It is likely that long before our prince charming pop

Where do you want to buy your Prom Dress, online or offline

When the prom season approaches, many girls start looking for the most beautiful dresses that fit them the best from many different places. It can be retail stores or online dress shopping malls. Which place has the best price and quality for a buyer convenience and budget?

Online shopping is a new trend since 2000. The annual growth rate is 11% every year. Traditionally, all girls have shopped for dresses at wedding shops, dress specialty stores, or department stores. They tried on the dresses and compared prices and styles. However, this traditional trend has rapidly changed. Here, I would like to analyze the merits and weak points of online and offline dress buying with a price comparison.

Before you decide to buy a dress, you will need to know the basic price structure of the dress. The true cost of a dress does not mean anything until all the expenses added before it can be sold to the customer as a retail price. Most physical stores have high extras such as the rent, employees?wages, utilities, insurance, etc. Those sums add up to at a least 30% increase from the original dress cost, which is from either the manufacturer or a wholesale store. For example, if the original dress cost is $100, the expenses would be around $30, so you are paying $130 for a $100 dress. Prom dresses are seasonal products from mid-March to before July, so business activity is confined to about half of the year. We need to add this seasonal factor into the retail prices. So, if the owner wants to pursue a 30% profit, the retail price will be $338 (Original cost $100 ?expenses 30% ?seasonal factor 200% ?profit 30%.) This calculation is totally hypothetical but also realistic. It can be vary per lace open back wedding dress stores by stores. You may feel that retail prices are a bit higher and cannot be justified. However, if we carefully observe the nature of the prom dress business the profit margin is not that much because it is not spread out for the entire year. The pure profit of $338 dress is only about $39.

Compared to the offline dress stores, online dress stores have much less overheads. First of all, they are not physical retail stores, so they do not need to have pay rent. Less space needed, less employees, less burden on liability insurance, less maintenance cost compared to the physical stores add up to less overall expenses. Also, the strong point of an online store is its versatility of inventory. They can carry any product they want to sell, so can be less seasonal and have fewer inventories need to carry. If the dress cost is $100, the final retail price on the Internet mall will be around $220 (Original cost $100 ?expenses 15% ?seasonal factor 50% ?profit 30%.) The pure profit of $220 dress will be $52. Here we do not add extra expenses such as technical outsourcing cost, Internet advertising cost, etc, so the actual profit per dress will be decreased after those expenses are applied.

Everyone agrees that price is cheaper on the Internet. However, there are other factors you need to consider such as the availability of a dress, quality, design, etc. You can verify stock availability at the physical stores and online by simply calling them and asking. The main weakness of dress buying on the Internet is it lacks your immediate inspection on the dress by not allowing you to touch and see in front of you before you buy it. You are the person who must see the dress, and then you drive to the store and buy it. This is a great idea. Conversely, if you want to save time and gas, and would like to pay less money for your dress, you may want to try to buy it online. Many online stores provide you high quality customer services and a reasonable return policy. All transactions can be done by their merchant account. This can protect you from being hacked for your financial information.

You can buy great dresses cute maternity clothes from any place, but the trend is shifting from traditional dress shopping to the virtual stores that we all agree will continue as long as shoppers are looking for lower prices for their dresses.

Thank you for reading this article.

Choosing the Perfect Wedding Dress

It is every woman's dream is to walk down the aisle, clad in the best designer wedding dress with a fresh bouquet of the dandiest flowers, as her prince charming awaits for her at the end of the aisle. We conjure images of what our weddings will be like before we find our first crush or fall in love. When we think about our weddings, there is one thing that we will likely consider to be the most important thing of the big day - the wedding dress.

It is likely that long before our prince charming pop the question, we already know what type of gowns we want to wear on the wedding day. But are those images of the dress that we have treasured for so lace dress with sleeves many years suitable for the types of wedding we have in mind?

Before you even pick your wedding dress, it will be best to finalize your theme. Will it be a garden wedding late in the afternoon or a beach wedding while the sun sets? The time and location will give you a vague idea on what kind of cut is the most appropriate for your wedding.

Flipping through magazines and imaging yourself wearing the dresses on the pages will help you visualize what type of wedding dress is suitable for your big day. However, if you are unsure of what kind of dress is the most flattering and will bring out your assets, you could always seek the help of a professional designer. It might cost you a little more for the consultation, but at least you can be certain about the design you pick.

After you have decided on your design, it time to consider your budget. How much of it should go to your dress? If you think that you have quite a large amount, then by all means, get the best designer you can find. If you are quite tight on the budget, however, it might take more effort to find the perfect designer for you.

Start by asking other recently married couples that you know for recommendations. You might even get discounts from the referral. If you are not satisfied with the recommendations that you get, it would not hurt to search online and start looking for designers in your local community.

Try and visit each one of them and discuss your idea. Sometimes, designers do not charge for consultations so go ahead and consult each one of them if you wish, to find out who you are most comfortable with.

Planning a wedding is not an easy task. However, if you take it step by step, dividing it into smaller chunks of tasks, from the flowers to the venue to the wedding dress, you will find it less overwhelming.