D-Laundry Strategy Stimulates On-Demand Business

Business laundry is an industry that has long been considered in Indonesia because of its promising business potential, much sought after by various levels of society. Its distribution is also not only in residential areas but also boarding houses which have a student population.

But in 2016, before D-Laundry came along, the industry was still completely conventional. D-Laundry which is a product of PT Drop Global Tech (DROP) is trying to digitize the business laundry with approach on-demand.

From his journey until now, of course it is not as easy as turning the palm of the hand. In session #TuesdayStartup this time invited DROP CEO Ridhwan Basamalah as a speaker. He gives a lot of views on business on-demand laundry, prospects, and challenges especially during this pandemic.

Industry on-demand past and present

Ridhwan said, compared to when D-Laundry was just started and now, the current conditions are much more conducive. At that time, the development of the new digital economy was driven by the presence of players e-commerce, marked by the presence of Lazada, Tokopedia, and Bukalapak, as well as businesses on-demand as Gojek, Grab, up to Uber.

“They started to grow. On the one hand, this development makes it easier for other startups to grow. On-demand That's the industry, where do you think you can take a motorcycle taxi, you can order one? app. This is a form of technological progress which is a necessity.

He continued, “At the same time DROP was born in Depok because we saw that there were many students and the laundry service had not been touched. Industry laundry this is big but no one has made it as business on demand. "

As a conventional business, of course introducing the concept of on-demand to entrepreneurs laundry is not an easy thing. Therefore, the first step they took was to target entrepreneurs laundry who already have a courier service. Then educate them with the concept on-demand which is easier for them to get order in a manner online.

“The concept on-demand want any business the same, every time demand, wherever the location will be delivered. The difference with competitors, we make app for consumers for orders, what do you want to wash and choose a partner laundry that suits your preferences and the nearest location. Courier later laundry the chosen one will be picked up to the pick-up point.”

Service distribution laundry in Indonesia itself is in the second and third tier cities, not in the main city. Ridhwan said, this industry is unique because of services laundry Each has its own segmentation, in a city that has many universities it must be a soft land for entrepreneurs because it is inhabited by students who live in boarding houses. "If you look at it, the biggest conventional laundry player in Indonesia, which already has hundreds of branches, is actually the first time it has been in Yogya."

Grow business

Ridwan continued, since 2016 operating until finally D-Laundry gets early stage funding in 2021, the company is fully running with its own funds (bootstrapping). One of the most important tips to do from the start is to always validate the business whether it is running or not.

The closest way to see it is what is still a problem on the pitch. Behind the problems there are opportunities that can be worked on and easier to penetrate into the market. "So get into marketIt's not difficult because the solutions offered can solve the problem."

Armed with the above strategy, D-Laundry slowly innovated from the start a platform that connects consumers with the nearest laundry service provider. Then start to focus on the problem in merchant by providing special applications equipped with management features laundry, including POS cashier, production management, financial records, accounting, employee management, insights, digital payments, to digital notes.

Unlike POS for most of the F&B industry, in business laundry have uniqueness. For example, the payment period can be at the beginning of the service as well as at the end, according to the customer's wishes for recording and bookkeeping. "This is our challenge when develop recording feature. Now all of our partners can use the POS feature in the merchant app.”

During the pandemic, the company decided to create an innovation and development (R&D) center in the form of a business laundry self-developed. Its name, Swash Clean, is located in Tebet, Jakarta. The initial initiation was that he wanted to know more about the business laundry by going directly to the business and developing appropriate solutions so that they can be disseminated.

However, this step has led to the emergence of new entrepreneurs who are interested in jumping in but have no expertise. D-Laundry expands solutions as a consultant, providing the best recommendations, including install equipment to training. "Then in 2022, the economic condition will gradually recover. At first, only consultants now sell all-in, we offer packages laundry Swash Clean with a model franchise to encourage people to be laundry-preneur. "

The company does not stop there, the company plans to develop IoT technology into their system, considering that there are currently many household appliances that can be connected to the internet network. Just starting this year, the company started to expand to non-Jabodetabek areas.