A market of opportunity

As the pace of life moves ever faster, more and more people are looking for ways to offload the daily household chores which encroach on their leisure time. The result is a fast growing market in the UK for specialised domestic laundry services and, in particular, for shirt services.

The history of the drycleaner has seen diversification into such areas as photoprocessing, key cutting and shoe repair—all of which have proven to be complementary ways for the drycleaner to successfully generate alternative areas of income. Currently, shirt services appear to be to be the most profitable area of diversification for drycleaners.

Ian Parris, technical director of Parrisianne, believes that there are great income opportunities in shirt services. “If a drycleaner is looking to increase his revenue, then shirt services and to a lesser extent quilt processing are proving to be the biggest expanding markets,” he says.

   Tony Dickens, national sales manager of BMM Weston, agrees and sees great rewards for both retail and commercial interests in the shirts sector. “Shirt finishing has been a growth area for both drycleaners and launderers for about three to four years.” The shirts market is still in its early stages of development, however, and appears to be fragmented with business being concentrated in the south east of England and near to large commercial centres.

Mr Dickens says: “The vast majority of businesses making significant profits from shirt services are concentrated in Greater London and the south east. In fact, about 90% of the BMM Weston shirt units we sell are for businesses in these areas.” Jason Alexander, director of Renzacci UK, argues that the shirt services market has always been customer led, but that now the more dynamic drycleaner is starting to realise that it can have two major benefits for his business.

“Taken on its own,” says Mr Alexander, “shirt finishing is a useful way of increasing turnover and profits, but it has other very important benefits. Shirt processing allows drycleaners to have more regular contact with their customers. As shirts are worn practically every day, a customer will more than likely be visiting the drycleaners at least once a week to collect and drop off shirts. This provides a good drycleaner with more loyal custom.” Of the major drycleaning chains, the Minit Group—which acquired Sketchley Retail for £1.23 million in July of this year—have big plans with three unit shops specialising in the provision of shirt services recently opened in Sainsbury stores in Stafford, Leeds and Portsmouth. Five more shops are planned for other Sainsbury stores around the country. The stores will open under the brand name, “Minit Solutions”, with “Sketchley” as a sub-brand name.

Paul Simmons, global category manager for the Minit Group, has researched the potential of the UK market and sees the supermarket as the ideal environment in which to promote shirt services.

He says: “There are a number of points which need to be established if a shirts business is to succeed. The first point is to establish ease of use for the customer. Secondly a sustainable and profitable price level has to be found.” With this in mind, the rationale for opening up in a supermarket environment, explains Mr Simmons, is founded on the first point—the convenience to the customer. He says: “The idea will be to entice people into the unit to get all their shirts processed for £5 at the same time as they get their weekly groceries, rather than spending three hours ironing on a Sunday evening in front of the television.” Mr Simmons believes that to unlock the potential of the shirt services market in the UK, the dynamics of the marketplace have to be changed. He says: “In all the major markets for shirt finishing services, such as the US and Canada, a loss leading position has been established, with the price level coming down not only due to the large volumes of shirts being processed but also because of the drycleaning it brings in.” The new unit shops will all have installed “Dolly” type machines which will be on full display behind glass screens and visible from the Sainsbury’s store area.

“The reason for choosing the “Dolly” type equipment is,” says Mr Simmons, “because they are capable of processing large volumes of shirts, are compact and also provide in-store theatre.” Disagreeing that the shirt services market is limited to the south east, Mr Simmons says: “We are convinced of the potential of a shirt finishing service in the UK, and our aim is to target anyone who wears a collar and tie, wherever they are.” John Barber, managing director of the retail cleaning division of Brooks, takes a different view: “I think that the market for shirt services is static. There does seem to be, however, greater opportunities in the south east or anywhere near a commercial centre.” Brooks uses two BMM Weston shirt units based in a central processing unit in Bristol covering the south west and one in Ashford, in Middlesex, covering the south east. Mr Barber says: “We have had the BMM Weston machines for about five years and they produce a very high quality finish. We also provide a hand finished shirt service in the unit shops. Our staff are highly skilled at finishing shirts either on a table or on a press.” Mr Barber does agree, however, that drycleaners need to be more proactive in their marketing. “Our busy shirt shops carry price promotions. In London we are currently doing a promotion of 5 shirts for £6.49. Normally we charge between £1.49 and £1.59 for a on a hanger service and between £1.79 and £1.89 for a folded service.” Paul Durham, managing director of Solent Drycleaners, an independent chain with 17 outlets operating in the south of England, takes a cautious attitude towards the markets prospects. “Everyone is saying that there is market for shirt services and we are certainly looking to put a toe in the water.

“Currently we offer a standard shirts service, priced at £1.40 a shirt. The shirts are blown on a body shape former and then hand finished either on an ironing board or on a press. It is very labour intensive, however.” Mr Durham recognises that the market is a growth area but feels that the potential is not great enough to justify concentrated investment. He says: “Two factors are preventing us from investing. Firstly, our turnover figures are not yet high enough, and secondly, there is a lack of physical space in our shops for specialised equipment.” As businesses see the benefits of expanding into shirts services, equipment manufacturers are under pressure to supply equipment which can process large volumes of work without a reduction in quality.

Len Woollard, of Unit Steam Engineering in Brentwood, insists that the Hoffman 3-section laydown system still provides the best quality. “A laydown type will give you the finest quality. A blown type will give you the volume. A single or double buck cabinet will give you volume with a good finish.”