Welcome to 2021! The calendar marks the start of a new year, and we couldn’t be happier to leave 2020 behind.

Happily, signs point to a more prosperous year on all fronts. Whether it’s the positive retail sales trend emerging (albeit the comps are against a difficult 2020) or growing consumer confidence that life will have more normalcy in coming months, expectations are for the economy to pick up and customers to be happily focused on celebratory occasions. Likewise, you should expect your gift registry to pick up as well.

We see lots of potential for your gift registry to be a very productive source of new business and enhanced customer loyalty in coming months. Consider these points:

• Current registrants are already customers: Everyone who has already turned to you for a gifting event knows how convenient and easy it is to make every celebration stress-free and full of the gifts they most want.
  • Registrants with past event dates may still have an unpurchased gift or two on their list. A special offer could entice them to shop for themselves and quickly add some sales. Of course, be sure to remind them that their Universal Registry or Wish List can be refreshed and used for other events in the new year—keep the gifts coming!
  • Registrants with future event dates are still in a planning mindset, so be sure to connect and share new products they might want to add to their Registries or Wish Lists.
• Any customer is a prospect: Every year brings literally millions of gifting events, and every one of your customers likely has at least one or two reasons to be showered with gifts. To give you a sense of the possibilities, here are some facts to keep in mind:
  
  • Every one of your customers will have a birthday, and most will want to celebrate it.
  • Similarly, almost everyone gets into a holiday mood—mostly at year’s end, but there are a few other holidays during the year that generate gift exchanges as well.

That adds up to lots of possibilities. To make it a bit more manageable, here’s a chart depicting the most popular timing for each event type. You’ll notice there is some seasonality for a few events, while new babies and birthdays are an everyday celebration. Knowing what’s happening when can help focus your registry marketing messaging and keep you aligned with what’s likely going on in the lives of your customers.

Depending on your business and product focus, make the statistics work in your favor. Each year:

• Another 2.2 million-plus couples plan a wedding, and approximately 4 million couples prepare for a new baby. The vast majority of those customers (almost 90% and an estimated 65%, respectively) will create gift lists in 2021. And of course wedding registrants become anniversary celebrants in coming years.
• As many as 7–8 million young adults graduate from high school or college and set off on a new life adventure that necessitates lots of new stuff, with thousands creating Wish Lists to set up new living spaces.
• An estimated 10–14% of U.S. families move and set up new homes. Housewarming parties and/or houseguest visits prompt welcoming gifts.

Where to Start

As we described above, the possibilities are endless. Of special note for immediate attention:

• Nothing heats up cold winter days more than new engagements and wedding plans. This is peak engagement season, and when you layer on all the 2020 events that may have been postponed, it means lots of wedding gifting is happening.
• Again, babies keep the stork busy every day, with some folks even predicting the pandemic will spur an uptick in births that will create even more activity.
• A birthday celebration can also be a warm and cheery activity during the colder, grayer days of winter.
• And looking out to later in the season, think graduations, housewarmings, and early summer weddings.

New Thoughts for the New Year

As your brain starts swirling with ideas, here are a few other factors to keep in mind.

The pandemic has changed customer shopping attitudes and behavior, and it has impacted the way gifting takes place. Overall, we see lots of positives, so we want to share some tips on how to make tweaks in your plans to align with these new trends.

Silver linings from the pandemic:

• Registry use for more and different occasions has accelerated—particularly for celebratory events like birthdays, graduations, housewarmings, and of course, this past holiday season. Restrictions on physical gatherings to mark celebrations prompted customers to place more importance on the gift exchange as the way to (re)connect with friends and loved ones. Using a gift registry made it easier to ensure a gift would be truly wanted, and the money well spent. Minimizing hassles related to unwanted gifts became recognized as a big stressbuster. Here at MyRegistry, we saw registry and Wish List use for all sorts of events grow faster than ever, and that positive experience should sustain momentum going forward. Be sure to reinforce convenient registry features to win points with your customers.
• Online activity surged. In fact, industry analysts suggest that customer online shopping levels grew so quickly they catapulted us ahead by about five years. Physical store shopping will still have a sizable market share, but customers will increasingly appreciate the brands that let them seamlessly cross over at their leisure. That means that a fast, easy, and hassle-free online registry experience will be more important than ever, and special in-store features like curbside pickup and personal consultations will give you a competitive edge.
• Event (re)planning is kicking in. For those of you active in the wedding market, postponed celebrations are crowding the 2021 calendar. This will sustain gifting activity from many registries created as far back as 2018, so be sure you connect with those registrants and offer to help them refresh their lists.
• The event planning that is happening often has a new twist. If physical gatherings continue to be constrained, registrants and their families will be looking for alternate ways to engage friends and loved ones. For example, virtual gatherings give new meaning to the idea of “party favors,” which could be a source of sales for you.
• New customer routines create new product opportunities. There is heightened demand for some products, opportunities to repurpose others, and a chance for you to provide advice on how to make smart choices about products that will be more valuable than ever.
  
  • Products that refresh and/or enhance home life (which now includes work, in addition to play, study, food prep, and casual, often outdoor entertaining) have become more integral and appreciated. Where it makes sense, talk up how your products fit in and make the experience of local/home-based activity more enjoyable.

2021 Is a New Year, Full of New Opportunities

And we’re here to help you grab them and successfully juggle it all. Feel free to contact us at marketingguru@myregistry.com to discuss marketing ideas for your unique registry business and how MyRegistry can support you.

Happy New Year from MyRegistry!

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