Reply To: Big Data and Laundromats

[Stephen Dougherty]

Jordan,

Podcast Show 55 was great. I don’t think what you described is a conspiracy, it is a reality. Walking us through the rise of the internet giants by their use of data clearly shows the direction things are going.

From the website of one of the leading manufacturers. ” We seek to measure performance in every aspect of laundry.”

If they can measure how their machines are being used, then certainly they are doing it. And from their perspective if they didn’t use every tool available to make their franchised outlets successful they would be remiss in their responsibility to their own investors (who will get a percent of franchise revenues).

It’s not unlike the situation the companies that sell on Amazon are in. When Amazon sees a product that sells well, it then offers its own competing product. If an appliance manufacturer/franchiser can see which locations are doing well (machine turns and revenues would be easy to measure on a networked machine) that will certainly help them to suggest franchise store locations, and recommend machine selection and pricing.

My two cents,

Stephen