We all know that the four basic needs for a human being are clothing, meal, accommodation and transportation. Thus, doing laundry becomes an essential task in our daily life. Many of us who are busy pursuing our career or make ends-meet might not have time to do the laundry.
No matter you are staying alone in a condominium or having families, doing laundry can be a burden for you. Not to forget to mention the elders who might have difficulties to do house chores. Thus, Mr Sky and Mr Tan from Laundry Hub see these pain points and decided to help solves these people problems.
Expansion through customers’ support and loyalty
Laundry Hub is established in 2015 by Infinite Verkz International Sdn Bhd. Currently, Laundry Hub is a leading branding in Coin-Operated Laundromat (COL) industry, with more than 150 outlets operation within Malaysia and 8 outlets within Brunei. The management team credited the achievement of today success to its customers’ support and loyalty.
“Our customers trust us with our professional services. We know our business very well, starting from market research on the shop location, the financial forecast of the shop, the tips to address customer enquiries and better ways to improve the business. We did not spend a huge amount of money on marketing; our expansion is driven by word of mouth and referrals.” explains Mr Tan.
Honesty and Transparency drives partnership
“When a potential investor approaches me, I will share all the potential risks, investment capital needed and the worst performing result can be with them, I want them to consider wisely before they invest in the laundry business. Most of them will be discouraged after hearing my analysis. Those who are still keen to proceed with the investment, my team will provide end-to-end support and consultation, ranging from searching the best shop location, renovation of the shop, ways to attract customers and improve the business as well as expansion. Then, we will provide training for our new business partner on the good practices to operate a laundry shop and prep them to answer customer potential enquiries.”
Laundry Hub’s outstanding performance has been recognized by the Asia’s Top 100 Honesty Brands Award and SME 100 Awards Malaysia 2019 which aim to create ethical practices for business dealings, raise the awareness of integrity, promote the discipline of honesty, recognize the fastest moving business of the SME sector.
In close collaboration with investors
The management team works closely with the investors through quarterly meeting and year-end gatherings. The quarterly meeting is done on investors’ site when maintenance and support provided. The year-end gathering is organized to discuss the investors’ concern, any untapped opportunities and return on investment (ROI).
“We treat investors like our friends; we always go extra miles to help them in improving their laundry business. We want our investors to have peace of mind in term of warranties and support as we provide one-stop service from chemical distribution to maintenance support. If their business is performing, we want to understand the contributing factor and provide recommendations. If they face any difficulties in attracting customers, we are there to support them. We want our investors to own their business thus, we train our investors well and ensure they can make their decision independently. Thus, you can always see us appearing in our partners’ laundry shop, chatting with our partners on how the business doing”
Every customer interaction matters
With a team of 5 passionate staff, the team is committed to deliver services beyond their scope to investors and customers. The team prefers to be sending the employees on the ground, having conversations with the customers and getting feedback for better improvements.
“We can remember our customers by their faces, when we are at the shop, we love talking to them and sometimes observe their laundry pattern. We think that the economic slowdown has impacted on the laundry frequency and the usage behaviour. Some families used to visit our shops 3 times a week and use the medium machine, now they reduce their visit to perhaps 1 time a week and use the large machine. Thus, to help them with their budget, we tend to have value deal for them, our marketing channel is normally through the banner in the shop.”
Value the contribution of the employees
“Our employees are the asset of the company; thus, we will try our best to compensate them for their contribution. We also hope to bring in new blood to our company; however, sometimes it is difficult to identify and recruit the right talent.”
Good branding versus quantity
“Our core focus is to establish the trust and quality of Laundry Hub; we help our investors to provide the best services to our customers. Among laundry brands, we believe our branding fee and maintenance fee are relatively lower. Thus our investors can earn back their investment faster. However, we will not encourage our investors to open more shops so we can earn more. We do not want any customer to complaint about their unpleasant experience with our laundry shop, this incidence will affect not only the particular laundry shop reputation, it will also affect all other laundry shops under Laundry brand, thus we focus quality then quantity.”
Even though the economic slowdown has discouraged investment into the laundry business, the management team still sees it as an excellent opportunity to establish their laundry shop.
“When investors are worried to go in the laundry market now, we think it shows signs that we as the founder can establish our own laundry shop. We are planning to establish our laundry shop in a state and we capture the laundry market shares in the state by expanding more laundry shops,” he ends.
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