Spectro recently added a car wash module to their dispensing app. By doing so, the Dutch supplier in cleaning products hopes to convince more car washes to become a Spectro-client. The app was developed in Ukraine. “Especially now that there is a war going on, it is important not to break the economic ties,” he said.

With the app, the Oss-based cleaning product supplier serves their smart dispensing systems. Spectro supplies their eco friendly products to car washes throughout the Benelux but also has customers in Austria, Germany, Spain and Portugal.

Last year the Ecodos app was renamed the Spectro app and a major update is currently planned. After the update, the app will be optimized for Android users. In addition, the ability to report malfunctions has been added and customer reports have been expanded.
Moreover, a new car wash module will be available in the app. Spectro CEO Laurens Metternich is happy to explain what that means.

Dosage measurements

“With that module we can easily perform direct measurements and record dosages through digital reports. This is especially useful for car washes with multiple locations.”
According to Metternich, the carwash module will initially be used primarily by his own employees and distributors. “We regularly measure and adjust the settings at our customers. Those settings are sometimes very critical. This means you have to record those properly. From now on we can do that in the app. That used to be all done on forms. The process is now fully digitized. This allows you to quickly get to all the settings of the dosing pumps. The customer also gets reports of that. So if anything ever goes wrong, we have the right data right there.”

Can you also see that app if a customer needs new products?
“No, that’s not in the app right now. But it could certainly be added in the future. One practical problem we’re running into now is logistics. You want to avoid having to drive to the customer for one bottle and again a day after that. In fact, we have car wash entrepreneurs who sometimes use as many as five or six different products from us.”

That car wash module is a service to our customers and you can think of it as a way of customer loyalty.

What is the revenue model for the app?
“I can be very honest and brief about that: there isn’t. It is a service to our customers and you can see it as a way of customer loyalty. Also, it’s a way to win new customers and make a difference.”

I understand the app was built in the Ukraine in Lviv? Don’t they have something else on their minds there?
“Nice that you noticed that. We started building that app sometime in 2018 and the world looked a lot different back then. After the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out, we had a brief discussion about future cooperation with the software builders. You first first reaction, of course, is to stay far away from it as a company and house further app development in a stable country.
“But that’s the big mistake everyone immediately makes. The team in the Ukraine pointed out to us that it’s very important that the economy there keeps running to keep the country afloat. When the war broke out, many companies left not only from Russia but also from Ukraine. We eventually chose to invest extra in that app and thus keep the software team in Lviv working. Several families benefit from that.”

Next week, Carwashpro will publish a somewhat longer interview with Spectro CEO Metternich.