Free Soap/Powder - Anyone tried it?

[aussie_mick]

Has anyone tried providing FREE laundry powder as a means of attracting new customers / holding onto current customers?

If so - any comments on its success or otherwise. If you havent tried it do you have any thoughts on how it would go?

I need something to stimulate some new business and maybe attract some from my competitors. Just wondering if doing this - with associated advertising/ signage etc might be worth a shot. It would be relatively inexpensive but I dont want to pin my hopes on a dud idea.
Feedback appreciated. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[vernonmaytag]

I guess one of the real answers is, what are the competitors NOT supplying. In our case, the biggest hugest largest mostest issue is cleanliness. The three main competitors all are very dirty, and we keep ours pretty spotless. We have won over many customers on that aspect alone.

[petefritz]

I tried the free soap at amat I bought many years ago. The mat was barley breaking even, I had read about the idea. I left a bucket of powered soap and a scoop. Worked well until some kids filled up many of the washers with soap.. I stopped the free soap after that. If you are attended... it might work, but I thik you would have better response with charging something, maybe 10 cents, rather than giving it away. The reason being everyone loves a deal, but free is free though and has no value.

[Duane]

Temporary yes, permanent I wouldn't think so.

I had a sale last month on a Saturday and Sunday from noon to PM: free soap, free dry, free games and free T-Shirts. It went over very well and I had a lot of new customers come in. I now see the T-shirts all over town giving me free advertising. I spent some money on advertising to promote the sale and it helped a lot.

Get your store in shape (if you need to) and have a sale every now and then, maybe once or twice a year to promote your store.

Duane.

[galaga]

The first store we bought 16 years ago,the previous owner give free soap very Wed,we found out emplyee will allow customers to full up their soap bucket on Wed,that was crazy.We stop!
They also give free coffee,cookies on Sat Sun,free coffee during the winter,customers made such mess,we stop!Yes,a few people complained but we are still doing great business.
I feel you should find out what your customers really want,clean place?more dryers?more big machines?.....Fee soap is pain for you and your emplyee and cost you money.I did give away free Kiddy Ride for a few weeks this year,it was not really a promotion because the Kiddy Ride was broken ,I had not time to fix it,so I just give Free Ride for a while.

[Laundry_Mike]

Most people have a brand preference when it comes to detergents. I rarely see "generic" brands being used, and most people prefer liquid detergent over powder anyway.

[littlemouse]

My husband and I owned 4 laundrymats and the last one was for 5 years. My husband on many times when at the store would give some regular customers soap or fabric softner, and many times he would hand out anywhere from 50 cents to a dollar to REALLY good customers. This really brought in a lot of people we had not seen before, because the word would spread. Of course we were also the cleanest spot in town and had a TV for everyone to watch, plus we also had alot of cameras around that we could see our store from home on the computer and that made alot of people really happy and safe. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[wdbgelaundromat]

We started doing it when we first opened. Over a year later we are still doing free soap and free fabric softner sheets. We are an attended mat and the soap is right in front of the attendant stand. We want to take it away buts its what we're know for and why a lot of people come. I will admit we spend a lot on it, we go through about 12 buckets of sams club soap and 300 fabric softners a week. I look at it as a form of advertising.

We used to keep it in a laundry cart and people would roll it over to their machine and use way to much now its stationary and I think it works Very Well.

[laundryaj]

I thought about increasing wash price by $.50 and free soap and sheets, but haven't done it yet. We do sell soap over the counter but it might work but I'm not sure. I'm wondering if anyone has tried that!

[aussie_mick]

Thanks all who replied. Made for some good reading. Have taken on board comments about cleanliness and am making that a priority. Im your typical male who thinks everything is fairly clean until my girl starts pointing out all the things that need to be done and reminds me that women customers in particular have higher expectations in that regard.

As for the free soap, ive decided to do a series of "monthly specials" which ill promote and use them as a means of testing different ideas. If I find an idea that catches on ill probably retain it. Doing a special on blankets/ doonas this month and ive already had a few nibbles.

Thanks all.

[vernonmaytag]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks all who replied. Made for some good reading. Have taken on board comments about cleanliness and am making that a priority. Im your typical male who thinks everything is fairly clean until my girl starts pointing out all the things that need to be done and reminds me that women customers in particular have higher expectations in that regard.

As for the free soap, ive decided to do a series of "monthly specials" which ill promote and use them as a means of testing different ideas. If I find an idea that catches on ill probably retain it. Doing a special on blankets/ doonas this month and ive already had a few nibbles.

Thanks all.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nearly spewed my coffee...... My wife did the same thing. Nice of them to let us know we are slobs. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif