TRUNK SHOW SERIES: Finding the Right Bridal Designer
Pick Me, Choose Me, Love Me!
Think back to your most recent hiring period. Remember flipping through applications, setting up interviews, and ultimately, choosing the best candidate for the job? Selecting a designer to partner with for a trunk show is eerily similar. You may have several qualified contenders, but you have to select the one that fits best in your current season of life. As recommended earlier in the series, you could have several trunk shows a year. So, the good news is you will have other opportunities to partner with your top contenders. The important question to ask yourself right now is: Who will I reap the most benefits from for my store at this time?
Using Your Bridal Store Data
By now, I’m sure you’re noticing the common theme of understanding the demographic of your boutique and your bridal customers. Predicting your brides’ responses to certain collections can help you predict sales, and ultimately, the success of the trunk show. In most cases, the simplest way to anticipate future reactions is to evaluate past transactions.
Our recommendation is to run reports based on your top seller dresses and time of year sold, your top seller lines and time of year sold, and your top month/quarter performance. After you think you’ve solidified a trend or two, give yourself time to evaluate the validity of those trends—make an observation, ask a question, form a hypothesis, conduct the experiment, and analyze your results. Who knew the Scientific Method would come in handy so many years later!
If you are a business with multiple locations, be sure to do this process individually with each store. Each location will have different trends because they have different brides!
For Poppy Users:
We recommend utilizing the following Poppy Reports: Sales by Vendor Trend, Top Special Order by Item, Top Special Order by Vendor and the Item Sales Trend. These reports will give you a good idea of what items and vendors are performing for your store during specific bridal seasons.
Certainty or Chance?
Thinking back to the first blog in this series, Trunk Shows 101, we defined a trunk show as a collaboration between you and a designer.
A trunk show can accomplish one of two things in strengthening your relationship: you grow deeper with a familiar designer or you trial a new designer.
If you decide to trial a new designer, whether new to you or new entirely, a trunk show is a low risk way to sample them with your brides. Regardless of choosing certainty or chance, you are strengthening a relationship and gaining valuable feedback to shape your store in the future!
Signs you’re partnering with a reputable designer with a high chance for success:
- They are well-known in the bridal industry and have an established public following.
- You will appeal to diverse brides near and far!
- They feature upcoming trunk shows/events on their website and social media.
- This means they will do some of the marketing for you!
- They have a consistent means of communication and/or a reliable sales representative.
- You have an easy way to communicate and ask questions!
- They offer a variety of different types of trunk shows and give you some autonomy (best of, new collection, hand-picked, sizing choice).
- This gives you more control to select what works best for your brides!
Who does what?
Just like a group project, you have to divvy up responsibilities to each party. Let’s break this down:
| Your Responsibilities | Designer’s Responsibilities |
| You will reach out with initial contact for trunk show interest. | Most will appoint a sales representative to each region. They will communicate which trunk shows they offer and what dresses (and sizes) will be included. |
| You will discuss pricing and promotions for your trunk show. | Most will collect a store credit card to have on file for fees and incidentals. Some even negotiate deals for sales! |
| You will organize your space and staff. | Most will send displays and other promotional goodies (designer dependent). |
| You will promote the event with your marketing team: social media, messaging, blogs, signage, etc. | Most will add your trunk show event to their website and share your promotional content. |
| You will follow up with your sales representative for shipping and arrival of dresses. | They will be at your disposal for questions, don’t hesitate to reach out! |
| You will return dresses in the condition specified, account for all of the dresses received, and ship to the preferred location. | They will specify dress accountability and return information. |
Who do you envision being the best partner in crime for this mission? Just like any successful relationship, there has to be mutual respect from the get go. Be sure to give yourself and the designer plenty of time to order and prepare.
Remember, you are both in this together and are working towards mutual success!
If you are still with us, you’ve made your way through the behind the scenes work, it’s time to open the curtain for your audience.
Check out the next blog in this series: Trunk Shows: Marketing to your Bridal Audience.
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