Presentation pilot program ‘Say goodbye to laundry day’

In May 2021, Leon Wennekes of TextileCare Research in Amsterdam set up a pilot project to get a better impression of the customer experience that use a professional laundry & dry cleaning service rather than washing at home.
This practical-oriented market research titled ‘Doe de was de deur uit’ (translated into English as something like ‘Say goodbye to laundry day’) has been completed and the report has been compiled. The research was conducted among 19 Amsterdam households, mapping out their experiences while outsourcing their laundry for one month free of charge.
On 19 October you will be able to hear more about this project during the YEP meeting from CINET, below is a sneak peek of the most important conclusions.

Promising target groups

In terms of target group, it can be concluded that the professional who looks good (mainly men) and the families with several children are the most promising match for such a sustainable laundry service. For these two groups, the weekly chore of doing the laundry takes up the most time. For the professional because he must iron his garments (besides the sorting, folding, etc.) and for the family because both mother and father are often working in these modern times. Within these target groups, it is then possible to zoom in further on households that are technologically savvy and try to live sustainably. In this project especially interesting feedback came from many women. They experience outsourcing laundry as too intimate (mostly referring to their underwear & lingerie). Once again it was very clear that building trust is of vital importance for such a laundry service, clothing remains an emotional product for people.

Logistics by e-cargo bike

Regarding logistics, it can be concluded that the e-cargo bike fits better into this concept than expected. The bike is faster and more sustainable than vans (for last mile city logistics), easier to use, fits well in terms of volume and also serves as a perfect billboard. During the pilot it became clear that there is more than enough potential to increase the efficiency of the logistics process working towards 7-10 stops per hour.

Obstacles

The biggest challenge for the process in general lies in removing all obstacles/frustrations that the pilot participants experienced during the delivery of laundry & dry cleaning service. More differentiation will have to be built into the service level to remove these obstacles step by step without making the user experience too complicated. Participants confirm that “it’s great to get their dirty laundry delivered clean without any efforts, but all the organization and communication around the service takes away the convenience in no time if you don’t watch out.” A multitude of online and offline channels (@home, @office and on the road) can enable the customer to use the laundry service more easily and the customer should be put in control of the service via an app so they can easily make changes in the delivery schedule upon their convenience. The offline channels are also confirmed to be of value by some participants. In some situations, it simply suits people better if they can drop off/pick up the laundry somewhere in the area themselves (e.g. concierge service). Ideally, channels are scaled up based on customer demand.