‘New Normal’ Trends in the Laundry Industry

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an environment in which customers are acutely aware of health standards and hygiene protocols. Watching store personnel clean the machines, the folding tables, the seating units and the restrooms creates confidence cleanliness is taken seriously.

Another trend is the increased reliance on technology. For instance in the coin-operated laundries, the pandemic led to an unexpected coin shortage, so laundry owners started to offer multiple payment options. Together with leverage remote monitoring to meet their customer’s needs, it induced the laundry sector to transform from an analog to a more digital approach. The current situation has only accelerated this development.
In other ways too, technology has provided advantages. Payment systems provide the ability to program washer cycles and offer special services. Apart from that, it enables machines to work in concert with chemicals, pump systems, ozone or UV disinfection systems, an important feature during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Increased focus on staff training in light of the current pandemic has also become imminent, as well as focus on store layout with wider aisles, more and better-spaced folding tables, sanitization stations, and soak sinks. Finally, new services have emerged, such as wash-dry-fold, as well as the growing availability of residential pickup and delivery.