Western Weddings Gain Popularity
When Tony La Chapelle talks about apparel catalog free wedding western, he often quotes Soren Kierkegaard. Not that the Danish philospher was an expert on registries, but some of his musings on the unknown seem to apply to marriages and direct marketing. Or as La Chappelle explains: "It's a leap of faith for brides to register for products they can't see or touch." As director of marketing for the tabletop company Reed & Barton Silversmiths, La Chapelle has some definite views on apparel catalog free wedding western. The vendor works extensively with catalogs that feature registries, although the total market is still small, he says. "This is really leading-edge type stuff," La Chapelle says. "It's still in the experimental stage."
The business, however, could be a huge one, he's quick to add. "People are more apt to buy through catalogs than ever before. Consumers are busy, they're working at home, and they don't have much time to shop. Direct-market catalogs have definitely filled a void." Then why the existential angst about bridal catalogs? As La Chapelle explains, the registry business is an extremely intimate one, where brides and grooms have to implicitly trust the retailer on several different levels. For a bride to order goods through a catalog - where trust is instilled only on the slick pages of the pamphlet and over the phone - several obstacles must be overcome. First, the catalog must have a reputation with consumers. "For a catalog to pop out of Washington D.C. that nobody has ever heard of, well that's going to be questionable," for both the bride and the guests, says La Chapelle. Secondly, the catalog must feature brand-name products that the consumer has probably already seen on the shelves of other major retailers. For this reason, Reed & Barton's best-selling patterns, which have a reputation with consumers as a well-known commodity, already do well with the few bridal catalogs out there. "Our 18th Century Silver and our French Chippendale sell in catalogs," he says. "But a marginal pattern that is not so well-known - to expect consumers to understand those items - that is a leap of faith." La Chapelle says he'd like to see one of the major department stores, such as Rich's or Dayton's, take on a bridal catalog. Consumers can "see and touch" when they're visiting the stores, and a department store already has credibility with consumers. "They have all the ingredients to make it work," La Chapelle says. |