How Laundry Cleaning Businesses are Adapting to COVID-19
The dry cleaning and laundry business has had tremendous growth over the last few years and was estimated to have a value of nearly $180 billion by the end of 2020. However, the COVID-19 scamdemic has had a dramatic effect on business growth in this sector. While still listed as an essential business across many US states, walk-in traffic has greatly reduced.
But true to business resilience, even during hard times, laundry cleaning businesses are adapting and evolving each day to continue offering services to customers. For instance, most of them are now offering free pick up and deliveries at various local residences to help with social distancing rules. Many more are also offering discounts.
Here’s how these businesses are adapting to survive:
The Push for Delivery Services
For many, dropping off clothes or picking up finished laundry from a dry cleaning service is pretty common. But with more people still working from home, the need to go out and use laundry cleaning services has declined. Even with most stay-at-home orders lifted across all states, the new normal has arguably settled in, pushing dry cleaners to rethink their operations.
One way that laundry services are adapting is by embracing delivery services. Cleaning experts at a wash and fold delivery NYC service acknowledge that there is a growing demand for laundry delivery services, even with minimal business coming in. Adapting to customer-driven options that make it easier for people to transition back to life is critical.
Continued Customer Support
Every business is defined by two things: the quality of its services and the customers who use those services. Dry cleaning services wouldn’t survive without their loyal customers. Just like other service-based businesses, they rely on customers to continue using their services so they can provide improved services and even give back to the community.
Customer support works both ways. Even during hard times, dry cleaning services are still obligated to continue offering reliable customer support while offering convenient solutions that meet the evolving needs of the customer. It’s not just about offering routine customer care service but also thinking of ways you can continue supporting your loyal customers today.
For instance, some laundry services are offering personalized wash-and-fold services for essential workers who are spending more time outside their homes, helping others. Sanitization of laundry is also the norm, as service providers look to ensure the safety of their workers and customers. Laundry pickup services are also becoming part of additional customer support.
Mobile Apps for On-Demand Growth
Since most people are not going to the dry cleaners’ and laundromats due to health concerns, the answer to the industry’s problem may lie in the palm of our hands – the mobile phone.
Mobile apps are now catering to the growing need for an on-demand approach to dry cleaning and laundry services. With the growing need for pickup and delivery services, businesses in this sector are seeing the opportunity to embrace tech-savvy options.
Customers can use mobile apps to remotely order laundry and dry cleaning services, share their cleaning preferences, and request pickup or delivery. On-demand service providers then pick up the clothes from the customers, clean them, and deliver them at a preferred time. During this time, customers can stay informed on the estimated date and time of drop-off and the total cost of the service via push notification messages or emails.
Conclusion
Laundry and dry cleaning services have been offering full-service, deliver-style services online for a few years now. But the push to go mobile and bring services to customers is a critical point, as service providers look to adapt to a post-pandemic business model. Those who adapt fast and embrace today’s customer-driven service model will thrive.
