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Pick Up and Delivery has been a game changer in the laundry industry, for both operators and their customers. We are joined by our Chief Product Officer, Gilli Cherrin who will do a deep dive weekly into the motivation behind Cents Pickup and Delivery software, why pickup and delivery will help grow laundromats business and how Cents can act as a laundromats “business in a box”.
While pickup and delivery isn't new to the laundry industry, it has grown substantially in popularity. Download this guide to find out how to secure drivers, promote your services, and the technology needed to run a successful pickup and delivery business.
What was the motivation for pickup and delivery? Where was the gap in the market and what was the biggest goal in providing this tool to operators and their customers?
Pickup and delivery (PUD) has been a cornerstone of the wash and fold business for as long as most people in the industry can remember. It has always been done as an additional convenience for a laundromat’s customer base, and we see this more and more as laundromats continue to move to a fully attended model that makes for a better in-store experience and the added labor can support wash and fold.
While pick up and delivery is not new to the space, it is representative of the fastest and easiest way to grow a garment care business. At its core, PUD simply provides the infrastructure needed for operators to capture more pounds by expanding their reach beyond the standard one mile radius that makes up the majority of their self-serve and drop off business. The right technology can help revolutionize how PUD operations are currently managed (including process tracking in the store) and give a laundromat the opportunity to have a best-in-class customer experience fully branded to their business.
Let’s take a couple examples of how we try to take PUD to the next level at Cents. One is our partnerships with buildings through both local and national property management groups. By working directly with buildings (or, even better, giving operators the tools to work directly with local buildings themselves) Cents’ dedicated building product introduces a seamless delivery experience to the tenants while aggregating orders to maximize driver efficiency. To boot, this tenant focused flow removes the tension inherent in a customer needing to be home to meet their delivery driver. Tenants can come downstairs and drop off their laundry at the dedicated drop off zone any time they want. If there are 1 or more orders at any given building, the address will automatically populate as a stop for the driver with a clear breakdown of which orders are there to be picked up and they will get a notification when their order is delivered back. Not home, not a problem.
Another piece that has received a lot of attention at Cents is PUD powered by the Gig Economy. Other than working with great partners like we have over at DoorDash, this is a really exciting development for the laundry industry. This is NOT to say that a gig driver is right for every order, but we are already seeing how this integration has totally transformed businesses in the Cents network. For operators that have their own drivers, they can augment their delivery options to time slots their drivers are not on the road while also offering an on-demand option. For operators that want to get into the PUD business, but are hesitant to hire a driver without having any firm commitment to volume, this is the opportunity to prove the demand, hone the pricing, and identify the geographic areas that provide the highest ROI. Because you can subsidize this fee, operators have the freedom to give PUD a real try without any cost at all.
A quick story from my own life - I live north of San Francisco in a town just over the Golden Gate Bridge. One of my favorite laundromats is on Divisadero street in the city. It was 2 PM, the kids’ laundry was already bubbling over two hampers, and it was time. I ordered on-demand delivery from Laundré and sent it over that same afternoon. It was seamless and I honestly forgot about it until I got a text message from the laundromat that my order was done that same day at 9 PM. I was actually visiting a friend of mine in San Francisco when the text came in, I updated my address and got same-day delivery to a different address. It’s a simple story but emphasizes that with the right technology the chore of laundry can be flipped into something totally new.
It’s Cents’ mission to revolutionize the way pick up and delivery is being done. These two areas — integrated building management and gig drivers — is just the tip of the iceberg. Having the right PUD infrastructure will allow laundromat owners to grow their business in new ways, and help usher in a new experience to match the modern consumer’s expectations.
It doesn’t stop here - Let’s talk about deeper integration with gig platforms like DoorDash and how our new initiative called Cents Connect is allowing local laundromats to process laundry for national brands in a future post.
Book a free demo to see how Cents can help you grow your laundry business and better streamline your overall processes.
While pickup and delivery isn't new to the laundry industry, it has grown substantially in popularity. Download this guide to find out how to secure drivers, promote your services, and the technology needed to run a successful pickup and delivery business.
