Shownotes
Omni Talk Retail is live from eTail West 2026 with coverage powered by NetElixir.
In this interview, Anne Mezzenga speaks with Kelly Cook, CEO of Davids Bridal, fresh off the stage to discuss the company’s bold “Aisle to Algorithm” strategy and what she calls the bridal tech revolution.
David’s Bridal is expanding beyond a $4B bridal TAM into the broader $70B wedding ecosystem, building what Kelly describes as an AI and asset light approach to retail and media within the wedding industry.
Key themes from the conversation:
- The “tech sandwich” model: high tech before and after the in store bridal appointment
- Virtual try on, AR wedding visualization, and agentic AI guiding brides through 300 planning tasks
- A vision for one click wedding planning powered by immersive augmented reality
- How partnerships and retail media are unlocking value beyond the dress
- Why large scale transformation requires fearless talent and cultural clarity
Kelly also shares three leadership lessons for retail executives navigating transformation, including her now famous advice: be somebody’s shot of whiskey, not everybody’s cup of tea.
Thank you to NetElixir for supporting our eTail West 2026 coverage.
#eTailWest #RetailTransformation #AIinRetail #Weddings #RetailInnovation #DigitalTransformation
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Transcripts
Hello everyone.
Speaker A:Welcome back.
Speaker A:We're at Omnitalk Retail.
Speaker A: ne Mazinga, this is Etow West: Speaker A:She's fresh off the stage.
Speaker A:But before I do that, I want to give a quick thank you to Net Elixir for helping us bring you all of our coverage here from ETEL West.
Speaker A:Net Elixir is the AI powered growth engine behind mid size e commerce brand growth for over 22 years.
Speaker A:Thank you again for helping us bring you these interviews.
Speaker A:Like our next guest who is David's Bridal CEO Kelly Cook.
Speaker A:Kelly, I am so excited to have you on the show.
Speaker A:I mean I just was when, when I like found out we were going to interview you.
Speaker A:We've been tracking and following all the things that David Bridle has been up to.
Speaker A:I was so excited.
Speaker A:So let's start by giving our audience a little bit of your background and what you oversee in your role as CEO of David Spidal.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:So a little bit about my background started out in the airline business.
Speaker B:Then I went to the trash business.
Speaker B:Then I went to the shoe business.
Speaker B:So it was kind of like planes, trains and automobiles.
Speaker B:It was planes, trash and shoes, which is an amazing journey.
Speaker B:And then I ended up at David's Bridal which.
Speaker B:There's nothing better, Ann, than being in the love business.
Speaker B:This is a happy, joyful business.
Speaker B:I've probably met 30 people at Etel and 30 out of 30 have some connection to David's Bridal.
Speaker B:My wife got her dressed, my bridesmaids, whatever.
Speaker B:It's just a wonderful company to run.
Speaker A:Oh my gosh.
Speaker A:And talk about kind of what you oversee now at David's Bridal.
Speaker A:What divisions are you monitoring day to day?
Speaker B:So as CEO of the company, basically all operating divisions of the company report into me.
Speaker B:I have seven direct reports that are structured for growth and for digital and for AI and for tech.
Speaker B:That's mainly our focus right now.
Speaker A:Okay, well I want to start by talking about some of the stories that have been in the headlines.
Speaker A:You guys have been in the headlines a lot this past year.
Speaker A:Tell us about some of the things that you're piloting right now at David's Bridal and kind of give us an update.
Speaker B:It's been a wild ride, Ann, that's for sure.
Speaker B:So as of April 1st of last year, not April Fool's Day, I must made CEO April Fool's Day.
Speaker B:But I came back to work on the 2nd and I was still CEO.
Speaker B:So that's great.
Speaker B:There was not a joke.
Speaker B:But we launched our new strategy called aisle to algorithm which is really, we're basically the everything bagel of weddings.
Speaker B:It's an AI and asset light approach to retail medium planning for the wedding industry.
Speaker B:And it was a great thing for the business because the bridal TAM is about 4 billion, the wedding TAM is about 70.
Speaker B:So the combined is around an $80 billion TAM that we're now participating in.
Speaker B:We have transformed the company from everything from how we do internal processes to how we serve brides.
Speaker B:We launched DoorDash of which the number one city in DoorDash for bridal gowns.
Speaker B:Las Vegas.
Speaker B:Oh my gosh.
Speaker B:So we have that.
Speaker A:I had no idea.
Speaker A:Oh my gosh.
Speaker B:It's crazy.
Speaker B:We launched a new store in Liverp doing everything asset light and AI based and we are going to make tremendous progress financially from our business in 25 to 26.
Speaker A:Okay, so you've been talking a lot about tech, Kelly.
Speaker A:But to, you know, maybe I'm, I'm old fashioned, but when I picked out my, my bridal gown, it was, it was in person, it was in the store.
Speaker A:There's kind of this ritual about it.
Speaker A:How does tech come into play now in the consumer experience at David's Bridal?
Speaker A:And how do you think about kind of merging the online experience or discovery experience and what's happening in the stores when that yes moment happens?
Speaker B:So I love that question, Ann.
Speaker B:I would call it a tech sandwich.
Speaker B:You've got high tech on one end and high tech on the other.
Speaker B:But in the middle is an in person bridal appointment and that doesn't change.
Speaker B:She has to try it on physically and be there with her mother and her bridal party.
Speaker B:And it's a very special moment.
Speaker B:Fit is everything because these pictures last forever.
Speaker B:And as a woman, most of us don't like something about our bodies.
Speaker B:So you have to like try it on.
Speaker B:But the tech sandwich comes in at the beginning.
Speaker B:Virtual try on augmented reality wedding themes to get the right bridal colors for your bridesmaids.
Speaker B:And then she has the appointment and then we take her on a 300 task journey through agentic AI to plan her wedding.
Speaker A:A 300 task?
Speaker B:There's 300 tasks to plan a wedding?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And her number one emotion for 18 months is stress.
Speaker B:She's stressed for 18 months.
Speaker B:So our entire focus is de stress.
Speaker B:Simplify.
Speaker B:Let everything she wants to do in her dream meet her budget because it's financial stress as well.
Speaker B:So that's what the agentic AI solution.
Speaker B:So that's why?
Speaker B:We got tech on both sides.
Speaker B:The tech sandwich.
Speaker B:Wedding tech sandwich.
Speaker A:Well, and so you were just on stage and you talked about this bridal tech revolution.
Speaker A:Is that what you just described?
Speaker A:Tell us a little bit more about how you define a bridal tech revolution.
Speaker A:What does that look like?
Speaker B:Yeah, so it's everything from the even before she gets proposed to all the way to the honeymoon and more.
Speaker B:And what's amazing about what we built is that our brides are household CEOs, they're household formation.
Speaker B:And so the media and ad network platform that we built with tricarder, that sits on all of our assets.
Speaker B:We have companies that sell mattresses.
Speaker B:Ann, that love us because the 60 days after they're married, they're setting up their home.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so all of those partners that we have are really working.
Speaker B:So it's basically taking every aspect of that journey for her and simplifying in a way through Tech, VR, AR, AI that brings that dream to life.
Speaker B:And that's our 1, 100% focus.
Speaker A:What do you think is most important for those, those people in the audience to take away from the session today?
Speaker A:And maybe what would you tell our audience at home?
Speaker A:Who's, who's catching up?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I have three pieces of advice because this kind of large scale transformation is not for the week.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:I cannot imagine.
Speaker A:And a 300, you know, process.
Speaker A:Like, I will take any advice that you have, and I'm certain our audience will too.
Speaker B:Kelly.
Speaker B:Well, so three pieces of advice.
Speaker B:The first thing that I would say is be somebody's shot of whiskey, not everybody's cup of tea.
Speaker B:So figure out what you're good at in your business and expand that through AI and asset light ways because it just, it drives profitability much faster.
Speaker B:The second piece of advice I would give you is if you look at the circle of people around you and you're not inspired, then you don't have a circle, you have a cage.
Speaker B:So you want to hire people that really inspire, that champion the growth.
Speaker B:And the third thing that I would say is don't take yourself too seriously.
Speaker B:Take what you do seriously.
Speaker B:Have fun.
Speaker B:Large scale transformation is extremely difficult.
Speaker B:But God, the payoff is unbelievable.
Speaker A:Oh my gosh.
Speaker A:Well, that.
Speaker A:Those are one I love.
Speaker A:Be, be, be a shot.
Speaker B:Be, be somebody's shot of whiskey.
Speaker B:Not everybody's cup of tea.
Speaker A:I, I want.
Speaker A:I will be putting that on a post it note and looking at that every day.
Speaker A:Kelly.
Speaker B:For.
Speaker B:Indefinitely.
Speaker A:Indefinitely.
Speaker B:Awesome.
Speaker B:You got it.
Speaker A: Kelly, what can customers in: Speaker A:What else can they expect?
Speaker B:So here's my.
Speaker B:Here's my next vision that I want.
Speaker B:I want a bride to come in, give us a couple of prompts, and we build a complete augmented reality of her wedding vision actually in motion with video.
Speaker B:And once she's happy, she hits a button, and she buys everything at one time instead of having to go through the 300 tasks.
Speaker B:It's one button, and all 300 are done.
Speaker B:That's my vision.
Speaker B:That would be the best thing for her.
Speaker A:That's like taking the.
Speaker A:Like the room designer, but it's like a life designer.
Speaker A:Like, this is unbelievable.
Speaker A:And what do you think has to be true about the team and the technology that you're investing in to make that vision of yours come to life?
Speaker A:Kelly?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I would tell you talent's everything, Ann.
Speaker B:I mean, I'm not lying.
Speaker B:It is everything.
Speaker B:And they have to be fun, focused, and fearless.
Speaker B:That's really the key.
Speaker B:Because it's hard.
Speaker B:It's hard.
Speaker B:You get into the grind every day.
Speaker B:You make mistakes, you trip up, you don't see the results fast enough.
Speaker B:And that sort of focused and mindset is really good.
Speaker B:And I would also say laugh and have fun at the same time.
Speaker B:I mean, I am the CEO, but sometimes I feel great, and sometimes I feel like a busted can of biscuits.
Speaker B:That's just the way life is.
Speaker B:I mean, yeah, I just got off days in a co. And last night I got out of my rental car with my seatbelt on.
Speaker B:Like, it's just stuff happens, you know, Forgive yourself and have fun and really hire.
Speaker B:Well, you can't hire a chef and yell over their shoulder to chop faster.
Speaker B:You'll get stabbed in the eye with a carrot.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So you just have to really hire the right kind of people.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Oh, Kelly Cook, CEO of David's Bridal.
Speaker A:My entire day.
Speaker A:And life is better for having just heard you and your wisdom right now.
Speaker A:Thank you so much for making the time for us.
Speaker B:You're welcome.
Speaker A:Thank you again to Net Elixir for helping us bring you this incredible woman and our interviews from the show here at Etail.
Speaker A:And until next time, be careful out there.