Look for wedding fairs in your area or city. Bring a pen and paper to take notes as you walk through the vendor stalls. Ask vendors questions about their most popular styles and the current trends in bridal wear. One of the big challenges of starting a bridal shop is keeping up with current trends in the industry. Get a head start by doing your research to ensure you know what brides are looking for.
Ask them if there is an item they wished they could purchase or a style they wanted to have at their wedding, but couldn’t find. For example, one entrepreneur started her business after she planned her own wedding. She wanted a matching hoodie/pant set while getting ready for her big day, but many of the available products didn’t match her personality or style. So she developed a line of getting ready attire for brides that featured edgier and more fashion-forward styles. [3] X Research source
Look at the branding and marketing of other shops. Do they focus on a certain demographic or a certain bridal look? Do they have a brick and mortar location, as well as a web store? How do they get information out to their clients? Using social media tools can bring attention to your shop and boost sales. Many shops are taking advantage of the large buying presence on the internet and expanding their marketing to social media and online platforms.
Most successful bridal shops have a physical location and a healthy web presence. This combination allows bridal shops to offer one on one fittings and face to face customer service, while still communicating and networking with clients online.
Booking appointments for brides and their families to help them find the right dresses and catering to their needs. Depending on how large your staff is, you will work directly with your clients or check on them to see if your employees are giving them the help they need. You will also communicate with fashion houses and distributors to ensure dresses are delivered on time and on budget. You may use an in-house seamstress or outsource your tailoring to a third party service. Regardless, you will need to check on any outstanding alterations to make sure they are done on time. At the end of the day, you will record the day’s payments and check your finances to ensure your shop’s profit margins are in order.
You may also seek out a mentor, someone who currently owns a bridal shop in your area or who you feel may be a good guide and role model. Ask this mentor if you can shadow her for a few days or get advice on how to start your own bridal business. Some shop owners start as employees at a bridal shop and work under a mentor for several years before opening their own shop. This way, they are familiar with the financial requirements and the current bridal trends to then start their own business.
A general business description: This should include the name of your business, for example, Carrie’s Bridal Boutique, the city where your business will be located, a proposed location for your business, and your customer type. Inventory description, analysis, and strategy: This section should list your planned inventory, for example, “wedding gowns, headpieces, jewellery, shoes, and tuxedo rentals. ” It should also elaborate on your client demographic and why your proposed business location will be profitable for your business. For example, “The majority of Carrie’s Bridal Boutique’s clients will be from the local downtown area of Portland, with a hip and current aesthetic. ” It should also look at your local and regional competitors, as well as how your business will compete against these businesses. Promotion plan: Though you may want to create a separate, more extensive marketing plan, your business plan should include a breakdown on how you plan to market your shop. You can do a month to month list of any promotional events or specials you will do, such as a “Fall Wedding Promotion” or an “Early Prom Tux Sale. ” Future plans: This section should address how you are going to take your business from a startup to a success. This could be maintaining a consistent promotional and pricing strategy for two years, followed by expanding to high selling lines and honing stock based on profit margins and what is selling well. Resume: This should be presented in a professional manner, with a list of your qualifications, previous work experience, and education. Start-up expenses: These should be broken down to the dollar and then rounded up. You should have expenses listed for in-store stock, office supplies, and shop supplies (including first month’s rent), as well as a total amount for your start-up expenses. You will use this amount to apply for financing through loans, grants, and investments. Projected statement of sales and expenses: These should be hard number that show potential sales and expenses for your first year in business. You should estimate your net sales, expenses, and net profit.
You can also look at other ways to finance your business, such as savings or equity in your home. You may also quality for business grants through specific organizations or non-profits.
You can also try to do your own bookkeeping by learning how to use QuickBooks through a training course, but in the long term, you may want to invest in a good accountant.
Think about how you will advertise your shop. Print magazines are popular with some bridal suppliers, especially advertisements in bridal magazines. Check out bridal, fashion, and beauty features in local press in your area and think about putting ads in these sections. Your website should have keywords in the copy to attract brides to your site when they are searching for bridal shops. List your suppliers with a direct link to their websites so a bride can see the complete collection she may be able to purchase from you. In store promotions, especially on a monthly basis and seasonally (for example, prom promos or Christmas wedding specials), are also great for generating sales and encouraging clients to return to your store. Your marketing plan should also focus on the customer experience, as well as the inventory and styles you will stock in your store. Most customers who are shopping for bridal attire are in it for the products and the way they are treated, with a desire to have a fun, pampered, and hands-on shopping experience. Good customer service is a big selling point for many clients and can work just as well, or better, than an extensive ad campaign.
Contrary to popular belief, having no competition in the area may not be a good thing. If there is more than one bridal shop in the vicinity, a bride may be more keen to come to the area and spend the day shopping for a dress in several different shops. Avoid a space with two floors as your rent will be high and you will need to hire more staff. Look for a premise with a five year lease and a three year break lease clause. This will give you time to establish your business and build up your reputation in the industry. After two years in business, you should have a good idea of how you are doing and if your business will be profitable enough to last for the next three years, or if you may need to break your lease in the next year.
Make the showroom inviting and intimate with plug in scents, low music on a sound system, and fresh flowers. Create a space where you can chat with clients and their families, and feel confident making a sale. You should also buy a computer with sales software, like a point of sales system (POS). This will make ringing in sales faster and easier, and ensure you can accept most major credit cards.
Start with four collections, and 40 to 50 samples total. Purchase a good representation of designs from each supplier. Stock products in a range of price bands. But don’t underprice or overprice yourself for your area. If most bridal shops have gowns in a range of $500-$1,000, don’t go under this range and only stock a few pieces over this range. Building up a relationship with your suppliers is fundamental to the success of your business. If you are loyal to them, and their pieces sell in your shop, you can expect loyalty from them in return. Over time, some designers may offer exclusivity to your shop, but you will need to sell a high amount of their gowns every year and continue to sell their products at a high rate for this to happen.
Screen applicants by looking closely at their resumes for relevant customer service experience and comfort working with people. During the job interview, ask them about their previous work experience and have them demonstrate their ability to interact with customers.
You may decide to hold a promotion for the first 100 customers in the store on opening day, or a discount on a certain item or product during opening week. Encourage clients to visit your store as soon as you open by offering special pricing and pushing your advertising to get the word out.
Keep your operating hours simple and consistent, such as Monday to Friday, 10-5, and Saturdays, 9-5. Look at the operating hours of the shops around you and try to match their hours. Over time, you may tweak your opening hours based on the frequency of your customers on a certain day of the week or time.
