Tableware Today Column: Saying I Do To Registries

I was happy to receive the new December/January 2025 issue of Tableware Today in the mail.  In my Leaderboard column, I explain the importance of wedding registries to indie stores.  I also share the top performing wedding registry retailers, brands, and products from September 2024.

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Saying I Do To Registries

Our e-commerce platform helps 1,500 indie stores sell $22 million a year. Perhaps surprising is that more than 90% of these orders are wedding registry gifts. Our stores offer tens of thousands of goods for sale online, with the lion’s share being wedding gifts. Why are wedding registry sales 90% of online sales while non-gift orders account for just 10%? Because much of the non-gift registry cake is eaten by new entrants—brands selling direct and big tech retailers like Amazon, Zola, and Wayfair. D2C brands have ample margins to give up, and big tech retailers are highly leveraged by Wall Street. Even legendary traditional retailers like Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, and T.J. Maxx have been felled.

There are many reasons why indies succeed with registries. Since brides register, on average, at three stores, these merchants have less competition. In a small pool, a store doesn’t have to compete on price and give up margin. The indie store has a one-in-three chance of receiving the order. Compare that to a non-registry purchase. A customer can scour the web and buy from scores of websites, reducing the store’s chance of receiving the order to just 1%. When there’s a lot of competition, a store often can’t compete on price, shipping charges, and delivery speed. Even if the indie retailer gets chosen, the margin on the order is likely much smaller thanks to all the competition. That’s where our software and strategies come in. 

Our e-commerce software with a built-in wedding registry service ensures our retailers’ online stores are filled with top-selling wedding products couples want. We know what the top products are because our Leaderboard (the latest is shown below) tracks the data. The Leaderboard is not only a sales tool, but also a collaboration tool. When indie stores are alone and isolated, they don’t know the latest sales trends to carry the right products. The Leaderboard fixes this, bringing the best brands and products to the forefront. It’s fitting that we work in the wedding registry business. Our software celebrates couples coming together, and our platform and Leaderboard bring our members together. Our members say I do to collaboration. We invite you to walk down the (shopping) aisle with us.

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