The number of beds and facilities in the extended care industry has remained flat as nursing homes compete with at-home care and assisted and independent living facilities. However, extended care facilities is still an important end-use segment for suppliers of laundry chemicals, because sanitizing and disinfecting linens and garments are crucial in a setting with elderly patients and residents.
As a part of Kline’s research with decision makers at commercial laundry facilities, we surveyed extended care facilities, including nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and independent living facilities to understand their usage, purchase patterns, perceptions, and concerns when it comes to laundry chemicals. In order to qualify for the survey, respondents had to process at least some of the facility’s laundry on-site.
Most extended care facilities expect to continue to do their laundry on-site. Only 12.3% of the extended care facilities surveyed noted they were very likely to outsource all of their laundry over the next three years, and 10.9% were highly likely to outsource some of their laundry through 2020. The main reasons given for outsourcing laundry were cost reduction and converting the space currently devoted to laundry to another use.
The most important factors that influence laundry chemical purchase decisions for extended care facilities are price, service, and convenience. The factors hold equal importance when it comes to the decision of which chemical supplier to buy from, as well as which channel of distribution to buy from. Emerging laundry trends important to extended care facilities are washing machine servicing, energy savings/conservation, and cold water washing.
Kline’s Laundry Chemical Products USA: Market Analysis and Opportunities will be published in September. This study provides subscribers with a comprehensive assessment of the commercial laundry market by combining extensive structured research with over 500 end users in commercial laundries, hospitals, hotels, extended care facilities, prisons and jails, shirt laundries, and small on-premise laundries, with in-depth interviews of suppliers and distributors. This report and database provide sales and market data on 7 product categories and nearly 50 laundry chemical suppliers. To learn more, contact us.
