Laundry services are a huge industry. The global dry-cleaning and laundry services market was valued at $67.2 billion in 2022. By 2030, it's expected to grow to $103.5 billion, which means it's growing at an average rate of 5.5% each year from 2022 to 2030.
A small dry-cleaning shop can earn about $30,000 a year after paying all expenses. A self-service laundromat can bring in cash flow between $15,000 and $300,000 annually.
Clearly, the laundry business is profitable. No matter what type of laundry business you run, there are plenty of ways to expand your business.
Try these four laundry business ideas to get more customers and boost your earnings.
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Offering more services can bring in more customers.
Many people dislike doing laundry and putting it away, and some don’t even have easy access to washers and dryers.
Offering a wash-and-fold service can help with both these issues. Customers can drop off their dirty clothes, and you'll return them washed, dried, and folded. This luxury service can attract a new type of customer, helping both laundromats and dry cleaners looking to bring in new and returning customers.
Customers who use laundromats are typically from lower-income households. Those who opt for wash-and-fold services generally have more disposable income.
For example, a laundry service that includes wash-and-fold options can have a wide variety of customers. The clientele could include single working men, college students, tourists, hotel guests, vendors, restaurants, small businesses, and working couples without children who have disposable income.
Dry cleaners can also benefit from offering wash-and-fold services. With the demand for dry cleaning going down as people use laundromats, home washing machines, and other alternatives, adding more services can help attract new customers. You can also offer ironing along with dry cleaning to expand your offerings.
Providing laundry delivery could boost your business even more because delivery has become popular in many industries. Most delivery customers live within five miles of the store, but adding delivery has expanded the customer base to a 12-mile radius.
Elevate laundry delivery with on-demand convenience.
Often known as the “Uber for laundry,” on-demand laundry lets customers easily get their laundry done whenever they want. Similar to ordering a ride, you can schedule laundry pickup through an app or website and pick the services you need. Then, your clean clothes get delivered right to your doorstep when they’re done.
It’s a profitable option, with on-demand laundry services expected to reach about USD 563.05 billion by 2032.
Rinse is a rapidly expanding brand in the laundry delivery industry. Despite challenges in the consumer on-demand market, it has consistently grown its margins. Besides on-demand service, Rinse offers smart scheduling, providing weekly laundry pickup and delivery to customers.
If you start with any of these laundry business ideas, like on-demand or smart-scheduling laundry services, you’ll want to use route optimization software. This kind of software can help you save time, work more efficiently, and make customers happier, all of which will boost your profits.
Here’s how eLogii can help your laundry business:
Save Time
Forget about manual planning! Just upload a list of delivery and pickup addresses in an Excel file, and eLogii’s software will find the best routes and evenly split the work between your drivers.
Cut Costs
Efficient routes mean less money spent on gas and mileage. Plus, by making the most of your routes, you’ll cut down on labor costs and get more out of your team.
Date-range Tasks
eLogii allows you to schedule tasks within a specific date range. This means the system will assign each task to the best day based on constraints like schedules, capacities, and time windows, while also considering current and historical traffic data.
Set Task Priority
When setting up a task, you can mark its importance in the Advanced section of the form. eLogii will use this priority level to adjust and create routes. If you set the priority to high, the system will make sure this task is given top importance compared to others.
Keep Your Customers Updated with Live Tracking
Send text or email updates to let them know when their laundry is on its way. Updates even include a link for live tracking.
Get Delivery Proof With The eLogii Driver App
Your drivers can collect signatures, snap photos, and jot down delivery notes, giving you all the details you need to answer customer questions about their orders.
Improve your local search visibility with your free Google Business Profile. It helps potential customers find, learn about, and contact your laundry business quickly.
Your Google Business Profile should include your website, business hours, phone number, photos, customer reviews, and answered questions. A detailed profile can boost engagement, improve your Google ranking, and attract more customers. In fact, 88% of people who search for local businesses on their smartphones visit or call within 24 hours.
Check out this guide to get the most out of your Google Business Profile.
Many consumers find local businesses through social media, so make sure your laundry business is easy to find by setting up and staying active on the right platforms.
You don’t need to be on every social network—just focus on the ones that matter most for your business. For instance, being active on Yelp is important to respond to customer reviews and questions, but you probably don’t need a TikTok account to reach local customers. Yelp ads are also effective since 82% of users visit with the intent to purchase, and 89% of them make a purchase within a week.
Yelp and Google are great places to advertise your laundry business because they target people actively looking for your services.
Google’s Local Services ads show up when someone searches for terms like “Seattle laundry service” in your area. Plus, you only pay if someone contacts you through the ad.
One great way to attract more customers is to share positive reviews from satisfied clients.
Most people check online reviews before choosing a local business. Highlighting glowing endorsements from your customers is a powerful way to attract new business. Namely, 75.5% of people trust in online reviews when deciding what to purchase.
There are several ways to encourage more reviews, like offering incentives and timing your requests perfectly during the customer experience. Once you gather the valuable user-generated content, make it is easy to find. Display them on your website, share them on social media, and use them wherever you can.
If you can offer a better experience, you can charge more for your luxury laundry services. Start by exploring what your local competitors are doing and find ways to improve your own business. Trying out their services can help you find the best pricing for your services.
Sampling other laundry services can also inspire you with new ideas to enhance your own laundry business.
As we've discussed, wash-and-fold delivery and on-demand laundry services are what customers expect from a modern laundry business. Give them what they want, and let eLogii help you provide top-notch service.
Our route optimization software makes it easy to add pickup and delivery to your business model. It helps you save hours of planning and money, providing a better delivery experience for your customers. This leads to happy repeat customers and great reviews.