CHICAGO — A majority of businesses polled in the 2024 American Coin-Op Distributor Survey report their total business sales grew in 2023 when compared to the previous year, a positive sign for the self-service laundry industry.
Sixty percent of distributors who took the annual survey say that their total business sales—including sales of newly constructed vended laundries and replacement business—were higher in 2023 compared to 2022. That’s up three percentage points from the year before.
Fifteen percent of respondents say their 2023 total sales were lower than 2022’s, and 25% say that business was the same or similar compared to the prior year.
As for how distributors expect their 2024 overall sales will compare to those of 2023’s, roughly 47% of those polled are predicting brighter things this year.
Distributors listed in the previous edition of the American Coin-Op Distributors Directory were invited to participate in this year’s unscientific survey, which charts 2023 business and makes comparisons to previous years. In this summary report, percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
In Part 1, we examined year-over-year sales, replacement business and new-store construction. Part 2 covered equipment mix and store sizing. Let’s conclude:
NEW-STORE PROFILES OVER THE YEARS
If you’re wondering how these numbers from 2023 compare to distributor business performance in years past, here’s a quick recap:
The average store that was newly constructed in 2023 has 2.6 top loaders, 26.1 front loaders and 31.5 dryer pockets, and covers 2,867 square feet. Here’s how it compares to new-store profiles from the previous five years.
- 2022: 2.5 top loaders, 29.4 front loaders, 32.6 dryer pockets, and 3,027 square feet
- 2021: 5.7 top loaders, 27.3 front loaders, 29.5 dryer pockets, and 2,855 square feet
- 2020: 2.4 top loaders, 28.5 front loaders, 33.5 dryer pockets, and 2,845 square feet
- 2019: 1.9 top loaders, 30.3 front loaders, 34.4 dryer pockets, and 2,990 square feet
- 2018: 3.1 top loaders, 26.5 front loaders, 27.8 dryer pockets, and 2,948 square feet
OTHER BUSINESS
We asked distributors if their company brokers vended laundries. Roughly 53% of respondents to this year’s survey say they do, compared to 21% in 2023, 24% in 2022, 44% in 2021, 26% in 2020, 34% in 2019 and 31% in 2018.
Roughly 56% of distributors polled operate a route laundry. This compares to 43% in 2023, 56% in 2022, 48% in 2021, 51.6% in 2020, 40.6% in 2019 and 50% in 2018.
The share of distributors that host an annual equipment show is 43.8%, compared to 53.8% in 2023, 46.2% in 2022, 52.2% in 2021, 54.8% in 2020, 47.7% in 2019 and 50% in 2018.
AND THE 2024 FORECAST IS…
Nearly half of distributors polled—47.1%—predict their 2024 sales will be better than those of 2023, while 35.3% believe they will be the same or similar. Just 17.6% believe their 2023 business sales will be lower than 2023 totals.
Those predicting better sales are basing this on higher year-to-date projections, store projects already in the pipeline, higher referral rates and improved marketing efforts.
The share predicting 2024 annual sales will turn out lower point to various economic signals and their belief that they can’t duplicate their “great” 2023 performance.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].
