Advertising & Marketing: Free lists also let Web firms gather data on customers to offer them new items in future.
Gift registries aren't just for weddings any more, or so a passel of Internet companies hopes.
Just in time for the holidays, several Web companies have launched gift registries that allow people to create wish lists online that are then e-mailed to relatives or friends. The companies--including WeddingChannel.com Inc. and WishClick Inc.--are touting their services as handy tools for online holiday shoppers, many of them using the Web for the first time. But in order to succeed, gift registry firms must persuade adults to do something they haven't done since childhood visits to Santa Claus: Make a list and tell friends and family to check it twice.
"It's a difficult and new behavior," said Carrie Johnson, an e-commerce analyst with Forrester Research, a market research firm. "The comfort level of someone registering themselves for Christmas is not a normal and may not be an accepted social behavior."
Still, the holiday season may offer gift registry firms their best opportunity to introduce consumers to their services.
"This is a great time to get people's behavior adjusted to new ways of doing things," said Allen Weiner, vice president of analytical services at NetRatings Inc., an Internet traffic-measurement firm.
The gift registries operated by WeddingChannel.com, WishClick and others differ from those maintained by online retailers, such as EToys. The online registry companies allow people to list items from many online stores.
Consumers create lists for free. Registry companies make money from advertising and from commissions that retailers pay them when items on the lists are purchased.
And the registries gather a lot of information about their customers' tastes and preferences that they can use to sell them more stuff.
"WishClick understands gift preferences and interests at a product level," said Scott Sangster, chief executive of year-old WishClick. "We know that you got that car stereo and you have an interest in music and our partner, Tower Records, has a sale. We might say, 'Would you be interested in XYZ?'"
WishClick allows people to select gifts from virtually any online retailer. WeddingChannel.com, on the other hand, restricts selections to its retail partners, which include Neiman Marcus and Williams-Sonoma. Its registry is integrated with those of its partners, so purchases are tracked whether they are made using WeddingChannel.com's list or registries in the brick-and-mortar stores.
The online registries try to assure customers that they are merely a formalization of something they already do.
"Almost everybody creates wish lists. They may do it verbally or around the Thanksgiving Day table with family," Sangster said. "We help them do that same thing online and not get duplicate sweaters or the wrong size."
WeddingChannel.com allows people to drop subtle hints about desired gifts.
"You can tell someone that you're learning how to cook or what your favorite color is, and that inspires them about what a good gift would be," said Jenny Lefcourt, co-founder of WeddingChannel.com. "It's not just a list of items; it's a list that would inspire people."
The registries hope people will use them year-round as a place to not just ask for items that others will buy for them but also to keep track of what they want for themselves.
For example, a person looking for a digital camera might go to a variety of online stores in researching numerous products. The registries could keep track of where that person saw various cameras. If the purchase decision was being made by several people, the registries could be used as a place to trade ideas.
"It's a general wish list, not a registry," said Ron Martinez, chief executive of the Brodia Group, an online shopping service. "Consumers add things to their wish list, but it's not really intended as a gift registry. Rather, it's just a reminder for me of cool things that I've seen and might want to buy."
Meanwhile, Sangster's company and others, including SecretWish by Digital Connection, are targeting teenagers, who aren't shy about asking adults for gifts and are prevented from purchasing online because they frequently don't have credit cards.
"Our market research showed some hesitancy among adults to send out an e-mail with a list of 'Here's what I want for the holidays,' " said Bob Sacco, vice president of marketing for Digital Connection. "Teens, on the other hand, don't seem to have an issue with it."
"Maybe they're lacking humility at that age or maybe they're asked so often what they want because we as adults don't understand what the hot thing is for teens," said Sacco, whose site went online in late November.
The registries also get to know their customers' tastes across a variety of categories and can be more confident that the items are actually for that customer, as opposed to a gift for someone else.
"There is a great potential for data mining here," Johnson said. "But the real question lies in volume and it's just too early to tell how much they'll do."
Data mining could instantly turn up changes in people's tastes that the registries can turn into market research to be resold to retailers and manufacturers. Because the registries hold data on a person's tastes across categories, research could turn up relationships between, say, a musician and a brand of jeans.
Some of the registries have successfully raised capital from venture firms and retail partners. WeddingChannel.com, for example, has landed financing from several of its retailing partners, including Amazon.com Inc. and the Neiman Marcus Group, as well as high-powered venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Trinity Ventures. Others face a make-or-break period before the end of the year.
Lefcourt, whose WeddingChannel.com began life as a wedding-only registry in June before opening an all-purpose gift-giving site in November, sees this year as a testing ground.
"This season is important to educate consumers about gift-giving and to use registries as a tool," Lefcourt said. "But this is just the beginning."
