondents had excess space that could represent a potential offer for the realization of crowd storage services. On the other hand, 80% of negative responses were received to this question, which should be interpreted from two aspects. The first is that the respondents did not have additional space because their available space was used for their requirements, as well as the second aspect that refers to the fact that the respondents did not have an excess of their own space and that they needed additional space for storage. Therefore, a more detailed analysis is necessary to determine how many respondents are looking for additional space.
Respondents whose answer was positive were asked the additional question which refers to the type of available storage space. In addition to the listed answers to this question, respondents were given the opportunity to write the type of space they own, which was not in the listed options. One respondent stated that he has a skylight which can be offered for crowd storage. Additionally, the analysis determined that the most of available spaces were basements, empty and storage rooms (
Figure 3).
After examining the supply, the next set of questions related to examining the demand for additional storage space. According to the results obtained on the question related to the possession of excess things that would be desirable to put away, 42.5% of the respondents declared that they needed additional space, while 57.1% of the respondents answered negatively. When the answers obtained from this question are compared with the answers obtained from the question about the existence of free space excess, to which 20% of the respondents answered positively, it could be concluded that actually 37.5% of the respondents had a space that fully met their requirements. Therefore, 42.5% of the respondents had a need to dispose of excess items and, therefore, for additional storage space; 37.5% of the respondents had no requirements because their needs were already met, while 20% of the respondents had an excess of free space, which was why they did not need to rent additional space.
Respondents who positively answered the question about having excess items in their housing unit were asked an additional question related to the type of goods they would like to dispose of (
Figure 4). The most common answers were clothes, followed by books and documentation, bicycles, scooters, and furniture. It is also interesting to note that female respondents owned excess clothing, while excess books and documents were mostly stored by the students.
When researching the demand, the data expressing the quantity of the stored goods are also important. It was concluded that the optimal measurement when considering renting a space is the area, although the items actually occupy a certain volumetric capacity; however, the area measurement is much closer and clearer to the respondents themselves. Therefore, 50% of respondents declared that their belongings would occupy between 2.5 and 5 m2, a slightly smaller percentage of respondents needed between 5 and 15 m2, while only two respondents declared that they needed a space of 15 to 30 m2. None of the respondents needed a storage area of more than 30 m2. When considering the price of storage space, a hypothetical example of a 5 m2 space offering in the wider city area with a proposed price of 30 € was given. The results showed that 60.7% of respondents agreed with this offer, while 39.3% of respondents did not consider this offer acceptable.
After analyzing the supply and demand of crowd storage services, a set of questions related to the features and capabilities of the platform itself were asked. Therefore, respondents were offered some of the most important features, which are characteristic of this type of service, with the possibility of rating according to importance from 1 (not important at all) to 5 (very important). The offered features are defined based on the analysis of platforms that have been regulating this type of service for many years in the countries of Western Europe and the USA, and based on the study of comments and suggestions from a wide population of their users. Therefore, the potential users of the platform rated all features to the highest extent with 5, that is, as very important, with the largest number of respondents assigning a rating of 5 to the feature related to providing accurate and timely information (
Table 6). Of course, this characteristic also results in efficiency, which is significant for all interest groups; therefore, it is very important for the administrators of the platform, as well as its users, to be up-to-date and only provide verified information. For the purpose of ranking the importance of features, average scores were also calculated.
In order to form an optimal concept, the main expectations from the implementation of crowd storage services were examined. Within this question, users could choose several answers. Therefore, 45 respondents declared that the main benefit of the introduction of the platform would be to quickly and easily find storage space (
Figure 5). Furthermore, more than 50% of respondents agreed that the future online platform should make it possible to find storage space at lower prices and in better locations, as well as to free up the living space of excess things. It is also interesting that the possibility of additional profit from unused space was only considered by 24 respondents, which again indicates that it is necessary to raise awareness of the concept of crowd storage services among the residents of Belgrade through adequate promotion.
For a more precise examination of supply and demand, as well as the relationship between them, the survey results were analyzed in more detail. Namely, respondents who lived in three- or four-room apartments, as well as respondents who lived in the wider city area, had the most excess free space. When considering the type of storage space, basements (26.31%), empty rooms and storage rooms (21.05% each) were dominant in the offer, which again mostly belonged to owners of three- and four-room apartments. On the other hand, the demand for additional storage space was examined as well. Respondents who lived in one- and two-room apartments located in the inner-city center had the most excess belongings.
6.2. The Results of the QFD Method Application
The QFD method enables the design and improvement of material products and services, with the aim of satisfying user requirements. In this paper, the QFD method is implemented in order to develop a completely new service (the introduction of a specialized online platform, which still does not exist in Serbia).
Figure 6 represents the House of Quality, which refers to the user requirements identification, along with methods for their satisfaction. As for the requirements, their identification was carried out using a survey, and users primarily emphasized the importance of accurate and on-time information, transparency and user-friendliness of the platform, data protection, customer support availability, then, affordable price, favorable storage space location, as well as storage conditions under which hygiene and safety conditions are primarily implied. It should be noted that the fulfillment of the first four requirements is directly influenced by the platform, while the price, location, and storage conditions depend on the users who are registered as hosts to the greatest extent. On the other hand, among the identified resources, i.e., ways of satisfying the mentioned requirements, there are workforce, information technologies, data verification process, terms and conditions, marketing activities, along with user ratings.
After developing a list of user requirements and required resources, a connection between them was determined by assigning a certain symbol. Namely, each of the symbols numerically indicates the strength of the connection that was evaluated between the specific request and the resource. Therefore, a strong connection was identified between the requirement for accurate and up-to-date information and the workforce, because the promptness of employees when publishing an ad, as well as their ability to assess the validity of information, directly affect its successful implementation. However, the accurate and on-time information is certainly influenced by information technologies, in terms of their accuracy, function speed, and the limitation of simultaneous user visits, but to a much lesser extent; therefore, this connection is rated as medium. The medium connection is also assigned to the relationship between a requirement for accurate and up-to-date information and the verification process, which for greater security needs to be realized by verifying the e-mail address, photographing the identity card, as well as the person who registered the account. Finally, a medium connection is also assessed between this requirement and the user rating, as previous users can confirm the accuracy of information related to a specific ad based on their experience.
The next user requirement, which implies a transparent platform that is easy to use, is moderately influenced by information technology. However, the concept of information technology is quite broad, therefore when observing this resource, the emphasis is placed on the design and development of the front-end part of the platform. The medium connection between these entities is assigned because the satisfaction of the specific requirement can be more intensively influenced by other factors, such as the concrete conceptual solution and the skills of the programmer to implement it.
The user data protection directly depends on the terms and conditions defined by attorneys or other authorized persons. Within the terms and conditions section, special attention should be paid to the data privacy policy, which implies limited access to other users, as well as established protection measures against data theft or falsification. Additionally, data protection depends on the workforce in some way, since the employees could recognize privacy policy violations and react. Finally, a weak connection was identified between this requirement and the user rating, which indicates the need to protect personal data when assessing the previous host or user.
The existence of customer support is a requirement that can be directly fulfilled by hiring trained and professional staff. Employees in this position should have all relevant information on solving both general and specific problems while providing advisory services. On the other hand, communication itself is impossible without information technologies, therefore the connection between these entities is rated as a medium.
The price of storage space largely depends on the host. However, with the increase in the number of users, the volume of demand in relation to supply also increases, therefore creating a prerequisite for generating lower prices on the market. In order to attract as many users as possible, it is necessary to carry out certain marketing activities, such as promotion, target group research, and market research. Due to the indirect influence of the platform on the specific requirement, the connection between the price of storage space, on the one hand, and marketing activities, on the other hand, was rated as medium. However, the platform can only have an impact on the price of storage space in the event that the host’s proposed price is unrealistic, whereby they violate terms and conditions. In this regard, the platform has the right to contact the host in order to correct the price, which is why the correlation between the requirement for an affordable price and terms and conditions is assessed as weak.
As well as the price, the location of the space mostly depends on the hosts who rent spaces and the users who request them. Additionally, with the increase in the number of users, the variety of locations offered also increases, therefore, by implementing marketing activities, with the aim of gaining a larger number of users, this request can be influenced. For this reason, the relationship between the location of the warehouse space and marketing activities is rated as medium.
In the end, the storage conditions, under which hygiene and safety conditions are primarily considered, also depend to the greatest extent on the users themselves. The influence that the platform can achieve in this case regarding this requirement is the possibility of evaluating previous hosts. In this way, future users can be informed in time about the storage conditions, while the specific host can be suggested to improve the performance of the storage space that is rented. The connection between this requirement and the marketing activities is analogously assigned, as in the case of the previous two requirements.
The roof of the HoQ is formed based on an assessment of the strength of correlations between resources. Intercorrelations are represented by symbols, which also numerically indicate the strength of the connections. Therefore, the connection between the workforce and marketing is assessed as positive, because employees, among other things, deal with the realization of these activities. Furthermore, the connection between the verification process and terms and conditions is assessed with the same strength, because the data verification process, as well as its further use, should be a mandatory step defined in the terms and conditions. In addition, terms and conditions are positively correlated with the workforce, because these conditions, as well as their implementation, to a certain extent, also relate to the business procedures of employees. Finally, terms and conditions define the user rating option, but only in case those users have made an agreement about renting storage space. In this regard, the strength of the connection between these two resources was assessed as positive. A very positive connection was established between information technology and the verification process, as well as between information technology and user rating because these resources are based on the application of the software. Finally, a negative relationship was identified between information technologies and the workforce, because the automation and computerization of the process in the realization of crowd storage services reduce the number of employees required for their implementation.
Within the HoQ, a comparison in relation to the competition is also presented. Therefore, the letters refer to the following:
A—Specialized online platform for providing crowd storage services;
B—Classified ads websites;
C—Self-storage companies;
D—Moving agencies.
The level of requirements satisfaction, as well as the level of the resource representation, are rated on a scale from 1 (very weak) to 5 (very strong). In terms of accuracy and up-to-date information, at the highest level, there are self-storage companies that publish verified information on their websites, followed by the moving agencies, the self-storage platform, and self-advertising platforms, respectively. The reason for ranking like this is that self-storage companies and moving agencies are considered professional service providers, therefore the information they publish must be accurate and up-to-date, while the services on the mentioned platforms are mostly provided by amateurs. In addition, the reason why the self-storage platform, in the case of this requirement being higher in rank compared to the self-advertising platforms, is that on the specialized online platform, each ad is checked and approved by the administrator before publication, which increases the accuracy of the data. While on the other hand, ads on self-advertising platforms are not checked by anyone; thus, even ads that are not active anymore can appear.
The transparency and practical usage of the platform are rated as the highest for self-storage companies and moving agencies. On the other hand, these companies often have websites and not C2C platforms, but this is certainly the simplest way to search for important information about the company. Self-advertisement platforms are ranked worse because, unlike specialized platforms, the procedure for registering members is much simpler. However, the lower complexity of this requirement affects the increase in the complexity of others, therefore the paperwork is more complex for self-storage companies, while it is almost non-existent for C2C platforms.
Self-storage companies and moving agencies are also rated the highest in terms of data protection, because they store information about their users in internal databases, without publishing them online, followed by a specialized online platform, which invests a lot of effort in additional checks and data protection measures, such as the verification process and additional checks of administrators. Self-advertising platforms, where the only measure of protection is compliance with the privacy policy, are ranked the worse.
The biggest advantages of a specialized platform are the existence of customer support, as well as more affordable space prices in more favorable locations. On the other hand, the ratio of price and location is ranked as the worst for self-storage companies, as well as moving agencies, while self-advertising platforms are in between.
Finally, as far as requirements for storage conditions are concerned, by far the best and most diverse conditions are provided by self-storage companies. Their storage units are specialized for different types of goods; therefore, in addition to the basic conditions, they optionally provide air conditioning and ventilation conditions, while equipping it with different alarm systems. Furthermore, the conditions provided by moving agencies are largely controlled and suitable for storing a wide range of goods. The self-storage platform is ranked worst compared to the previous once, because the space rented by individuals is certainly not specialized for certain types of goods, but it can certainly meet the basic requirements of users. Self-advertising platforms are ranked last because administrators do not deal with the possibility of improving the performance of their users, that is, the space offered.
As for engagement in meeting the aforementioned requirements, from the perspective of the workforce, self-storage companies and moving agencies are at the highest level. The reason for this is that these companies fully provide a professional service, while on the platform for regulating crowd storage services, the service providers are amateurs. Self-advertising platforms are ranked as the worst according to this criterion because they do not hire the workforce for marketing, customer support, or booking specialists.
The information technology and the verification process are at the highest level within the specialized platform, because the entire mediation, identity verification, and communication take place on the same platform. The next ones are self-storage companies and moving agencies, while the worst in terms of verification are self-advertising platforms.
When observing marketing activities, the specialized online platforms are ranked as the best, but it should be noted that they are not as high as in other crowd logistics services. Self-advertising platforms are ranked as the second best and are very popular among users. The worst ranked are moving agencies and self-storage companies, with whose service concept, from the aspect of storage, a significantly smaller number of people are familiar with and whose promotional activities are not so noticeable.
Finally, as far as user ratings are concerned, this resource would be the most represented, but also the most useful on the self-storage platform, followed by platforms for self-advertising, where there is also the possibility of rating the ad, as well as leaving comments about it. Last ranked are self-storage platforms and moving agencies, because users can be informed about them based on reviews and ratings that can be assigned by people who have not used their services.
Determining the user requirements priority was performed from the importance, target value, and point of sale perspectives. The importance of the requirement is numerically ranked, and the evaluation is conducted based on the results of the survey. Therefore, the most important things for users are the location and price of storage space, then the provision of accurate and up-to-date information by a transparent, an easy-to-use platform that protects their data and provides favorable storage conditions, as well as assistance from customer support. The target value is rated on a scale of 1 to 5, with the following numbers indicating:
1—changes;
3—improvement:
5—the service is better than the competition.
Furthermore, the assignment of the target value was performed on the basis of a previous assessment of the competition. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the accuracy and timeliness of information, the transparency of the platform, data protection, as well as the option of user ratings, while the service is more competitive in terms of customer support, price, and space location.
A point of sale can have one of the following two values:
1—the service has a negative effect on sales;
2—the service has a great sales effect.
Therefore, the sale of the service is affected by accurate and up-to-date information, because if the information in the ad does not correspond to the real condition of the space, the user will not buy the service or will file a complaint. Furthermore, the sale of the service is also influenced by the price and location of the space, as they are some of the basic criteria when choosing a space for renting. In addition, data protection, user ratings, and ease of use of the platform can cause a large sales effect, as they assure users that their data is protected and that the service delivery is fast and efficient. Customer support can have a negative effect on sales, i.e., operators who cannot always answer all customer questions, thereby losing their trust.
The absolute weight of the requirement is calculated using Equation (1). Therefore, the highest absolute weight is achieved by user requirements related to an affordable price and convenient location, followed by accurate and up-to-date information, as well as data protection. The lowest absolute weight is achieved by user requirements related to customer support, transparency, and an easy-to-use platform that offers the option of user ratings.
In the end, the priority of the resources was determined, as well as their final assessment. From the perspective of the absolute weight of resources, which was calculated by applying Equation (2), the highest value was obtained by the workforce, followed by marketing activities, terms and conditions, information technologies, user ratings, and finally, data verification. The relative weight, which was calculated using Equation (3), generated analogous results. The absolute and relative factors were calculated using Equations (4) and (5), respectively.
The criteria weights were determined based on the absolute weight of each of the criteria. Namely, for each criterion, the share in the total absolute weight was calculated; so for the first criterion, a weight of 0.149 was determined as follows: 48/323 = 0.149. The weights of the other criteria were determined in the same way.