香港初创企业开发蜗居生态链
Entrepreneurs in Hong Kong are developing innovative ways to help inhabitants of tiny apartments as the Chinese territory embraces a micro-living trend that is catching on in London, New York and beyond.
香港企业家正在开发创新方法来帮助居住在微小公寓的市民，这个中国的特别行政区正在拥抱伦敦、纽约和其它国际都市正在兴起的“微型生活”趋势。
From suitcase rental to external goods storage managed by smartphone apps, businesspeople in Hong Kong have established a range of start-ups designed to capitalise on the lack of living space.
从行李箱出租到通过智能手机应用管理的外部储物，香港商人创立了一批旨在获利于居住空间狭小的创业型企业。
Hong Kong has the world’s most expensive residential property after Monaco, according to estate agents Knight Frank, with tiny 20 sq mapartments on sale for as much as HK$4.5m ($580,000). Three-quarters of apartments in this densely populated city of 7m people have no dedicated storage space, according to Colliers, another estate agent.
根据地产代理莱坊(Knight Frank)的数据，香港住宅价格在世界上排名第二，仅次于摩纳哥，区区20平方米的狭小公寓每套售价就高达450万港元（合58万美元）。另一家地产代理高力(Colliers)称，在这个700万市民的人口密集的城市，四分之三的公寓楼没有专门的储物空间。
As they struggle to afford decent housing, young professionals from London to Hong Kong are increasingly opting for micro-apartments that range from ill-fitting conversions to slickly designed buildings with shared facilities such as gyms and lounges.
从伦敦到香港，年轻的专业人士在很难负担体面的住房之际，越来越多地选择微型公寓单位，此类住宅既有不怎么宜居的旧楼改造，也有设计新潮、配备健身房和休息室等共用设施的新建公寓楼。
“Prices are rising all the time and apartments are getting smaller by the day,” says Rachel Cheung, a former public relations officer who launched Hong Kong’s first suitcase rental business in October. “A suitcase takes up a huge amount of space at home but doesn’t get used that often.” Her company, Rent-a-Suitcase, leases upmarket Rimowa suitcases from HK$68 a day and she has served 300 customers so far as she looks for investors to help expand her business.
“楼价不断上涨，公寓单位一天比一天小，”前公关人员、去年10月推出香港第一家行李箱租赁公司的Rachel Cheung表示。“行李箱在家里占用大量空间，但用得并不是太频繁。”她的公司“租游列国”(Rent-a-Suitcase)出租高档的Rimowa行李箱，每天收费68港元，迄今她已向300位客户提供服务。目前她在寻觅投资者以求扩大业务。
Norman Cheung, a former investment banker, has got much further with his micro-storage start-up, which has raised $8.1m since January from some of Asia’s best-known investors, including the founders of Ting Hsin group, the world’s biggest maker of instant noodles.
前投资银行家张迅豪(Norman Cheung)的迷你储物服务创业型企业走得更远。自1月份以来，他已从亚洲一些最知名的投资者募集810万美元，包括世界上最大方便面生产商顶新集团(Ting Hsin group)的创始人。
Mr Cheung’s company, Boxful, offers a much more flexible version of the traditional self-storage model, where customers have to travel to a distant warehouse and hire large amounts of space for fixed periods.
张迅豪的公司宝易存(Boxful)提供远比传统自助储物模式更为灵活的自助储物服务。传统的自助储物模式要求客户亲自往返遥远的仓库，租用较大储物空间，而且期限固定。
Boxful’s staff go to the customers, providing standard-size crates, and offer an on-demand pick-up and drop-off service from HK$49 a month.
宝易存的员工上门取送，提供标准尺寸的储物箱和预约取件/送件服务，费用从每月49港元起。
Boxful, like US counterparts Boxbee and MakeSpace and London’s SpaceWays, has an app that allows users to photograph their belongings and generate an electronic inventory.
就像美国同类企业Boxbee和MakeSpace，以及伦敦的SpaceWays那样，Boxful有一个应用，允许用户对入箱的物件拍照，生成一份电子清单。
“Most of our customers have never used self-storage before and that is unexpected but very encouraging because we’re creating a new market,” says Mr Cheung, whose company stored 3,500 boxes as of April, with growth accelerating month by month.
“我们的多数客户以前从未用过自助储物，这是令人意外但又非常鼓舞人心的，因为我们正在创造一个新的市场，”张迅豪表示。他的公司截至4月储存了3500个储物箱，业务增长速度逐月加快。
Stuart Cerne, who co-founded Boxful’s main Hong Kong rival Spacebox, says the business model will generate economies of scale as individuals outsource personal storage and the companies buy warehouse space in bulk.
宝易存在香港的主要竞争对手Spacebox的联合创始人斯图尔特张尼(Stuart Cerne)表示，随着人们外包私人物品储存，随着企业批量购买仓储空间，这种商业模式将形成规模经济效益。
Spacebox is also working on a new service that will allow customers to share boxes of their belongings, whether they contain baby clothes or electronics.
Spacebox还在研究一项新的服务，让客户分享装有自己物品（从婴儿衣物到电子设备）的储物箱。
Mr Cerne says his company, which has 500 users and is targeting 5,000 by the end of the year, is not just about storing goods but “using technology to unclutter your life”.
Cerne表示，他的公司有500名用户，争取到今年底发展到5000名，其意义不只在于储物，而是“用科技去除你生活中的杂乱”。
Boxful’s Mr Cheung is convinced the service will take off around Asia as property prices rise sharply in developed and developing cities alike. “We’re thinking about expanding internationally from next year and we’re looking at Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing in China as well as Singapore, Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok and Tokyo,” he says.
宝易存的张迅豪确信，随着发达国家和发展中国家的城市楼价大幅上涨，他的服务将在亚洲各地起飞。“我们正考虑明年开始国际扩张，我们在研究中国内地的深圳、上海和北京，还有新加坡、雅加达、马尼拉、曼谷和东京，”他表示。
