Dubai: A leading dry cleaner in the UAE has found that Europeans are its biggest customers, making up for nearly 40 per cent of its clientele.
The conclusion by Champion Cleaners, which has 46 outlets, follows a study it conducted into the behaviours and habits of its dry cleaning customers in the UAE in 2016.
Break-up
According to the study, expats from Europe made up for 38.54 of customers while those from the “Arabian Gulf” were second on the list with a far lower share of 14.61 per cent and South Asians in third place at 9.04 per cent. The break up in the case of other expats were non-Gulf Arabs 8.81 per cent, America 8.71 per cent, South east Asia 7.92 per cent, UAE Emiratis 6.12 per cent, Africa 2.24 per cent, Iran 1.98 per cent, Russia 1.54 per cent, China 0.04 per cent and Pakistan 0.03 per cent.
The study found that in 2016, Champion Cleaners received 480,000 men’s shirts and 140,000 pairs of men’s trousers while female blouses and tops came third on the list of the most dry cleaned items at 160,000. Women’s dresses and trousers trailed behind the other garments at 60,000 each over the course of 12 months. As many as 3,200 bags and 8,000 pairs of shoes were also dry-cleaned during this period. As much as 2,200 cubic metres of water were spent every month from Champion Cleaners’ central water plant to clean the various products. “This difference in dry cleaning volume also means that men spend more on dry cleaning, with average monthly spend across the sexes being Dh250 per month, Dh150 of which can be attributed to men’s garments,” the study said.
The study showed that the demand for dry cleaning pick-up services is on the rise as it reported a 68 per cent increase between 2016 and 2017. In 2016, 27 per cent of Champion Cleaners’ overall business could be attributed to their pick-up and delivery offering, whereas the number increased to 40 per cent now.
Figures also revealed that customer dry-cleans averaged 110 times a year.
