The Laundry Industry Is in A Big Battle, And Express Delivery Companies Are Lying Down To Win?

It's the rainy season again, with the air filled with water and dripping with drops. If you haven't finished processing your seasonal clothes before the arrival of the plum blossom season and don't have a dryer at home, a more professional laundry shop will be your only choice.
Some people attribute the rise of laundry shops to the promotion of the "lazy economy", while others believe that it is the more segmented demands in the economic society that have driven a new social division of labor - entrusting professional tasks to professionals.
However, is this really the case? Due to significant differences in fabric and craftsmanship of clothing, as a service industry, clothing cleaning has always been unable to achieve automation throughout the entire process without human intervention and experience.
That's why unprofessional things often happen in this industry. On the Black Cat Complaint Platform, there are as many as 40000 complaints about "laundry". Whether it's chain brands or community stores, consumer complaints mainly focus on "damaged clothes, cross colored clothes, and unclean clothes", which were originally the core competitiveness of the laundry industry.
The embarrassing situation caused by the fire
In mid March this year, a laundry cooperative factory under JD Logistics' "JD Laundry" caught fire in Xingtai, Hebei, causing damage to some laundry items.
This fire quickly spread from factories to social media.
Some people on Xiaohongshu have posted one after another saying that they lost contact after their clothes were taken away. After the news of the fire was reported, JD Logistics customer service began to contact consumers and follow up on compensation matters.
It should be said that as a major platform, JD laundry has not been slow in handling this unexpected incident. However, on social media, there are still consumers who are not satisfied with the compensation amount, especially those who purchase laundry items at higher prices.
In fact, the compensation standards for the laundry industry are currently mainly based on the National Dispute Resolution Measures for Washing and Dyeing Services (Trial) within the industry. Article 11 of the Measures stipulates that if the operator is responsible for causing minor damage to the clothes after washing, which is not in obvious areas or does not affect the appearance and wearing value after repair, it is recommended to compensate the consumer with three times the washing fee while returning the original washing fee. If it is lost or cannot be worn due to damage, compensation will be given at a rate of 10-20 times the washing fee. After compensation, if requested by the consumer, the compensation amount can be reduced by 30%, and the clothing belongs to the consumer; If no consensus can be reached on compensation through negotiation, consumers can be guided to seek solutions from relevant functional organizations.
This method was released ten years ago in September 2014. Obviously, the prices ten years ago are no longer comparable to today's, and it is difficult to satisfy consumers if the compensation amount is determined according to this method. In fact, the conflict between laundry stores and consumers often lies in this.
"Probably no one is more unlucky than me. This time I sent and washed three clothes, including one dark sleeve that was washed out, one with oil stains on the chest that was not cleaned, and one with white ones that were washed out directly." Ms. Luo, who was upset by an Internet laundry platform recently, said that the total price of three clothes when they were purchased exceeded 3000 yuan, but after a long negotiation with the platform, the other party said that the clothes had depreciation after several years of wearing, and could not be calculated based on the original purchase price, but was willing to pay 300 yuan.
In addition to price, the understanding between both parties is often inconsistent regarding the standard of "not affecting appearance and wearing value" mentioned in the above "methods".
Mr. Zhu has a down jacket that was specially delivered to a chain laundry store that has been open for several years for cleaning last month. Unexpectedly, he received it a few days ago and found that the logo on his chest had faded. The dry cleaning shop did not shirk responsibility and expressed willingness to compensate, with a standard of three times the washing fee. Mr. Zhu cannot accept it. He believes that this logo may not appear significant on the surface and does not affect the functionality of the clothes, but it is located right in front of the chest. After fading, it affects the appearance and cannot be worn by himself.
Similar conflicts and disputes occur almost every day in the laundry industry. The ultimate result is either consumer complaints or consumer compromise.
Laundry shops are also full of grievances. The owner of a small dry cleaning shop near the retail owner's house said that business is becoming increasingly difficult to do. On the one hand, prices are too high, especially now online laundry platforms are pushing prices very low; On the other hand, once a piece of clothing is washed out, many pieces of clothing are equivalent to being washed in vain.
What has the Internet changed
The most impressive traditional laundry shop is a small storefront located near the community, with washing machines, dryers, and clothes waiting to be picked up hanging from the small shop, forming their basic configuration.
In this industry, there are not only independent community small shops, but also some chain brands that have entered supermarkets and commercial centers, such as Funat and Elephant King.
However, for the young generation growing up on the Internet, laundry can be "online".
Open a mini program or app, place an order on your phone, and leave the clothes at the door. Within the agreed time, someone will come to the door to collect the clothes that need to be cleaned. Then, track the progress of the clothes cleaning through your phone, and after the cleaning is completed, someone will directly deliver them to your door.
"Stay at home" and "No contact" have become the most moving marketing terms in the Internet laundry industry.
Of course, convenience and speed are not the most important factors. For young people, compared to offline laundry stores that require a certain amount of recharge to enjoy membership discounts, the online price of "59 yuan for washing 3 items at will" can most impress the heart of "exquisite poverty".
Huang Li, born in the 1990s (pseudonym), self deprecatingly refers to herself as a money saving little expert in the hearts of her friends. She always manages to "grab wool" from various brands or platforms. Last year, she first tried to order several winter coats through the Internet platform, and has since become a loyal user of various Internet laundry platforms.
Huang Li said that washing clothes through online platforms is not only very convenient, but sometimes when encountering events or flash sales, the price is not even a bit cheaper than offline physical stores, "it's simply too delicious.".
So why is the Internet laundry so cheap?
Firstly, there is no store cost. Traditional laundry stores require storefronts, which require equipment such as washing machines and dryers to be placed inside. Therefore, regardless of size, rental costs cannot be reduced. If you hire another person, you also need to include the salary of the personnel. Internet laundry does not need a physical store, as long as there is a small program can receive orders.
Secondly, it is supported by economies of scale. Since the Internet laundry platform can usually gather a large number of users to ensure a certain amount of orders, at the laundry factory end, under normal circumstances, the larger the amount of orders, the lower the cost of cleaning a single piece, which is also an important reason why the Internet laundry platform likes to engage in low price marketing such as "washing two pieces at 55 yuan, washing three pieces at 69 yuan".
Of course, platforms may also engage in price wars to gain market share in the industry, but this is often a phased marketing initiative. In the long run, cost remains an important part of the business model.
What cannot be changed is the service
Online platforms can save on store costs, but factory cleaning and personnel on-site pickup and delivery are hard costs that cannot be eliminated. Therefore, compared to the early O2O laundry platforms, the entry of express delivery companies appears reasonable and legitimate, after all, they have ready-made courier, logistics, and distribution networks.
In 2022, SF Express came up with the idea of providing home service and was the first in Shenzhen to launch clothing washing and care services through the "Fengchao" express cabinet. Nowadays, Fengchao Washing and Care also offers the option of SF Express delivery personnel coming to pick up and deliver clothes.
Not long ago, Fengchao announced to the public the relevant information of the first self built washing and care factory that was built last year. It is understood that the factory has built a fully intelligent and automated sorting assembly line, and the clothing drying area can accommodate 1000 pieces of clothing at the same time.
JD, another Internet giant, is also unwilling to lag behind. Establishing "JD+" as a new brand under JD Logistics, with a focus on home service, through its "JD Laundry" service, we provide consumers with nationwide one click ordering, JD's fastest door-to-door service within 1 hour, and fastest 7-day cleaning and return to home laundry services.
Compared to that, Cainiao Station has a bit of a wait-and-see attitude. Last year, we launched a marketing campaign called "Home Cleaning Day" on some sites, but we haven't seen any significant action yet.
But obviously, courier companies are trying to leverage resources such as couriers, courier networks, and courier terminals to expand more life services to community residents.
However, not all young people can accept the Internet platform laundry service. The post-90s Nianhua (pseudonym) said that she saw a lot of roast and disputes about clothes cleaning on social platforms, most of which were Internet platforms, so she did not dare to try online laundry service so far.
She believes that the chain brand at the entrance of the community feels more secure, "after all, it has been open for many years and there is a store there." Especially for some expensive coats and down jackets, she would rather pay a higher cleaning fee to obtain a more reassuring cleaning service than argue after any accidents, which would be too much energy consuming.
Indeed, Internet technology can change the process and make the original tedious process more optimized and simple. Internet technology can also reduce costs and improve efficiency through the centralized factory model.
However, as a service industry, even if consumers are very concerned about the comfort of the entire service process, their core demand is still whether they can wash the clothes they send and return them to their hands without any mistakes. Otherwise, even if the price is cheap, as long as there is an accident, "lightning protection" may be the common choice of the vast majority of consumers.
At present, the fierce competition in the laundry industry is still ongoing and presents several interesting characteristics.
One is that express delivery companies have entered the market and built their own factories, which brings considerable competitive pressure to traditional laundry shops and central laundry factories. After all, the competitive barrier in this industry is the ability to attract customers.
Secondly, many brands have opened up precision and specialized washing services for high-end clothing, shoes, blankets, curtains, and other items in addition to regular clothing cleaning services.
The third is that the consumer group is vertically divided, for example, there are brands that provide clothing and care services specifically for college students, as well as luxury clothing, luggage, and accessories for high-end consumers.
Which companies or models can win? With enough patience from consumers, it may not be a difficult question to answer.