Preparing Retail for Holiday 2020: Q&A with Callie Canfield, David’s Bridal
The holiday season is fast approaching, and retail marketing teams of all kinds are busy preparing. But unlike most years, this holiday season — much like the rest of 2020 — looks quite different than anything we’ve seen before. Earlier this year, many retailers had to accelerate their ecommerce operations nearly overnight, and now they’re planning for the first primarily digital holiday season.
To better understand what this means for marketing leaders, we sat down with Callie Canfield, VP of Marketing and Communications at David’s Bridal, a leading retailer with 70 years of experience dressing customers for all of life’s special occasions.
Kate Elson: Tell us about your role at David’s Bridal.
Callie Canfield: I’m the VP of Marketing and Communications. I oversee all brand, digital marketing, social media, email and SMS, influencer marketing, PR, communications and copy for David’s Bridal.
KE: What are you most proud of in your work with David’s Bridal?
CC: The laser-focus this team has on the customer. It’s all about servicing her — from offering customer service via text to virtual styling appointments — we’re always thinking of ways we can make her shopping experience meaningful and memorable.
KE: What has been the biggest change for your team since the onset of COVID-19? And what, if anything, has stayed more or less the same?
CC: The temporary closing (and then re-opening) of all of our 300+ stores. Our business is unique in that touching the product, trying it on and seeing it in person is still a huge part of the shopping experience for our customers. In March we had to pivot our business entirely online basically overnight. Finding creative ways to continue to give our customers the high-touch experience she was used to without coming to a store was our primary focus. We developed our virtual stylist program, giving customers the ability to shop with an expert stylist over Zoom, and it was hugely successful. We’re excited to continue to evolve virtual stylists for customers who prefer it, even now that stores have re-opened.
KE: Have there been any specific changes around what people are shopping for?
CC: We have seen an increase in more casual, short wedding dresses and separates. We know that many people are either forced to have a much smaller wedding than they anticipated or are doing a zoom wedding or a ‘minimony’ in place of a larger event.
KE: How are you thinking differently about planning for the 2020 holiday season given everything going on?
CC: Our business is unique in that our holiday season starts in January after traditional retailers’ holiday season is over—lots of people get engaged over the holidays. Right now, we’re gathering as much data as we can to influence the way we’re planning for our peak season. There’s still a lot in flux—people pulling their weddings up and doing something smaller, and people pushing their weddings back in hopes they can keep them as they originally planned. Instead of a concrete plan, which we usually would have in place by now, we’re trying to be a bit more flexible so we can adapt and change as our customer does.
KE: What is your team’s top goal for the 2020 holiday season? And how, if at all, is that different than your goals in past holiday seasons?
CC: Our goal is to meet the customer where she is. Knowing how many events have been pushed out—not just weddings, but proms, bachelorettes and more—we want to be a resource for her. If she’s not ready to shop, can we help her with ideas on how to plan a virtual bridal shower? Or build her online registry? We have a team of experts on all things event related, and we want to offer them up to her as a resource.
KE: What do you foresee as your biggest challenge heading into the 2020 holiday season?
CC: The unknown. Things are changing every day and it makes it hard to plan for product, media, content…the list goes on. The answer is to be as nimble as possible — to listen to her and try to address her needs as best we can.
KE: What is your advice to other marketers preparing for what’s sure to be retail’s most unique holiday season?
CC: To gain as much data as you can now and be as flexible in planning as possible!
Get Your Team Ready for the 2020 Holiday Season
The 2020 holiday season will be unlike any other, and preparing ahead of time will be more critical to success than ever before. Is your team ready?
