Abi Neill

Get really good and confident with a personal style of social media which drives rapport and connection. Think about how you can become the boutique that brides WANT to buy from! Lean into your brides and accept that a bride’s needs and wants has really changed. How we treat them and work to serve them is different than it was.

Jo Stott

Look valuable to your consumer! This doesn’t mean only sell value cost gowns in your store. Be savvy with your inventory, of course, otherwise your conversion will reduce, as we are in a short recession. However, you need to show your worth as a business through your products, authenticity, brand story, team, and experiences offered; both physically and digitally.

Value is everything to a client so think about what you can do to be more valuable and how can you make your products acceptable in today’s market. As the cost of living has gone up, so has everything else. You need to be the bridal store which helps shape consumer choices.

Think about:

• Physical: Gown choice/shape/lux fabrics/stitched pearls and embellishments/personalization.
• Emotional: The need for your consumer to feel incredible/loved/part of your team. The ability to create a once in a lifetime shopping experience, whilst offering hospitality that requires less effort due to it being part of your everyday working practices.  

Mass marketing also isn’t enough now, we need a story to influence our consumer to spend money. What is your story? What is your designer story? How do the designers you choose endure designing dresses? All of which help add value and creates a positive space with sales.

Megan Garmers

"If you do not change, you will become extinct." I love this quote because it applies to everything and especially to having a business in the wedding industry. Nothing stays the same: trends, marketing, couples, and social media. Being willing to learn and try new ways of accomplishing the same goal helps secure the longevity of your business.

Grace Bunk

Technology, digital marketing, trends, fashion, and consumer behaviours are changing at the speed of light. By the time you catch up with the trends, you are already behind. Not only does this cycle burn retailers out, but it absolutely kills confidence and resiliency. Rather than trying to keep up with what’s around you, just get focused on your own business and being the best version of your brand you can be. If retailers would spend less time focusing on competitors and more time studying consumers, they would see such a massive return on the time and energy invested; creating a snowball effect when it comes to confidence and clarity.

Maria Musgrove-Wethey

If appointments and sales conversions are still low then an easy way of increasing revenue is to increase the average spend per bride.  Brides who have bought their have also bought into your brand so it’s easier to market and sell to them than it is to sell new brides.  Brainstorm all the additional products and services that you can offer from then put together some email campaigns (easy to do on a platform like Mailchimp) and let your brides know what you offer.

Anna Hare

My best advice year is, as you might expect, about your numbers. It’s vital that, as the costs of running our business rise, you have a clear understanding of your margins and you’re making sure you are more than adequately covering all of your costs, both obvious and unforeseen, making a healthy profit on each sale. If you’re running your business on minimum margins, it’s likely that you will be working hard for very little reward and you may even find yourself in financial trouble next year. By increasing your gross profit you will be able to bring in additional revenue whilst accounting for increased running costs, without the need to sell more dresses!

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