Mobile phone are more than a communication device these days. Acting as a business platform, each of the application we use on our phone, is a product of some business that offers some value in one way or the other. The most prominent of such lot is on-demand apps- like those ride-hailing or food ordering apps, that provide customer service when and where needed. On-demand laundry is the latest addition to this popular category that has gained much traction in recent times. As the industry is still in its nascent stage, here is all you need to know for building an on-demand laundry app:
Now because laundry is a service that ultimately needs manual operations at some point, you need to have the back-end infrastructure to manage such tasks. You can take one of two routes here- you can either choose to manage services end-to-end or you can prefer to be only the enabling platform and outsource but manage all the other tasks through third-parties. While none of these models are perfect, each with their own set of flaws and opportunities, you should pick what suits you best.
End-To-End Provider
This works much like Dominos where customers place an order on their app, the pizza is cooked by one of their outlets and delivery is made by their own logistics network too. The key benefit of this model is its tight integration and control of various operations. But on the downside, it is highly capital intensive and painfully slow to expand.
Third-party aggregation
This model resonates with that of Uber where customer books a ride on the application and the company assigns the task to any of their affiliate partners- only managing the platform and communication in-between. The key benefit of this model is that you just need to build an on-demand app and all the other operations are taken care of simultaneously. This enables businesses to expand quickly without much capital but in return, they have to concede considerable control over business operations.
Most of the on-demand laundry applications on the market use a mix of both these models- the platform and logistics are managed by the businesses while the laundry task is delegated to third-parties. Because the speed of service delivery remains the single most important factor for on-demand services, this approach gives them optimum control over operations without the capital requirements.
Solutions You Should Offer
Remember this rule of thumb- instead of offering a range of solutions with mediocre service (you can’t possibly excel at all) it is much better to offer a limited number of solutions and excel at them. This is where your laundry app development would need to be built like a bridge between user’s expectations and your capabilities and might also be limited by constraints of models mentioned above.
For instance, if you are handling logistics, you can offer an express service. If you are managing the back-end operations yourself, you can assure round-the-clock service. Eventually, it all boils down to cost vs opportunity and the decision you take is what distinguishes your app from others.
