back
▲ 17 points

Review my startup: RegistryStop, a centralized wedding registry

registrystop.com
by craigkerstiens·15y ago·10 comments·view on hn ↗
Registry Stop grew out of my frustrations with the wedding registry process. During the process managing multiple in store registries, getting duplicate items, and just the problem of dealing with sales people became quickly frustrating. We created Registry Stop to allow couples to not worry about which stores they registered at, instead they only have to focus on the products they want. As a result we let users register anywhere, meanwhile we show their guests where they can find the best price.

http://www.registrystop.com

Our goal was to make adoption and use as simple as possible for users. Whether they started with us, or used us later into the process we wanted it to take no more than a few seconds for them to be fully ramped up on us. If they start with us, they have the ability to download an iPhone app and begin scanning barcodes immediately. If they've already registered at an existing store we search and find their registry for them, then import all of that data.

We'd love any feedback on any areas people are willing to offer up. In particular: - If the message is clear - If the signup and adding process is clear - Styling for the target market (weddings)

10 comments
Cool idea.. I really dig the site design, looks professional yet still light-hearted.

As far as suggestions, I was a little underwhelmed with the 'Example Registry' section. Really didn't show a lot of the features you have available. I would suggest more items in the registry, and maybe a screenshot of the mobile app in action.

Also, without delving into the FAQ there is no easy way to determine the cost of the service. I had no idea that it was free at first, and just assumed you took a cut of online sales, had a processing fee for each purchase, etc. I would definitely put some more info about the associated costs (or lack thereof) more prominently on the main page.

Otherwise, looks sweet! Hope it goes well for you! One cool moneymaking idea here might be using Amazon Associates to get referral $ from amazon items (or let the couple use their own amazon associates account). Not sure if that would work with their TOS but it would be more $ for you...

We already add affiliate links for Amazon (and other stores). That's the primary business model. Thanks for the feedback though!
It might also be helpful if you search Amazon or Google Product Search and show me where I can buy the registered items at places other than the registered stores. Reversing that idea, you could allow someone to add an item from any website on the Internet, and then automatically add the item to the existing registries.

Here are some design-related suggestions:

- The Example Registry does not load properly in IE8.

- In the slider at the top of the homepage, I think it would be easier to read the text if it was left justified.

- The text on the site is hard to read in general. Try increasing the line-height to the font size plus 4 pixels.

- There are many spelling and grammatical errors throughout the website. For example, on the homepage, "whereever" should be "wherever".

cool idea, was going to implement something similar when i got married a few months ago but i couldn't think of an elegant way to confirm when a gift was actually purchased.

you pop up a window and ask the user if s/he bought the gift. not every user will see that. duplicate gifts are huge pain.

that said, there's definitely a need for this kind of site. the only site that does this right now is myregistry.com. you can certainly compete with them on usability/design.i'd focus on that. make your interface simpler and less cluttered.

The way I did it for my own wedding was to put unique registration codes on invitations so that people could login to respond to the invitation, see the gift registry and then lock in a gift that they had or were going to purchase. Guests also entered dietary and transport requirements so that we could easily export lists and spreadsheets for drivers, caterer, etc.

Everyone seemed to find it really straightforward and it wasn't that time-consuming to add unique codes to the invites manually (e.g., EN8A).

(DISCLAIMER: my startup) I'd also recommend checking out http://www.wishpot.com/ if you're interested in a universal wedding registry and wishlist.

Also, to any hackers in Seattle with an interest in this space who does Ruby or .NET Development, we're hiring - please contact me! Tom at Wishpot.com

As I am sending out wedding invitations today, this is well timed. Looks like a great idea and I will try it out.

By the way - looks like a search and replace for form -> registerForm went awry. The sign up page has inregisterFormation in place of information.

It's a good start. If you want to grow, I'd hire a UX/UI designer to tweak the layout.
I ran this by a friend who is getting married soon. The following is a blend of her thoughts and mine. I don't mean to be harsh, but there were a lot of issue.

- The interface and layout is too cluttered/busy. It's difficult to see what's going on. Color pattern is atrocious, and contrast is poor. The fonts are too small. - In the Example Registry, she couldn't figure out how to use it. I can't imagine that anyone in the older generations would be able to figure out how to use it, assuming that they would be able to read it with the tiny font. There is no call to action telling the viewer what they can do with each item.

- It's not at all stylish. A wedding registry in part reflects the bride's sense of style, and this would not make the cut for most of the brides-to-be that I know.

- What's the value proposition? (Why should someone use this site?) Similar sites already exist from established players, and those associated with stores usually add a discount to items purchased from that store or their partners. Many of the biggest players allow you to import lists from other registries. Furthermore, if you use a wedding planner, absolutely all of this is handled by the planner with minimal fuss.

- Why would someone care about automatic syncing, or a support community? What's the point of the mobile app? IOW, why are you making the tech features such a big selling point?

- Do you actually sync with the individual stores' registries? If the user has to add each list, then what's the point of using your site? How are you getting around the TOS that some of these registries have?

- When you say "Everything in one place" are you referring to the registry only, or to all the wedding stuff? A bride is likely to thing the latter, though you appear to mean the former. If you mean the former, see my first question.

- How you do plan on making money?

- Are you aware that most brides pick out their registry by going to a store, and using a special bar-code scanner to select the items they want? They do this because the items on their registry are usually carefully chosen, in person, after viewing and handling. How does your site work with this?

Thanks for the feedback. I think several of your feedback points are things that we need to clarify to users, because we feel like there is definitely a significant value proposition to users. For example:

-Managing multiple registries at multiple stores is a pain. Automatic sync helps alleviate that headache.

-We allow people to add any item on the web or with a barcode. Now you can register for a random item at a random store without having to set up a whole registry there (if they even offer the option).

-We do price comparisons on each product. Other players just aggregate your registries, but don't detect that you might have the same exact mixer at Target and Bed Bath & Beyond. This way, we can show guests where the mixer is the cheapest -- you don't care where it comes from.

As far as making money, we use affiliate links for any product at stores with affiliate programs. Fortunately, Amazon tends to be cheapest for most products and has a good affiliate program.

Thanks again for the feedback.