Last month, inside the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, the professional carwashing industry gathered once again to share ideas, insights, product information and a good time at The Car Wash Show™ 2023.
The physical size of this trade show has expanded in recent years and so too has the market’s impact on communities across the U.S. In addition to contemporary designs with attractive landscaping as well as shiny new equipment and signage, modern carwashes are also using high tech solutions to draw a crowd and keep it.
Operators who are investing in new technology solutions that are emerging in this market are outpacing competition by cutting costs and managing flow and business operations through easy-to-navigate analytics, apps and dashboards. Employee scheduling is easier today and signing up customers and managing their plans is becoming a seamless part of the carwash business. Third-party companies, which are receiving massive funding from investors, are looking to make membership simpler and more lucrative.
For the customer and employee experience, new tech is simply cool.
How membership holds up in a recession is the big question. While market insiders — leaning on past decades of experience — note the carwash industry performs better than most during periods of slow economic growth or even decline, consumers have never before had so many reoccurring, subscription-based services during a recession. The country’s unemployment rate is currently low, but as more Americans potentially start to lose their wages in the months ahead, where do discretionary spending and subscription services fall on the list of priorities?
For the time being, the market remains in growth mode — more new washes, more members, bigger chains, etc. The resurgence of carwashing in America over the past decade has attracted big spending investors and the market’s future continues to be shaped by automation and technology.
If you attended The Car Wash Show™ and you have been in the market for a while, you probably noticed many new companies that are leading with virtual solutions. These offerings will only accelerate into the near future as new carwashes are built and existing ones modernize.
Our monthly publication and popular website, Carwash.com, feature many of these new innovations and companies that are hitting the market. Tech evolves fast so it’s best to keep up with these solutions on a regular basis.
If you missed last month’s show in Las Vegas, there is one more major event later this year to see and demo game-changing tech for your wash. Save the date for NRCC 2023 on Oct. 2-4 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Learn more at nrccshow.com.
