Many retailers (both bricks and pure plays and everything in between) have dabbled with a gift registry service. Like most things, there are a variety of success stories and some not so great implementations.
The benefits are clear – even from a short term perspective, the service can drive additional revenue. If done properly it is an excellent opportunity to engage with existing customers as they prepare and celebrate a life event thus deepening the relationship between retailer and customer. The opportunity to connect with new customers is also great- but beware, you cannot have a second attempt at making a first impression!
Trends in gifting are also moving to the point where giving cash or at least a gift card is far more acceptable than it was even five years ago. Non-tangible gifts are also acceptable – examples such as contributions to a honeymoon fund, donations to a favourite charity and so on, need to be considered.
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On the surface, this is a very rich area for retailers to engage with their customers but my question is – what is the future of gift registry? Surely in the ever-growing social media savvy market customers will ‘do their own thing’ in gift registry bridging across multiple retailers and service providers to create their very own, personal registry?
For retailers who haven’t entered the market, should they?
For those that have, is this an area of dwindling sales and how are they going to fill the gap?