Why a locker suits shoe cleaning
Most cleaning businesses are built around one awkward moment: the handover. A customer walks in with a pair of sneakers, someone has to stop what they are doing, take the shoes, write a ticket, take payment, and later do it all again in reverse. If that person is also the one cleaning, every handover is a cleaning job interrupted.
Shoe, bag and cap cleaning has three things going for it that make a self‑service locker work well. The items are small, so a locker slot holds them comfortably. The job takes a day or more, so the customer expects to come back later anyway. And customers want to drop off before work or after dinner, when a counter is often closed or busy.
A Smart Service Locker turns the handover into something the customer does alone: choose a service on the screen, pay, put the shoes in, and leave. You collect the items when it suits you, and the customer is told by WhatsApp when to come back.
The customer flow, step by step
- Choose a service. The customer taps the touchscreen and picks from your menu, for example wet wash, dry wash or cap cleaning, in their preferred language.
- Pay. The screen shows a DuitNow QR. They scan it with Touch ’n Go eWallet, ShopeePay, GrabPay, Boost, MAE or any bank app that supports DuitNow QR. The order is paid before the door opens.
- Drop off. A door opens. The customer puts the shoes in and closes it. No ticket, no counter.
- Wait for the message. When the shoes are cleaned and back in the locker, they get a WhatsApp message saying the order is ready.
- Collect. They return, scan their QR at the terminal, the door opens, and they take their shoes.
Your side: the operator flow
You and your staff use the Operator PWA, a web app that runs in any phone browser with nothing to install. When an order comes in you get an alert. Open the slot from the app, take the shoes, clean them, and put them back in a free slot. The moment you close the door on the finished job, the customer’s WhatsApp goes out.
Most shops collect in batches: once in the morning and once in the evening, rather than reacting to every order. The cloud backend shows every locker, every slot and every order, so a second outlet is just another locker on the same screen.
Setting your menu and prices
Because the customer pays upfront on the screen, your price list is the screen. Keep it short and clear: a handful of services with plain names and fixed prices. Customers can’t ask a question at a locker, so the menu has to answer the obvious ones itself: what counts as a “wet wash”, how long it takes, and whether boots or leather cost more.
Fixed prices also remove the awkward part of a counter conversation, where the price depends on how the shoes look. If you need a surcharge for heavy soiling, put it on the menu as its own option rather than negotiating it later.
Where to put the locker
The locker is for indoor use only, away from direct sunlight and rain. It needs one standard UK power socket and Wi‑Fi or mobile coverage, and it is plug and play. Beyond that, placement is about footfall and access hours: a shop lot with a lit front, a corridor in a mall, a condominium lobby, or the entrance of a laundrette. The longer the location is open, the more of the 24‑hour promise you actually deliver.
Check the floor space before you order. The Mini takes 0.85 m × 0.46 m of floor and is 1.8 m tall. The Standard and Protake 1.2 m × 0.45 m and are 1.95 m tall. Leave room for the doors to swing and for the delivery route.
Which model for which shop
| Model | Slots | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mini | 9 | Small outlets, kiosks and counters with limited floor space | RM 7,260 |
| Standard | 22 | Busy outlets that take a steady flow of orders every day | RM 10,000 |
| Pro | 22 | Busy outlets that also want to promote services on screen | RM 12,800 |
A rough rule: count the orders you hold at any one time, not per day. If a job takes two days and you take ten orders a day, you need room for twenty pairs plus the finished ones waiting for collection. That is a Standard, not a Mini. If you are starting out or the location is small, a Mini with 9 slots is enough, and every model can be extended up to 70 slots later.
What it costs to run
Beyond the one‑time price, the locker costs RM 365 per locker per year for the cloud backend, Operator PWA and upkeep, plus RM 1 + 1.5% of the sales amount on each order. There is no fee when you have no orders. Sales are paid out every day whenever your balance is aboveRM 100.
Example. 150 orders in a month at RM 30 each is RM 4,500 in sales. The per‑order fees come to RM 150 + RM 67.50 = RM 217.50, and the yearly fee works out to about RM 30 a month. You receive RM 4,282.50 from that month’s orders.
Getting started checklist
- Pick the location and confirm it is indoor, has a UK socket within reach, and has Wi‑Fi or mobile signal.
- Measure the floor space and the delivery route, including door widths and ceiling height.
- Write your service menu with fixed prices and plain names.
- Decide who collects and when. Two fixed collection times a day is a good start.
- Order the locker. Lead time is about 1.5 months, with a 60% deposit to confirm.
- Self‑install with the guide and our remote support, plug it in, and run a test order with your own phone before opening.
Ready to look at the numbers for your shop? See the locker system for shoe cleaning businesses, or compare all three models.