September is often unofficially recognized as the start of a new year–with summer breaks and vacations behind us, it means the beginning of a new school year and work routines for millions of us. In response, our activities and social gatherings shift focus as well.

You are probably busy managing the seasonal merchandise flowing in and tweaking marketing messages to reflect these new items and the change in consumer routines as fall sets in.

Carry that same refresh into your registry so it feels timely and aligned with everything going on in your customers’ lives. It’s even more important since these coming months offer many gifting possibilities. Consider what’s taking place:

• A booming fall wedding season means a shower of gifts for hundreds of thousands of couples.
• Of course, that means anniversaries are in season as well.
• Grads and new movers are settling in, and many will realize there are things they still need and want now or for the holidays.
• Babies keep arriving - approximately 10,000 new bundles of joy are delivered every day. And don’t forget the birthdays that recur every year.
• Lastly, looming over all of this are the year-end holidays when over 300 million people will give and get gifts.

That adds up to millions of gifting events–many that offer you registry possibilities.

Where to Start

We consider this a perfect excuse to review your registry and make a few tweaks that will serve you well for this season and into the future.

Registry Accessibility: Make sure your registry is visible and easily accessible. If it’s not already displayed in your top nav/site menu, now is a good time to add it. A mention in the footer is useful.

Registry Nomenclature: Double check that your registry labeling properly reflects your brand and all the gifting activity you support. 

• Choose a label for your registry that is as all-inclusive as possible; avoid calling it a Wedding Registry or a Baby Registry but rather more broadly talk to a Gift Registry. Should you really want to refer to that main event, combine it with Gift Registry (i.e., Wedding and Gift Registry).
• In your top nav, if space is limited, calling it Registry can work. But, aside from that, we urge you to be consistent across all your marketing and consumer communications.
• Whatever you do, please never call this service “My Registry” or anything that takes away from your branding. Remember, this is your gift service, and we’re just proud to work behind the scenes for you.
• Review the event type options you offer registrants. We are happy to help you add new choices – especially those that reflect seasonal celebrations. 

Specific Seasonal Refreshes

Update your registry landing page: Looks count, so update it with seasonal looks and great new gift ideas.

• Think about changes the same way you approach an updated look for your website and store. Swap out the hero image with something that evokes the current season.
• Refresh gift ideas and recommendations. Feature new, on trend merchandise that recently arrived.
• Encourage current registrants to add new items that weren’t available when they first created their gift lists.

Carry this new look into your store and marketing plans. Make it all about the gifting going on now

• Store registry materials should consistently mirror the same updated look and feel. Match the color palette and event messaging in signage and handout materials. Use merchandise displays that spotlight new arrivals and great gift ideas to suggest registry use.
• Don’t be shy about talking up appropriate celebratory occasions in seasonal marketing and advertising.
• A quick reminder that a gift registry makes gift exchanges easy, convenient and always guaranteed to have a happy ending will resonate with customers.
• Even consider some marketing and communications that are entirely devoted to gifting and registry use.
• Invite customers to share favorite gifts, etc. as a way to get them more engaged with your products. Even consider a contest focused on their ‘best gift ever’ and spark more activity.

We encourage you to start doing any and all of these now so that you’re in step with all that’s going on in your customers’ lives. If you have any questions in particular or want to learn more about managing your registry data, we can always be reached at marketingguru@myregistry.com