November 2002

Just a year after its launch, the Spacebuster online warehouse procurement site has closed down. Clients wanting to buy or sell short-term warehousing capacity (its main speciality) are now being referred directly to Fuller Peiser, the property industry company behind the service.

Spacebuster had the distinction of being the first (and so far only) Web site to allow warehouse capacity to be traded online; but according to Fuller Peiser's Charles Binks, who headed the service, this facility was under-utilised. He also blames depressed market conditions for the decision to pull the plug. "Whilst ahead of its time, the service is simply not sustainable at present."

Early users included Hays, P&O, Securicor Omega, Exel, Norbert Dentressangle and Seafield Holdings. By the time it closed, Spacebuster was dealing with 70 sellers, 500 seekers and 15 million sq ft of space in over 200 locations across the UK, and was notching up 150,000 "hits" per month: impressive numbers, but evidently still not enough to fund the site.

Other online warehouse suppliers are predictably exultant at the development. The market "is not as easy as competitors believed," according to Roy Wilson, joint managing director of Warehousexchange. He maintains that in the long run the successful online warehousing sites will be those (like his) offering a true broking service, not just listing properties.

By coincidence, Warehousechange currently also claims to show details of over 15 million sq ft of space. The latest customer to take advantage of its service is Nomad Energy, which found capacity at Howard Tenens' Boston site in Lincolnshire for storing its natural stone products.