CHICAGO — The vast majority (88.9%) of operators polled in this quarter’s American Coin-Op Your Views survey who attended Clean 2019 in New Orleans say it is “highly likely” that they will do business with the exhibiting companies they visited.
“I personally don’t like coming to New Orleans,” wrote one respondent, “but I spent over $100K buying new equipment at the show.”
Nearly 7% of respondents say it is “somewhat likely” that they will patronize an exhibitor seen at this year’s show, and the remaining 4.4% say it is “neither likely nor unlikely.”
Roughly 88% of the survey respondents say they attended Clean, while 12.5% did not.
Among those who didn’t attend, the majority (44.4%) say they “couldn’t work it into my schedule.” Equal shares of 22.2% “had no interest in attending” or “didn’t care for the host city.” (Respondents could pick any or all from six suggested choices, plus add their own.)
The vast majority of those who attended Clean 2019 were there either three days (42.9%) or four days (33.3%). Another 19% visited two days, and the remaining 4.8% was on hand only one day.
More than 30 hours of educational sessions were presented during the show. Among respondents, 50% attended none of the sessions, while 23.9% attended five or more. Roughly 11% took in one or two of the sessions, while 15.2% attended three or four.
The survey asked about session quality and choosing a favorite:
- “All of them were very good. My favorites were the “Lifecycle of a Laundromat” and the marketing one.”
- “Wish there was more on pickup and delivery.”
- “The ones I attended were not as directly informative as previous shows. I enjoyed the CLA interactive show on Friday morning the most.”
- “Some great ones and one terrible one. Whoever thought it was a good idea to bring Tide in to talk about wash and fold and how they are basically going to put you out of business. I walked out and will not sell Tide products in my laundry anymore.”
- “We went to as many learning sessions as possible and we learned something at each one. The only drawback that I would change would be the speaker system. … I would suggest that all speakers also have some type of visual board for those that have a hearing impairment.”
And respondents were invited to share their overall impressions of the New Orleans show:
- “Clean 2019 was as big as I have ever seen. Although having attended seven shows now, it gets harder to be impressed or find new things or ideas that are overwhelming.”
- “Please have more benches on the show floor.”
- “I was impressed with the breadth of offering and traffic. As an exhibitor, I felt the show is one day too long. Every exhibitor I spoke with saw Sunday as a waste.”
- “More time for distributors. Once the show opens, hard to see other vendors. I suggest a soft opening like SEFA does, open only to manufacturers and distributors the night prior.”
- “Was my first, and it was intimidating at first, but very educational. I walked over 30 miles on the show floor, going back and forth from different booths, and it was great to get to see more aspects of the laundry industry than just the machines that my company distributes.”
- “I came specifically for Laundromats. Booths were scattered everywhere. Recommend one section dedicated to Laundromats, one section to dry cleaning, and the last section for in between. Spent too much time determining if a booth pertained to Laundromats or not.”
- “I go hoping to pick up one or two new ideas or equipment. This year, I picked up a couple, so it was a good show.”
American Coin-Op’s Your Views survey presents an unscientific snapshot of the trade audience’s viewpoints at a particular moment. Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
Subscribers to American Coin-Op e-mails are invited to participate anonymously in the industry survey. The entire audience is encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define owner/operator opinions and industry trends.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].