Study finds customers groups are using giftlists and wishlist in some unexpected ways

Online wishlist and giftlists are growing in popularity beyond traditional Wedding Registries. Now all sorts of people are using them and some in rather surprising ways. People want one list that work everywhere not lots of lists at differnt sites. A study by TheThingsIWant.com

(PRWEB) April 24, 2002

Research study findings from TheThingsIWant.com

US Customer Groups:    % of Total Customer Base

Wedding Couples        29

New/Mothers-to-be     6

Families (multi-users) 12

Teenagers (14-19)    28

20-45                    17

45+                     8

About Customer Groups:

The biggest customer group (29% of US) and best by far in terms of overall usage are the brides and grooms to be. They’re the ones who are most actively looking for an online wishlist. They’re also the most knowledgeable. They know that they don’t want to be tied down to one store’s registry or wishlist. They want to be able to choose items from a variety of stores – online and offline.

The traditional view of a couple wanting everything for setting up house for the first time is an anachronism. Many are getting married for the second and third time and are as likely to want a new electric drill as they are a kitchen mixer. This group is demanding in terms of search, password protection, and Share functionality.

Of the other groups Teenagers (28%) and New Mothers and Mothers-to-be (6%) are the least demanding in terms of functionality. It seems they just want a place to save stuff they find on the net at different stores. They don’t necessarily have a reason to share their list and have the fewest (average 3) people on their contact lists.

Three Other Surprising Usages:

1. For Comparative Shopping – users said they would window-shop the web adding the same or similar products from different sites until they felt they had enough products in their consideration set to make a purchase decision. This way they had the prices and features and site names side by side to make a good choice from. This seems to be particularly used on high ticket items like computers, cameras and second hand cars and boats.

2. For Overseas Offline Purchase – customers explained, especially in Latin America and Caribbean, that they made lists for their friends and relatives to buy products online or offline for them in Miami, LA or NY stores or sites and bring back for them.

3. For Small Business Procurement – a few users (mostly in the UK) use the product to manage procurement in a small office, perhaps virtual workers. Each has a list of things they want and one person makes the purchase.

Company Comment:

“We’re very pleased to be among the first to release general information about who and how people are using use-it-anywhere wishlists like TheThingsIWant.com” said Guy White, CEO of WhiteStripe Inc. “Clearly, couples-to-be are the leading group. But it’s good to know that other groups want a universal product that works at virtually any store as well. The web’s supposed to put the customer in charge and our gift list products clearly help them do that. We give the maximum functionality – they can use that functionality however they like. We hope the customer keeps finding new uses - as long as they’re legal.”

About WhiteStripe Inc:

WhiteStripe Inc. manages a proprietary universal wishlist product in English (http://www.TheThingsIWant.com), Spanish (http://www.MiListaDeDeseos.com) and Portuguese (http://www.CoisasQueQuero.com). They also offer a plug-in version to boost Portal and e-commerce sites’ total customer ownership programs.