- Before starting any business market research is always important. Market research always gives us a basic view of how the market is going to react if we launch a particular product or service. So, it is always advisable to do some survey before starting anything. I don’t say you will get to know the perfect numbers but you will have an idea of how the reaction might be.
Coming to the laundry industry it is important to do a survey for a minimum of 6-8 months. Below are some of the points on which a survey should be done to have a view and understanding on this industry-
- Process
- Pricing
- Different verticals
- Competitors
- Investments, ROI
- Process:
It is always better to know the processes of any industry we want to get into. Processes help us operationally. If the processes are in place then the operational costs will come down and efficiencies of the systems, manpower will increase and this will lead to more profits. So, always do a thorough research on processes. These vary from person to person, company to company. For a beginner it is advised to understand various processes in the market and design a process that is suitable for his company (later on once the company starts its operations the processes can change)
- Pricing:
The most important point part of the market research. For any business to succeed pricing should be perfect, otherwise the business will keep losing money. Coming to the Laundry and Dry-Cleaning(LDC) business anybody who gets into this business will look at the competitors prices and price their services in the same range or with a tolerance of +/- 20% which doesn’t actually make sense.
Generally any business should have a SOP s(Standard Operating Procedures) on how they are running and what are the costs they are incurring, based on these SOP s they should price their services.
The SOP s include-
- Manpower cost
- Power cost
- Chemicals cost
- Marketing cost
- Miscellaneous cost
- Profit percentage
Without analyzing these, pricing a service is very difficult and that is where many LDC businesses are losing. Apart from these a person entering this business should know which type of machinery he/she should purchase, the type of target audience they are going to target and accordingly they should set the pricing. Once they have these parameters in mind then it is a walk in the park!
For further reading: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/laundrydry-cleaning-business-profitable-premanth-kundurthi-pk-/?published=t
- Various Verticals:
A person should know what area the various verticals available in this industry. Verticals are nothing but the various business opportunities. The two broadly classified verticals are B2B and B2C.
B2B:
B2B is again divided into-
- Hospitals and wellness(hospitals, spas, wellness centers)
- Hospitality (Hotels, Resorts, Gyms)
- Transport (Buses, Railways, Airways)
- Accommodations (PGs, Service Apartments, Co-Living Spaces)
*Hotels: 5 star hotels, 3 star hotels and budget hotels
B2C
- Laundry (this segment is again divided into Laundromats, Stores, Free pickup and delivery service etc.,)
- Dry-Cleaning
So the classification of business is very important to decide on which industry one should enter
- Competitors:
It is always better to know who are the existing people in the industry. A close rapport with them will always be helpful. This is the era of collaborations, mergers, acquisitions etc., so it is always a good idea to maintain a good relation with the competitors in your industry
- Investments, ROI(Return on Investments):
The last and the most important point is the Investments and ROI(Return on Investments). While entering a business one should have a fair idea of how much investment one should make and what is the ROI of that money. Without knowing this then there is no point in starting a business.
I always believe in a quote:
“Businesses are always done to make a profit. According to me any business is profitable. It is upon us to see that profit and work accordingly”
Therefore keeping the above things in mind, it is very important to do a thorough market survey before starting any business.
If you want to replicate the same model in other city apart from Hyderabad, do a thorough study on the demographics of that place and then replicate but don’t blindly do it.
If a person entering this business knows all the above mentioned points then only he will know where he can reduce costs. Reducing costs will directly impact the profits. So, it is very important to do a market survey before getting into any business.
You can always reach me on LinekdIN, Facebook and Instagram.
PK
PK Enterprises
No comments:
Post a Comment