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OVER VIEW
WWW.BRIDALBUYER.COM
The Ellie Sanderson spotOVER VIEW
T
he days of selling a wedding dress to
a bride on her visit seem few and far
between. Headlines declaring the decline
or death of the high street and prompts to
shop online leave us all a little nervous.
Indeed the term “showrooming” was
created for consumers who do just that.
They spend hours in shops only to head off and buy
cheaper online or elsewhere with the use of the internet.
There are apps for price comparisons, websites advising
how to obtain discounts, chat rooms open for price
comparing and more.
Our target consumer is more than comfortable doing
much of her shopping on the web and this generation
has no fear when typing their credit card number into a
website. The net result of this is this - general retail sales
online are up +11% and down -4% in store.
The internet has created a whole new breed of shopper.
I do take great comfort that purchasing a wedding
dress takes more than a scout on line and a click of a
button. Purchasing a wedding dress is emotional. The
physical shopping experience is key and touching the
product is vital. Purchasing a wedding dress should
be in an environment that seduces the consumer with
customer service that has them begging for more. All
senses must be stroked and all emotional buttons pushed.
It’s almost a love affair.
Our target consumer however,
doesn’t usually shop this way. This new
generation of consumer doesn’t expect to
come out and try on a few dresses and
say ‘ this is the ONE”. Heck no: shopping
on the high street is alien to them let
alone shopping for a wedding dress. So
the whole task becomes a long-drawn-out
process, every friend and family member
is involved, lots of shops are visited and
fi nally one lucky bridal shop owner hears
the magic words, “it’s the ONE”.
Six years ago as a new business I evaluated the following
and so used a few of these key stats as a starting point,
but without a doubt this change of consumer behaviour
has an impact on our costs and operation.HOW MANY SHOPS VISITED **
In 2008 my average bride visited 2.5 shops
compared to 3.9 now.HOW MANY DRESSES**
In 2008 my average bride tried on 19 dresses
this has risen to 28 now.These stats mean that the average bride is spending
more time in my building, taking up more time with myBridal shop owner Ellie Sanderson delves under the skin of the
business looking at changing consumer behaviours and the real
cost of selling a wedding dress“The average
bride spends
roughly eight
hours being
managed from
start to fi nish”girls and costing me more money for the
same ticket on the dress.
This has a signifi cant impact on our
margins.
Let’s assume the average bride spends
three hours standing in her dress with
the retailer of her choice – she will then
have a further one and a half hours in
fi ttings with one hour in styling, plus the
administration of managing her order
and managing a re-measure. Include in
the fi nal preparations of her dress and
accessories and I believe the average bride spends roughly
eight hours being managed from start to fi nish. That’s
about £100 of staff and management time. That doesn’t even
cover overheads such as premises and ancillary services.
We need to get in tune with these girls and understand
the whole mental engagement process they go through
before purchasing.
I have started with a new website similar to Asos, John
Lewis and Marks & Spencer that has live videos, cross
shopping and is linked to Youtube. My next stop is my
shops, fi rst of all a review of systems then a review of layout
and all things within that work on emotional seduction.
Its not an overnight change but it’s one that I know
will need to happen by next spring to keep up with the
changing profi le of our consumer. BB077.BB.163.Ellie Sanderson.indd 77 17/06/2014 16:30