On-Demand laundry services provide washed and dry-cleaned clothes are delivered to customers’ doorstep. Running a laundry business might seem fairly simple like take in dirty laundry, turn out the clean laundry. It looks like a simple enough concept, but in reality, it is not so. Commercial launderers have to do much more than just clean laundry to be really successful.
Laundry business needs nominal capital, no-entry barriers, huge neighborhood market, on-demand laundry app development, and good returns generally make it a hot business idea. But it has its own share of difficulties from scaling to owing to a large number of uncertainties.
Although the on-demand laundry industry is growing, they are facing so many challenges attached to it. Commercial laundries are facing many challenges nowadays including a shortage of skilled labor, low margins, low customer loyalty rate, and management of outsourced work.
For larger commercial laundries consolidating and capturing the market is difficult. Logistics is also a huge challenge to tackle. Commercial laundries have to deliver customer packages to their doorsteps which need proper management.
Vehicles need to be maintained every once in a while. Keeping track of all labor is another challenge. Then, there are so many backend related challenges including unsatisfied customers, fake orders, and mismatch of timings for pickup and delivery. These challenges along with a shortage of skilled labor and the variables attached to dry cleaning prevent the expansion of the backend keeping pace with frontend growth.
No matter if you are running a small neighborhood dry cleaner or a large commercial laundry operation you need a laundry app solution at the first place to stand out. Moreover, the following are some tips to help you find success in this competitive industry.
Try New and Innovative Ways to Increase Service Offerings
Expanding the customer base is a difficult task in any business which depends heavily on location. Even after providing an incredibly efficient pick-up and delivery service, your customers are still likely to move to their nearby service provider. So it is difficult to enhance your customer base within a certain geographic radius as it leaves you with a pretty finite number of potential customers.
You can try expanding service offerings which can be a cost-effective way to both increase revenue from current customers and attract new business. These extra services could include:
- Pick-up and delivery services
- Press and fold only
- Specialty cleaning of all kinds of fabrics
- Rush service
- USA Laundry app solution
Try to offer these services without extending your staff or your budget and find new ways to attract customers. Providing high-quality service is another good way to impress your customer to create opportunities for a new acquisition.
Read more: On Demand Laundry Mobile App Features & Development Cost
Be Prepared With Equipment and Supplies
An extended period of downtime because of equipment or supply issues can ruin a solid business especially in case of a commercial laundry. It’s always better to be over-prepared, so be sure that your equipment is working properly and well maintained and be sure that your supplies are never close to empty.
Keep track of machine warranty dates and keep a record of local repair resources that could help you out in no time in case of emergency. Be prepared for anything and everything to avoid downtime. By using startup Dry Cleaning Software you can keep track of all the upcoming requirements of your business.
Make a Budget and Don’t Let Utility Costs Harm the Business
In a commercial laundry, water costs represent most of the total operating costs. Then comes energy costs that list on top of utilities and can be a huge expense for launderers.
Limiting the use of water and energy can be a game-changer for commercial laundry businesses. Limiting water usage and energy usage by up to 50% can save you a lot of money each year.
Digital Marketing
Make a website of your laundry service or having an Atlanta Laundry mobile App Solution to make it big and take help of digital marketing. Using technology can get you a good list of the promising customer base. Social media in today’s world is a smart and fast medium to spread a word.
Though nothing can replace a good quality service but to spread a word for this quality business, social media can play an important role. Make a list of contact numbers of your existing customers and keep them updated about your services.
Fair Wages
The industry should try to solve the challenge of shortage of labor by empowering and rewarding laborers with a fair wage. They deserve better wages as they do the weight lifting and hard work. Until they’re not paid more than what they can earn on their own or from outside there’ll be a shortage of skilled labor. You cannot underestimate the cost of retaining and hiring a trained workforce.
Enhance better customer experience
A laundry has many processes attached to it that require human interference. The customer expectation is high and chances of errors are equally high since the process cannot be completely automated. Customizing the customer experience will give a boost to your business.
Outsourcing
Commercial laundry businesses can outsource their work to local laundry houses too. Though it is hard to manage the quality of outsourced work it can be a smart way to handle a huge customer base in a particular area.
Margins
Keeping your margins low may also attract new customers and stay upright in the laundry industry.
Logistics Management
Logistics is another division that should be managed to fulfill the expectation of customers to deliver their laundry at their doorstep. Keep your delivery staff updated with all the customer addresses for a timely delivery. Avoid any kind of misunderstanding with customers.
So, these are some of the ways you can overcome the challenges in the on-demand laundry sector and become the market leader.
Kinjal Savaliya
Kinjal Savaliya is Business Development Executive USS LLC. At USS LLC we developed the best mobile app development solution for Dating App, Grocery Delivery App, Healthcare App, Laundry & Dry Cleaning App, Pharmacy App, Taxi Booking App.