January 26, 2024
Will Bed Bath & Beyond Succeed in the Changing Gift Registry Landscape?
Bed Bath & Beyond (BB&B), a retailer of home and lifestyle products, has announced an exciting update to its gift registry system. The company has joined forces with MyRegistry.com, establishing a revised and improved way for customers to celebrate key life events, including weddings, birthdays, graduations, and college preparations.
The gift registry experience hasn’t seen much change in the past two decades. Derived from the tradition of dowries, modern registries are somewhat similar and focus on wives and mothers-to-be. This new collaboration aims to significantly enhance the experience for both the gift-givers and recipients.
The revamped gift registry now focuses on a digital, effortless experience featuring several new elements. Customers have the ability to share their registry easily on social media, planning websites, and via email. There’s a live gift feed too, which shows in real time the gifts that are desired versus those already purchased. It even offers product suggestions that can be added to the registry with a single click.
When shoppers purchase directly from the registry, it now ensures they take advantage of the best prices, discounts, and sales. There’s also a system for managing gifts, which includes the capability to send and track thank-you notes, helping registry owners stay organized.
All transactions and fulfillments occur on the site, guaranteeing simple delivery and support in line with the high standards customers have come to expect from BB&B. As a bonus, a one-time 20% completion discount is offered to the registry owners for items that haven’t been purchased.
The synergy between Bed Bath & Beyond and MyRegistry.com is all about leveraging their combined strengths. It’s about merging Bed Bath & Beyond’s leadership in home and lifestyle products with MyRegistry.com’s proficiency in registry technology. The result is a uniquely personal, flexible, and adaptable registry experience.
Customers are now able to create a Bed Bath & Beyond registry on the company’s website or a multi-retailer registry on MyRegistry.com, where they can add products from BB&B to a universal registry. The massive product catalog of Bed Bath & Beyond, which includes everything from small appliances to large furniture items, is now fully accessible as part of the new gift registry platform.
Wedding Gift Registry Decline
Even with plenty of enticing features, BB&B might be facing an uphill battle.
Consumers have begun questioning the purpose of a gift registry. A forum on the Wedding Wire website discussed how some people think that asking for specific gifts is tacky and rude, and in many other countries and cultures, newlywed couples are instead given cash to spend however they want.
Alternatives are also surfacing and gaining popularity with a cultural shift. For example, with the new Hitchd platform, which serves as a honeymoon fund, many millennials are making it known that they’re seeking something more than standard gifts.
While registering gifts was once an exciting task, modern couples are often overwhelmed with a sea of choices. However, the year 2024 has brought a welcome shift. The concept of wedding registries has significantly evolved since its introduction in 1924. Once filled with traditional household items, these registries are now commonly focused on collecting cash funds for newlywed couples so they can spend their money on unique experiences and create unforgettable memories. These are now being called “honeymoon registries.”
Realizing that traditional registries often resulted in multiples of things they already owned, modern couples started breaking the norm. They replaced the request for material possessions with experiences using nontraditional registries that promote travel, Airbnb gift certificates, spa treatments, babysitting expenses, date nights, brewery tours, hot air balloon rides, arts and culture, sporting events, and similar gifts.
Gift Registry Competition
BB&B will have to face new competition in many forms.
A recent Reddit post asked users what gift registries they used, and responses ranged from Amazon to Elfster and even simple lists made on Google Docs. Many consumers are turning to apps on their mobile devices.
Amazon has its own wedding registry, and even the Amazon Wish List is a powerful tool that enables users to buy directly from one of the largest e-commerce services and offers free returns for gifts. Bed Bath & Beyond states on its website that return shipping costs are only covered in the case of a defective product or error on its part.
Elfster can also serve as a wish list for weddings and other occasions. Though its focus is on Christmas gifts revolving around the theme of playing Secret Santa, it has an open platform that links to a variety of vendors, such as Amazon.
The Future of Bed Bath & Beyond With MyRegistry.com
Some important features are currently missing on the brand’s landing page for gift registries. Previously, BB&B offered an impressive registry incentive program. Customers had the opportunity to receive gifts from vendors by including their products in the registry. Vendors might have also extended additional gifts for the couple when guests bought the registered items. When an item from a vendor participating in the program was purchased from a registry, the customer merely had to complete and submit a voucher to claim a free gift.
BB&B will also need to regain customer support after recently declaring bankruptcy and having its stores claimed by other retailers. Fortunately, all things considered, it seems like the retail brand is taking steps in the right direction.
Discussion Questions
Reflecting on the synergy between Bed Bath & Beyond and MyRegistry.com, how will this collaboration drive innovation in the retail and e-commerce sector, especially in terms of enhancing personalized and flexible customer experiences?
In light of cultural shifts and changing consumer behaviors, particularly with the rise of honeymoon and nontraditional registries, how should businesses adapt their strategies to anticipate and meet the evolving demands of customers while also preserving the traditional notions of gift-giving?
Considering the competitive landscape of gift registries, featuring platforms like Amazon’s Wish List and Elfster, what unique value proposition can Bed Bath & Beyond offer to outperform these competitors to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
David Biernbaum
Founder & President, David Biernbaum & Associates LLC
Ashish Chaturvedi
Practice Leader, HFS Research
Rachelle King
Retail Industry Thought Leader
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Not to pour cold water on this, but the ‘new’ Bed Bath & Beyond registry sounds exactly like how most other gift registries already work. Target’s for example, is sharable via a link across any medium, it updates in real time, it tracks who bought what, and so forth. This is gift registry 101 stuff. Sure, there is an advantage in partnering with MyRegistry.com in that it allows Bed Bath & Beyond to be part of wider gifting lists rather than acting as a stand-alone registry.
In terms of competing, basic registry functionality isn’t going to cut it because most players offer this. What drives people to select a retailer for registries comes mostly down to the products sold and the prices at which they are sold. It’s the same thing as regular retail. Get the offer right and the rest will follow. Of course, Bed Bath & Beyond still doesn’t have its offer optimized which is an issue.
If we can factor in that some consumers may not even realize BB&B is still in (virtual) business, then we have a starting point for this new registry.
Other than joining forces with my registry and adding more points of entry, the new registry seems very traditional, much like the original. Also, if younger consumers are looking for more experiences than appliances, then BB&B is slightly off the mark here.
If BB&B really wants to win the registry consumer then they can’t be afraid to break the traditional mold and bring bold new thinking into this space. Otherwise, they may find themselves left behind. Again.
Registry usage has declined in recent years because young couple prefer alternatives. Even so, the new BB&B will always have a tough time competing with Target and Amazon’s programs. Target already owns that exact consumer, and Amazon is so broad and simple for serving the purpose. Amazon serves the purpose so easily and broadly, and Target already owns that exact consumer.
BB&B, formerly Overstock, lacks the type of brand recognition that competitors have. How will BB&B spread the word?
There is a common perception among consumers that BB&B no longer exists. People who know about Overstock might form an incorrect impression.
The consumer will pause, wondering if BB&B will be an “overstock” store? Do they plan to carry specific products beyond a certain “close out” period? A lot of messaging needs to be conveyed.
BB&B is a mismatch for Overstock.com. But if, and only if, the new entity has one of the strongest marketing plans of the year, this will be nothing more than, “me too” but lesser known or thought of. Db
Bed Bath Beyond has so many challenges that playing with the gift registry should be far down the list of priorities.
Choosing a registry starts with where the celebrant knows the products they want and generally shops there. Even if the BBY registry had the latest in bells and whistles (they don’t), why would anyone start their list there? The big players in online commerce all have gift registries. Surely they all work as well, if not better than BBY.
I’m not sure what’s particularly innovative in this scheme. The idea that electronic sharing and real-time updates to lists are somehow “new” is a mistake. Most registries have been doing this for a decade.
I think they have a bigger issue convincing the newly betrothed that they’re still in business and more relevant than all the other options out there that have led to the company’s downfall.
This is a strategic partnership, and hopefully for Bed Bath and Beyond it will be profitable. I am not sure how exciting it is since myregistry.com has been around for a bit. And weddings/marriages are sadly not as big of a thing anymore, which is the real challenge here. Bring marriage back and this move will be a hit.
I think part of Bed Bath and Beyond’s demise was that it devoted entirely too much floor space to gift registry samples. This is not a technology problem. There are many sites that keep track of gift registries, including from multiple retailers.
To me, there’s nothing interesting about it. Like Neil, I’m sorry for pouring cold water on this, but the company failed for a reason, and most of it was too much “Beyond” and not enough “Bed and Bath.”
It’s a shame, but it’s a fanfare over nothing, isn’t it? In a few of our local Bed Bath & Beyond stores (before they closed) the registry area was awful. It looked like a DMV waiting room with plastic chairs. Was that the atmosphere people planning for their special day wanted? I think not!
Worse than nothing, because it is nothing.There are sites where you can have multiple retail locations in the registry the guests see. All in one place.
Exactly! I get why retailers want to announce things with great fanfare, but they really should ensure there is some substance / differentiation in what they’re promoting!
This does not sound like a landscape changing move, in any way. If anything, it’s a table stakes offering these days and BBB is playing catch-up.
While Bed Bath & Beyond’s partnership with MyRegistry.com seems like a commendable attempt to modernize the gift registry experience, it’s hard not to see it as a desperate grasp for relevance in an era where traditional registries are becoming increasingly obsolete. In a society where experiences are valued over possessions, the concept of asking for specific gifts feels outdated and tone-deaf. Moreover, BB&B’s struggle with bankruptcy and the closure of its stores raises questions about its ability to adapt to changing consumer preferences. Is this collaboration a genuine effort to meet evolving needs, or simply a last-ditch effort to stay afloat in a sea of more innovative alternatives?
Meh. Registries are a one off. I’m far more interested in all the product attributes Bed Bath & Beyond is exposing to customers to enable better sorting and filtering. In the grocery world, each item can have hundreds of attributes, and they have predictive demand value. If BBB can add more product attribute data and really lean into that data, and understanding customer demand at a granular level, that would be interesting. That could drive performance.