A laundromat shop opened by Masan Group. Vietnam is a huge potential market for the laundromat business. (Photo from Internet) Statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade in May 2022 informed thatthe size of the country’s commercial laundry market was estimated at 205million USD per year with a growth rate of 6%, higher than the Asian average of 3.6%.
Statistics of 2022 also showed that there were about 15,316laundry shops in the country with more than 60% of them launched within theperiod of 2020-22, of which, more than 96% were small-scale and householdbusinesses.
New consumption habits, improved living standards of the Vietnamese middleclass and a younger generation in urban cities have led to more adoption of newconsumer trends.
The preferred business model by Vietnamese business owners has been acombination of traditional kilo-laundry serviced by support staff and aself-service laundromat.
Therefore, laundromats have become a potential investment as the market isgrowing with high demand and low competition.
An owner of a laundry shop in Hai Ba Trung district of Hanoi said that manycustomers coming to her shop are young people who seek laundry service tomaintain the quality of their clothes. Furthermore, many customers are visitorswho have no time to wash clothes.
The laundry market has attracted many investors who are laundry equipmentproviders or laundry shop developers.
Recently, Alliance Laundry Systems (ALS), a global leader in commercial laundryequipment, announced that they were looking for new business partners bywelcoming all local entrepreneurs who share a vision for revolutionising thecommercial self-service laundry sector in Vietnam.
The company said the Vietnamese market reflected the growing demand for qualitylaundry services from domestic consumers and international travellers.
This, in turn, has resulted in a rise in investment in laundry services, especiallyin the big cities, and ALS believes now is the right time to accelerate itsfoothold in Vietnam.
The company is making a strategic move to penetrate and expand its presence in Vietnamunder its five well-known brands, namely Speed Queen, UniMac, Huebsch, Primus,and IPSO.
According to the company, as has been proven in other ASEAN markets where ithas had strong foothold, the self-service laundromat is a business model thatis more favoured by entrepreneurs thanks to the fact that it can be operated withoutthe need for 24/7 staff, with faster wash and dry cycles, usually within onehour, unlike traditional laundries.
This results in a significant reduction in labour cost and higher return oninvestment for this new generation of stores.
Apart from supplying commercial equipment, the company is recognised forsuccessfully growing laundromat franchises around the world, particularly inmarkets with similar characteristics to Vietnam.
“The feedback on our laundry equipment and solutions we’ve received in Vietnamthrough our local partner has been positive. Vietnam and Thailand markets sharegreat similarities in consumer culture and behaviours and we’re positive that,with our experience in Thailand and other Asian markets, we could facilitatethe rapid growth of this relatively new business sector here,” said SukreeKirai, senior regional sales manager, Alliance Laundry Systems.
In August this year, Masan opened a chain of four laundromat shops called JoinsPro in the Binh Thanh and Go Vap districts of HCM City.
Masan expects this model to bring a different experience with the ability towash and dry in 25 minutes.
This is also a solution for tight living spaces, with no room for drying,especially with large sized items such as blankets, pillows, etc.
Users will no longer have to worry about the weather, while also saving timewhen washing and drying at home, according to Masan.
Another company, GV Laundry, in May opened a laundry chain in the northernregion with many services.
In addition to big investors, many small businesses also open laundry shops dueto their affordable investment and high demand in the country./.
VNA
