How Neptune Laundry Accelerated Their Pickup & Delivery Business

About Neptune Laundry

With five locations in and around Boston, Neptune Laundry has become a local staple since opening its doors in 1999. Living by their motto "Where the Customer is Always King," this family business has spent over two decades focused on one simple goal: making laundry day better for their customers, whether they're dropping off their clothes or doing it themselves.

"My dad started the laundromat back in 1999," explains Nick Dilibero, Operations Manager at Neptune Laundry. "As a kid, I'd always be working at the stores, fixing laundry machines. When my brother and I both graduated, we started working for my dad again."

Between 2017 and 2020, they undertook an extensive renovation of all existing locations while simultaneously expanding their footprint: "From 2017 to 2020, we renovated every single store. We built another store. We built a store for another owner too."

The Challenge

By 2020, Neptune Laundry had reached a crossroads in their business journey. Having successfully expanded to five locations and established a reputation for quality full-service wash, dry, and fold services (including commercial accounts for businesses), they faced several significant challenges:

"We wanted to build more stores, but the whole laundromat scene blew up a little bit. There was a lot of competition and we were trying to get to a sixth store, but we were having a hard time finding locations to lease."

This saturation of the traditional laundromat market pushed Nick to think differently about growth: "Around 2020, I was tired of building stores. I got a little exhausted from doing it. That's how we started getting into pickup and delivery."

The decision to explore pickup and delivery wasn't without challenges: "Before Cents, we struggled with pickup and delivery during off-peak hours and weekends—we simply didn't have enough volume to justify dedicated drivers after 4pm or on weekends. Switching to Cents with their Uber integration was a game-changer for us. We could offer on-demand service during those previously uncovered hours, building our customer base in those time slots before committing to full-time drivers. The gig economy drivers filled our service gaps, allowing us to scale gradually while never turning away a customer due to scheduling constraints."

They also faced intense competition from established national brands: "We're in a really competitive market. There's a lot of national brands that we're competing with. They obviously have higher SEO because they're getting more website clicks from being in almost every city in the country."

The Solution

Neptune Laundry initially started with another provider but eventually found their answer in Cents' comprehensive platform, particularly its pickup and delivery capabilities.

"We saw Cents and you could use Uber drivers and the gig economy. That would let us build our clientele that wanted orders before I had to hire somebody to be driving during those hours or on the weekends."

This ability to leverage on-demand drivers through Cents proved game-changing, enabling Neptune to offer immediate service without hiring full-time drivers right away. The platform allowed them to extend their already strong customer service philosophy to the digital realm – giving customers the convenience of scheduling pickups when most convenient for them, with reliable notifications keeping them informed throughout the process.

The customer service from Cents also became a crucial differentiator compared to their previous provider: "The customer service difference with Cents has been night and day compared to our previous provider. With our old system, support meant calling a single phone number and hoping someone would answer. If they didn't, we were completely stranded. Now with Cents, I just message the on-demand guys in chat, and we get issues resolved within a couple of minutes. That level of responsiveness has been critical as we've scaled from just a few deliveries to hundreds per month."

Nick particularly appreciates how Cents continually improves its platform based on operator feedback: "With my previous vendor, requests for software updates often went unheard. But with Cents, I know you're busy, yet you make an effort to implement my suggestions. Since we started with Cents, I've noticed many improvements—things I used to wish were fixed are now being addressed through updates. I see you listening to operators and making changes. It doesn't happen instantly, but recent updates have been great, and I'm loving them."

The Results

Implementing Cents' pickup and delivery system has yielded great results for Neptune Laundry. What began as a modest service has exploded into a thriving operation:

"Last month, we did 300 orders, which was really great. It's been a long-time goal. But when we started doing this, we were lucky to get 10 orders in a month," says Nick, reflecting the dramatic growth that has been particularly notable recently, with monthly growth rates accelerating over the past year, especially in the last six months. This expansion has enabled Neptune to invest in dedicated resources, including two vans and two delivery drivers, with additional support from maintenance staff when needed, as they continue to set new records, most recently hitting 35 orders in a single day.

Superior Customer Experience

Neptune's commitment to quality service has created positive word-of-mouth that drives continued growth:

• Focus on carefully following customer instructions

• Providing superior presentation with rolled clothes and attention to detail

• Charismatic, personable drivers who build relationships with customers

"Our drivers are really charismatic, personal people, so our customers love our drivers and we get a lot of word of mouth," explains Nick, whose team's attention to detail sets them apart from competitors through their focus on "giving customers a nice package," where "we roll all the clothes and follow the directions as well as possible, trying to have a good presentation." This meticulous approach aligns with Neptune's longstanding commitment to customer service that has been central since their founding, when they began prioritizing attendant training and maintaining high cleanliness standards to provide customers with a comfortable environment where they can affordably wash their clothing.

Looking Ahead

With a solid foundation in place, Neptune Laundry is poised for continued expansion of their pickup and delivery services:

• Weekend Service Expansion: "I think we're going to do our own drivers on the weekend pretty soon. We finally have consistent business on the weekends where I can keep a driver busy for the whole day."

• Marketing Initiatives: "We're hoping this year to really go hard on the Facebook and Instagram ads and try to grow awareness and try to get more customers."

• Continued Growth: "When we project that out to this year, we're expected to at least double what we're doing now," states Nick, who is also exploring ways to better distribute orders throughout the day to solve the problem of later delivery windows, as currently from 8am to 12 o'clock they have 90% of their orders.

Based on his experience, Nick offers valuable advice for other laundromat operators considering pickup and delivery:

"Just start doing it. There were a couple of years when I was ready to stop doing it. There were a lot of headaches for not making much money and spending all this money on doing all this stuff. But over the years, it grew and became successful. It was all worth it. It's been great."