We always have heard, “To reach somewhere you need to escape from somewhere,” which is proven by many startup companies founders. Sometimes startup founders even leave their reputed job to bring their dream project to life. However, it doesn’t mean that you have to leave your job to complete your dream but to follow your passion and leverage it.
This blog is inspired by another Middler Eastern startup of an on-demand laundry and dry cleaning mobile application. The founder Rami Shaar left his managerial position at Uber to start his own venture with his high-school friend Jad Halaoui. Together, they managed to raise a $400k investment and started online laundry services with Dry Cleaner & Laundry Delivery App Development. Washermen launched in 2015, and it offers quality laundry services at competitive prices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Initially, the idea to Develop Laundry & Dry Cleaner App Like Washmen was of Raami before joining Uber. The quality and inconsistency of laundry services he had previously in his life, made him think upon it. After an argument with a local laundryman, he realized, “if Uber changed transportation, why can’t I change laundry?”
In one of their interview articles, Jad answered when he was asked why they chose laundry: “It’s a sticky service. You need it every week. And people are willing to pay for it. The market was already very developed in the UAE in terms of existing cleaners. Most facilities, good or bad, had excess capacity, so it seemed like a perfect business to mediate through an app”.
His answer intensifies how crucial it is to comprehend your niche market condition and audiences of the target region. We will scout what you will require for Online Laundry Mobile App Development despite market research ahead in the article. So, let’s get to it straight away!
Business Model for an On-Demand Laundry Mobile App Development
For your online on-demand laundry business, you have two models to select one.
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Startup friendly Marketplace
Without actually washing people’s clothes, you can run an online laundry and dry cleaning business. For your startup laundry marketplace mobile app, you require to partner with reliable local laundry owners. The model is similar to on-demand food delivery apps, namely Talabat, Zomato, which list restaurants on the app and deliver their food door-to-door. Your laundry app works as a medium between vendors and customers. The primary revenue stream of such apps is the commission they charge on every transaction.
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On-Site Model to scale your business
It is a perfect model if you own a laundry infrastructure and a trained team of people. The Washmen app has the same model. A dry cleaning and laundry app like Washmen lets you scale up your customer base by enabling customers to acquire laundry services conveniently. Online payment, schedule pick up, delivery, consistent quality, and quick delivery are the utmost features that uplift laundry apps like Washmen.
Laundry & Dry Cleaner Mobile Application Development Process
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Future proof business plan and precise app specifications
Before you start your laundry app development, prepare a full-proofed business plan incorporating required resources, what problems it solves, and how.
The best way to cover every essential element of business on a single paper is by preparing a Lean Canvas Model. The model is adopted by Global fortune 500 companies, including Google and Amazon.
Another high-priority document to prepare for a new mobile app is an app requirements specification document. What features you need to develop in your app and how you want to function them must clarify in the app requirement document. Your app developers will work according to this document.
Generally, the document is prepared by the project manager of the mobile app development company who ensures Project Management & Delivery Milestone. However, you can also give a shot to it with our guide on the Product Requirement Document.
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App Design – Wireframes, Prototype, and User testing
When your business plan and app specification get ready, you want to shape your laundry app. Smart entrepreneurs design their app and share on different platforms for user testing to validate their concept. They work on feedback & iterate the design as per recommendations received from audiences.
There are typically two ways to design the app for such user testing quickly. For low-fidelity app design, Wireframe, and Mobile App Prototype for a high-fidelity interactive design. Noteworthy, both types of app designs do not contain any code.
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Technologies for Dry Cleaner & Laundry Delivery App Development
For the development of any mobile application, there goes a significant set of technologies. Each of these technologies works as a building block for your laundry mobile app development that can be categorized into four components:
Frontend, Backend, Development platform, and technologies for app performance and security, such as;
Real-time analytics: – Apache Flink, IBM, Cisco, BigData, Spark, Hadoop
Database: – Mail chimp integration, Cassandra, HBase, MongoDB, Postgress
SMS:- Twilio, Nexmo
Navigation:- Google Maps
Payments:- Stripe, Braintree, PayPal, EWallets
Cloud environment:- Google, Azure, AWS
Push notifications:- Twilio
The selection of the technology stack must be made precisely and considering the application specifications. Platforms, for example, Washmen is available on Android and iOS both platforms. You can choose for your laundry app as per the market and audience research.
Features of Washmen dry clean and laundry mobile app
Washmen offers hygienic, creditworthy, and much careful laundry and dry cleaning services around the UAE. With pick up and delivery service, they count each item and let you choose from three types of laundry services: Cleaning and Pressing, Wash & Fold, and Pressing Only.
Let’s check out the other fascinating features of this successful startup laundry service mobile app.
Place Order: To place a laundry service order at Washemen Laundry LLC, you need to download the app from Play Store or Apple Store as per your device OS.
Services: The app allows you to book laundry service respecting your garment needs which are: Clean & Press, Press only, and Wash & Fold. There is one latest addition to their bag.
Stuff the bag: The Washmen driver provides bags to a customer as per their order in which the customer has to stuff their garments. There is a Green bag for Cleaning & Pressing apparel, Pink bag for washing linens, bedding, towels, and other Homecare items, and a Blue bag for Washing and folding t-shirts, shorts, gym clothes, etc. The blue bag doesn’t consist of ironing.
Pickup & Drop off: The app allows you to select pick-up and drop-off locations as per your availability, such as outside your door with your concierge. Washmen has seen over 95% of customers prefer contactless pickups and deliveries from outside of their entry door.
Flex Order: There are two types of orders, and Flex is for flexible customers in which the Washmen driver collects customer’s clothes at their convenience. However, customers can choose their preferred time, for example, whether before or after 8 pm.
Priority Order: For the customers who like to meet drivers to hand over their clothes, have words, or greet, Washmen offers a Priority order option.
Next day delivery: The most convenient feature for busy and needy customers enables them to schedule next day delivery with a surcharge.
Cancel or Reschedule: Washmen allows their customers to cancel or reschedule the placed order at the customer’s convenience.
Order Instruction: The feature lets a customer add specific instructions for Folding, Crease, Starch, Stain, and Damage approvals for their clothes as well for pickup and dropoff facility.
Customer support: To take care of the customer queries and resolve them in real-time, Washmen offers customer support via live email, chat, and phone calls.
Key Takeaway
In an interview with Arabian Business, when Rami Shaar was asked, What was the worst decision you made in terms of operating Washmen?
Rami answered, “We started the business without a technical co-founder, and that was a serious deficiency. If you’re going to build an online company, we strongly advise you to start the business with somebody who is technical and, at the same time, can put in the hours and sweat to make it a great business”.
Taking it as an example, you must be serious about hiring a practiced and renowned technology partner. We are a Mobile App Development Company in Kuwait, working for significant business domains worldwide. If you want to build an online laundry application, we can be your credible technology partner.
