P & G to Try Hand at Opening Dry Cleaners
Jan 26th, 2009 by Adam
Proctor and Gamble is set to open up dry cleaners in Kansas City, Kansas. The company who makes the popular detergent brand Tide is hoping their success in the home cleaning market will spill over into the commercial dry cleaning market. Vice President for business development, Gary Coombe, stated that the three dry cleaners are slated for a mid-September opening.
Dry Cleaning is a Billion Dollar Industry
Coombe stated that P & G sees an opportunity in the $9 billion a year dry cleaning industry. Coombe also stated that being in the cleaning business in some form or fashion for almost 60 years gives P & G a special start. P & G is making the decision to enter the crowded dry cleaning market after researching customers sentiment in the laundry and dry cleaning markets.
P & G is hoping to make it’s mark on the cleaning industry by being a cut above the rest of dry cleaners in the Kansas market. Coombe stated that “We have reviewed customer sentiment and feel that we can be a step ahead of our competition in the Kansas area”.
Not the First Time Big Businesses Try Hand at Dry Cleaning
This is not the first time that a bigger business that is symbiotic with the dry cleaning industry has tried their hand at the cleaning business. The Men’s Warehouse is another bigger business that also has opened up dry cleaning stores as well. They felt that because they already had a market in place for selling suits it only makes sense to open dry cleaning stores to be able to offer those same customers cleaning as well.
Even as P & G is launching “Total Care”, a home cleaning product that is supposed to keep your clothes looking better longer, be more aggressive on stains and also reduce you dry cleaning bill Coombe still sees growth opportunities. P & G stated that their research also indicated that a large portion of customers are not satisfied with their current dry cleaners and this is seen by the company as opportunity as well.
One major dry cleaning leader in Kansas stated that he was not worried because as he recalled P & G never did well with it’s clean at home product Dryel and he did not see much competition from P & G in the dry cleaning market as well.
