How to Create Laundry App With No Mistakes [2023 Overview]

The dramatic success of the ridesharing company Uber has inspired a great number of entrepreneurs to open an Uber-like business and get a closer look at this business model. The laundry industry wasn't an exception. According to the Verified Market Research report, the Global on-demand laundry market is expected to reach $113.24 billion by 2027.

Applications of this type work in a simple way. At first, users make an order through a website or mobile application and choose the most convenient time for pickup and delivery. Then, a delivery person takes dirty clothes to the laundry or dry cleaning service provider. After clothes are washed, dried and ironed, the laundryman delivers it back to the client.

There are two popular options for payment. In the first scenario, a customer pays when the clothes are delivered. In the second scenario, the customer pays when he gets a notification that work is done. After the payment, a laundryman delivers clothes.

We found out the top reasons why on-demand laundry apps are so popular:

• Laundry picks up, also called Uber for laundry, can save a lot of time. Users do not need to waste a couple of hours washing dirty clothes or taking clothes to a laundry shop. In most cases, such apps also provide dry cleaning and ironing services. Just a few taps and all dirty clothes will be cleaned in a couple of days.
• Customers can schedule pick-ups and deliveries. What's more, they can customize their orders. For instance, a customer can ask for washing with eco-friendly cleansers or softeners, and so forth. After placing an order, users can track it's status in the application. They can identify whether the order is in a queue or is already done.
• In case you have a laundry shop, you can create a laundry app to scale your company. By developing laundry management software, you will get increased customer loyalty and add new customers who don’t want to waste their time on the road to a laundry shop. Moreover, you can automate the whole process and make calculations easier.
• The application can also be a platform that connects customers and laundry providers. In this case, you can start a business from scratch, but you’d need to cooperate with a laundry app development company to create a solution. Such an application is a marketplace where users can find the nearest laundry shop. So you do not need to invest in equipment but will profit from the interest rate. But in this case, you need to find a laundryman who can pick up and deliver clothes.

So you can see that with the help of this application, customers can save time on doing unpleasant housework. That’s why the number of mobile laundry services is increasing every year.

The on-demand model has integrated so well with today’s reality that traditional laundry setups have almost disappeared. Before we proceed to the business models of Uber for laundry apps, let’s take a quick look at reasons why on-demand laundry app development is beneficial.

People love solutions on the go. Book a hotel room in a few clicks, order food to their doorstep, the option to pick up a laundry detergent, etc. Besides, having the opportunity to monitor every step of the process is also a benefit that users want. The transparent approach offered by on-demand laundry businesses is a key point that shifted consumers' focus toward the 'Uber for X model.' So if you create a laundry app with a user-friendly interface, customers will definitely appreciate your services.

This is the second trend that has modified the model of today's laundry industry. If you’re a startup and want to scale up your laundry business, there is no need to establish or augment your in-house team. You can cooperate with such laundry on-demand developers as freelancers or hire dedicated development team provider. Adopting crowdsourced supply into your business processes will allow you to save extra time and money and concentrate on core tasks.

Let’s clarify this term with a simple example. Suppose you want to extend your laundry business and open one more laundry in another area. The first things you should do is to own or rent extra space, develop infrastructure and hire new team members. However, this step requires a significant investment, infrastructure costs, and more. Laundry app development enables entrepreneurs to serve a large client base without owning a watershed area.

One of the most frequently asked questions is, “How can I make money with on demand laundry app?” First, let’s discover two main business models you can operate:

Marketplace model is a great solution for startups on a tight budget. Your application becomes a platform where users can connect with local laundry shops they choose on their own. After work is done, they can rate laundries. In this model, you can take a cut of every transaction. ByNext, Mulberrys, and DRYV use this business model. If you start your on-demand laundry app development from scratch, it’s important to partner with local laundry owners. As far as your app is a medium between vendors and customers, building good relationships with each side is of great importance.

This model is a great solution if you already own a laundry shop but have difficulties attracting new clients and scaling your laundry startup. By creating a website or laundry application development, you provide customers with the ability to order laundry pick up and delivery in a few taps. This business model is used by Liox Cleaners, WashClub, and Hamperville.

So, in case you have your own laundry shop, it’s obvious that you will have increased revenue because of an increased client base. But what if you want to create laundry app following the marketplace model? Most software for laundry businesses earns money by setting fixed prices for each option. Other solutions are to set a delivery fee and get your interest from each in-app payment. Such a popular way as advertising is inappropriate, while with an advertisement, your application won't look trustworthy. You also can provide your customers with additional services. For instance, in Rinse, customers can get their clothes earlier if they pay an extra $5.

Whether you selected a marketplace or on-site model for on-demand laundry app development, you should think through hiring a delivery man. Most companies usually hire freelancers who want to get some money. Cleanly and Rinse hire part-time employees with a car and pay them for each order. TaskRabbit company created a special platform where users can hire freelancers to wash and deliver their dirty clothes. The key difference is that customers choose not laundry shops but people ready to perform chores, so the company does not need to think about delivery. TaskRabbit gains money from commission on each transaction.

The profit from laundry mobile app development can also be illustrated by the success of the companies. Let's consider the most famous companies providing users with on-demand laundry services.

The company comes from the merger of Cleanly and NextCleaners. In 2015, Cleanly participated in Y Combinator. Then it raised $2.3 million in seed funding, and after that, $5 million more in series A. Clenly claimed that in 2016 their annual revenue in NYC alone reached $2.5 million. After merging with NextCleaners, the company became ByNext. ByNext will offer users the ability to order laundry and folding, dry cleaning, or home cleaning services with in-store delivery or pickup options.

It is an on-demand laundry and dry-cleaning delivery app available in the US. The company’s work cycle is not so complicated. After a user has placed an order, the ByNext concierge picks up his/her clothes and brings them to Fulfillment Centre, where clothes are sorted. After that, they take dirty clothes to a vendor. When the vendor finishes cleaning clothes, the concierge returns them to the customer at the chosen time.

The application has a unique feature - if the stain on clothes requires special attention, the customer can snap a photo and highlight this stain. It also allows users to track orders on the GPS map. Regarding app monetization, ByNext has a $4.99 delivery fee if the customer’s order is under $30.

Tide Cleaners is a US-based company with $81.0M in revenues that provides on-demand laundry services. All services are preloaded with a handy app. For example, the user can see the location of the closest locker and leave clothes in it. After everything is ready, the client will receive a notification that the clothes can be picked up. Tide Cleaners uses eco-friendly cleaning and provides new users with eco-bags for laundry.

Rinse is another US-based laundry startup that provides dry cleaning, press, and laundering services. It was founded in 2013 and raised $23.5 million in total. A client can create an order at any time before 5 PM, then the so-called Rinse Valet picks up the clothes and delivers them to the local laundry company. It takes 3 days to wash and deliver laundry, but they can do it in 2 days for an extra payment.

Rinse allows you to chat with human representatives in case you have problems and track your order. The company also has a clothing repair service. Rinse has a fixed price list.

According to Crunchbase, Laundryheap has $2 million in revenue and has raised a total of £14.5 million in 4 funding rounds. Laundrapp has fixed prices for each item starting from £2.

It works in the same way as previous companies. It also has a Quality Guarantee and, like Uber, gives the opportunity to track an order on the map. The company plans to provide its services in 15 countries by the end of 2022.

All these companies have both an application and a website for online ordering. To place an order, a customer enters a postcode and then selects all the needed options. You can also invest in website development services, and then have an extra profit from new customers.

After talking about top laundry apps, let’s discover common features for this type of application. If you consider developing on-demand laundy app, this paragraph is essential and can help you with development cost estimation. To create a laundry app, you should consider that Uber for laundry apps usually consists of several soluions.

This panel consists of the login form and customer data with all needed information (i.e., customer address, first name, etc.). With the help of this panel, clients can calculate costs and make and track their orders. Basic features for the customer panel can be the following:

Cost calculator

Your customers choose the type of clothes and total weight and, according to this information, can view how much a laundry or dry-cleaning service will cost them.

Multiple booking options

You should make it possible for clients to make bookings according to their requirements. Usually, customers have two options: book now or later. It’s a useful user feature since they can plan the requests by pointing to the date and time.

Cancel bookings

Users always appreciate the opportunity to cancel their requests in case of an emergency. Some service providers enable clients to cancel their orders via mobile app. Once they cancel the request, service providers get a notification and change their schedule accordingly. Moreover, users need to pay some fees in advance if they have paid for the service.

In-app payments

Cash-free payment is an effortless way to pay for services. This feature allows users to pay for services with a few taps.

Learn how to integrate payment gateway in mobile application by reading our guide or watching our video below.

Push notifications and order tracking

Most users want to be sure everything is okay with their clothes. The application notifies customers whether their clothes are washed, some problems have occurred or payment was successful. Real-time tracking lets users monitor the service provider’s journey utilizing Google maps. Using GPS tracking, customers can easily track the whereabouts of providers and estimate the time of arrival.

Schedule pickups and order history

With scheduled pickups, customers can choose the most convenient time for them. Order history allows them to view previous orders and repeat them.

View and rate laundries

The service connects users to nearby laundrymen who can take the clothes. Customers can enter the dry cleaners’ profile and check the number of completed orders, client feedback, and ratings. The quick-search bar allows users to find the right match for themselves, which improves their experience.

Invoice generation

After the customers pay for the services, the invoice is generated automatically within the app. It displays information about clients’ names/surnames, locations, types of services, and payment methods. Besides, customers can save the invoice for future purposes.

This panel is useful for managing order delivery. It enables delivery men to process requests and choose optimized routes. However, if you select the marketplace business model, you can save some money, as there is no need for this feature.

Order history

With the help of this feature, delivery men can get info about orders waiting for approval and the time when he/she must pick them up. He can accept or decline the order by his/her availability.

Routing

Depending on orders, the delivery man builds the best route from customers to the laundry shop and vice versa.

Managing orders

Delivery man sets the status of the order when the laundry is picked up, washed, and delivered.

In case your mobile laundry business uses an on-site business model, there’s no need to develop a service provider model.

Information about an order

With this feature, a service provider, can accept or decline orders, and view the information about the order (i.e., the customer's preferences).

Manage information about services

This feature allows owners to easily update price lists, special offerings, etc.

View analytics

Laundry shops can view their income, the number of orders per month, etc.

Add services

Providers can add additional services filling up the required data (service type, rates, and other related information). This feature will allow them to get extra money, and it’ll also be helpful for customers to get services done from one provider.

Master reports

Admin can create various reports using one specific feature (number of orders, driver’s order history, total income, etc.). These reports will allow managers to make informed financial decisions.

The most essential part is an admin panel, which manages interactions between all panels and stores and analyzes data. This feature requires a huge database that can cope with a big scope of data. In this case, the role of cloud technology cannot be missed.

So, how much can on-demand laundry app development cost you? The main price drivers are the development rates of an outsourcing company you partner with (depending on region), features, and platforms (iOS, Android, or both). Taking the average rate of $50/h in our region (Centarl/Northern Europe), we’ve estimated the approximate timeframe our development team would need for basic laundry app development.

Notice: The time above is approximate and based on one platform. Feel free to contact our Senior Business Analyst to get a custom feature list and project estimate for your laundry app.

In the table above you can see the approximate time to create a laundry app (development time only). Remember that software developers aren't the only specialists you need on team to build such a product. Here is the full team composition required:

• Front-end developer
• Back-end developer
• UI/UX designer
• Business Analyst
• Project Manager
• QA engineer
• DevOps engineer
• Team lead

Given that team composition and the amount of work, it'll cost you approximately $90,000 to create a laundry app. As a software service provider, we can guarantee successful product delivery within a specified time frame only if all needed specialists are on the team.

Finally, let's talk about how to build on-demand app for laundry service. There are several important steps involved in creating such an app.

Find a technical partner

Since the app is quite technically complex and has many features, it is important to start by looking for on-demand laundry developers. In this case, we recommend you look at the outsourcing market. There are a lot of software providers out there, and you are sure to find a team that can meet your needs.

Solution Design Stage

Once you have decided on a software vendor, on-demand laundy app development process begins. The first step is to meet the Solution Design team, which usually includes business analysts (BAs), a solution architect (SA), and a designer. The team defines the business goals, work scope, team composition, and a timeline, making a rough estimate.

Discovery Phase

In this phase all the requirements are converted into more detailed project documents. After decomposing and detalizing the project demands, the team provide you with the following discovery phase deliverables:

• Feature Breakdown List (FBL)
• Design concept
• UX map
• BPMN diagrams
• UML diagrams
• Impact map
• Quality attributes workshop

You also get a detailed estimate. Once the discovery phase is finished, the project can move on to the next phases.

Development and testing

After you agree on all the project requirements, the development team can proceed to creating the app. At Cleveroad, the development process is divided into several sprints, during which a team implements a certain part of the apps' functionality. Each development stage is accompanied by testing.Once all the sprints are completed, the QA starts the regression testing — a complete check of the application to identify all possible bugs.

Release

Once all the previous stages have been passed, the laundry application can be launched on AppStore or Google Play. Also, the team hands you all the project documents, such as specs, the project plan, design details, source code, etc.

Support and Maintenance

You can continue your collaborating with laundry on-demand developers after the project is completed. Since the application is quite feature-rich and the service area is rapidly evolving, you may need further updates. These may include bug fixes, support for new OS versions, and adding new features.

Cleveroad is a professional software provider with more than 10 years of experience. Our experts work with startups and businesses of all sizes to help them bring ideas to life. Our team of over 120 in-house engineers has successfully completed 170+ diverse projects. These have included applications for FinTech, logistics, healthcare, education, and more.

By entrusting laundry app development to the Cleveroad team, you will receive the following benefits:

• On-demand services. Our team can both create laundry app from scratch as well as optimize your existing app
• Scalable team. You can increase or decrease the number of developers depending on your needs.
• Privacy. We sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) at your request.
• Quality assurance. Your laundry mobile app development will be accompanied by comprehensive tests at all stages.
• Full support. Our experts will provide you with full consulting as well as post-release support, maintenance, and promotion services.

There's no denying that developing Uber for laundry app can be profitable for both startuppers and laundry business owners. Contact us for advice, and we will help bring your ideas to life.