Can Container Pop-up Shops Challenge e-Commerce?

E-commerce enables new innovative retailers to a start a business with a relatively small initial capital. As it is easy for new businesses to emerge and new products to be offered with affordable prices, e-commerce can benefit the sellers, buyers and societies. Still, the advantages of traditional retailing exist and, luckily, the cost-related disadvantages might  be diminished with the use of shipping containers.

The use of shipping containers in retail real estate can break most of the disadvantages related to traditional retailing. By default traditional retailing suffers from high fixed costs, long leases, expensive rates and inflexible terms to name but a few. Also, as setting up a store takes forever, the costs tend to add up. Even though shipping containers are not originally designed to be used as real estate, they still are the most optimal solution.

Shipping containers are designed to be shipped in extreme weather conditions in rough seas. Therefore they offer the best protection towards any weather, even against hurricanes. They are built of durable material and are sized according to international standards. Therefore they are also modular and stackable allowing retailers to compile a retail center according to her own taste in a very short time period. Even a shopping mall can be built in three to four months from scratch. Containers are also affordable, say, a used container may be sold by about US$1000.

E-commerce can not fight back traditional commerce in certain areas. Security issues are always on top when establishing an online store. Possible credit card frauds might scare the customers away which forces businesses to invest a lot of money to buy expensive information security services and develop a a secure payment infrastructure. Also it is very likely that an online retailer might suffer major goodwill losses as customers become disappointed when the received products do not match with the products viewed online.

Containers shops as a form of traditional commerce enable face-to-face communication with customers and thereby better possibilities to create mutual trust between sellers and buyers. It will also be possible for sellers to present more expensive alternatives and thereby collect bigger profits. Container shops are not also tied to a fixed location but can be relocated many times.

By default, container shops can not get to the same cost category with e-commerce. Nevertheless, in a long term even maintaining an online store raises its maintenance costs and online retailers will be forced to start reaching for the advantages gained only via traditional commerce. The good thing is that, one is not forced to choose only one option. One can have them both, and create a combined retail infrastructure that has all the advantages of both online and offline retailing.

The suggested hybrid solution can only be implemented with shipping containers. Shanghai Metal Corporation has a long experience in offering shipping containers for the use of housing, hotels and offices. To learn more about our container solutions and how to order, please view our website. Please also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. You can also download our new mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

#BuildingValueAcrossTheGlobe

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Wikipedia, Academia.edu, Treehugger.com, Dutchcorner, Stumuxlow, Remodelista, Archdaily, WordPress, Peggychow.com, Tourismtrends

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Container Houses – The Next Big American Dream

The container housing industry is becoming mainstream as it is now a sub category of affordable housing. Building a home out of shipping containers enables also medium income consumers to hire an architect in a very reasonable price. Thereby, container homes might be the next American dream.

Companies have also noticed the advantages of container housing. For instance Starbucks has already installed its container coffee shops in Seattle and London. Container homes also come with a pretty nice design.

One of the benefits of shipping containers is their modularity. They are made as same sized and designed to be piled up and fit optimally in cargo ships. Containers are like Lego blocks. You can pile them up and thereby even create a multiple floor or a multiple wing mansion.

Shipping containers are also designed to be able to resist rough weather in seas. Thereby they are made of really durable and tough material that ensure the safety of a container home. In addition, the material is really simple to modify. Cutting, reforming and other modifications are done by welding which is a simple and cheap procedure. Building a nice patio with a jacuzzi is suddenly affordable.

Also one great thing about containers is that their are available in all all over the world and their transportation is extremely convenient. Containers are designed to fit in a standard shipping cargo leaving no blank space in the ships. Because of the new mainstream use of containers, their weight-to-value ratio is to increase.

The benefits of container homes have been recognized worldwide. For instance, in Finland, container housing is becoming a great solution for offering affordable student homes. Please read about more the Finns’ solution to student housing in our blog. Also the world’s hotel industry is going wild of containers as new companies offering transportable accomodation solutions emerge. Container hotels is also in a luxury top-end category in the hotel industry. Please read more about luxury container hotels here.

China is a major exporter of shipping containers and Shanghai Metal Corporation is one of the leading businesses in that field. To know more about our container houses, villas, hotels and offices, please visit our website. Also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. You can also download our new mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

#AddingValueAcrossTheGlobe

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Smartplanet.com, Ecopressptc.com, Inthralld.com, Homedsgn.com, Buzzfeed.com, Bobvila.com, Australian Council of Trade Unions,  Wikipedia, Prefabfan.com