From Dresses To Data: How David’s Bridal Moves At The Speed Of Modern Shoppers

Cultivating customer loyalty is now an art and a science. For heritage brands like David’s Bridal, the differentiator is how fast they can turn first-party data into experiences that win over core clientele.   

The largest bridal retailer in the U.S., David’s Bridal interacts with upwards of 90% of all brides. But with the market expected to eclipse $100 billion in the coming years, the competition is fierce. Fast-changing consumer preferences are intensifying the need for real-time, data-driven insights and automation that can help the company operate at the “speed of Gen Z brides,” according to Chief Technology Officer Scott Saeger. 

“While there are similarities in cosmetics, laptops, servers, and wedding dresses, there are always nuances to that customer journey,” Scott told CIO News. “My job is to help understand what those are and monetize them.” 

Scott’s team is focused on integrating the hundreds of touchpoints that make up the journey from “Yes” to “I Do,” including connecting physical stores to digital tools. Pearl by David’s Bridal, for example, is an AI-powered platform brides can use to dream and plan their entire wedding. AI also powers 90% of David’s Bridal’s customer communications, according to Scott, as well as drives the company’s real-time personalization engine that matches brides with the right products. 

Developers use AI tools to now test and validate new code in hours, not weeks. The technology’s reach extends into departments like legal and finance that are usually hesitant to embrace the latest tools so quickly. Even administrative assistants are using AI agents to help schedule meetings more efficiently. 

“We’re no longer just a dress company that added technology. We’re really a technology company that happens to know more about weddings than anyone else on the planet,” said Scott. 

With a career spanning oil and gas, retail, IT infrastructure, and consumer packaged goods, CIO News spoke with Scott about what it takes to win over customers in the AI era, and morphing into a technology company. 

‍From The Diamond To ERP 

Scott thought he was destined for a career in baseball. (His grandfather even helped the St. Louis Cardinals clinch three World Series in the 1940s. But during a summer league game at junior college, Scott glimpsed another third baseman throwing 95 mph balls — much faster than his top speed. 

“I went home that night and told my dad: ‘I think plan B is coming into effect real soon,’” he said. 

On the advice of his dad who had recently watched a “60 Minutes” segment on a buzzy new technology dubbed the Internet, Scott transitioned into IT. He started out helping companies deploy highly-complex ERP software. Working in Houston at the time, Scott found his way to Exxon, where he made the pivot to hardware. The potent combination of software prowess with infrastructure know-how quickly made Scott indispensable to leadership, and they often looked to him to mitigate skirmishes between the two teams. 

“I became the person they would come to because I knew both sides, and that’s what really kicked off my career,” he said. 

First Stop: First-Party Data 

After stints at Hewlett-Packard, 1-800-Flowers, GNC, and rue21, Scott was recently appointed CTO at David’s Bridal as part of a broader refocus around data and AI. The transformation into a digital-first retailer extends from the IT foundation to physical customer interactions — or what the company dubs its “Aisle to Algorithm” strategy. And key to the transition is a focus on first-party data. 

“We’re one of the first stops for brides, and that's an extraordinary data set to have,” Scott said. 

Product attributes, vendor relationships, planning tasks; all of this critical information is now turned into structured data and delivered to end systems through APIs — a so-called “headless” approach. It’s a stark difference from a few years ago, when the company struggled with siloed tools that required independent support and engineering. 

“We have to enable the business to move from selling dresses to making sure that we have all the data points needed for the entire wedding lifecycle,” said Scott. 

‘I never wanted to be the leader that was theoretical’ 

Scott hasn’t forgotten his roots. He still writes and reviews API code, and even built a personal AI agent to manage his investment account — with caveats of course: trades can’t be more than $250, volume can’t exceed 20 trades a day, and anything over a 1.8% loss is an automatic sell. 

“I’m trying to see if I can get it to win $250 a day in profit. I'm not there yet,” he said.

Ultimately, it’s this blend of deep IT acumen in both hardware and software, experience across several industries, and commitment to the customer that Scott is counting on to accelerate David’s Bridal’s transformation.

“I never wanted to be the leader that was theoretical. That's the chip I bring to the poker table: the technical chops,” he said. Using that knowledge to accelerate “the speed at which we can move from a single data insight to improving the bride’s journey, that's what is going to make me feel really good as a tech leader,” he added.