Anna McDonald Bridal Gallery has produced the world’s first Bridal Shop iPhone application with the help of MDB Consulting. In partnership with MDB, iBridal offers Brides-to-be access to valuable information for planning their big day, including a countdown to the event, a bridal gallery, special offers and planning advice.
Brides will be the first to admit that a large portion of their planning involves being on the road researching activities associated with the big day, such as bridal retailers, venues, cakes, flowers, catering etc.
The Bridal Gallery iPhone application is free to download and enables consumers to access vital information on the move. Content will be updates daily so Brides can retrieve the latest information;
· Detailed dress information and pictures
· The ability to contact suppliers for appointments direct from the phone via email or call
· A checklist countdown for actions that need to be conducted for the special day
· Useful contacts for each aspect of the wedding plans
· RSS feeds from leading bridal industry publications
· Wedding fairs
· Bridal News
· Links to Designer’s websites for dress details
The bridal industry has bucked the economic trend with consumers continuing to buy. They are looking for value and innovation from suppliers and Anna believes that accessing wedding information on the move is a growing trend.
Retailers, industry media and suppliers to the industry will be interested in this new innovation. Anna commented, ”I am looking forward to working with leading industry experts in order to integrate their content into the bridal application to make it even more useful for consumers.”
Anna is hoping to introduce key features such as appointment management, photograph upload, description fields and comment boxes to help the bride make more informed decisions. The application will soon be available on the emerging Google Android phone to cater for a wider user base. Apple has proved that applications are far easier for consumers to use as opposed to browsing the internet on a mobile phone which can be slow and difficult to navigate.
“MDB had the best credentials and offered a cost-effective iPhone solution within a quick timescale. They intuitively knew what my business required and helped manage the complicated technical side of things so I could concentrate on sourcing useful content for brides-to-be.”
Using MDB’s unique content management system; Lifelyte, www.lifelyte.co.uk, Anna was able to easily create her own content from sources such as her website and external sites such as Guides-for-Brides. Content specific to the iPhone could also be added using the easy-to-use editing tool, which is similar to Word.
MDB managed the entire submission process as well as any future upgrades and functionality improvements. Being a web-based system it allows Anna McDonald to update the content whenever and wherever required.
After a week of release the application has proved popular with an average of 70 downloads daily, main interest being in the dress details.
