How Drycleaners Benefit from an iDryclean Computer
Drycleaners and laundries gain a lot from using a computer in their business — better organization, stronger customer service, and more efficiency. Here's how.
1. Save Money on Payroll
- Clerk early clock-in: Clerks often clock in early. That can cause a lot of work on your part and payroll expenses add up quick.
- Clock In/Out Text Notifications: Did your employee actually open the store at 7am? iDryclean can text you when they clock-in/out. Now you know for sure.
2. Improved Customer Management
- Customer Database: Computers can store and manage customer information, preferences, and order history, making it easy to access repeat orders and provide personalized service.
- Notifications: Automated notifications (text, email, or app) can remind customers when their items are ready for pickup or when items are due, improving communication and customer satisfaction.
3. Order Tracking and Management
- Digital Receipts and Tags: Using barcodes or RFID tags, dry cleaners can easily track each item throughout the cleaning process. Computers help manage which items belong to which order, reducing the chance of lost or misplaced items.
- Real-Time Status Updates: Systems can be set up to provide real-time status updates, making it easy to see where items are in the cleaning process.
4. Inventory Management
- Supply Tracking: Dry cleaners can keep track of inventory such as detergents, hangers, and garment bags, allowing them to restock supplies before they run out.
- Cost Management: By tracking supply use, computers can help dry cleaners analyze costs and optimize spending.
5. Point of Sale and Billing
- Digital Payments: Computers allow for the use of POS systems that accept various forms of payment (credit cards, mobile payments, etc.) and automatically generate receipts.
- Billing and Invoicing: Computerized billing is faster and more accurate than manual systems, and it helps keep financial records organized and easy to access.
6. Marketing and Promotions
- Loyalty Programs: A computer system can track loyalty points, discounts, and promotions, encouraging customers to return more frequently.
- Customer Feedback and Surveys: Computers make it easy to send post-service surveys to gather customer feedback and improve services.
7. Data Analysis for Business Decisions
- Sales and Performance Reports: Computers can generate reports on peak times, popular services, and customer demographics, helping dry cleaners make data-driven decisions.
- Expense and Revenue Tracking: By analyzing financial reports, dry cleaners can optimize pricing, reduce waste, and manage overall profitability.
8. Customer Rewards
- Reward repeat business: Nothing keeps customers coming back to your store like a rewards program.
- Automatic and Controlled: iDryclean will keep track of the rewards given and the rewards used.
9. Integrated Credit Cards
- Look Professional: iDryclean connects to the credit card machine. This avoids errors and looks more professional.
- Dual Pricing: iDryclean allows cash discounts and credit card convenience fees. Reduce your merchant fees.
Simply put - you'll make, and keep, more money with an iDryclean computer.
Using a computer helps dry cleaners automate their daily operations, reduce errors, and provide a better customer experience, ultimately leading to a more efficient and profitable business.
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How to Get Ahead in the Drycleaning and Laundry Business
A practical playbook — who to target, what it costs to get started, and how to squeeze every bit of value out of your POS system.
Who Should You Target?
There are a couple of main industries to consider. 1) Commercial or 2) Household. Should you target large industrial customers like hotels or should you target households is an important question. Here are some things to consider:
Commercial
You may end up with 1 or 2 gigantic customers that contribute a majority of your profit. That can be bad. If you lose 1 customer you could lose 50% of your earnings — kind of the old "all your eggs in one basket" scenario. So, if you do go the commercial route, make sure you have a balance of household customers as well.
Household
Households account for about 70% of total revenue for a cleaner. They can be more work because instead of 1 large customer, you (hopefully) have 100's of individual customers.
Police / Fire
More of a household account than a commercial account, many cleaners contract with their local police and fire departments for cleaning the officers clothes. Usually, the individual officer brings their clothes into the cleaner and the cleaner bills the police/fire department for the cost. NOTE: Make sure your POS system can handle that type of billing.
Is Drycleaning a Good Business to Get Into?
The market size of drycleaners is expected to increase by over 1% in 2022[1] so there is some growth to be profited from. During the pandemic of 2020,2021 many cleaners went out of business because people were not going into work so they were, in turn, not getting clothes drycleaned or laundered. That is a HUGE opportunity for those that survived the pandemic business-wise and those wanting to get into it. There will be lots of "gaps" in service when things get back to normal.
Currently, the estimated market size for the dry cleaning and laundry service industry is approximately worth $60.88 billion, and it is expected to grow at about 3.4% thru 2027. We think it's going to be higher because they haven't accounted for the surge that is coming if things get back to normal.
A drycleaning plant can be one of the least expensive business opportunities to get into. A startup cost of around $150k can usually get a plant started.
Here are some startup expenses to consider:
How to Make a Profit
Well, this is an easy one. Make more money than you spend, right? Not quite that easy though, is it. You can guess how much money you might make based on the prices you charge. But how much your expenses are is going to be hard.
Some Important Things To Remember:
- Cheap prices are soon forgotten after bad service.
- Service, Service, Service - Did we mention how important service is?
- Make the customer happy - to a point. Use your POS system to track the customers habits (good and bad).
Shirts are one of the cheapest things to get dry cleaned and usually are the highest volume thing in your store. The type of material that the shirt is made from is a big part of how much it costs to dry clean it. It also depends on the size of the shirt and if it is a pullover shirt or a button-down shirt. Make sure to set your pricing to reflect how difficult (time consuming) a garment is to clean.
Get historical data from your POS system to see where you are making (or losing) money. If you have a few years worth of data in your Dryclean Point of Sale system you could probably estimate workloads, profits, etc. from its vast knowledge.
Use the POWER of the POS
Your POS computer probably has a treasure load of knowledge in it — USE IT! Sure, your POS does the checkin, checkout, daily stuff but most POS systems are keeping valuable information about customers and sales without you even knowing it.
Customers
- Send out FREE email postcards to customers. Most POS systems can do this. It's free advertising.
- Use the Customer Relationship Manager to see how many times customers are abusing their FREE privileges.
- Text the customer when their order is ready to pickup so they pick them up (and pay for them) faster.
Employees
- Do an inventory (even if it's a fake one). Employees won't steal if they think you're checking.
- Use employee reports to make sure employees aren't giving away the store.
- Use the Timeclock feature of your POS system to make payroll easier.
Marketing
- Send FREE email postcards to customers on their birthday.
- See who isn't coming back to the store and send them a discount email postcard.
- Find your top customers and send them a Thank You email postcard.
Daily Workload
- Calculate employee needs by looking at the workload for each day.
- Garments on your rails are NOT money in your till. Use your POS to call them.
- The POS can tell you what's not finished, what's finished, etc. Use it to your advantage.
Potential
The growth rate of the dry cleaning industry is expected to be about 3.4% a year from now until 2028.[2] During the pandemic of 2020,2021 many cleaners went out of business because people were not going into work so they were, in turn, not getting clothes drycleaned or laundered. That is a HUGE opportunity for those that survived the pandemic business-wise and those wanting to get into it. There will be lots of "gaps" in service when things get back to normal.
Trade Shows
- CleanShow 2022, 2024, 2026 etc. - Drycleaner Convention, held semi-annually
- Southwest Drycleaners Association - sda-dryclean.com
Associations
- National Cleaners Association
- Drycleaning and Laundry Institute
- Northeast Fabricare Association
- South Eastern Fabricare Association
- California Cleaners Association
In Summary
- Drycleaner Market Size: $60+ Billion
- Revenue: $13+ million
- Growth Rate: 3.4% per year
[1] ibisworld – https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/market-research-reports/dry-cleaners-industry/
[2] ibisworld – https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-statistics/market-size/dry-cleaners-united-states/