GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT

Boy meets girl. Boy proposes to girl. Boy and girl head down to the local department store and register for home items, such as place settings, stemware, and linens.

Okay, maybe gift registries were never quite that simple. But they're a whole lot more complicated now.

Never mind the fact that consumers can set up a gift registry for just about any occasion, from baby showers and housewarmings to birthdays and retirement parties. Merchants selling in multiple channels now have to manage multichannel registries.

Single-channel gift registries are almost obsolete, says Sven Tarantik, wedding and gift registry director for gifts and tabletop items cataloger/retailer Fortunoff. “Without that Internet piece, and offering brides the opportunity to register online, the bottom line is we'd lose them,” he says. “I don't know too many who have brick-and-mortar [only] registries.

Having previously worked for retailers Linens 'n Things and Macy's, Tarantik has nearly 20 years of experience in the gift registry business. Fortunoff stores sell kitchenware, gifts, furniture and home decor, and outdoor living products, “but a lot of people consider us a jewelry store,” Tarantik says. A major registry challenge: “How do we get that bride to click on our site?

At Fortunoff, he says, “online registries are the biggest focus.” Half of its registry on an annual basis comes from online, which he says is “pretty typical.” Just five years ago, Web registries were a much smaller portion of the merchant's business. “People were used to setting up an appointment and coming to meet with a consultant,” he notes.

About 40% to 50% of Fortunoff's online registrants will visit the store at some point. And the retailer wants them to — it has bridal consultants assigned to stores who track weekly registrants and contact them to invite them to visit the store.

When online registrants don't go to the stores, “we see a huge drop in registry value,” Tarantik says. “When we get that bride to come in, in front of a bridal consultant, we see a significant lift in registry value.”

The biggest challenge facing stores with multichannel gift registries is creating and maintaining a balance of online vs. in-store customer interaction, says Tom Hayes, senior vice president/general merchandise manager for Reading, PA-based department store retailer Boscov's.

“We need our brides to come into our stores so they can experience our outstanding customer service,” Hayes says. “Utilizing our sales and consultant staff to learn, touch, and feel our product offering is important to build a high registration value.”

Balancing the online/in-store gift registry experience is indeed crucial. Since many customers who register are younger and expecting to spend money on a wedding, a house, or a baby, retailers need to make that gift registry program easily accessible across channels, says Neil Stern, senior partner with Chicago-based retail consultancy McMillan/Doolittle.

A registry also provides an opportunity to develop a relationship with customers “at an immensely critical time in their lives as they change a life stage.” Plus, registries drive traffic to other categories in the store, he says.

Providing a positive registry experience is key, as shoppers “could be potential registry customers themselves,” says Deborah Kahl, J.C. Penney's gift registry director. “This is also a great way for them to view our breadth of products,” and may even encourage them to visit the general merchant for themselves, she says.

Customer differences

J.C. Penney's online and retail registrants tend to be different customers, “although most of our registrants use both channels — store and online — during the pre-event period,” says Kahl. “Understanding the different expectations of each of these customers makes the strategy for each channel well defined.”

The merchant's store registrant tends to be younger and requires more attention. “These customers need to be walked through the registry process more closely,” Kahl says.

Penney's online registrant tends to be older, has a better idea of what he or she wants, and can navigate through the process with more ease, she adds. “Their customer service expectations are more of a breadth of product and ease in the process.”

But other marketers find younger registrants prefer Web interaction. “We recognize that the Internet and e-mail are critical elements to reaching our younger, tech savvy consumers and developing their loyalty, essential for long-term growth,” says Hayes. “The Internet and e-mail have become our brides' primary mode of communication.”

Online registration, e-mail updates, and special offers have been essential to building Boscov's wedding business. The retailer has had a gift registry for at least 15 years, Hayes says, and started its online registry in 2002.

“The online and 800-number [telephone] element of wedding registrations also addresses the need for out-of-town guests to be able to purchase what she wants from the store she loves,” he adds.