My bills are killing my business

zie7

I have a dry cleaning shop in London. As you can imagine everything runs on electricity and water. 4 washing machines, dry cleaning machine and ironing tables. Running from 9am-5pm daily.
The recent spike in bills and the new spike in October 2022 will kill my business. 

I don't know what I can do. If I try charge more from my customers they might end up going to someone else who is cheaper. 
I just don't know what i can do here. 

All the prices from suppliers have gone up so I am already paying more for my products. I extremely desperate. 25+ years in my business I'm left to nothing very soon. With no business I could lose my home to not paying mortgage. 

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. 

JGB1955

If your business is no longer viable then..... call a halt before you get into more debt.  Time to face the demons

Grumpy_chap

When was the last time you increased prices?
How have you managed price changes in the past?
Did previous price changes affect the volume of business?

Where I live, there are two dry cleaning companies.  I always use one because the service is better.  If they charge more, I'd still stay with the same provider.

macman

But all your competitors will be facing the same increases too. If they don't raise prices, they will be insolvent.
Most people use a local dry cleaner that is known to them, they don't tend to shop around and compare prices, unless your competition is literally next door.

Savvy_Sue

Are there any services for which you could charge a premium without a similar increase in expenses? Rapid turnaround / luxury folding - I have no idea ... 

Shorter opening hours, closing for one day pw? 

But I would heed JGB's advice. 

[Deleted User]

@zie7 it's not a nice position to be in, is it - but, as all posters have previously said, you have to do it, all the competition is and you must - or, close your business and get an employed job.

If you have/maintain the cheapest prices, as your business model, compared to your competition then something has to give - that'll be you ! 

Customers will always be there, you just have to offer the service - you'll lose some but you'll gain some too.

tightauldgit

Well you are either going to have to raise your prices or stop trading so have a think about what you want to do.

The utility prices etc are going to affect all your competitors too so they will need to put their prices up also. 

The sensible option seems to be to charge what you need to charge, explain to customers why the prices have gone up and see how it impacts your business. If you lose too many customers then you need to consider closing up.