The laundromat is trapped in a self-imposed "high-end" quagmire
Release Time:
2019-12-18 09:40
Source:
AIA Laundry Headquarters
"Glamorous on the outside, bitterly cold inside" — this is the true portrayal of many self-styled "high-end" laundries today. In many people's minds, high-end means high price. Of course, achievements in the high-end field are not denied, but these rare achievers rely not only on prime commercial locations, luxurious decoration, and satisfactory quality, but also on many factors such as the operator's emotional intelligence and social status, some of which are irreplaceable.
With continuous improvements in detergents and the increasingly mature and widespread washing and dyeing processes today, does maintaining good laundry quality really require extra costs? Running a "high-end" laundry has low direct washing costs, but the overall costs are surprisingly high. High rent for prime locations and storefronts, luxurious decoration, equipment and chemical purchases exceeding actual usage, market education costs, excessive exquisite packaging, timely delivery logistics costs for more thoughtful service, sales and public relations costs... Of course, higher costs also include market education periods and the cost of idle business without customers.
From this, it can be seen that laundries positioned as "high-end and high-priced" do not have high costs from direct washing expenses, but rather the cost of maintaining a "high-end image." However, this accumulated high-end image is not necessarily what customers need. Even if there is customer demand, it is destined to be a niche group, after all, the chance of "buying the box and losing the pearl" only appears in the story of "Han Feizi."
More importantly, the higher the laundry price, the more it causes most people to "hesitate," ultimately falling far short of the initially expected "busy business." Correspondingly, personnel wages, rent, marketing, and other shared costs become higher, forcing laundry prices to rise further. Thus, these laundries fall into a vicious cycle that is hard to break. Even though the laundry industry is becoming more prosperous and more families no longer see laundries as places to solve difficult problems but as a relaxed lifestyle choice, the cost-performance trade-off still excludes "high-end" laundries. The owners of "high-end" laundries are just forcing smiles while starving in their luxurious, glamorous stores.
In many operators' minds, "high-end" means high price and high profit, and consumption upgrades mean price upgrades. This "white, rich, and beautiful" self-image traps laundries in an inescapable vicious cycle. So, where is the future path for this type of laundry? Our view is to let laundries return to the basic attributes of the laundry industry: 1. Use professional equipment, chemicals, and processes to solve washing and ironing problems that customers cannot handle at home. 2. Use economies of scale to reduce washing and time costs, providing customers with costs they can afford and are willing to pay, thus allowing more families to use laundries and enabling millions of families to easily achieve cleanliness.
How to return to the basic attributes of the laundry industry? The core is price rationality. What is a reasonable price? It is the price that customers think is worth it and are willing to pay. After all, the demand customers are willing to pay for is effective demand. Often, there is an imbalance between customer expected prices and operator expected prices. This imbalance seems to have many contradictions and opposites, but they share a commonality: overly high expectations — all are irrational manifestations of greed. Customers expect lower prices, operators expect higher prices, and the balance between them reflects the operator's wisdom, management ability, and trade-offs. Of course, irrational greed, whether from customers or operators, will be eliminated.
Especially important is how operators can make customers rationally accept prices and recognize that the cost-performance and money spent are balanced and pleasant. Many laundry owners, despite years of operation, still lack a clear and rational concept of pricing. Pricing standards are based on competitors. This industry has almost become nationally unified in pricing, though it is unclear when this started. In reality, per capita income, rent costs, labor costs, and other factors vary greatly across regions, yet market prices appear so uniform, which is quite strange.
To give an example to directly compare price and profit differences within the industry, linen washing is part of the laundry industry. Taking hotel linen washing as an example, because a washing machine of the same capacity has almost the same direct cost whether washing linen or clothes. For example, a 50-kilogram washing machine can wash 40 duvet covers. If a hotel can pay the laundry company 3 yuan per duvet cover, that is already a very high price. The laundry factory owner would be very happy, feeling the profit is substantial. So, a 50-kilogram washing machine producing 120 yuan in output is already very good. Now, looking at clothes washing with the same output: a 50-kilogram washing machine can wash 35-40 down jackets, 200 shirts, or 40 sets of spring/autumn clothes or work uniforms. If 120 yuan output is considered reasonable and satisfactory, then down jackets are priced at 3.5 yuan each, shirts at 0.6 yuan each, and spring/autumn clothes and work uniforms at 3 yuan per set. Adding one yuan per item for hangers and dust bags, although different detergents are used, the detergent cost per machine differs by no more than 20 yuan. Some say certain clothes require hand processing, such as special patchwork fabrics or decorations. For these, we can raise the price and explain the price components to customers. Most customers understand and accept the complexity of the process. In fact, the vast majority of clothes we receive can be directly machine washed, which is already a widespread washing process. For ironing, we can use the automatic ironing robots used by Dalian Youbang Laundry Factory. So, what is the reason for charging high laundry fees?
The above example comparing linen is not to say that price should be set at that standard, but at least we understand the direct cost and output situation. Washing clothes involves some technical content compared to linen. Adding the value of technical content, even if we multiply the above example prices by three to five times, or even five to six times, it would still impress customers. For laundry owners who cannot do "high-end high-price," it is time to cut those extra "image costs" and eliminate outdated inefficient costs, letting washing costs account for the vast majority of expenses and returning laundry prices to reasonable levels. This might awaken more people's laundry needs and make going to the laundry a relaxed lifestyle. Actually, cultivating customers' laundry habits depends not on the customers but on us awakening them.
How to further reduce costs and increase efficiency, building output advantages several times that of traditional laundries, making these advantages self-propagating — I have elaborated on this in previous articles and will not repeat here. The focus of this sharing with peers is the courage to switch and overturn thinking. The modern famous philosopher Wittgenstein once said: "Once a new way of thinking is established, many old problems automatically disappear." Value return is an inevitable trend of the times. When an industry is dominated by many external factors that obscure its intrinsic value, a thorough return revolution is needed, rather than the cost burdens brought by "high-end".
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