“We have had a few customers ask if we offer a monthly unlimited wash pass. We have considered it but don't feel it is a good idea in an iba due to the low volume throughput.”
I agree with this but it is hourly capacity and not throughput (volume) that is the cause.
Throughput is the rate at which carwash generates money through sales.
Throughput = selling price minus cost of goods
Selling price = total sales volume times average price
So, if you want to increase throughput, you would need to increase total sales volume or average price or decrease cost of goods.
Total sales volume (market share) is function of customer attraction and customer
loyalty rate.
Attraction is how effectively a wash “pulls” or captures business from frontage road, competition, businesses and households. Increasing capture has profound effect on hourly capacity of IBA.
Loyalty rate is how often customers visit and how much they spend. Increasing
loyalty has much less effect on hourly capacity of IBA.
Purpose of
loyalty program is to increase visitation by rewarding the most loyal and profitable customers. VIP card is a common mechanism.
Membership should be free but customer must give personal information which allows for e-mail blast and text
marketing (i.e. phone
app). Typical rewards are free wash on birthday; buy 4 get 1 free; special deals like free services (i.e. vacuum) or discount on extra-pay wax.
An effective VIP program should provide you with a nice lift; between 10 and 15 percent boost is about average
Another option is a business model I developed for IBA called quick service carwash (QSCW).
QSCW model is a means to provide better service speed, quality and value using in-bay automatic. The model doesn’t involve moving belts, labor or conveyor equipment.
QSCW can increase typical in-bay throughput by 80 percent.
