Clifton Brides - How do I manage fittings with last year’s and this year’s brides to accommodate?

This is an incredibly relevant question. Let’s first think about how best you manage your store and customer.

Try to always categorise your consumer:

Prospect Brides – Marketing and pre-sale. Look at your marketing preferences and how well you market to your client. What pre-sell techniques do you use and what sort of authentic connection do you make with your client?

New Brides – Experience/product/management. Look at the experience you offer, always attempting to enhance and inspire your client’s time in your store. Do your products sing to your consumer? Basically, do you buy the right product for your client needs and then how do you manage the diversity of appointments offered instore?

Advocate Brides – After-sales/management/attention to detail. After the sale and your very considered instore goodbye, what is your next step? Have you a full cohesive plan in place to manage your clients exciting transfer from ‘I said yes’ to gown arrival, balance payments, fittings, connections and wear date?

We should always be informing, supporting, and inspiring our clients every day. We need to reinforce that we have safe working practices in our stores. It has not been “business as normal” for a very long time and will it ever be? I would recommend keeping your brides needs covered and then ensuring you and your team are not overworked by the pepped-up demand we are experiencing now.

Staggered and extended appointment types are crucial to the pepped-up demand we are experiencing:

• Sell your space to your consumer as clean and pristine with anti-bac as part of your usual routine. (It is always essential that you are seen to be looking after your people first).
• Revisit your usual opening hours. Strategize how longer opening hours can substitute seeing less brides, without putting you and your staff at risk of burn out! This move is key to ensuring you can fit in your ‘advocate brides’ who need to either try on their gown, be fitted, need to pay a balance or collect.
• Have key members of staff on crucial roles such as quality control/collections/managing fittings/accessory sales and collections.
• Adapt your store slightly. This does not have to be at great expense. Consider appointment types and how you can best manage brides and your team safely with the addition of changing rooms or waiting rooms. This can be for an initial period until the pepped-up demand dies off a little.
• Consider different wedding types from now on. Elopements and mini ceremonies are at the forefront of our consumer needs now. Ensure you have stock at the ready which will save on second or third instore visits and storage.
• Be flexible and able adjust to meet extraordinary needs.
• Lower anxiety by keeping connected to your brides… knowledge is key!

Managing your advocate bride is crucial and helps you to understand and manage how busy your store is going to be. For example, collections and fittings should have already been categorised with the bride and seamstresses (external or internal), hence allowing you to free up the diary and book new sale appointments.

Plan to fail

Plan to fail is something I say a lot and I think during lockdown we really needed to keep the momentum rolling and still do, trying our best to manage our consumer need. Hopefully, most gowns are now collected, and your storerooms are free of close wear dates and distant wear dates. Your diaries have waiting lists, coupled with advocate appointments flying out with balances paid and very happy brides.

In-store Management

I mentioned last time that I see our bridal businesses almost as two separate parts. The front of house (maximum hospitality and the beauty of our stores) and the back of house (our inspect and collect process). Regardless of either process, all gowns need to be protected, organised and identifiable to optimise the business thoroughly. If you manage your front and back of house strategically this will enhance the flow and consumer experience whilst helping you to sleep better knowing the organisation is being managed skilfully.

The sensory experience

Also try to consider other elements in store of how we can delight our bride and her small entourage now. We have recently completed a webinar on creating a sensory experience of touch, scent, taste, and sight. Have a think about how you can inspire the sale or the advocate experience within your store and how delicately curated changes make the biggest impact. Always being mindful of yourself, your brand, your gowns, your team and your clients.