According to the current market demographics do people actually require a Laundry/Dry-cleaning service?

Like food, milk and groceries Laundry and Dry-cleaning (here after referred to as LDC) business is also becoming an essential service for people across the globe. Laundry industry in India is around 2.2L crore and out of this only 5% is organized and the rest 95% is unorganized. Therefore by this stat we can understand that there is huge scope for a LDC company if the processes are implemented correctly on a day-to-day basis. Therefore let us first understand what are the different verticals in a LDC business and you shall get to know how this is a very essential service.

In a broader view a LDC business is divided into 2 segments-

• B2B(Business to Business)
• B2C(Business to Customer)

B2B:

In this segment there are again different verticals where one can venture into-

• Hotel laundry
• Hospital laundry
• Transportation laundry(Buses, Trains, Airplanes) etc.,

Hotel Laundry:

Be it 5 star or budget hotel, linen is the backbone for any one. The person or company who is washing this linen should be very careful so that life of the linen can last long. Many of the 5 star hotels will have an in-house laundry setup. Coming to 3 star and budget hotels which are mostly managed by OYO Rooms, Treebo Hotels, FAB Hotels, MakeMyTrip, Goibio etc., they will outsource their laundry rather than having an in-house laundry setup. The main KPI(Key Performance Indicator) for any hotel is guest reception and satisfaction.

For Example: A laundry company’s main KPI is to wash clothes, for washing these clothes they will use chemicals every day. For this very reason they will not start a separate setup for manufacturing chemicals. Likewise a hotel’s main KPI is guest reception and satisfaction and not washing of the linen

The linen in a hotel sector is divided into the following categories-

• Bed Linen
• Bath Linen
• F&B Linen
• Guest Laundry
• Staff Laundry

In Hyderabad there are approximately-

20%- 5 star hotels 

80%- 3 star and budget hotels 

This shows that there is a lot of scope for B2B and the same is applicable for Hospital as well as Transportation laundry

B2C:

This segment is the most common which many people know. The two main services which a LDC service provider can provide are-

• Wash and Iron
• Dry cleaning

90% of the households have a washing machine at home and they actually don’t need a service like this. But on the contrary, in today’s millennial’s generation where both husband and wife should compulsorily work so that they can lead a happy life style. Keeping in mind all this, laundry seems to be a very tedious task and it requires lots of time to complete the task. So, seeing this as an opportunity there are various segments in which a B2C LDC company can be started. Some of them are-

• Laundromat
• Free pickup and delivery service
• Store
• Instant washing 

Dry-cleaning:

Dry-cleaning should anyways be given to the experts and there is no other question on that. Dry-cleaning as a service is a bit costlier when compared to laundry. Dry-cleaning machinery is costlier when compared to laundry machinery and also it requires skilled manpower who have the ability of removing stains. The major revenues for B2C segment come from the Dry-Cleaning.

Therefore as discussed, as long as a there are human beings on this planet people keep wearing clothes. Once clothes come into picture, there is no dearth for this business. It’s upon the service providers on how they capture the market and make customers feel happy with the service they provide.

*LDC- Laundry and Dry Cleaning

*KPI- Key Performance Indicator

Also if anybody has any queries apart from the above, you are always free to ask.

PK.

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