Who she is, her mindset, and how your bridal shop can sell to her
Today, so many stores are asking about the Gen Z bride. Her mindset, how to sell to her, and more. And guess what? It's not one simple solution.
Trust the process, not the bride.
We're going to share with you are top 3 tips for dealing with the Gen Z bride. There isn't one right answer or single thing you can do, but better understand her mindset and make a few simple changes in your strategy to have a better success rate.
Make sure you read to the end to learn about our secret weapon for battling this bride & a challenge to all our #BridalNerds out there. Let's dive in!
Branding is Everything
If you don't have a clear vibe that creates an immersive experience, you are already behind the eight ball. Your website, your social, and the your store need to swallow your bride into an immersive brand experience.
Gen Z is incredibly brand-focused and brand-driven because they see themselves as a personal brand. They grew up in the era of personal branding. If your brand is not blaringly clear who you are & who you serve, you are losing their trust before they even set foot in your store. They'll spend most of their time trying to figure out who you are and if you fit their vibe rather than focusing on finding the dress.
If your brand can be glaringly clear from the time they get on your website to the minute they walk in your door and everything they see on social media, they can make the decision prior to coming in that they're down with your vibe.
Pre-Selling Education & Access
Focus on pre-selling and providing them access to bridal-specific knowledge. This bride has access to endless "experts" (*cough cough #BridalTok*) so you have to communicate with your bride before they come in store. This is also true for millennials because it's just what the consumer in general is comfortable with, but the sales process needs to start early.
It's a long sale, filled with a lot of fear and fomo because they have access to everything. Cutting off access is not necessarily the answer, but being able to give them access to the right information so that they can binge all everything about your brand before they come in will only help you in the long run. Consider having a full FAQ page that handles common Gen Z objections you can point them to.
If your inventory is not on your website, it should be. Chat with your bride prior to them coming into your store and tell them to go look at the product that you have so they feel like they're already starting to shop around. You want them to go look around before coming into your store so that by the time they walk in your door, they know what they're looking for. Focus on pre-selling and providing access to this customer.
Sales System
Gen Z makes their decisions based on what they see next. This is different than the millennial. The millennial, you can ask them to make a decision when they're in it. They have that ability to do that. The Gen Z has to see all the options before they can decide on what they're looking for. If you have not taken our sales course, I cannot recommend this more.
Shameless plug for our Bridal Stylist Sales Course, which includes a selling system to sell to the Gen Z consumer and to the millennial consumer. We can't stress this enough, but especially with this Gen Z customer, you have to have a great sales system, and because you can't trust your customer, you have to trust the process.
You need a really solid process and program to get through your appointments. You need a sales strategy to be able to deal with all the changes that are happening within consumer behavior in general.
Recap
What all of this means for you:
If you don't have a clear brand or you haven't invested in store interiors, website, or social media, now's the time. Invest in your brand, and this means your brand experience at every level.
You have to amp up your pre-sale process and provide them with access to everything they need before they get into your store.
Lastly, once they're in your store, be patient in your appointments. Don't skip ahead. They have to see it all before they can decide. Trust the process, not the bride.
We have relaunched our fan-favorite Bridal Stylist Sales Course, updated from the original to include a selling system to sell to the Gen Z consumer and to the millennial consumer. If you don't have the sales course yet, you absolutely have to have it.
Pssst.. The current record for this course is to go from a 50% to an 86% close ratio in one month. If you can beat that, we want to know! (There may be a special prize involved for you...)