July 18, 2024 – New York, NY – Rinsed is announcing the release of its latest quarterly industry report. This report offers critical insights and comprehensive data on the car wash sector's performance over the past five quarters.
The industry experienced a 7% year-over-year growth in combined member and retail revenue. However, this growth is part of a decelerating trend, suggesting both a maturing market and potential challenges such as increased customer churn. The shift towards subscription-based models is evident, with member revenue showing robust growth at 16.6%, while retail revenue declined by 5.3%. This reflects the industry's ongoing transition from traditional retail sales to monthly membership subscriptions.
Conversion rates of retail customers to monthly members remain high compared to all quarters in 2023, despite a slight seasonal decrease from the previous quarter. An uptick in both credit card churn and voluntary churn was observed, consistent with seasonal trends. This warrants close monitoring due to potential impacts from inflation and the evolving customer base, which now includes more late adopters who may have a higher likelihood of early churn.
Mature sites, defined as those operational for at least 30 months, have a median membership count of 2,875. Year-over-year growth in membership ranges from 1.5% at the 10th percentile to 8.6% at the 90th percentile, showcasing healthy expansion across various performance tiers. For locations aiming to surpass 5,000 members, the ability to wash nearly 75 cars per hour at maximum throughput is essential. Most high-performing locations fall within the 125 to 150 cars washed per hour range, providing a valuable benchmark for operational efficiency.
Evan Tesei, Senior Data Analyst at Rinsed, commented on the report: “Our latest findings underscore both the growth potential and the challenges facing the car wash industry. The shift towards membership models continues to drive revenue, but rising churn rates and economic pressures are factors to watch closely. This report offers essential benchmarks and insights for car wash operators to gauge their performance and strategize for future success.”
To view the full report and learn more about the latest trends in the car wash industry, subscribe to Rinsed at rinsed.com/subscribe.
About Rinsed:
Rinsed is the first CRM built from the ground up for the $15 billion car wash industry. A better customer experience means more repeat business, less churn, and more revenue. Rinsed helps car washes of all sizes delight their customers and grow their revenue with easy-to-use features including: an all-in-one customer relationship management platform to automate communications through email and text messages, mobile-optimized checkout forms embedded directly on car wash's websites that increase conversion rates by 10x, and business analytics, all fully integrated with the car wash's existing point-of-sale hardware.
