Insights

Demographic shifts and digital transformation are reshaping Korea's laundry-service market. According to Samjong KPMG Economic Research Institute's Business Focus, the share of dual-income households grew from 44.2% in 2015 to 48.2% in 2023, and the share of single-person households rose from 27.2% to 35.5% over the same period. As time invested in household chores declines and outsourcing demand for daily-life services rises, the O2O laundry-service market is expanding quickly.

The vacuum left by traditional dry cleaners is being filled by platforms. Traditional neighborhood dry cleaners are disappearing rapidly. Newly licensed laundry businesses in Korea fell from 917 in 2015 to 350 in 2024, while the closure rate rose from 197% to 323% over the same period. Climate- and season-driven consumption shifts, lifestyle changes (in dry-cleaning and dress-shirt demand), and rising input costs are squeezing neighborhood dry cleaners' profitability, while mobile app-based O2O laundry platforms are filling the gap. Players such as Cleantopia, LaundryGo, Laundry Task Force, and Eat-Live-Wear Company compete with different models — direct B2C, unattended laundry, O2O brokering platforms, and B2B for hotels and businesses.

Four business trends: the direction of market growth. The report identifies the key trends in the laundry-service market: ① expansion of contactless pickup-and-delivery services (convenience-led); ② niche premiumization in dry cleaning and specialty fabrics; ③ revenue stabilization through B2B subscription contracts; ④ operational efficiency through adoption of AI and automation technology. In particular, unattended coin laundries and franchised laundromats are structurally replacing the disappearing neighborhood dry cleaner.

What this means for M&A. The growth of laundry-service platforms connects into M&A opportunities across the broader daily-life services O2O ecosystem. First, late-stage laundry platforms are likely to accelerate bolt-on acquisitions to expand regions and diversify services (laundry → cleaning → integrated home care). Second, cross-border deals are possible as laundry/home-care O2O platforms that emerged earlier in the US, Europe, and Japan explore entry into Korea via partnerships or equity investments with K-daily-life service companies. Third, players with stable revenues from the B2B hotel and office laundry market may become attractive mid-market acquisition targets for PE investors looking for predictable cash flows.

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- 📄 Source → Samjong KPMG Economic Research Institute, Business Focus (April 2025)

- 📩 M&A inquiries → Samjong KPMG M&A Center