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Contents

Amy-Louise Chapman

Marketing Plan for Independent Boutique: The Wedding Workshop

LCF FdA Fashion Marketing and Promotion Yr 2

Term Two - Work Experience

Tutor: Tim Williams

Submission Deadline: 18th March 2011

Word Count: 2217/2000

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Contents

Executive Summery .............................................................................................................. 3

Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 3

Company Profile ................................................................................................................... 4

SWOT Analysis ................................................................................................................. 4

Competition ....................................................................................................................... 6

Industry Profile/Market Analysis ............................................................................................ 8

Word of Mouth Marketing ...................................................................................................... 9

Advertising .......................................................................................................................... 10

Advertising Research ...................................................................................................... 10

Advertising Expenditure ................................................................................................... 12

New Media Marketing ......................................................................................................... 12

New Media Research ...................................................................................................... 12

New Media Expenditure .................................................................................................. 14

Public Relations .................................................................................................................. 14

PR Event Budget ............................................................................................................. 15

Campaign Budget ............................................................................................................... 16

Total Campaign Spend .................................................................................................... 16

Absorption Costing .......................................................................................................... 16

Reviewing Campaign .......................................................................................................... 17

Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 17

Store Owner Feedback .................................................................................................... 17

Appendix A- Market Research- Mintel 2009a ...................................................................... 18

Market Value and Forecast .............................................................................................. 18

Appendix B- Market research- Office of National Statistics ................................................. 18

Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 19

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Executive Summery

The Wedding Workshop is a successful company in the heart of a market town in

Bedfordshire providing handmade bespoke wedding gowns. The Wedding Workshop have

approached new methods of marketing such as a Facebook fan-page previously and now it

is being suggested that they take this one further by trying more new media marketing

techniques.

Word of mouth marketing is relatively new to the UK and it is suggested as part of this report

as a suitable marketing method for The Wedding Workshop. It has also been suggested that

The Wedding Workshop host a public relations event in order to aid the word of mouth

campaign and to introduce potential new customers to what is possible from designer

Melanie Lambeth.

A total spend for the campaign has been set at £2240 for the year. It has been suggested

that this is absorbed back into the business via sales over a 12 month period; in order to do

this The Wedding Workshop would have to make an extra £3733.33 per month. This target

should be attainable because despite the recession the average spend on weddingwear has

remained constant and brides are more often saving their budget for the gown and

compromising on other areas of weddingwear.

Introduction

This report serves to detail how the Bridal boutique The Wedding Workshop will boost sales

and brand awareness via new advertising and marketing methods. New and up-to-date

marketing methods will be suggested alongside those currently used.

The main focus of this report will be on the use of Word of Mouth marketing methods, which

are a cheap and modern way to engage consumers. The report will also suggest other

methods of advertising and marketing relevant to the target market including the costs of

such advertising and absorbing these costs back into the company. Lastly there will be a

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section of the report that will detail a method for evaluating the success of any suggested

campaigns.

Company Profile

The Wedding Workshop is a bridal boutique in the heart of a small market town in

Bedfordshire specialising in custom made bridal gowns, bridesmaid and prom dresses. The

customer has a rare opportunity to have one-to-one contact with the designer and store

owner Melanie Lambeth to have the bridal gown of her dreams, with decision making

privileges from start to finish including fabric choices, cut and style. The customer is offered

a truly bespoke garment that will make her big day even more special. During the design

process the bride will be advised of the ideal fabric colours to match her skin tone out of a

selection of 20 and the most flattering cut of dress to enhance her best attributes

(http://www.weddingworkshop.co.uk/index.htm).

When first contact was made the store was doing well in terms of sales and the store is well

known in the area as it is in a prime location in the centre of town. The store owner Melanie

had been using a number of traditional marketing method such as print advertising in a local

magazine that goes out for free called The Wedding Planner and also wedding fairs in and

around the area as well as further out. Melanie had also started to approach new media by

having a modern and well-designed website and also a Facebook fan-page.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Good location in town- near to

adequate parking.

One of limited few boutiques offering

bespoke, handmade gowns.

Offers accessories.

Weaknesses

Price point may be too high for the

average bride.

Location is not prime shopping area.

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Attractive window displays and in-

store marketing.

Only bridal store for a 10 mile radius.

Opportunities

To promote area as a one-stop

location for wedding shopping for

example- florists and wine

merchants.

AB’s up by 19% by 2015

C1’s up by 8%

Because of the nature of wedding

dress purchasing, service is

extremely important, and this is the

unique selling point of the specialist

bridalwear shop.

Threats

Recession to hit the amount spent on

weddings later than other areas of

the market as they are usually

planned a year in advance.

Cuts in child benefit for higher income

families will affect the disposable

income of some women.

Rising unemployment levels further

affect disposable income levels.

Government spending cuts-

Cuts in housing benefits will reduce

income of poorer families affecting

the value clothing sector.

Public sector job cuts will reduce

disposable income.

Middle-market families most likely to

be affected by government spending

cuts.

Women seem to be hit harder in the

spending review than men- 65% of

public sector workers are women.

The proportion of the adult population

of England & Wales who are married

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is projected to decrease over the 25

year period from 2008 to 2033, falling

from 49 per cent to 42 per cent

Competition

The Wedding Workshop is well located in a small market town around 8-10 miles away from

the nearest main shopping areas. Competition in the area is small which is good in terms of

the local customers but also means that it is hard to get people into the area specifically for

bridal wear.

‘Competition to bridal specialists will increasingly come from other formalwear

retailers – including the internet – for all weddingwear, including bride, groom and

perhaps most especially the male/female attendants’ (Mintel 2009a).

The following is a breakdown of main local competitor’s strengths and weaknesses. These

points will be used to influence decisions made for The Wedding Workshop marketing and

advertising plan.

Competitor Strengths Weaknesses

After Dark- Woburn

Sands

8 Miles from

The Wedding Workshop

Stockists of Maggie Sottero,

Augusta Jones, Ronald Joyce.

Great location- popular town.

Provides alterations.

Offers mailing list and

Facebook page on website

www.afterdarkbrides.co.uk

Offers bridal gowns,

bridesmaid’s dresses and

evening wear.

Customers may not be

willing to travel to this area

for only one bridal store

unless there is something

they have seen online to

specifically view.

Does not offer bespoke

gowns limiting the chances

of individuality.

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Woburn Bridal- Woburn

8 Miles from

The Wedding Workshop

Stockists of Ronald Joyce,

Pure, Mori Lee, Sincerity,

Angelina Faccenda,

Romantica, Victoria Jane,

Bellice and Madeline

Gardner.

Provides mother of the bride

outfits, accessories and

eveningwear and prom

dresses.

Facebook page is visible on

website.

Great location with a number

of popular shops selling a

wide variety of products and

well publicised restaurants

and cafes. The area’s most

prestigious wedding venues

are on the doorstep of this

boutique-

www.woburn.co.uk/weddings

Somewhat old fashioned

website

www.woburn-bridal.co.uk

Does not offer bespoke

gowns limiting the chances

of individuality.

Customers may not be

willing to travel to this area

for only one bridal store

unless there is something

they have seen online to

specifically view.

Hitchin Bridal stores

15 miles from

The Wedding Workshop

Around 6 bridal stores

located in one market town

providing a key location for

wedding gown shopping.

Providing key bridal

designers.

Does not provide bespoke

gowns. Limiting chances of

individuality.

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Variety of choice.

One stop location for all

wedding needs such as

Florists and stationers.

Industry Profile/Market Analysis

The bridal wear segment grew by 20.8% between 2003-2008 and is worth an estimated

£262 million (Mintel 2009a). With their particular strength in bridalwear, independent retailers

comprise the single largest distribution channel, accounting for an estimated 31.2% of

weddingwear value sales. The entry of High Street brands into bridalwear has stimulated

demand at lower price points but counter to this is a growing interest in designer-end fashion

inspired by celebrity weddings and wider fashion trends. As a result, the market has seen

some polarisation in expenditure (Mintel 2007).

Influencing factors in the market include:

The challenge for weddingwear retailers is to adapt their trading strategies to cope

with the ‘double whammy’ of falling numbers of weddings and a likely drop in average

amount spent (Mintel 2009a).

Brides will make economies last on their own dresses, but are likely to look for

cheaper options for their attendants. Bridesmaids in particular may be asked to

finance their own dresses, which may mean more purchasing of prom-style/evening

dresses, or outfits that can be worn again (Mintel 2009a).

For brides, buying the dress is an emotional occasion and indeed an important ritual

in the whole wedding process. A bride-to-be will often shop with her mother and/or

other female relatives and friends (Mintel 2009a).

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Because of the nature of wedding dress purchasing, service is extremely important,

and this is the unique selling point of the specialist bridalwear shop. The

consultations and fittings are seen by many brides-to-be as an integral part of the

whole wedding ritual (Mintel 2009a).

The proportion of the adult population of England & Wales who are married is

projected to decrease over the 25 year period from 2008 to 2033, falling from 49 per

cent to 42 per cent (Office for National Statistics 2008).

Over the same period, the proportion of adults who have never married is projected

to increase, rising from 35 per cent to 43 per cent. Due to the overall projected

increase in the adult population between 2008 and 2033, the numbers of both

married and never-married adults is projected to rise, but far more for those who

have never married (Office for National Statistics 2008).

Word of Mouth Marketing

‘On average we are bombarded with 3,000 marketing messages a day. But just 14% of

regular campaigns now have any effect, according to marketing week’ (Winterman).

‘The beauty of word of mouth, it’s raw, real, direct and genuine… it is the consumer talking,

not the brand’ (Winterman).

With more consumers doing pre-purchase research online, the technologically aware are

increasingly in demand to give guidance to friends and acquaintances about the best

sources of online advice and information. Recent purchasers are important ambassadors for

brands, as their experiences may be sought by people contemplating similar purchases. This

underlines the importance of ensuring satisfaction with all elements of customer service, as

well as with the product itself (Mintel 2008).

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Word of mouth marketing is the perfect marketing tool for The Wedding Workshop as a one

off purchase like a wedding gown often requires family or friends offering advice and

recommendations. These recommendations will come from providing great customer

service, quality garments and special offers.

It is suggested that The Wedding Workshop set up a marketing email aimed at previous

customers to maintain contact and perhaps offering a discount when the customer

recommends a friend boosting the possibility of new customers. It is also suggested that The

Wedding Workshop enter into collaboration with other local businesses to boost sales for

each other and to also boost word of mouth recommendations for one another. This will also

provide customers from surrounding areas with a one-stop destination for wedding shopping.

It is suggested that collaboration be made between bridal boutique The Wedding Workshop

and the restaurant Fratellis where every bride that attends The Wedding Workshop for a

consultation will receive a percentage off of a meal at the restaurant from either their express

lunchtime menu or £10 favourites menu (http://www.fratelliampthill.co.uk/). It is also

suggested that The Wedding Workshop work in collaboration with the local florist Maxine’s

and also the local wine merchants Cambridge Wine Merchants where each company in turn

recommends one another for example on each other’s websites and in store with flyers

boosting the opportunity for word of mouth recommendations by a larger amount of people.

Advertising

Advertising Research

Research shows that the most commonly used advertising formats for selling weddingwear

is print however this is mainly dominated by the big brands such as Pronuptia, Alfred Angelo

and Pronovias. Weddingwear advertising focuses almost exclusively on brides and is pretty

much all in print media – mainly specialist wedding magazines (Mintel 2009a).

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Advertising spend on weddingwear is steadily declining in line with waning numbers of

weddings.

An unusually high number of companies advertise weddingwear, reflecting the retail

dominance of small independents and designers (Mintel 2009a). This means that specialist

bridal stores have to come up with cheaper and more innovative ways to advertise in order

to maintain low advertising spend and high visibility in the market.

Alongside current advertising it is suggested that an advert be placed on as it is

‘currently the most prominent among dedicated wedding websites. It provides news,

features, advice and chat forums and it claims to reach 90% of UK brides. The site

offers a wide range of promotional tools, from advertising boxes to competitions and

for bridalwear specifically, it has a dress search facility on a database where

suppliers pay to place thumbnails of collections, contact details and web links (Mintel

2009a).’

www.confetti.co.uk

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Advertising should feature up-to-date, high quality photography of a gown as well as key

information about the company including the bespoke designs and main contact details. This

advertising should work with existing examples including the website and flyers in store and

existing print advertising; it should be classy and demonstrate the quality levels that the store

maintains.

Advertising Expenditure

Name of

Publication/Website

Circulation Advertising Costs Total cost for 12 month

period

Confetti.co.uk 90% of all Brides

346,546 unique

users per month

£300+VAT £360

The Wedding Planner-

Herts, Beds and Bucks

(Current advertising)

40,000 copies per

issue

80,000 per year

£275+VAT £330

www.the-

weddingplanner.com

240,000 issues

advertising the site

per year

£100+VAT £120

Total Costs £810

New Media Marketing

New Media Research

Women are more likely to see online ads via a social network. This is explained by the fact

that women are more likely users of sites such as Facebook. For example, according to

Mintel’s forthcoming report Social Networking – UK, November 2009, 82% of women used a

social network of some type, compared to 75% of males (Mintel 2009b).

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It is suggested that The Wedding Workshop target the many people now using Facebook

with advertising. The Wedding Workshop can target up to 720,900 people thorough the

social networking site Facebook (audience: Engaged females, aged over 18 in the UK).

Research from Facebook shows:

The average user is connected to 60 pages, groups and events

Every month, more than 70% of Facebook users engage with Platform applications

There are more than 550,000 active applications currently on Facebook Platform

There are more than 250,000 websites that have integrated with the Facebook Platform

There are more than 100 million Facebook users that engage with Facebook on external

websites every month

www.facebook.com/press/info

The marketing campaign via Facebook will include a mix of targeted pay per click advertising

and a fan-page which is already in existence. Facebook can be used to monitor the target

audience to learn and develop products to meet customer’s needs.

www.facebook.com/ads/create

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47% of women open emails containing special offers. Customers are most likely to open an

email from a trusted company with an interesting subject line. These emails should be

inviting, interesting and contain relevant information with minimum effort (Mintel 2009b). It is

advised that The Wedding Workshop provide a newsletter facility via their website for current

and potential customers to maintain contact and to provide information regarding special

offers and events they may wish to attend.

New Media Expenditure

Platform Cost Breakdown

Facebook- PPC Advertising (Targeted) £730 pa

Budget for advertising bid. £0.90 per click

through

Fan Page (User generated Content) £0

In-house communications team, monitoring

and updating content

Home Website £0

In-house communications team, create and

monitor

Email Newsletter £0

In-house communications team, create and

monitor

Total £730 pa

Public Relations

It is suggested that The Wedding Workshop host an event in store to promote the company

and to aid the word of mouth campaign. It is suggested that as part of the guest list for this

event that local press are invited as well as perhaps some local bloggers that would be

relevant to the target market as well as any perspective customers that would have

suggested their interest in the company via the Facebook fan-page or the website’s

newsletter facility.

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Event Description

event should have a white wedding theme with floral arrangements

and white candles

Media packs should be given to any press attending

Event- May 13th, 2011

To be held at the store

Refreshments: Sparkling wine and a selection of non-alcoholic

beverages and finger foods

The event should be used to show the perspective client what The Wedding Workshop could

offer in terms of design ideas, quality fabrics and well-made final pieces. It should also be

used to boost word of mouth people attending will be able to tell their friends, family and

work colleagues what they have seen and will therefore boost knowledge of the company.

PR Event Budget

Creation of 25 Media packs £200

Event:

Flowers

Food/Drink

£100

£200

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Invitations £100

Staff overtime hours

4 staff @ 3 hours

£100

Total: £700

Campaign Budget

Turnover 5% of turnover allocated to campaign

£75,000 £3,750

Total Campaign Spend

Below can be found a breakdown of the total costs of the campaign over the three mediums

chosen:

Advertising £810

New Media £730

Public Relations £700

Total £2,240

Absorption Costing

Below can be found a breakdown of total costs required to cover the suggested marketing

campaign. It has been suggested that the amount be absorbed back into the business over

only 12 months as the campaign spend is relatively low and so can be cleared on a yearly

basis.

Estimated percentage margin 5

total amount of spend £2,240

total turnover needed to cover your costs £44,800.00

Number of months over which it is proposed to absorb the cost 12

Amount of extra turnover per month £3,733.33

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Reviewing Campaign

Facebook has built-in analytical and reporting capabilities which will help to ensure

marketing is cost effective. User generated content can also be monitored, this can be

marked on a score system and all comments (negative/positive), will be used to review and

develop the brand on a quarterly basis. In terms of the public relations event the success of

this can be monitored by the increased number of customers showing an interest in the store

or via the amount of editorial The Wedding Workshop may receive as a result of press

attendance. The same applies for the advertising; sales figures and customer interest can be

measured to show how successful the campaign has been.

Conclusion

This report has suggested a number of ideas for the company The Wedding Workshop to

boost customer footfall and in turn sales figures. These suggestions use a number of

approaches including traditional print media, online advertising and also new media

techniques such as social networking and word of mouth marketing.

It has been shown via an absorption costing that all suggested marketing costs can be

covered by the business over 12 months with an additional monthly turnover of £3733.33. It

is believed that this suggestion is not unreasonable due to the average spend on bridalwear.

Lastly there have been a number of suggestions for how The Wedding Workshop would be

able to track the success of any marketing campaigns with the use of Facebook’s analytical

capabilities and also traditional methods such as tracking customer footfall and sales figures

in-store.

Store Owner Feedback

Hi Amy

I have just managed to sit down and read it all, it’s quite comprehensive. I have looked at

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your suggestions and thankfully we do or are in the process of doing most of them, instead

of Confetti we use UK Bride when we decided to do this Confetti had gone into liquidation,

we do share business details with several local businesses including the Cambridge wine

shop and we have held open days but these have not always been that successful. I have

found we target more brides at the shows.

We are developing the website and Facebook page as time allows .So hopefully we are on

the right track!

Good luck hope it all goes well, Kind regards, Melanie.

Appendix A- Market Research- Mintel 2009a

Market Value and Forecast

Weddingwear - UK - January 2009 - Market Value and Forecast

Figure 11: Forecast of the weddingwear market, by segment, at current prices, 2003-13

Bridalwear Groomwear

Other wedding party

Total wedding-wear

£m Index £m Index £m Index £m Index

2003 106 83 33 87 42 78 181 82

2004 109 85 34 89 44 81 187 85

2005 115 90 36 95 47 87 198 90

2006 120 94 37 97 49 91 206 94

2007 124 97 38 100 51 94 213 97

2008 128 100 38 100 54 100 220 100

2009 131 103 38 100 56 104 225 102

2010 136 106 39 103 59 109 234 106

2011 142 111 40 105 61 114 243 110

2012 148 115 41 108 65 119 253 115

2013 153 119 42 111 67 125 262 119

% change 2003-08 21

15

29

22 % change 2008-13 19

11

25

19

Appendix B Market research- Office of National Statistics

Table 1: Projected population by legal marital status, age and sex, 2008 and 2033, England and Wales

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thousands Total Never married

Married Widowed Divorced

2008 2033 2008 2033 2008 2033 2008 2033 2008 2033

Persons All 16+ 44,228 52,572 15,298 22,662 21,666 22,153 3,191 3,002 4,073 4,756 16-24 6,602 6,755 6,397 6,619 196 132 2 0 8 4 25-34 7,034 7,954 4,499 5,875 2,289 1,947 9 4 237 129 35-44 8,127 8,495 2,333 3,932 4,796 4,033 37 17 962 513 45-54 7,187 7,883 1,037 2,800 4,828 4,160 114 52 1,208 871 55-64 6,451 6,923 493 1,768 4,649 3,950 337 159 971 1,046 65-74 4,558 6,866 263 1,093 3,099 4,116 711 475 484 1,182 75+ 4,269 7,696 276 575 1,810 3,816 1,980 2,294 203 1,012

Bibliography

After Dark Brides- Available at: www.afterdarkbrides.co.uk (Accessed 11

March 2011)

Confetti- Available at: www.confetti.co.uk (Accessed 11 March 2011)

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11 March 2011)

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11 March 2011)

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March 2011)

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http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/d

isplay/id=220217

Mintel 2008- Consumer Attitudes towards Word of Mouth and Viral Marketing

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http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/d

isplay/id=291689/display/id=334754#hit1

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http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/d

isplay/id=393863/display/id=436817#hit1

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http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/my_reports/display/id=3

95918&anchor=atom/display/id=489369

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http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/marr0610.pdf (Accessed 11 March 11)

Questor Woburn Bridal- Available at: www.woburn-bridal.co.uk (Accessed 11

March 2011)

The Wedding Planner- Available at: www.the-weddingplanner.com (Accessed

11 March 2011)

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http://www.weddingworkshop.co.uk/index.htm (Accessed 11 March 2011)

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(Accessed 11 March 2011)