CHICAGO — Chance Stone, owner of Tropical Laundromat in Holly Hill, Fla., has plenty of competitors he’s facing in his town, situated just seven miles northeast of Daytona Beach.
“We’ve got four competitors within a three-mile radius,” Stone says. “Two of those competitors are within a mile of us, so it makes it an area that has a lot of competitors in what we do.”
He explains that his laundry business, which he’s been operating for four years now, continues to grow despite the stiff competition. So much so that he’s been able to draw in customers from as far as 12 miles outside of his community.
Stone attributes this accomplishment to the strides he’s made in establishing his store’s loyalty efforts, both online and in his store.
But, he’s not alone. American Coin-Op reached out to various operators across the country regarding the steps they’ve taken, and the strategies they’ve implemented to not only attract new customers, but to keep regulars coming back.
‘A WIDER NET’
Whether electronic or an old-fashioned punch card, one tactic operators have been utilizing at their stores to create a customer base of regulars is through a simple loyalty card.
Deborah Dower, owner of four Paradise Laundry locations in the greater Sacramento, Calif., area, has installed an electronic card system at her stores to set up her “Wash Club” rewards card, which she explains brings various benefits to her business.
“One of the key things is we’re an unattended store,” Dower says. “All of our stores are quarter stores, but we added credit [card] capability, and with that, we purchased proprietary ‘Wash Club’ cards, and that is what we [use] for customer acquisition.”
“By having a loyalty card, or a frequent washer card, I load those up with $5 credit and that’s what I can mail out to get people to come in and try our store.”
Dower explains that she has a “call to action” on her website, encouraging customers to register their card. Upon doing so, registered users get 10% “frequent washer” credit each time they use their card, as well as a “new member” bonus for which Dower matches 50% of the initial value customers load onto their card.
“We wanted to add credit cards because I wanted to be able to reach a different demographic,” explains Dower, who not only utilizes the system for customer acquisition, but to issue refunds, as well. “I really felt that we’re obviously capturing the quarter laundry users with the coins, but I felt that we could add credit cards and … we would cast a wider net and be able to capture that homeowner that has a washing machine, but needs those oversized items [cleaned].”
Colleen Unema, owner of Q Laundry, Bellingham, Wash., structures her store’s loyalty cards similarly. Unema gave away preloaded cards to locals when she first opened her store in June 2013, and continues to give customers 10% on every dollar they spend.
“Fully a third of our business is on these loyalty cards. That means I have access to good information regarding what machines are used, how often [customers] come, average value per visit—all kinds of information that helps me manage my business smarter,” says Unema.
Tiberio “Tiby” Erdely owns San Antonio (Texas) Green Laundry, a fully cashless laundry store that he’s been operating for almost a year now.
In addition to utilizing loyalty cards to build a customer base at his store, Erdely believes, like Dower and Unema, that the card system he’s installed provides various management benefits.
“[Customers] earn the points, they get a bonus, but to me … the value of it is because every machine gets cleaned up every single time they use it, and if somebody leaves something inside a machine, a T-shirt, whatever it is … we see who used that machine the last time,” he explains.
“I think that’s the main thing, that it’s not only the bonus, but the control that we have.”
Check back Wednesday for Part 2!
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].