Taking Stress Out of Buying “The Dress”

A wedding dress is one of the most exciting and emotional purchases a bride will make. By having an intuitive touch-screen selling tool at its sales consultants’ disposal, Priscilla of Boston is raising the bar on an already personal shopping experience.

Sixty-five years ago, Priscilla Kidder parlayed her innovative, handcrafted bridal designs into a successful business with the opening of The Bride’s Shop on Newbury Street in Boston. After catching the eye of high-profile customers like Grace Kelly and the daughters of Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, Kidder expanded her business. Today, the privately-held company, Priscilla of Boston, operates 18 salons throughout the country catering to the “21st-century bride.”

This bride is a new entity. “Brides today are much savvier – both from an information and a technology perspective – than those of us married only 10 years ago,” says Kimberly Minor, chief fashion strategist for Priscilla of Boston. “They rely on the web and social networking to share information about brands and designers.”

Thanks to a skittish economy, brides are also managing their budgets very differently, though they remain determined to have events that reflect their personality and style. “There is no such thing as a cookie-cutter event anymore,” Minor says. “And they are doing all the research and planning to ensure they can have it their way.”

This research covers every detail of the event, including the purchase of the ever-important gown. Sifting through countless gowns at a salon or in a phonebook-sized catalog doesn’t enhance the experience.

Brides often enter the salon with pictures of their dream gown printed off the web or torn out of magazines. They show their choices to the sales consultant, who can find a number of gowns that meet the criteria. Four or five dresses are presented at a time, with the process continuing at the bride’s discretion. While it can be a lovely one-on-one shopping experience, it can just as easily turn into a cumbersome guessing game.

“Whether they enter a salon, go to the web or look through a catalog, brides don’t have time to go through 250 gowns,” Minor says. “We wanted a way to continue providing a luxury experience without getting bogged down in a catalog of dresses, but still ensure our brand continues to reflect our history.”

Another level of service
Shoppers often gauge their experience by “the service they receive when they first walk into the store. That’s what they remember,” says Kirk Godkin, manager of Americas business PCs for Hewlett-Packard. As a result, many retailers “are eager to add another level of interactivity.”

Priscilla of Boston elected to do so via technology and began evaluating the value of high-definition touch-screen PCs. The company’s marketing department, which championed the project, wanted a solution that could more creatively market the merchandise, jump-start the personal interaction and simplify the shopping process.

The first TouchSmart 9100 was installed in a Priscilla of Boston salon last October. After discussing the event’s details and a bride’s visions for her gown, the consultant leads the bride to a wall-mounted touch-screen unit so they can work together to bring her ideas to life.

The 21.5-inch flat screen features an online touch catalog that enables brides to preview gowns with the stroke of a finger. The customized software application, created by Wilmington, Del.-based marketing, design and technology consultant Trellist, allows users to sort through gowns by designer, neckline, silhouette and price, as well as change dress colors. Video of models “working the dress” at runway shows gives the bride a closer look at how the dress fits and moves.

Changing the face of self-service
For many consumers, self-service means no service: They take its presence to mean reduced staffing levels.

Generations X and Y are proving this theory wrong however, and seem genuinely pleased with its availability – so much so that it is becoming a factor that dictates where many younger consumers shop.

“Millennials and their parents find value in technology that provides stronger interactivity between them and retailers,” Godkin says. “Interactivity is part of their DNA these days, and they are eager to shop with chains that provide solutions that allow them to efficiently find answers and make better use of their time during the shopping experience.”

Two stores have the units installed on walls and in dressing rooms. Each salon is approximately 5,000 sq. ft. and has three or five screens. Six more stores – new locations and remodels — were scheduled to add the technology by summer, and the entire enterprise will be using the technology by 2011. Stores using the touch screens have slashed the time required to browse 250 dresses from two hours to 20 minutes.

The flat screens are also impacting store openings. “Word is getting out very quickly that our salons feature this technology, and that it’s a fun and easy way to streamline the bridal dress shopping process,” Minor says. “We credit this touch-screen technology for creating stronger word-of-mouth for our salons and the experience we create.”