June Already

I can't believe it's June already, we've been pretty busy lately and I haven't had a chance to do much blogging. There's not been much time to work on the website but we have added loads of new products, as promised we've got a great new range of coloured tiaras and jewellery and these are all available on the site now. We've also added a Frequently asked Questions section which will hopefully answer some of the dozens of queries we get each day, but as always we're here to help if needed.
There's lots of exciting new plans for the coming summer months and we'll be running loads of promotions. We're currently adding new products to the combos section, were we take selections of the most popular products and put them together into one discounted package. Check them out here Discounted Wedding Jewellery

The Hen Night

March is a time when the hen night plans for many summer brides start to be hatched. To help you along, this year Bridal Gems have again increased the range of accessories available. With everything from Hen Night Badges to Complete Kits, we think we've got it all covered. The ever popular "Hen Night Autograph T Shirt" is also still available this year so why not pop along and have a look :-)

Hen Night Accessories

Crazy Product Numbers

Back in the early days of Bridal Gems we had only a few dozen products and decided at the time to give them item numbers based on the type of product. Because there were so few products, we numbered them in 10's so tiaras were coded T10, T20, T30 and so on and necklaces sets N10, N20 etc. This worked fine until the number of products reached hundreds, and when we coupled with that the fact that even discontinued items still had to have codes allocated, we soon started to run out of codes. We then started to use the numbers in between the 10's but this brought up altogether new problems. Our stock control was getting difficult because it was hard to decide on the correct code for a new product and picking orders started to become confusing as 'N' and 'T' or any of the other product prefixes could easily be mixed up and customers understandable wouldn't be to happy receiving a really pretty necklace when they ordered a tiara.
So the solution was unfortunately obvious, we had to re-code our entire stock and implement a system for new products that will last well into the future. Our old system although flawed in some ways, did work very well at the beginning, and a new version of this system is what we decided to use. We'll still be prefixing the number with a letter representing the product type, and so as not to get mixed up with old codes we're starting with T1001, T1002 etc for tiaras and to help avoid the picking errors we decided to start necklaces at N2001, and earrings at E3001 and so on.
With 1000's products in our database, the task of re-coding and making sure all reference to the old coding system are changed is quite a big one. We've had to work really fast as the worst possible situation is to have two different systems on the go at one time, as of today all reference to the old codes should have disappeared, the only exception is a few items listed on eBay which can't be change until the auctions finish. Just to be safe, and because we realise there might well be parts of the site we've missed, we have kept an old code label in our warehouse on all products and plan to keep them in case of future confusion.

New for 2009

Our new 2009 range is due to be added to our catalogue from the second week in February. We've no plans at this time to discontinue any old items, however as always we're a little bit at the mercy of our manufacturers, if they do drop any lines we will of coarse try to source suitable replacements.
We hope to add an assortment of 20-30 new tiaras and necklace sets, with special emphasis on children's tiaras and coloured adult tiaras, as this is an area we're a bit light in.
Another plan for 2009 is to put together packages of tiaras at reduced prices, we're doing this to help brides on a tight budget who maybe have to buy for all there bridesmaids. We'll probably stick with the most popular budget tiaras and package them in twos, threes, fours and sixes with prices reduced by 20-30 percent. We were thinking about making up packages of matching necklace, earrings, bracelet and tiara, and although we haven't totally ruled it out, it may be better to just let the bride mix and match and get what they want.
We're all looking forward to another great year in 2009, we're fortunate that we've got a solid business model that will be able to withstand the economic recession we're all being told about daily, and have actually had to recruit more staff to meet recent demand. We hope our "value for money" prices will help both our customers who are on a tight wedding budget and us as we attract new customers who are looking for a bargain.
I might not get blogging much over the next few weeks as things get a little bit hectic around here this time of year, but I'll try to post up any important information.

Reduced UK VAT

At the time of writing, the reduction in UK VAT is still just speculation, but if the expected cut in the rate does happen, we've already geared up to implement the reduced prices immediately. As we don't know for sure how much the VAT may be cut by, or the exact date of implementation, we're going to have to wait and see what happens. What we are doing now is making sure we're ready to lower prices across the websites as soon as physically possible.
Obviously we've no idea at this time how long the reduced VAT will last, but it's great news for our customers with lower prices all round.

That time of year again!

Strange as it may sound, but "that time of year" (November/December) for us is time for Amanda and myself to take a short sunshine break and recharge the batteries ready for the upcoming bridal season. We're heading away on December 3rd this year for just a week, and will be back December 10th. Our little break will probably add a few days on to delivery times for most website orders over this period, but as always we'll have the estimated delivery date posted on the website, and give plenty of notice before we leave.
We'll do our best to keep answering emails, and this year we should have the free phone support line staffed most afternoons, unfortunately although we'll be able to take telephone orders they won't be processed until we return.
I'm sure I'll repeat this in a later post, but I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank all those customers and friends who have supported us through the year, 2008 although difficult in trading terms, has been one of the most enjoyable we've had since starting Bridal Gems all those years ago. We're thoroughly looking forward to another great year in 2009 and even through all the economic doom and gloom being spread by the press, we know we're going to help thousands of brides have their dream wedding no matter what wedding budget they're on.

Nigel

Credit Crunch

For all businesses an economic recession is certainly a scary time, and every responsible company should be looking at how their business is run and make sure it's in a sound financial position to with stand any potential down turn. Here at Bridal Gems we're no exception and thankfully we have not yet experienced a reduction in business, if fact October 2008 was our busiest October ever, having said that we're not taking things for granted, we have allot of plans for the 2009 season and hope to introduce several new products. We're also looking at ways of reducing our prices even further and have already cut the price of several of our most popular lines. With so many people struggling it these difficult times we're doing all we can to help our customers have the wedding they deserve.
As always we welcome suggestions on how we can improve our service, so please feel free to comment.