A recent survey reports that 58% of laundromats offer wash and fold service. Many laundry owners wonder if they should add pick up and delivery to their wash and fold services. There are four BIG benefits to offer pick up and delivery:
#1 Increase Your Customer Pool
#2 Customer Retention
#3 Investment Security
#4 Offer Dry Cleaning
Increase Your Customer Pool
The Curbside Laundries software has a built-in report that shows your customers on a map. This report illustrates that most customers live within a few blocks of each laundromat. Proximity is a top factor for choosing which laundromat to visit. By offering pick up and delivery, a laundromat can expand its coverage area by over 200 square miles. In addition, pick up and delivery orders tend to be larger than their in store counterparts. This is a big revenue growth opportunity.
Customer Retention
Wash and Fold customers pay for convenience. A laundromat that offers the most convenient wash and fold service for the price will have loyal customers. Previously common external risk for a laundromat is if a wash and fold service provider moved close by, then the ‘closer’ store would capture some of the original laundromat’s customers, because the ‘closer’ store is now the more convenient choice. New competition is an ever present risk that all laundromat owners face. However, what if something drastic and transformation could put your entire wash and fold business at risk? What if a service provider within 15 miles offered pick up and delivery? How many customers who pay for convenience, would find pick up and delivery more convenient than driving down to your store and waiting in line? Rather than waiting for this risk to materialize in your neighborhood, laundromats can take the first movers advantage and offer this service to their customers and own their marketplace. If customers are happy with the pick up and delivery service they’re using, they’re unlikely to switch providers.
Investment Security
Laundromats that are on a lease are at the mercy of their landlord and lease agreement. What if the terms are not favorable in a lease renewal or a renewal is not offered? An entire business that was years or decades in the making could cease to exist or get taken over by another entity. A laundromat that offers pick up and delivery service can keep these customers and bring them over to the new location. Pick up and delivery customers are indifferent to a laundromat’s physical location. It’s great income security to know that you can change locations and bring customers with you.
Offer Dry Cleaning
Many laundromat owners have flirted with the idea of accepting dry cleaning and outsourcing it. Dry Cleaning often makes dollars PER item, not per load. The main barrier of entry in our industry is people are not used to bringing their dry cleaning into a laundromat. Some people cite that they just don’t feel comfortable or trust a laundromat with their dry cleaning. No matter how much marketing a laundromat does, it is a tough consumer behavior to change. By offering a pick up and delivery service, the trust hurdle is nullified. Not only are people willing to have their dry cleaning picked up by your driver, people are more likely to use wash and fold delivery services when they can do their dry cleaning at the same time.
