History and Origins of the Company

• David's Bridal was started in 1950 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The company started as a neighborhood bridal salon owned by David Reisberg.
•  Phillip Youtie from Florida purchased the salon in 1972 intending to expand the business. The company was built on the idea that every woman deserves the wedding dress of her dreams regardless of her shape, style preference, size or budget.
• Its mission is to help every woman find the bridal gown that will allow her to be the best, most genuine version of herself on her wedding day.
• David's Bridal uses expert seamstresses, informed stylists, and online planning tools to help women buy a dress that they like. The company offers products for the bride and the bridal party.

Company Growth

• The company started as a neighborhood bridal salon in 1950. After buying the company in 1972, Youtie opened 18 more salons in Florida from 1973 to 1988. The salons operated mostly from leased spaces in department stores.
• With wedding dresses exorbitantly priced at the time, Youtie targeted brides who did not want to spend thousands on a dress they would most likely wear once.
• The first David’s Bridal Warehouse was opened in Hallendale, Florida, by Youtie and his business partner Steve Erlbaum in 1990. The warehouse differed from others as it stocked dresses of all sizes at a fraction of the cost, unlike others that stocked just sample sizes.
• David’s Bridal went public in 1999 and was acquired by May’s Department Stores for $436 million in 2000.
• Right through the 2000s, David’s Bridal expanded and started selling other types of clothes such as bridesmaid dresses and prom dresses.
• In 2003, 20% of all bridal gowns were purchased at the company. David's Bridal was valued at $1 billion when it was acquired by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in 2012. However, today, the value of the company has gone down with the overall decline in weddings in the U.S. David's Bridal has partnered with upscale brands like Vera Wang to try to boost sales.
• The company filed for bankruptcy in November 2018 with over $700 million in debt but its shops remained open. David's Bridal came out of bankruptcy in January 2019 after reducing its debt by $450 million. The company's stores are now offering low priced dresses, more sizes, and free personal stylists to successfully compete with other trendy stores.
• Today, David's Bridal has grown to over 300 stores located across Canada, the US, the UK, and franchise locations in Mexico. Also, one in three brides in the U.S. buys her dress from the company.

Countries of Operation

• David's Bridal operates in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Mexico.

Number of Locations in Each Country

• There are 291 David's Bridal locations in the United States.
• There are four locations in Alabama, one in Alaska, six in Arizona, three in Arkansas, 25 in California, six in Colorado, four in Connecticut, one in Delaware, 18 in Florida, nine in Georgia, one in Hawaii, one in Idaho, 12 in Illinois, nine in Indiana, four in Iowa, three in Kansas, five in Kentucky, six in Louisiana, one in Maine, and five in Maryland.
• We also have six locations in Massachusetts, eight in Michigan, six in Minnesota, four in Mississippi, six in Missouri, one in Montana, two in Nebraska, three in Nevada, one in New Hampshire, nine in New Jersey, one in New Mexico, 13 in New York, 10 in North Carolina, one in North Dakota, 13 in Ohio, two in Oklahoma, and five in Oregon.
• There are also 13 locations in Pennsylvania, one in Rhode Island, five in South Carolina, two in South Dakota, seven in Tennessee, 25 in Texas, three in Utah, one in Vermont, six in Virginia, six in Washington, one in West Virginia, and six in Wisconsin.
• There are 12 David's Bridal locations in Canada, including two in Alberta, one in British Columbia, one in Manitoba, one in Nova Scotia, and seven locations in Ontario.
• David's Bridal has four store locations in the UK including one location in London, one in Glasgow, one in Birmingham, and one in Watford.
• The company has four locations in Mexico.

Headquarters

• The headquarters for David's Bridal is in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

Financial Information

• David's Bridal had $1.5 Billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2018.
• The 2018 e-commerce global net sales for the company totaled $270.9 million.
• The company filed for bankruptcy in November 2018 with over $700 million in debt. It came out of bankruptcy in January 2019 after reducing its debt by $450 million.

Kelly Cook: Personal & Professional Biography

A. Personal Biography

Education

• Kelly Cook is an alumna of Conroe High School.
• She is an alumna of Tulane University, where she earned both an MBA and Master's degree in Finance through the university's A.B. Freeman School of Business.
• For her MBA, she attended Tulane University from 2006 to 2008. In earning her MBA, she specialized in the "International Business and Marketing Discipline."
• For her Master's in Finance degree, she attended Tulane University from 2008 to 2009.

Family Life

•  Kelly has children.
• We think she might have five kids because we believe we found her old Twitter account (5culkidzmom). We think this is her old Twitter account because (1) her name on that Twitter account is Kelly N. Cook (which is the same as her name on Linkedin) and (2) she retweeted the following via that account: "@kmartfashions is not affiliated with w/ @kmart . . . ." (which is relevant because Kelly was previously Kmart's CMO).

Hobbies/Interests

• Kelly is interested in fashion and modeling, as she's a former runway model.
• Her account description on Twitter indicates her interests in stating the following: "faith. family. friends. feet. fun. fashionable."
•  Snapchat is her favorite social media channel.
•  She lectures at graduate schools, including Tulane University's Freeman School of Business (her Alma matter) and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Social Causes/Charities

• She has been involved with the Houston Area Women's Center, as a board member.
• She has been involved with the Houston Minority Business Council, as she received the organization's Advocate of the Year award.

Social Media Accounts

•  This link is to her Linkedin.

•  This link is to her Instagram.

•  This link is to her Twitter.

•  This link is to her Pinterest.

• Her "Snapchat ID is runwayroadkill."

B. Professional Biography

Prior Work Experience

• Prior to being recently named Chief Marketing Officer for David's Bridal, Kelly was Pier 1 Imports' Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of Marketing from March 2018 to November 2019.
• Kelly was the Chief Marketing & Digital Officer for Kmart and Sears from September 2017 to January 2018.
• She was Kmart's Chief Marketing Officer from April 2015 to September 2017.
• From March 2013 to January 2015, Kelly was DSW's Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer.
•  Prior to becoming DSW's Chief Marketing Officer, she was the company's (1) Senior Vice President of Marketing from March 2012 to March 2013 and (2) Vice President of Customer Strategy and Engagement from April 2009 to March 2012.
• Kelly worked for Waste Management as its Vice President of Employee/Customer Engagement and CRM from January 2006 to January 2009.
• She was the Director of CRM for Continental Airlines from 1998 to 2005.
• Prior to becoming Director of CRM, her prior positions at Continental Airlines were (1) Call Center Operations Manager from 1997 to 1998 and (2) Logistics Analyst from 1994 to 1997.

Current Responsibilities at David's Bridal

• In her new role as Chief Marketing Officer for David's Bridal, her current responsibilities include overseeing the following divisions within the company: Advertising, creative, ecommerce, CRM, marketing, strategic partnerships, communications, and events.
• As Chief Marketing Officer, she reports to James Marcum, who is the CEO of David's Bridal.

Board Served On

• Kelly formerly served on the Houston Area Women's Center's Board of Directors.

Recent News Articles

• The only recent articles we found about her (within the past 12 months) pertain to her new role as Chief Marketing Officer for David's Bridal. However, we also found two articles that were published 13 months ago that she was quoted in. For these reasons, we provided two articles announcing her new role as CMO for David's Bridal and two articles from 13 months ago.
•  This link is to the first article announcing her new role as CMO for David's Bridal.
•  This link is to the second article announcing her new role as CMO for David's Bridal.
•  This link is to the first article that she was quoted in published 13 months ago.
•  This link is to the second article that she was quoted in published 13 months ago.

Research Strategy

David’s Bridal Files for Bankruptcy, but Brides Will Get Their Dresses

• A link to the article: The link to the article is here.

• A Description of the article: The article is about David’s Bridal filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it tried to reduce over $400 million in debt and compete against new rivals. The article says that a reduction in marriage rates contributed to the company's financial problems but that the company had already received $60 million in new financing from creditors to continue operating its more than 300 stores.

David's Bridal Aims to Avoid Wrath of Thousands of Brides-to-Be

• A link to the article: The link to the article is here.

• A Description of the article: The article talks about David’s Bridal quickly reassuring customers that it would honor their orders even after it filed for bankruptcy. The company was aware that some brides or bridesmaid-to-be could misinterpret the company's financial situation as a collapse of the business and their wedding plans, and cancel their orders or buy products elsewhere.
• This would have negatively impacted the company which was holding around $32 million in deposits for 82,000 orders and owed customers around $4 million in merchandise or gift cards.

David’s Bridal emerges from bankruptcy after less than two months

• A link to the article: The link to the article is here.

• A Description of the article: The article talks about David's Bridal emerging from bankruptcy a few weeks after filing for protection from creditors. It says that the company reduced its debt by $450 million and its lenders, such as the Oaktree Capital Group, now owned it. The article also talks of the company exiting bankruptcy quickly to avoid scaring off brides who had feared that it would collapse and destroy their wedding plans.

Millennial brides force David’s Bridal, fresh out of bankruptcy, to try something new

• The link to the article: A link to the article is here.

• A Description of the article: The article talks about David's Bridal emerging from bankruptcy and being forced to change how it operates by millennials who are marrying later and opting to buy less-traditional wedding apparel online. The company has been forced to invest in its online business and supply chain to attract millennial brides.

David's Bridal Appoints James Marcum as Chief Executive Officer

• A link to the article: The link to the article is here.

• A Description of the article: The article talks about David's Bridal announcing n June 2019 that James Marcum had been appointed Chief Executive Officer and was to join the company the same week also as a member of its Board of Directors. The new CEO replaced Tom Lynch who was an Interim CEO. Mr. Marcum was expected to lead the company in transition and help it reposition for growth.

Can David’s Bridal appeal to ‘every type of bride’ with its new campaign?

• A link to the article: The link to the article is here.

• A Description of the article: The article talks about David's Bridal's new marketing campaign that featured “non-traditional brides” including same-sex brides and those who got married while already mothers. The article quotes David’s chief marketing officer, Liz Crystal, saying that the campaign represented the kind of brides seen in society today.

David’s Bridal says yes to Mexico: new flagship, e-commerce and six new stores for 2020

• A link to the article: A link to the article is here.

• A Description of the article: The article talks about how the company is getting ready to open a new flagship store in Mexico City and open six new stores, including one in León in January, and another in Puebla in March 2020. The company also plans to launch its e-commerce platform in Mexico next year.

David's Bridal is lowering some dress prices after surviving Chapter 11 bankruptcy

• A link to the article: The link to the article is here.

• A Description of the article: The article talks about David's Bridal reducing prices for some of its bridal dresses to stay competitive in a highly challenging industry full of digital threats, declining marriage rates, and increased wedding alternatives. The article also talks about the company adding more plus-size options and providing free one-on-one consultation for the brides-to-be.

David’s Bridal Receives Firm Commitments for $55 million of New Capital and Announces Agreement in Principle for Recapitalization Transaction to Accelerate Growth

• A link to the article: The link to the article is here.

• A Description of the article: This article talks about David's Bridal's announcement on 4 November 2019 that it had received solid commitments for new capital totaling $55 million from existing lenders to invest in its growth. The company also announced that it had reached an agreement with its lenders "to exchange $276 million of its existing term loans into new preferred and common equity securities."

David's Bridal Announces New Board of Directors

• A link to the article: The link to the article is here.

• A Description of the article: The article talks about how the company announced six new Board of Directors, five women, and one man, with a wealth of knowledge from different industries such as finance, digital, innovation, customer insights, and new business.

The Dress Theory

• The company sells light, romantic, and airy wedding dresses that reflect the bride's personal style, which is the reason why the company was chosen. 
• The Dress Theory offers the customer a personalized experience, with professional stylists and designers. They are open by appointment only, and their gowns are within the $2,000 and $8,000 price range.
• The link to their website can be found here, as well as more information on their products, services, and locations.

Loho Bride

• Loho Bride has a wide variety of dresses with unique designs and soft fabrics, which would make them a worthy opponent for David's Bridal.
• The company offers an alternative to a customer who seeks organic and comfortable dresses, with a curated selection of airy, ethereal dresses. Their prices range from $1,000 to $9,000. 
• More information on the company can be found here.

Chic Parisien

• Chic Parisien has an extensive luxury collection, offering the latest designer gowns on their trunk shows, which guarantee that the customers will be the first to buy the collection.
• Both David's Bridal and Chic Parisien have bridal boutiques across the US, which is the reason why they are considered competitors.
• The company uses a stylist to help the customer find the perfect dress via appointments in a private fitting room. Also, their VIP menu offers special add-ons such as macaroons, champagne, mini rosé bottles, and additional time. 
• The customer can find more information on the company's website.

Shareen Vintage

• The company provides a carefully curated selection of impeccable vintage dresses, as well as an in-house selection.
• Shareen Vintage sells wedding dresses. Even though their designs are vintage, based on product similarity, they can be considered a competitor to David's Bridal.
• The company offers a showroom of their beautiful, timeless designs, as well as their undivided attention to the customers during their appointment. 
• More information on the company can be found on their website.

BHLDN

• The company has a curated assortment of formal and cocktail dresses that can be used as prom dresses as well.
• Along with wedding dresses, BHLDN also sells prom dresses. The company was chosen based on the product similarity with David's Bridal. 
• Aside from the formal and cocktail dresses, they have a full assortment of wedding and bridesmaid dresses, accessories, and decor. 
• BHLDN's website can be found here.

Bloomingdale's

• Bloomingdale's exclusive merchandise, customized services, and alternative shopping venues show their commitment to their customers.
• The company was chosen due to the fact that both companies sell prom dresses. 
• Besides allowing a customer to book an appointment for beauty consultation, Bloomingdale's also provides translators, studio services, and personal shoppers to help them find their dress.
• Their website can be found by clicking here.

Love to Dress

• Love to Dress offers exclusive prom and wedding dresses. Their owners have extensive experience in the bridal and prom industry.
• The company was chosen due to its varied selection of formal dresses, which would make them a worthy opponent for David's Bridal.
• The company provides beautiful formal wear and evening gowns, updating their collections regularly.
• More information on the company can be found here.

Research Strategy

David's Bridal

Competitive Advantage

• One factor that gives David's Bridal an edge over the competition is its omnichannel shopping experience. Unlike its e-commerce competitors that are now scrambling to establish brick-and-mortar stores, David's Bridal already approximately 300 established in-store locations.
• The physical stores and the national footprint give the retailer the opportunity to reach and serve far-flung bridal parties, as well as offer a seamless omnichannel shopping experience.
• According to David's Bridal CEO, James Marcum, brides go online to get inspiration for their wedding dresses but end up buying in-store where they can get a feel of the dresses. This gives the retailer a leg up over their competition that is not operating omnichannel.
• Another thing that gives the retailer a leg up over the competition is its dominant market share (25%) and its partnerships with related wedding businesses such as Men's Wearhouse and Shutterfly.
• David's Bridal also stocks designer and high-end bridal dresses that have earned the retailer the reputation of being "The Walmart of Bridal." 

Strengths

• One key strength David's Bridal has is the fact that many brides have bridesmaids living in different cities in the US. This makes the retailer an attractive option as it has a national network of stores. 
• According to the retailer's CEO, the company's other key strengths are:
• Its wide assortment, sizing, and services, including alterations, customization, and accessories
• The improved alignment between in-store and e-commerce customer experiences positioning them to serve the evolving needs of modern customers.
• The retailer has a vertical supply chain that helps them to face current trade wars

Weaknesses

• According to David's Bridal CEO, the retailer's weakness lies in its failure to keep pace with younger consumers as the bridal needs and age of consumers evolved.
• The retailer also did not realize that social media was a better marketing platform than bridal magazines. The retailer is trying to make amends for these failures by making huge investments in social media marketing and connecting with consumers creatively.
• Since David's Bridal has been around for a while and has an extensive physical store reach, some brides still consider it to be the outdated store that dressed their parents and grandparents.
• Credit rating agencies are either downgrading the company's credit ratings or completely withdrawing them as the company emerged from bankruptcy with a $250 million debt yet to be cleared.

Geographical Footprint

• David's Bridal has over 330 stores throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Mexico.
• According to IBISWorld, David Bridal's estimated annual revenue is $791 million. 

The Dress Theory

Competitive Advantage

• The dress theory selection features premium, light, and romantic wedding gowns that are handpicked and edited by the best designers in the industry. 
• The boutique is featured in this list of unique bridal boutiques since it allows brides to get a unique gown that not every other bride is wearing.
• Customers get a personalized experience that reflects their personal style using the help of world-acclaimed designers.

Strengths

• The Dress Theory seeks the expertise of highly-sought-after wedding gown designers from all over the world to feature the best of the best personalized wedding gowns for their clients.
• The boutique makes personal visits to the designer's offices to see how the gowns are designed and meet the design teams personally.
• The boutique personalizes the wedding gown experience by featuring the owners' photos wearing their gowns at a wedding. This gives them a personal and customized experience.
• The boutique executives are always on the move across New York, the West Coast, and New York to scout for unique designs to add to their ever-evolving collection and meet consumer needs.
• The Dress Theory was named among the top bridal salons in the US by Brides Magazine. The boutique has also been featured in Vogue Magazine, Hello May Magazine, Green Wedding Shoes, Style Me Pretty, Refinery 29, and many others.
• The boutique is only open by appointment only to offer only the best service.

Weaknesses

• After an extensive search, we could not find any weaknesses of The Dress Theory, save for its pricey gowns, which range from $2,000 to $8,000. 

Geographic Footprint

• The Dress Theory operates three stores in Seattle, Nashville, and San Diego.
• There is no publicly available revenue for The Dress Theory. This may be due to its private nature.

Loho Bride

Competitive advantage

• Loho Bride aims to cater to women who do not identify with the "mainstream aesthetic, but who seek an organic, comfortable, and easy alternative to dress shopping for their big day."
• Their gowns are designed for the fashion lover, the cool girl, and the non-traditionalist, whether she be bohemian or minimalist.
• Loho Bride caters to a very specific market. The Loho Bride is described as follows -"She’s an existentialist. She’s whatever she wants to be when she wakes up. She transcends labels or social norms. She’s never fit perfectly into a box and has many layers. Marriage was a choice, not a given."

Strengths

• A range of different concepts are used for gowns, ranging from ethereal, airy silhouettes to edgy and minimalistic.
• Loho Bride offers four key collections — Bachelorette Goodies, Just for the Bride, The Wedding Guest, and Honeymoon. Collections include dresses, accessories, swimwear, headwear, and jumpsuits.
• The focus is very much on the bride's experience.
• Designers with a fresh perspective that leave a strong impression are used to design the gowns The designs are unique. Loho Bride swims against the tide, preferring to make a bold statement, despite the feminine and sweet tendencies of the industry.
• Fittings are tailored to the individual bride, with a detailed questionnaire completed in advance and bridal input into the design process encouraged.
• They sit in the middle of the designer gown range, with most gowns priced between $2,500 and $8,000.

Weaknesses

• The market catered to could be considered a niche area. This means that the styles and products are less likely to appeal to the more traditional bride.
•  The Knot is a website that contains information about all aspects of weddings. They include reviews on their website. Loho Bride has received several poor reviews based on poor communication, slow response to queries, and poor handling of complaints.
• Similar criticisms of Loho Bride were made on Yelp.
•  Limited options are offered to larger sized brides.

Revenue

• Loho Bride employees 83 staff and has an annual revenue of $16.6 million.

Locations

• Loho Bride offers a bridal boutique in Los Angeles, where gowns can be made to order.
• In San Francisco, Loho Bride has an off rack store.

Chic Parisien

Competitive advantage

• The strong relationship between Chic Parisien and leading design houses in New York, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Miami, and Israel means they can offer clients some of the most desired and newest gowns on the market.
• The company regularly visits New York Bridal shows, where they meet designers and view collections. This means Chic Parisien can offer "trunk shows." These shows give brides the opportunity to be the first to shop a collection.
• They have several staff that are fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, which has seen the brand gain popularity among Latin American and Brazilian clientele.
• After trading for 50 years, Chic Parisien has a reputation for providing quality wedding gowns to clientele around the world.

Strengths

• Chic Parisien has a long and well-established history in the wedding gown market, having turned 50 in May 2019.
• Under Catherine Fox Milian, daughter of the founders, the reputation of Chic Parisien has extended throughout South and Central America, Europe, and the US.
• Chic Parisien is considered an international powerhouse in the industry due to its forward-thinking attitude to bridal fashion.
• A personal stylist is assigned to assist the bride. The first two appointments are complimentary.
• The gowns cater for the complete spectrum of potential brides, from the traditionalist to the unconventional and sexy.

Weaknesses

• The pricing has the potential to be a weakness with gowns priced between $3,500 and $20,000.
• Various reviews identify customer service as a potential weakness for Chic Parisien, with a number of people commenting that the service did not live up to the price tag of the dress.
• Some gowns are unable to be tailored to the bride due to restrictions from the designer.
• Gowns are runway sizing. Only a small selection of gowns are available in the larger sizes 14,16, and 18. There are unlikely to be any suitable gowns for larger brides at the outlet store.

Revenue

• Chris Parisien employees 41 staff and has an annual revenue of $8.2 million.

Locations

• The boutique store is located on Ponce de Leon Boulevard, Coral Gables, Florida.
• Chic Parisien has an off the rack store in Miami, Florida. The Find Bridal is an outlet store that offers gowns that are discounted between 40% and 80%.

Shareen Bridal

• Shareen Bridal dress has been featured in the New York Magazine and received positive feedback from this prestigious publication.
• Various lifestyle blogs listed Shareen Bridal as one of the top bridal boutiques across the US, including Brides and The Cut.
• According to Hannah Howard, a journalist from The Cut, Shareen Bridal offered the best service compared to any other bridal boutiques she had visited.

• Shareen Bridal provides alteration services, including to add or subtract a sleeve, to add a train, to slim down or make fuller a skirt, to add or subtract lace, to make more or less modest, to shorten, to lengthen, to adjust colors, and to play with textiles.
• Customers may request custom-made gowns.
• This bridal shop also offers dresses for mothers and bridesmaids.
• Shareen Mitchell, the founder of Shareen Bridal, has been dubbed as attentive and very observant toward her customers.
• Shareen Bridal receives an average of 3.7 stars on Yelp, 4.9 stars on Wedding Wire, and 5.0 stars on The Knot.

• Shareen Bridal cannot send their dress collection via mail for try-on purposes due to the price of the gowns.
• According to Shareen Bridal in their FAQ page, the price of their bridesmaid dress collection may be too expensive for the maid of honor in general.
• Due to the 'No Boys Allowed' policy applied, this boutique has received negative feedback.

• Shareen Bridal's sales reached $240,000. More information about the financial report of this shop can be accessed by purchasing a paywalled report.

• Shareen has two bridal salons, one in New York and one in Los Angeles.
• They also allow wholesale vendors to purchase their collections.

BHLDN

• This boutique offers promo and coupon codes for an additional discount on their dresses. BHLDN also frequently marks down their items such as wedding gowns, bridesmaid dresses, formal dresses, and accessories.
• Many lifestyle blogs have listed BHLDN as one of the top bridal boutiques across the US, including Glamour and Allure.
• Numerous fashion sites have featured BHLDN's dress collection, including Pacific Weddings and Brides.

• BHLDN offers dress styles made by various designers, including Badgley Mischka, Catherine Deane, Donna Morgan, Jenny Yoo, Monique Lhuillier, Needle & Thread, Tadashi Shoji, Whispers & Echoes, Yumi Kim, and many more.
• Other than wedding dress es, this boutique also provides other selections, such as bridesmaid gowns, mother of bride dresses, evening dresses, shoes, accessories, decor, and gifts.
• BHLDN offers online consultation with a stylist and store appointments.
• BHLDN regularly sets up temporary shops in various cities across the US.
• This boutique ships their purchased items across and outside of the US with an additional shipping charge of $15 for gowns.
• BHLDN receives an average of 4.0 stars on Yelp, 4.3 stars on Wedding Wire, and 4.5 stars on The Knot.

• BHLDN will not allow the return of gowns marked as final sale.
• This shop doesn't provide tailoring or alteration services.
• Many customers reported that the staff of BHLDN were not well-trained.

• The revenue of BHLDN in the first quarter of 2019 was estimated as $127.0 million.
• The revenue of BHLDN in the second quarter of 2019 was estimated as $162.7 million.
• The revenue of BHLDN in the third quarter of 2019 was estimated as $273.8 million.

LOCATIONS

• BHLDN operates numerous bridal shops in various cities across the US, including Atlanta, Bethesda, Beverly Hills, Carlsbad, Century City, Chestnut Hill, Chicago, Denver, Devon, Georgetown, Houston, Minneapolis, Newport Beach, New York, Palo Alto, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Seattle, Walnut Creek, and Westport.
• BHLDN also regularly sets pop-up stores in many cities in the US, such as Detroit, Minneapolis, Austin, and Cincinnati.

Research Strategy

Bloomingdale

Competitive advantage

• The company focuses on the fashion apparel and accessories that its competitors are newer to and weaker in.
• Bloomingdale focuses on the guided selling discovery; this is, it helps the customer find the merchandise she/he does not know exists. It is customers look for it for fashion inspiration.
• The company also offers advice to customers when they are shopping in it is brick-and-mortar stores. For example, when a customer buys a dress, the sales associate would take her to the shoe department to get shoes matching with that new dress. Also, brick-and-mortar stores allow a customer to touch and feel the product before purchasing it.
• The company offers an option called “buy online, pick-up in-store" which provides fulfillment to the customer and helps in faster delivery of the product.
• Bloomingdale uses the customer's previous purchase history to put products a customer has shown interest in in the past or the products she may want in the future in front of her when she next shops/window shops on the company's website or when they send her a promotional email.
• In 2018, Bloomingdale was among the first retailers to use Axonify Impact Learning Attribution Engine, an employee training tech that reduces safety claims; this saves the company about $3 million by minimizing workers’ compensation and general liability claims.
• The company markets itself by partnering with popular television shows, concerts, and movies; this puts it ahead of its competitors in terms of reaching to potential customers.

Strengths

• According to Bloomingdale's CEO, Tony Spring, the company's main strength is holding to its true identity, a strong brand heritage.
• Bloomingdale has a strong omni-channel presence; this is, the company has various brick-and-mortar stores, a website's store, and an app store.
•  Strong media aesthetic. The company's content marketing approach is leading the front with valuable information, which is converting potential customers into leads.
• The company's strength also lies in its email marketing strategy. Since it was launched, the sales of the company went up by 50%.
• Also, the company has the best behavioral marketing, and it offers the best in-store experience.

Weaknesses

• According to the company CEO, Tony Spring, Bloomingdale has been too stuck in the past. Therefore, the company has not changed as fast as fashion or other fashion apparel businesses have.
• The company has a small international presence; this is because all the company's stores are located in the United States.
• The company cannot engage in new things that are more risky or non-profitable as compared to larger competitors such as Amazon.

Revenue

• The company's estimated revenue is $2.8 billion. 

Geographical Footprint

•  The company has 81 stores, and all of them are located in the different states of the USA.

Love To Dress

Geographical Footprint

• Love To Dress has only one store in New York City, United States.

Helpful Information on the Love To Dress company

• The company provides three types of prom dresses, namely Ball Gown, Short, and Sequin; the wedding apparel includes the bridesmaid and wedding dresses.

Research Strategy

Competitive Advantage, Strengths, and Weaknesses

Revenue