The Wedding Business Rocked by Market Facts and Truth

Posted on December 27, 2012 Written by Leave a Comment

 

By Paul Pannone

In the closing days of 2012 the wedding business is buzzing because of newZ involving major companies who are bailing out of the business, bringing investors in to shoulder the financial burden and responsibility of trying to run a profitable business in the shrinking wedding market.

Yesterday’s story, The Wedding Business in Worse Shape than First Thought, drew reaction in all social media formats and plenty of private response from industry veterans who would like to dispute the newZ– but can’t.

 

 ”I’ll also bet that few if any of the existing US manufacturers close this year or next, the number will represent an insignificant percentage of the total. Is there anyone out there who will take the bet?” says Jim Duhe.

 

Jim Duhe gave his usual response in his own style saying;

 ”Your story isn’t a cheerful launch pad for the start of the new year. Certain aspects may or may not be accurate but I’m not alone in refusing to accept that the sky isn’t falling — at least not quite yet.  The average age of couples who wed has increased each decade since the turn of the 20th century.  When I joined the bridal industry in the 1970′s, we advised advertisers that “brides are older, better educated, and more affluent than ever before in history.”  It was a documented fact in the 1970′s.  It was equally true in the 1980′s.  It was true in the 1990′s.  It was true in the first decade of the 21st century.  It’s still true today.

However, age, education, and affluence don’t necessarily mean that a death knell is replacing wedding bells or that traditional weddings no longer represent a preferable life style choice for a meaningful number of Americans. Research conducted by Bridal Guide and all other publications as well as by prominent on line bridal sites like The Knot indicates that the number of destination weddings that take place in foreign countries is substantial.

Because foreign countries are not required to report the number of US citizens who marry to the Departments of Health, Education, and Welfare, it’s difficult/virtually impossible to determine the exact number of Americans who marry annually.   Therefore, it’s difficult/virtually impossible to verify that the total number of American weddings has declined substantially in recent years.  Regardless, many people who select to have a destination wedding continue to purchase bridal apparel in this country. They still create wedding gift registries in this country.

Long range business success requires much more than keeping up with trends. It’s essential to run one step (or more) ahead of them.  Conceptually, the challenges to bridal retailers created by online bridal apparel sales in 2013 aren’t  dramatically different from those offered by direct mail purchases (JC Penney, Sears, et.al.) in the 1980′s.  However, direct mail bridal apparel had an Achilles heel that online retailers don’t have: return policies.  The vast majority of online sales are generated by companies that are headquartered in foreign countries.  These companies can’t be forced to comply with US laws regarding merchandise returns.

Because the majority of China/direct sites offer positive consumer reviews (that may or may not be complete fabrications) consumers are lulled into a sense of security in their buying decision.  Unfortunately, prominent “money back guarantees” offered by China/direct companies generally are unenforceable.  There’s little if anything that a consumer can do to secure a refund for merchandise that is unacceptable or substandard.   Unlike complaints posted on Google, Wedding Wire, and others sites, there is no place for a consumer to publicize a complaint about a China/direct web site purchase.  It’s a perfect storm for China/direct sites:  on site comments are consistently positive; there’s no way for anyone to complain publicly.

Frankly, I don’t have answers to many of the questions that plague independent bridal retailers or tuxedo rental specialists.  However, that doesn’t mean that answers don’t exist.  It may well be that the number of existing independent bridal apparel stores will suffer from attrition. That’s a distinct possibility.  However,  I’ll bet you that new bridal retailers will launch in 2013, 2014, 2015, and beyond.

Seasoned bridal industry experts predicted that there were far too many bridal manufacturers — that there would be a “fall out” in the 1970′s — in the 1980′s — in the 1990′s — in 2000.  These predictions continue today. I’ll bet that there will be more bridal brand names in 2013 than there were in 2012.  There probably will be even more in 2014.   I’ll also bet that few if any of the existing US manufacturers close this year or next, the number will represent an insignificant percentage of the total. Is there anyone out there who will take the bet?”, said Duhe.

Duhe’s statement started strong but seemed to fall asleep by its end. So did that of Christine Boulton, who called to discuss the story. Boulton proposed there are clients who are doing well in the wedding business. We never suggested there weren’t. But Boulton could not argue there are fewer wedding industry professionals doing well than there are doing terrible. In fact none of the discussions could challenge any of the central points of the story. Simply put, the increasing challenges against a shrinking (traditional) market will not lead to a happy ending.

The story dates back to 2009 when companies like David’s Bridal sought positive data, wanting to know when the wedding industry would recover. No such information existed but through hocus-pocus hypotheses (guessing) there would be a spring-back in the wedding business. To date it doesn’t seem likely.

An ongoing eWedNewz investigation concludes the data failed to include variables, including the languishing economy that will continue to plague a full recovery in spending for traditional wedding goods and services. The results, exacerbated by growing competition in all areas of the wedding business, dilutes the ability to command higher prices from consumers. The decline of over four years with no end in sight resulted in decisions by major wedding companies, including owners of David’s Bridal, Leonard Green and Associates, to divest themselves from a majority stake in the wedding business.

The statement is supported by an overnight shift since the story released. An ongoing poll feels the wedding business is deteriorating (29%), stuck in neutral (15%) or is yet to reach the bottom (13%).

What do you say?

 

 

eWedNewz

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2012

Filed Under: Anti Fairy Dust, Breaking Newz, bridal, Bridal Dresses, Bridal Magazines, Bridal Shops, Bridal Shows, catering, Data, DJ Disc Jockeys, Economic news, eWedNewz, eWedNewz Exclusive, Florists, General News, GLBT, Invitations, Jewelry, Limousines, Men's formal wear, Officiants, Ongoing Story Coverage, Ongoing Story Investigation, Paul Pannone, Photography, Poll, retail, The Groom, The Knot, tuxedos, Uncategorized, Wedding Dresses, wedding industry, Wedding Water Cooler Tagged: , , , , , ,

The Wedding Business in Worse Shape than First Thought

Posted on December 26, 2012 Written by 9 Comments

By Paul Pannone

An ongoing eWedNewz investigation shows the wedding business is in worse shape than anyone is willing to admit. Information and interviews across all channels of the business, including the part reported to be the most important; the dress business, shows severe damage caused by the collapse of the economy in 2008 and a slow recovery through 2011 and most of 2012.

Like brides, dresses come in all colors, not just white. Tuxedos have been replaced by black suits, navy and tan colors and everything you can imagine.

eWedNewz watches trends that includes the longer wait of men and women deciding to get married. The average age for first-time marriages continues to rise.

“The median age for a man’s first marriage was 28.2 years in 2010, up from 26.1 in 1990. The median age for a woman’s first marriage was 26.1 years in 2010, up from 23.9 in 1990,” according to www.infoplease.com  sourcing  U.S. Bureau of the Census information.

According to Census information the combined average age of men and women since 1960 has increased nearly 21% and has continues to rise world-wide. World trends show an even greater increase to resisting marriage. In the UK the average age for men and women hit 30 years this year citing Pew research while exploring probable causes.

Shedding tradition and traditional values continues to affect the number of marriages but also the formality of those weddings that do take place. Stylish, non-traditional weddings express the thoughts of couples who no longer want to be told what to wear, how to feel or plan their day.

Trends and shifts from normal wedding business finds those who plan to stay in the business are forced to change their operations to adapt to the shrinking numbers. Khalilah Olokunola of A Boxed Event and member of the Wedding Water Cooler shared her thoughts in the controversial forum:

“Many vendors I know have tripled up-not fine tuning their business to meet the demands of the changed times but instead (add) a whole new business . IT seems acceptable in some circles to be the baker, designer, director,planner and videographer- and no I’m not making that up there is a business that offers that.

Gone seems the days where you have to have skill and experience before you could add a title to your name. If you truly want to be successful you have to work hard, hustle hard and accept constructive criticism from more seasoned veterans. Geez I do all the time , I’m a coolie.

With brides and other “socialistas” decreasing their average budgets we all find ourselves redeveloping our business plans and offerings but still maintaining our integrity by offering the better bang for your buck,” says Khalilah.

Khalilah and others say the wedding business is flooded with services and products, challenging the pricing ability for vendors who seem to increase faster in numbers than the market shrinks. Plainly put there is no more need or room for another DJ, gown manufacturer, limousine company or any of the products to create traditional weddings. There are even too many catering facilities who’ve been forced to service a broader spectrum of events to keep rooms, kitchens and workers busy.

While investigating the story about the wedding dress business we’ve uncovered a growing number of outside sources infiltrating the business forcing manufacturers to take action. Recent advancements in the fight against pirates who’ve crippled the wedding dress business received no credit from skeptics who say the damage is too deep, too wide-spread and can never return to normal levels.

Across all channels eWedNewz watches and reports the changes taking place at places like David’s Bridal down to the smallest bridal stores who say they’re ready to throw in the towel. Decisions to sell majority equity stakes to investors like the one involving Jim’s Formal Wear become more and more common-place. Store closures servicing the wedding business are expected to increase, as manufacturers and suppliers tell eWedNewz they can no longer manage growing debt because accounts can’t meet their obligations.

Newsstand sale of bridal magazines continues to plummet giving some ammunition to pundits who say digital is killing print. But a closer look by eWedNewz shows grandfather wedding websites like TheKnot.com are also taking a pounding. eWedNewz exposé  stories about scandal, sexual debauchery and reported mismanagement of resources culminated in the death of morph digital/print companies like Get Married. So-far the rebirth of the company failed to come close in recapturing the glory the original launch created before the crash in 2008, now that the wedding business is older and wiser about the fairy-dust that surrounds them.

Planners of all sizes, including celebrity, say they’re looking to exit the business or expand into a broader range of services, no longer able to cut costs or charge enough fees to make it worth their while. Even “Wedding Market Gurus”, A.K.A, snake oil salespeople, are finding it difficult, if not impossible to charge speaking fees they did just a few short years ago. Most avoid our questions and keep pounding their drum of bullshit, acting as though everything is fine, while others see the changes and become alarmist, claiming to have the answer in some seminar or class.

Even hopefuls who thought the addition of Same-sex marriages to the wedding market, backed by the leader of the free world, say the events has so-far been just a small blip on the screen.

Olokunola again gave her view on how some of the troubles could be fixed:

“When the people who govern wedding magazine, trade shows and associations get real maybe– just maybe– it’ll get better. It’ll make it harder for scammers to scam and players to play and when we stick together as a whole. I believe a shift will take place towards an up direction and its there that the industry can begin again,” she said in the WWC forum.

Christine Boulton of Think Like A Bride told the Cooler how some companies are successful in the very tough business climate.

“There has been some serious restructuring in our business over the last four years. Business owners have changed their thinking; they are going after new markets and they have stepped away from an attitude of arrogance. In short, they stopped thinking of themselves as “artist” and begun to see themselves as businesses.”

Endless discussions clearly show the end of the wedding business as it once was. Is it time to stop discussing and look at what the information clearly tells us?

 

In an ongoing poll 32% of respondents so-far say the wedding business is rebounding but slowly.

What do you say?

 

eWedNewz

All Rights Reserved

2012

Filed Under: Advertising and Marketing, Anti Fairy Dust, bridal, Bridal Dresses, Bridal Guide Magazine, Bridal Magazines, Bridal Shops, Bridal Shows, BRIDES Magazine, catering, Celebrity, Data, DIY, DJ Disc Jockeys, Economic news, eWedNewz, eWedNewz Exclusive, Florists, General News, GLBT, Invitations, Jewelry, Limousines, Martha Stewart, Men's formal wear, Ongoing Story Coverage, Ongoing Story Investigation, Paul Pannone, Photography, Poll, Promotions, Publications, Research, retail, Social Media, The Groom, The Internet, The Knot, Trade shows, tuxedos, Uncategorized, Wedding Dresses, wedding industry, Wedding Industry Events, Wedding planners, Wedding Water Cooler, wedding websites Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Pirated Products a Concern to many Wedding Business Owners

Posted on June 7, 2012 Written by Leave a Comment

By Paul Pannone

The response to a new organization promising to protect, defend and uphold the rights of wedding business owners grows stronger with every mention of the American Bridal and Prom Industry Association. The concept for the organization originally started because of the rampant abuses experienced in the bridal dress business. But an ongoing eWedNewz investigation shows the mission of the new organization is to bring relief, benefits and services to the entire wedding industry at large.

 

Camille Thomas, owner of Illusions Bridal Veils, says she’s been trying fight off online pirates on her own for years. Thomas says she welcomes the help that’s on its way.

An eWedNewz story in March, 2012, listed suspected websites that pirate merchandise, images or both, hurting legitimate businesses. Many reports from business owners say they’ve tried to fight off the abusive practices on their own but to no avail.

Camille Thomas, owner of  Illusions Bridal Veils in Fruita, Colorado responded to the eWedNewz story saying;

“I own Illusions Bridal Veils and these businesses have stolen my pictures as well as many of the other websites listed above.  Very frustrating because this hurts my business and all of my customers business.  I have been trying to get all of these types of sites to remove my pictures for almost 2 years.  Most of them don’t care so the pictures remain.  I went to great expense to take new pictures last year and I am sure it won’t be long until they steal those too,” said Camille.

An ongoing eWedNewz poll shows business owner support an organization that would help them fight off piracy. Steve Lang, the driving force behind the campaign and new organization, told eWedNewz he envisions an organization that would do much more.

“Of course we would fight against piracy; but the industry needs much more than just that. They need valuable information and tools to operate in today’s new business environment.”

According to Lang the bylaws and structure of the organization forms a cohesive way for members and supporters to work together and accomplish what the fragmented wedding business will never achieve on its own. Pooled resources and proper legal guidance are part of the organization, guided by leadership from successful business people like Lang.

Camille Thomas added her support for Lang and what he’s doing for the industry;

“I was so happy to see that Steve Lang has started to fight back against the chinese businesses who are killing our wedding industry.  They have absolutely no regard for laws or the fact that they are stealing other people’s images to sell their own merchandise.  It is impossible for my customers to compete with these businesses when they are selling the same merchandise for next to nothing.  This issue has been the main problem in my business for the past couple years and I will gladly stand behind anyone who has the knowledge and resources to fight this,” Camille told eWedNewz.

The American Bridal and Prom Industry Association has over a half million dollars in cash and media commitments to fund the campaign and organization. According to Lang, the legal team has not accessed any of the money in the coffer; they’ve used their own time and resources and those of Mon Cheri to bootstrap the launch.

The ABPIA meets today to ratify board members, finalize bylaws and other matters including a website to share information with its members.

 

 

eWedNewz

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2012

Filed Under: Anti Fairy Dust, bridal, Bridal Dresses, Bridal Magazines, Bridal Shops, Current Events, DJ Disc Jockeys, eWedNewz, Florists, General News, Invitations, Jewelry, Limousines, Men's formal wear, Officiants, Ongoing Story Coverage, Ongoing Story Investigation, Photography, Poll, Promotions, Proms, retail, Social Media, The Groom, The Internet, Trade shows, tuxedos, Uncategorized, Wedding Dresses, wedding industry, wedding websites Tagged: , , , , ,

Cutting Edge DJ Cuts up Yelp

Posted on June 4, 2012 Written by 1 Comment

 

By Paul Pannone

eWedNewz coverage of review websites encourages small business owners to speak out against the extort tactics to get them to advertise or appease consumers threatening to give bad reviews. Business owners that are pushed are now starting to push back, refusing to be bullied, cave into demands from consumers or coerced into spending money with websites that create an abusive environment.

To date a steady stream of complaints against YELP has sadly given the website an extraordinary amount of attention– and power– over businesses fearing what may come if they don’t play their game by the rules. But the tide may be shifting, as business owners speak out.

 

Craig Sumsky is no stranger to fighting for his rights. He’ successfully called out the Knot, a defunct Get Married and has keen sense of many industry problems.

 

 

Craig Sumsky, owner of Cutting Edge DJs,  tells his story of dealing with the YELP system and its employees. Sumsky told eWedNewz he became disappointed and frustrated when he tried to enhance his standing with YELP and is sorry he ever got on to their radar. Recently, he publicly pleaded his case on the company blog. Sumsky’s review of the Yelp review system goes as follows:

“It was around 2009 when the review website ‘Yelp’ was first brought to my attention. I thought it looked interesting, so I signed up for an account and began to make reviews here and there. My first posts were mostly negative reviews of places where I’d had bad experiences. But, as I read more reviews posted by other people, my own reviews changed… I found myself enjoying giving praise to places where I’d had good experiences. I was beginning to enjoy Yelp, and I even started a profile for my own business. Yet, as much as I held Yelp in high regard, and as much as I saw (and still see) so much promise in the website, it took Yelp itself to ruin that experience and the promise turned to reproach.

In March of 2012 I received a call from Jill, a Yelp salesperson, offering me an ‘opportunity’ to advertise with Yelp. At first the opportunity seemed interesting to me. As the owner of a DJ Entertainment Company, I had already been advertising with WeddingWire and TheKnot for several years now. Both of those wedding-focused websites offer brides the opportunity to write reviews about their experience with our company and services. So my thought was that Yelp might be a great way to extend that same opportunity to our Bar and Bat Mitzvah, Sweet Sixteen and Corporate event clients. Even better, Yelp came up very high in the search engines for reviews; so again, it ‘seemed’ to be an interesting opportunity.

I told Jill I would need some time to think about things, and would take a closer look at Yelp over the next few weeks, and she ‘seemed’ to understand. That’s when things started to go downhill.

I did my due diligence, and researched Yelp online, and what I found was discouraging. What I found was article after article and news story after news story about how Yelp used extortion tactics to sell advertising, and all sorts of class action lawsuits against Yelp for doing so. Here are just a few…

Yelp on CBS News

Yelp on G4 (class action lawsuit)

Yelp on CBS News (again)

Yelp on CBS News (yet again)

Yelp on ABC News

Yelp Scam – a website dedicated to Yelp’s antics

To read the rest of Sumsky’s experience with YELP go to his blog

 

Discussions with Sumsky and other business owners say people are fed up with review sites; especially when the privilege to give experiences turn to threats and abuses, gaming a system that (probably) wasn’t intended to  intimate business owners.

More websites watching how some business owners react to the threats offer a place where the full story is told. Neutral places where the even exchange of both sides of a story are necessary and will eventually replace one-sided websites trying to extort– um, sell– advertising.

 

What do you think? Have review websites seen their best day?

 

 

 

 

eWedNewz

All Rights Reserved

2012

Filed Under: Advertising and Marketing, Anti Fairy Dust, Current Events, DJ Disc Jockeys, eWedNewz, General News, Ongoing Story Coverage, Ongoing Story Investigation, Social Media, The Internet, wedding websites Tagged: , , , ,

Average Price of a Wedding Dress Holds Steady

Posted on June 4, 2012 Written by 4 Comments

By Paul Pannone

Depending on whose data you believe the national average price of a wedding gown continues to hover around $1,100 dollars.

 

 Pick your poison; the Knot survey results shows the national average price of a wedding dress is inline with other data sources we’re watching.

According to a recent survey conducted by the XO Group reported by Fox Detroit the average sum spent by an American woman on her wedding dress is $1,121. The average price now reported doesn’t differ much from a study conducted by  BRIDE Magazine’s last year when they reported an average wedding dress cost is $1,289; a 20% increase over 2009 when the average cost was $1,072.

eWedNewz continues to follow how online sale of wedding dresses impact the price of dresses in retail store establishments. Most retailers say they’re watching the average wholesale price rise slightly but cannot pass the increase to their customers to absorb the higher cost.

Discussions with planners in metropolitan markets scoff at the number ($1,100) saying their clients spend more on “toilet paper” for their weddings than the national dress average.

eWedNewz continues to watch over companies that supply data to the wedding business that sometimes isn’t flawless.

 

 

eWedNewz

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2012

Filed Under: Anti Fairy Dust, bridal, Bridal Dresses, Bridal Shops, catering, Data, DJ Disc Jockeys, eWedNewz, facts and figures, Florists, General News, Invitations, Jewelry, Limousines, Ongoing Story Investigation, Research, retail, The Groom, The Internet, The Knot, Travel, tuxedos, Wedding Dresses, wedding industry, wedding websites Tagged: , , ,

Wedding Websites Beg For Business

Posted on December 26, 2011 Written by Leave a Comment

 

By Paul Pannone

 

The world of Wedding Websites continues to evolve, adapting to a shrinking wedding market. eWedNewz closely watches the declining wedding vendors willing to pay for advertising because they’ve grown gun-shy in the wake of major newZ in the closing days of 2011. Many vendors are upgrading their visibility online, sprucing up their websites and plugging into social networking to service their local markets, abandoning national websites that could not meet their expectations.

Over a year ago Wedding Website Whistle Blower, David Fuhrer, alerted the world that wedding websites– as a business– are unsustainable. According to Fuhrer, websites are a necessary part of a wedding business, not the business itself. Since, countless articles written fortified the message with no valid disputes offered by any of the major wedding directory website companies. Most remain silent, hoping to stay out of the spotlight.

As expected, the failure of Get Married opened the eyes of many wedding vendors that suspected they weren’t being given value for their advertising support. Die-hard supporters find themselves holding their breath, waiting for refunds promised in a prepared statement when the company folded.

The failure of Get Married opened many other fronts of discussion including probable reasons for their demise. Lavish spending with no real business plan was at the center of the failure coupled with poor performance; delivering insignificant web traffic or value for print ads to advertisers.

Most recently the ongoing coverage of the dispute between Celebrity Planner, Samantha Goldberg and Wedding Wire takes the discussions to another level. Goldberg’s single bad review in the forum shines the light on all wedding websites that bite the hand that feeds them. Wedding vendors that pay money for advertisers are often trashed by consumers; sometimes unjustly.

 

Since the deterioration and failure of Get Married, wedding vendor advertisers say no website is above suspicion for taking flight in the middle of the night.

 

 

At the moment, Goldberg rallies support from a growing list of vendors that say they’ve grown suspect of spending dollars with any of the major portals. Some are contacting this newZ source to express their displeasure with the websites and support Goldberg’s efforts.

DJ Ray in New York writes, “Let me tell you something funny.  Wedalert keeps calling my phone everyday begging me to advertise. In a conversation I recently had with the owner he admitted to the leads on Wedalert being fake!!  Also David’s Bridal continuously calls me telling me to go on their website because they are number one and how they have surpassed the Knot.”

Ray and a multitude of readers after the coverage say they’ve always been suspicious of claims made by wedding website advertisers that are not able to give proof of traffic directed down to company websites. Ex-employees of Get Married are finally picking up on the story eWedNewz broke over a year ago.

 

eWedNewz continues to investigate all parts of this story and welcomes your comments, either publicly or in private.

 

 

eWedNewz

All Rights Reserved

2011

Filed Under: Anti Fairy Dust, Celebrity, Current Events, DJ Disc Jockeys, General News, Ongoing Story Investigation, wedding industry, Wedding planners, Wedding Water Cooler, wedding websites Tagged: , , , , , , ,