Idea Napkin No. 1

DRYlivery—Dry Cleaning delivery on your time…

1.       About Myself: I am a retail field management veteran with over 14 years of experience. The talents I possess are being resourceful, figuring out other’s strengths, and taking difficult situation and transitioning them into more streamlined moments. I am customer-centric focused and believe that is the root for any business model to be successful. My aspirations for Drylivery is to create a service that its focus is making the lives of its customers easier by giving their time back to them instead of running daily errands. The role the business would play in my life would be to contribute giving time back to others. Time is a valuable resource and assisting others in having more of it gives the opportunity for a simpler healthier life.

2.       Drylivery is a dry cleaning delivery service. The inconvenience of forgetting to pick up your dry cleaning, not making it before they close, or wasting a lunch break by picking it up will be eliminated through Drylivery’s services. Similar to Uber, Drylivery will us a mobile application, in partnership with local professional dry cleaners, for customer to schedule pickup and delivery of their garments to their home or work place. For the owner/operator of the dry cleaner, their partnership cuts down amount of staff making deliveries allowing them to focus on what they do best for their customers.

3.       The demographics we would be offering these services to would be all customers whose dry cleaners have established partnerships with Drylivery. The dry cleaner partners of Drylivery benefit from lower operating costs by cutting back their expenses on delivery expenditures (such as gas, labor costs, workforce management, etc.); overall supporting better Profits/Losses.

4.       Customers and dry cleaner partners would care about Drylivery because it supports their goal of having more time to focus on what they do best. Delivery customers get a friendly convenient service that is an extension of their favorite dry cleaners. With the dry cleaner being able to keep their operational costs lower through phasing out in-house delivery services, Drylivery gives them the ability to optimize their operations more efficiently and effectively.

5.       Drylivery’s core competencies are customer experience, inclusion of the community’s businesses, and utilizing technology to help streamline day-to-day tasks. Another key competency is that we do not want to start a dry cleaning business, yet offer a service that will enhance businesses that have established their reputations as a community inspired business.

Business Evaluation

                After examining the element of the business, the one area that I cannot seem to piece together is whether customer would pay a monthly fee or on a per usage basis. Both have their advantages with monthly fees, we have cash flow up front for business operating expenses, while with per usage we have the opportunity to gain more customer through a no-commitment mentality. Another item to figure out is for our dry cleaning partners. With each dry cleaners’ business operating differently how easy would it be to incorporate user friendly technologies in their business to assist and potentially grow their business through our services. I feel like the big picture of having both businesses and customers benefit from our services is realistic. However, breaking down the specifics of how much Drylivery wants to invest in partnership technology and payment options is where there is a slight blur.