Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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Millennials drive the rise of the domestic cleaner in London
Recent research has revealed that demand for professional cleaning services has gone up by a staggering 25% in the past five years in London. A whopping 50% of this increase has been driven by millennials with boroughs that have high populations of 18-35 year olds seeing some of the biggest jumps in demand.
To find out more about London's cleaning needs, Service Octopus decided to see which boroughs were leading the way in the demand for cleaning services. The resulting infographic gives a fascinating snapshot of the impact of millennials on London's cleaning landscape and offers a glimpse into how 18-35 year olds are harnessing technology and making the most of the on-demand economy.
Two of the three boroughs driving demand for professional cleaning services are located in East London and are among the capital's most impoverished. Hackney and Tower Hamlets (which come in second and third place respectively) are home to some of London's most deprived areas.
In recent years however, relatively affordable housing and good transport links have attracted increasing numbers of millennials to both boroughs. In Hackney, 18-35 year olds now make up 37% of the population while in Tower Hamlets 42% of residents are millennials (the highest of all London boroughs). These young, energetic newcomers have opened bars, restaurants, shops and entertainment spaces, regenerating the area, and increasing demand for professional cleaning services, in the process.
Another draw of East London is Silicon Roundabout. Located next to Old Street Station, the tech hub is home to a number of startups and innovative businesses and attracts large numbers of digitally-minded millennials looking for high flying tech careers. In Tower Hamlets - which borders the Silicon Roundabout area - the median population age is 30.6, while in Hackney - another borough located within a stone's throw of the tech hub - the average age is 32.3. This shows just how dominant the millennial demographic is in the area.
Interestingly, the study revealed that residents who live in flats are overwhelmingly more likely to use professional cleaning services compared to those who live in houses. In fact, the large proportion of the demand was from flats.
There is a strong correlation between this trend and the fact that millennials are now more likely to rent shared flats than to buy a house of their own thanks to rising house prices. In fact, it's not only millennials who are living in shared houses, with more and more people now renting well into their 40s. This, coupled with the fact that many of these flat sharers will be living with strangers, will now use these services to clean communal areas of these properties.
Over the past few years, millennials have often been accused of being lazy. The data revealed from the study could seem to support this, as boroughs with high populations of millennials have seen a big increase in demand for cleaning services.
Lambeth (millennial population 38%) has experienced the biggest increase, with 15% more demand for professional cleaners. Hackney (millennial population 37%) has seen a jump of 10.11% and requests for professional cleaners in Tower Hamlets (millennial population 42%) have gone up 9.49%.
At the other end of the scale, Sutton has seen an increase of just 0.21% in demand for cleaning services and has a small millennial population of 23%.
One explanation could be that millennials are more likely to use technology to meet their everyday needs. The majority of millennials interact more now using phones and apps than they do in real life, so it's no surprise this tech-savvy generation has turned to the web to meet its cleaning needs. This trend is reflected in the strong growth of the on-demand economy with digital companies now able to satisfy a wide range of everyday needs in an instant.
Service Octopus is the UK's price comparison and instant booking service for professional cleaning. Visitors can compare prices and reviews from a wide range of firms and book online in minutes. Each cleaning company on the site is manually selected and approved to ensure a consistently high quality of service.
Currently available throughout Greater London, Service Octopus will be expanding its coverage across the UK in the near future.
25th January 2018