Geowash

Premium Hand Car Wash & Detailing Café

Geowash Hand Car Wash Service provides premium quality car wash service and is leading the vehicle washing industry with access to the latest technology and the most innovative product in the market. It has systems and technology unmatched by anyone.

Geowash Hand Car Wash uses a unique hand car wash concept that allows your business to benefit from the best of both worlds, a stand alone site that allows the flow of your customers to a fixed point and also a mobility feature that provides your customers the opportunity to have their car washed wherever they park.

Geowash is a unique concept in cleaning cars. It offers a hand wash service which does not leave foam, water or dirt on the floor. The entire operation of cleaning the exterior and the interior of the car takes about 25 minutes and the cleaning materials use ingredients that form a protective film on the car’s surface. In Australia Geowash is a well established franchise brand and is now poised for rapid growth.

The CEO of Geowash Australia, Sanam Ali, described how the company started its operations and entered Australia, “Geowash is an international brand. It is present in 35 countries around the world. Its operations commenced in Argentina over 10 years ago when Alejandro Alperin saw an opportunity to wash cars wherever they were parked, so he came up with the idea of a mobile cart which contained water and everything else that was needed to wash a car.

“The cart was a self contained unit that had 60 litres of water on board, and a rechargeable battery, so power was available in the cart itself. The cart could move around without any restrictions and it was equipped with a 10 metre long low pressure hose. All the cleaning materials used were 100% biodegradable and environmentally friendly. This is how the idea came about.

“How I came across the idea was I came across this concept in Singapore and I got really attracted to the concept, so I secured the Australasian rights in 2010 and after running a pilot site in the Australian market, we commenced franchising in 2011. We spent three years of working on the model and perfecting it.

“Then in 2014 I identified the need to develop the Geowash hand car wash and café franchise model which opened up the business to new opportunities. In the last 14 months we secured another 17 franchisees and now we are the fastest growing car wash café in Australia.”

The project started with a single company run store. The idea was to understand the Australian market. It was only after extensive market research and test marketing of the hand wash concept that expansion through franchisees was initiated. The patience the Geowash management displayed has paid off, as the learning from the initial period is proving extremely useful now.
In fact operation manuals were designed specifically for the Australian market and it took over six months to finalise them. The company continues to update these on a regular basis and its attention to detail is a major factor for it success.

Explaining the reason for adopting the franchise model and its approach to customers, Sanam Ali said, “Franchising is the fuel for expansion and I can’t be everywhere every time. I would love to, but I can’t handle everything myself. Franchising is such a huge market and it has enabled brands like Geowash to expand rapidly.
“I did my research into the franchising industry in Australia and understood that this is such a growing industry. I decided to partner with the right group of franchisees and make sure that the Geowash brand message is sent across to the customers in an appropriate manner.

“We work very closely with our customers in wanting to understand what drives them and what attracts them. We all have pretty busy lives and we make choices all the time. The question we want our customers to ask themselves is, ‘You clean your house, you clean your surroundings, why not clean your car?’ So it is a matter of educating your customers and working closely with them. What do they want in a car wash?”

Technology plays a very important role in Geowash’s operations. The company uses state of the art systems that enable franchisees to track their expenses, their employees and revenues and their net income online. Everything is synchronized with a portable hand-held device and a smart phone.

Customers can tap into special offers that are available on the company website. This benefits both the franchisees and the customers. Using this online facility franchisees can manage their customer records by viewing their history of visits to Geowash. They can also see how many cars are coming into the store and view them through access to cameras which track all car movements inside the store.

Franchisee management plays a crucial role in Geowash’s success. Sanam Ali explains the company’s approach, “In terms of the actual franchisees that we have selected, we have partnered with like minded people. I think in life it is very important to control your surroundings, be it your personal life or your professional life.

“I have managed to select some really driven, motivated and enthusiastic people to become part of my brand. These franchisees are representing my brand in different states of Australia. The relationship works really well when we all have a common understanding and a goal that we are working towards.

“I’m personally involved with all my franchisees from the time they make an enquiry to the time they become part of my brand. I make sure that I communicate with them and that they understand I actually care about their welfare. I talk with them regularly and ensure that I do simple things like picking up the phone when they call. All this means a lot to them and means a lot to me as well. Because at the end of the day they have put their trust in me and I have put my trust in them.”

Geowash has established robust systems and procedures to strengthen their franchisees. Assistance is provided in every aspect of the franchisee’s business from site sourcing to lease negotiation and getting the development application and engineering drawings prepared.

The company also helps in launching the franchisee’s business and provides ongoing support and training. Geowash has put in place highly skilled operations and sales managers and partnered with architects, town planners, town planning specialists and support staff in the industry to deliver to the franchisee a level of service that is not matched by anyone else.

Suppliers and business partners have played a key role in Geowash’s success. Sanam Ali talks about this aspect of the business, “Geowash has partnered with the Shell Group, United Petroleum, and some major service station groups and we work hand in hand with them to roll out our franchise models. Our tie-ups have given us access to some really good sites. There is a shift in the market and when you go and get petrol filled in the car you actually have car washing and detailing in that same facility itself.

“Shell is one of the examples where the relationship has grown over the last 12 months where in essence they have become a supplier to us of sorts. We have also partnered with Etihad stadium, which is right in the heart of the city. This iconic Melbourne location will really expose the brand and take it to the next level.”

Geowash has ambitious plans in the Australian market. It has established an extremely strong foundation and as its plans fructify it will become the major force in the country’s car wash market. Sanam Ali is absolutely positive about Geowash’s future prospects, “I want to continue supporting my franchisees – my goal is to have others succeed. I want to help people grow in life and continue to be a dominant force in building Geowash.
“We are targeting opening 30 stores every year for the next 5 years. Our corporate objective is to be the biggest player in terms of total revenue. We expect our combined group revenue to increase exponentially as more stores come into operation. We live in a world where we all want to keep up with the latest trends. Geowash is now positioned to satisfy this requirement by providing upmarket cleaning, car washing and detailing services.

“The industry has a lot of dodgy operators and being a customer myself I know when I used to drive by a car wash the impression and the attitude I used to have as a customer was more along the lines of, ‘The people appear to be dodgy and I’m not going to have my car washed there’. I want to change that attitude.

“I want Geowash to provide hand car wash facilities that are done by really friendly, neat, clean and presentable staff. The customer should say to herself, ‘I don’t mind going into the café, just relaxing for some time, enjoying a cup of coffee and connecting to the Wi-Fi service, email and getting some ‘me’ time and getting my car washed’.”