FINAL PRESENTATION

Wedding planning simplified

Rachael Vile

Helping to avoid those “Bridezilla” moments….

ELEVATOR PITCH

“Over a quarter of a million couples marry in the UK every year. Currently, when those couples start planning their wedding it’s a case of trawling through wedding directory websites, leaflets collected from fairs, emailing people and making dozens of phone calls. It’s easy to lose track of the suppliers who you have and haven’t contacted, who’s available and who’s got back to you with prices. My idea is for an online wedding planning tool where you’d simply enter your date and preferred location, which alerts wedding suppliers in that area with your details. The suppliers get back to you via the tool, with everything organised neatly into categories. If you book any services via the platform, it would take a percentage commission from the supplier. It’s a win-win product as it saves the couple loads of time and effort, and gives suppliers easy access to new customers who are ready and willing to part with their cash.”

£3,309,584,000 Number of weddings in UK x average wedding day spend

Sources: Brides Magazine; ONS

STARTING POINT: MY ASSUMPTIONS

1: that engaged couples want a simpler way of planning their wedding

2: that wedding suppliers would like to get more business (and that they would use my platform to find customers!)

VALIDATING THE IDEA – CUSTOMER INTERVIEWS

o Customer vs User

o The Customers: Wedding Suppliers

• Florists x 4

• Hairdressers x 2

• Cake shop x 1

• Venue x 1

o The Users: Friends currently planning weddings

• Jayne, Laura, Beth, Lucy, Caroline, Kate, Aoife

PERSONA: CUSTOMER

“I love providing flowers for weddings as it’s enjoyable and generates a good income. I’d like to get more wedding bookings but I don’t have the time or knowledge to advertise”.

Hilda… o Is not particularly tech-savvy (limited to emailing and browsing internet) o Works with her hands all day and can’t spend too much time at a

computer o Relies on customers finding her through word of mouth o Does not currently advertise her services online

Hilda Female Age 60

Lives: Buckinghamshire Profession: Florist

PERSONA: USER

“I’m planning my wedding at the moment and am quite overwhelmed with the choice. I’d like to be able to compare wedding supplier options easily and choose what’s best for me”.

Beth… o Has a full time, demanding job o Is a competent user of technology – has smartphone, tablet and laptop o Has a budget in mind but will probably overspend o Does not want to use the services of a traditional wedding planner o Relies on word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family

Beth Female Age 31

Lives: London Profession: Scientist

USER STORIES

As a... I would like

to… So that…

Couple getting married Search for wedding suppliers

I can find ones available for my dates

See reviews of wedding suppliers

I can pick those that are reliable

See price quotes from wedding suppliers

I can keep within my budget

Organise messages from suppliers into categories/pinboard

I can keep track easily of who’s contacted me

Wedding supplier Receive emails alerting me to potential customers

I don’t have to spend time on marketing

BUSINESS MODEL DESIGN – LEAN CANVAS

Cost Structure

• Marketing costs – educating and acquiring customers

• Servers to host platform

• Developer costs

Revenue Streams

• Free trial – first booking free

• Then 5% commission based on value of booking

Problem

• Wedding planning

stressful

• Too much choice

• Few reviews

available online of

independent

suppliers

• Wedding suppliers

struggle to find new

customers

Solution

• Website or app

which allows

couples and

wedding suppliers to

easily find one

another and

organise quotes

Key Metrics

• Number of suppliers

signed up

• Number of bookings

made

Unique Value

Proposition

• Rather than

spending hours

trawling through

different websites,

couples can search

in one place and

have suppliers come

to them.

• Suppliers get easy

access to hot leads

for new business.

Unfair Advantage

• Low risk marketing

strategy for wedding

suppliers – they only

pay when the

customer books (vs

traditional

subscription model)

Channels

• Wedding fairs

• Magazines

• Banner ads

• Twitter

• Journalists?

Customer

Segments

• Newly engaged

couples at start of

wedding planning

process

• Independent

wedding suppliers

PRODUCT MARKET

MARKET SIZING

o Average cost of wedding day: £12,632*

o Number of UK weddings 2012: 262,000**

o .’. Total UK wedding day spend per year = £3,309,584,000 (TAM)

• Different revenue predictions based on varying the commission, number of users and amount spent:

Sources: *Brides Magazine; **ONS

Variables

Commission on bookings via

website 5% 10% 15%

Value of services booked £3,000 £5,000 £10,000

Number of users 10,000 25,000 50,000

How much could it make?

Per wedding: £150 £500 £1,500 Per year: £1,500,000 £12,500,000 £75,000,000

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

Confetti.co.uk, hitched.co.uk, theknot.com

etc

weddingquotes2U .co.uk

Wedding fair Traditional

(human) wedding planner

My Platform

Cost to user Free Free ££ ££££££ Free

Cost to supplier

£/££/£££ (Basic/

Enhanced/ premium sign up options – annual fee)

From £1.50 per enquiry (CPA)

Stand fees - £££ n/a % of booking

value

Site design Cluttered Outdated n/a n/a Clean

Who does legwork?

User Supplier User – literally on their feet

Wedding planner/user

Website does it

How does user collate information?

Click links to supplier

websites, contact them by email or

phone

Email only – no login for user on

site

Leaflets, business cards,

website addresses,

freebies

Phone/email

Folio in “My Wedding”

section. Organised by supplier type

WIREFRAME – LANDING PAGE

WIREFRAME 2 – RESULTS PAGE/DASHBOARD

NEXT STEPS?

o Test MVP – Wizard of Oz method

o Determine limits of how much commission suppliers would pay in order to maximise revenue

o Plan roadmap – add new features

APPENDIX: SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths • Simpler product to what’s

currently available • Convenience – “one stop

shop” • Potential for special offers –

could work out cheaper than booking direct. Incentive to use product

Weaknesses • No technical know how • New to market – no

reputation • No capital/investment

Opportunities • Wedding industry value • Diversify – not just

weddings

Threats • Established competitors • Change in customer

spending habits – less cash to spend on wedding

• Product can be easily copied