CHICAGO — Approximately 78% of dry cleaners polled in this month’s AmericanDrycleaner.com Wire survey are satisfied with their distributors, results show. Among those who are satisfied, 44.4% say they’re “very satisfied” and 33.3% say they’re “somewhat satisfied.”
Approximately 11% of respondents are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, while equal shares of 5.6% are either “somewhat dissatisfied” or “very satisfied.”
Distributors offer a wide variety of services for dry cleaners, so the survey asked Wire subscribers which of the services they depend on (respondents could choose any or all from a list of six choices). Results were mixed: operational advice was No. 1 at 47.1%, followed closely by equipment installation or “other,” each selected by 41.2%. Training (35.3%), equipment maintenance (23.5%) and plant layout services (0%) were the other options offered in the survey.
There were respondents who said they do not rely on distributors for services of any kind.
When asked if they could get their distributor(s) to improve some aspect of their services, respondents mentioned things such as pricing, order accuracy, response time, buying from U.S. companies, and industry knowledge.
If the opportunity to change distributors arose, 22.2% “would not make the change” and 33.3% doubt that they would change. Roughly 17% aren’t sure what they would do. Approximately 11% would “strongly consider making the change,” and 16.7% would make a change.
Nearly three-quarters of respondents are “very interested” (27.8%) or “somewhat interested” (44.4%) in distributor open houses, service seminars, etc. Approximately 11% are “neither interested nor disinterested,” 11.1% “have little interest,” and 5.6% “have no interest.”
While the Wire survey presents a snapshot of readers’ viewpoints at a particular moment, it should not be considered scientific.
Subscribers to Wire e-mails are invited to take a brief industry survey anonymously online each month. All dry cleaners are encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define opinions and industry trends.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].