National Clothesline

When sales drop, drycleaners often have a tough time convincing themselves that marketing is still a worthwhile investment in their business.

Curbing your advertising when consumers are reevaluating their purchases, which is what’s going on now, is a dangerous thing. The last thing you want to do is sit on the sidelines while your customers are trying to decide if your services are worth spending their limited dollars for.

Some drycleaners believe that now, when the economy falters and consumers cut back on spending, is the time to shrink their advertising, but a down economy is the perfect time to do just the opposite. In fact it should now be increased, to grow your market share significantly, while timid competitors retreat.

Drycleaners are one of only a few businesses providing a service that is based on extending the life of something the consumer has already purchased. Thereby saving them the cost of having to repurchase those items — their clothes — again.

Auto mechanics are in a similar situation. Everyone knows that car dealers are going out of business on a daily basis. This is happening around the country. Even the car manufacturers are going bankrupt. If people aren’t buying new cars, it stands to reason that, they will have to maintain and repair their old ones. There’s not much choice. You either fix the one you have or you buy a new one. And no one’s rushing out to buy a new one.

Clothing retailers are seeing 26 percent declines in men’s clothing sales and 48 percent declines, on average, in women’s clothing sales. They know the average consumer is clutching their pocketbooks in fear. People are not, and will not, be buying clothes in the same volume as they have in years past. Again, they have a choice: either maintain and refurbish the clothes they have or buy new.

Millions of people will elect to restore their present wardrobes. This is your overwhelming opportunity.

Drycleaners who are spending three percent or more of their sales on well thought-out and planned marketing strategies are showing, at least, marginal growth. Those who opted to cut back on their advertising, as an optional expense, are reporting the steepest declines. Almost without exception, those with the strongest advertising, in their areas, are also those who are managing to stay “in the black.”

What they are doing and what will bring consumer dollars to your counter is known as “austerity marketing.” In this new economy, drycleaners have to spell out the value of their services to urge suddenly conservative consumers to spend.

A shift in consumer behavior has taken place. Consumers across all income levels are responding to the troubled economy by reining in spending. We are marketing to consumers who don’t want to spend. They’re seeking out the best value for their money: not necessarily the lowest price. High quality drycleaners, offering any reasonable price incentive, are seeing the most gains.

In a study released in June, the Cramer-Krasselt research agency in Chicago found that customers are taking a different approach to shopping and money management. Nearly two-thirds said they have to sacrifice spending on things such as vacations, driving, dining out and name brands to cope with economic realities. More than half said they are more price-conscious now and 41 percent said they spend “only when they absolutely have to.” Many consumers are reevaluating their needs, the study found, and cutting out the nonessentials.

Consumers are changing their purchasing habits, regardless of their income levels. Nearly three-fourths of consumers with household incomes of $100,000 or more reported that they were cutting back. Beyond cutting back, consumers are shifting both their spending habits and their mindsets.

“Shoppers have become more deal-seeking in their behavior.’ According to TNS Retail Forward, a Columbus, OH-based market research company.

Consumers overall are trading down. Higher income consumers are foregoing trips to department stores and instead buying from big-box retailers. And middle and lower-income consumers are visiting dollar stores more often.

More than one-quarter of the customers in a recent survey said they are shopping at retailers that offer lower prices or better deals than the retailers they usually frequent; 54 percent are shopping at more discount giants and 38 percent are visiting more dollar stores.

Such consumer moves are skewing drycleaners’ customer profiles, leading to demographic shifts in their customer bases. In other words, the faces of your customers are changing. And, the way you market to them needs to change to attract and accommodate these new customers.

Consumers — especially those with the means to do so — are still indulging themselves on occasion, but they’re doing so more sparingly and they’re offsetting big purchases with bargain hunting.

To prompt today’s reluctant customers into action, drycleaners have to spell out the value of having clothes professionally cared for. We have to remind customers that they not only look better, but their clothes actually last longer when drycleaned. Consumers want to know what they are getting for their money and they want to feel like they’re getting a bargain.

The real-value, rather than simply the price, is now the primary difference, and so it will remain long after the economy rebounds. Drycleaners should see this as the greatest opportunity of their business lives, because they are in the right business at the right time.