Step 5: Put it all together.

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 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, lace dresses with sleeves 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 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 long sleeve mini dresses for lower prices for their dresses.

Thank you for reading this article.

How To Find The Perfect Modest Wedding Dress

So youve decided that on your big day you would like to wear a wedding dress that is modest, traditional or conservative just finding a modest wedding dress can be a feat in and of itself, but also finding a modest wedding dress that will flatter your figure takes a little bit of work, but we can help you with that! With so many different styles of wedding dresses available, it can be overwhelming; it is important to try to narrow down the type of modest wedding dress that will look best on you and start there.

Step 1: Choose the style of modest wedding gown that will be most flattering to your figure.

What kind of figure do you have? Tall, petite, curvy, boyish, apple, or pear This is a very important starting point because different styles of dresses flatter different silhouettes. The right modest wedding dress can play up your best assets and camouflage your flaws.

A woman with an apple shape generally carries her weight around her mid section and has more slender legs. A woman with this body type would look great in a gown that has detail around the waist such as a sash that will visually define the waist; the skirt should gently flow out creating a visual balance. If the skirt is too fitted, it will accentuate the apple shape, rather than reduce it.

A woman with a pear shape generally carries her weight around her hips, thighs and butt with a more slender upper body. A wedding dress with an A-line shape that gently flows out at the hips would be most flattering. Look for an A-line skirt with a v-neckline and more detail on the bodice area to draw the eye away from the hips.

A curvy shaped woman carries weight more equally between upper and lower body. Dresses made out of a more structured material will be best for a curvy woman. Loose flowing dresses are not flattering on a curvy woman as they tend to add pounds. A curvy woman can get away with almost any silhouette of dress as long as it is tailored to fit her perfectly.

A woman with a boyish shaped figure can have very narrow hips, and a smaller bust. Mermaid style, trumpet style, or ball gown style dresses look great on a boyish figure. These styles tend to add the illusion of curves where they may be lacking.

Petite women should look for column style wedding dresses or empire waist style wedding dresses. Petite women should avoid dropped waist style dresses or ball gown style dresses as they may cut them in half or overwhelm their petite figure.

Tall women should look for wedding dresses with a dropped waist, or even a ball gown style of wedding short evening dresses with sleeves gown to keep their proportions looking balanced.

Step 2: Choose the color of the wedding dress.

Today, modest wedding dresses are available in a wide range of shades of white and even colors. You should choose the shade that is most flattering to your skin tone; most brides will look best in a slightly off white color. Brides with very fair skin should lean toward a warmer shade of white; brides with darker complexions have an easier time pulling off stark white. Keep in mind if you are a LDS bride who plans to wear her wedding dress in the temple, you must choose stark white.

What attributes would your dream wedding dress have? Ruffles? Lace? Beading? Plain?

Step 3: Choose the sleeve length.

When selecting your dress, keep in mind the season that you will be getting married in as well as the type of reception you will be having. If you are getting married in the winter, you may want to choose a modest wedding dress with length sleeves or even long sleeves so you stay warm. If you are getting married in the summer months you may appreciate a modest wedding dress with cap sleeves so that you will stay cool. For all of the in-between months, during the fall or spring where the weather can be unpredictable, you will probably be safe with short sleeves.

Step 4: Choose the neckline.

Modest wedding dresses are now available with more options for necklines than ever before. If you are a LDS bride, consider whether the wedding dress has a neckline that will be temple ready or not. There are many different white long dresses options of necklines which are temple ready: Queen Anne neckline, portrait neckline, scoop neck, v-neck, square neck and so on. Make sure you are comfortable with the neckline so that you will not feel self-conscious about whether or not you are showing too much skin.

Step 5: Put it all together.

When you have chosen the silhouette of the wedding dress, the color, the sleeve length and neckline see what options are available with all of your favorites to narrow the selection down even further. From those choices, which style of modest wedding dress seems most you? Does your wardrobe mostly consist of solid colors in basic black, navy and white? If so, a more simple elegant dress may be best suited for you. Does your wardrobe consist of lots of prints and colors and all of the latest trends? If so, a more trendy style of modest wedding gown with elaborate beading may be best suited for you. Are you a very low maintenance bride who doesnt like to fuss with hair and make-up? If so maybe you would like a simple tea-length style wedding dress, or a dress without an elaborate train to fuss with.

Step 6: Personalize it.

Many wedding dress designers have the option of selecting a colored sash, colored beads or colored embroidery, some brides chose these things to tie everything together with the wedding party and flowers etc. Another popular trend is to wear colored shoes, sneakers, or funky jewelry, whatever your signature junior bridesmaids style is.

Best of luck to you in finding the perfect modest wedding dress!