Interview with BridalLive Software Founder & CEO, Mr. Tom Esposito
(Front) From left to right:: Tim, Rachel, Lindsey und Sarah; (Back) From left to right: Tom und Josh
Tom Esposito of Atlanta Georgia U.S.A, is improving bridal store operations across America with BridalLive Software. And we now can expect to see BridalLive come to Germany in year 2018/2019.
Tom’s story began while owning his own bridal store in 2004, when he realized that their shop operations had become complicated. “We had a system for a point of sales, a system for appointments, and a system for customer management and in the end we could not get any intelligible numbers that we needed in order to run our business,” exclaimed Tom.
He then began to create BridalLive in 2009, a single program containing Appointment Scheduling, Point of Sales System, Inventory Management and Stock Control, Bridal Shop Marketing System and a Smart View feature which brings important statistics to the forefront to help reduce ordering mistakes.
Tom also noticed that key marketing elements were missing from other available shop management systems, such as the ability to receive new leads from the web, increasing engagement with brides, boosting the likelihood of reaching the sale, and even following up with the bride right after the purchase. Tom explains, “It’s important that the store continues to market to the bride since she is at the stage in her life where she is buying a lot of wedding related items. So the question is: Can we help the stores get the bridesmaids or can we help the store get the tuxedos? All of this we took into account in trying to build a marketing platform. When we released the product, the marketing functionality was far above the most notable feature.”
The software has also evolved from a program being installed on desktop where all information was saved on the computer at the store, to a cloud based offering in which retailers can run their shop from anywhere on any computer, browser or device.
With over 800 retailers utilizing Bridal Live to simplify store operations, the comical question comes to mind, “How were bridal shops managing their stores before Bridal Live?” Tom laughs and says, “A lot of my customers don’t want to remember what they did before BridalLive. I see my customers at trade shows and they say to me, “I don’t know want to know what I did before BridalLive but now, so much of my system is automated. I have got all my checks in balances in place and I am not making errors that are keeping me up at night.”
Besides BridalLive’s appointment scheduling and other essential features, Tom continues to advance the BridalLive product by integrating new features into the software, such as the new 2 way text messaging system. Tom elaborates, “When a store books an appointment, the bride gets a confirmation text message before the appointment. She can reply to confirm or cancel appointment or she could also say “I plan to bring my mom, is that ok?” The store will receive the text message inside of BridalLive and can reply in a standard fashion to the customer.”
Not only is BridalLive be available in the United States, but we can expect to see BridalLive arrive in Europe with software versions in French, Spanish and German.
So when can we expect BridalLive to officially come to Germany?
Tom explained they are currently working on the German feature but several steps need to be made in order to come to the German market. An official date is not set but Tom is shooting for 2018, 2019 at the very latest. “We want to get into every market as soon as we possibly can so that we can meet the needs of international retailers as well.”
Among the many goals set for 2018, is the integration of a new upcoming feature which will help stores compete with online shopping and enrich relationships with brides. Tom elaborates, “We think in order to produce the happiest bride, it takes the experience of person who has been in the industry and who knows about bridal gowns. And to be successful, it also takes the convenience of being modern with your communication and the value you provide the customer, resulting in them shopping with you. BridalLive is looking to provide that kind of level of convenience and expertise to our customers.”
To find out more about the user friendly software visit: http://www.bridallive.com/
European representatives are available to take any questions you may have:
Benjamin Brument
help-eu@bridallive.com