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    Delhi-NCR-based startup Dhobilite's cleaning services are gaining traction

    Synopsis

    Besides laundry, Dhobilite also provides dry-cleaning, car wash and shoe cleaning services and is looking to add house cleaning to its bouquet.

    ET Bureau
    A casual discussion between Nishant Tripathi and Abhishek Kumar, both IIT BHU alumni, on the gap between the service industry’s promises and delivery, sowed the seedsof their very own services business. “I felt that the industry makes a lot of effort on giving ‘user experience’ on websites and app front-ends, but falls dramatically short when it comes to the actual user experience,” says Tripathi, 32. To capitalise on the unmet demand for quality in the largely unorganised cleaning segment, Tripathi teamed up with Kumar and the two founded on-demand cleaning services platform Dhobilite in 2013. “Laundry services is a huge unorganised business, and can do with some professionalism,” says Kumar, 34.

    Besides laundry, which forms the major part of Dhobilite’s operations, it also provides dry-cleaning, car wash and shoe cleaning services and is looking to add house cleaning to its bouquet.

    The company started out catering to residents of just one sector in Noida and has since expanded services to the entire city and to Greater Noida, Indirapuram and Gurgaon in Delhi-NCR. Dhobilite takes orders through its website, app and over the phone, picks up the laundry from customers’ home and usually delivers it within two days. For faster delivery, customers have to pay a little extra. At Rs 79 per kg of load, for washing, ironing, pickup and delivery, the charges, say the founders, are competitive. The startup processes between 150 and 200 kg of laundry orders per day.

    Initially, Tripathi and Kumar were unsure of the market’s response, and the possibility of their offering going unrecognised was a cause for some anxiety. “We wondered what if customers didn’t see value in our offering. Also, educating customers was a costly proposition for our bootstrapped venture,” says Tripathi. Over time, however, the business found acceptance and is now gaining momentum. Founded with an initial investment of Rs 10 lakh, put in by the founders, the startup broke even in April 2015. It’s revenue for 2015-16 stood at around Rs 35 Lakh. “We are just beginning to grow and expect a three-fold rise in revenue in the current financial year,” says Kumar.

    Dhobilite’s major load for order pickup and delivery is in the morning and evening, which leaves afternoon slots relatively free. The founders are looking to change this through happy hours discount and better customer engagement. “A smoother order inflow will improve operational efficiency manifold,” says Tripathi. Dhobilite, which plans on expanding operations to Bengaluru by the next financial year, is currently working on an assured 30 minute pick-up and a 24-hour delivery at no extra expense.

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