Gift Lists and Wish Lists – Why your Nursery Website Needs Them

I read with interest that the ‘other’ £33 million National Lottery jackpot prize has now been collected and no doubt the recipient is swimming in expensive bubbly and splashing out on yachts and Lamborghinis. Good on them I say, after all don’t we all have a personal wish list of things we would do if we won the big one?

Which is why, this month I’ll be mostly rambling on about gift lists/wish lists and why if you’re a nursery retailer, your website really needs one.

Think about it, if you’re waiting for the arrival of the latest addition to your family you are probably wanting to get everything as prepared as possible; especially if it’s your first experience of Parenthood. Offering a gift list or wish list gives you as a retailer an opportunity to capture aspirations and lessen the hurdles a new parent has to acquire the things that they really want or need, which from a retailing perspective is money in the bank.

Gift lists and wish lists allow people on your website to create lists of products that they want in your website, which gives you ample ammunition to get a sale.

Profiting from Gift Lists

The beauty of gift lists are that visitors to your website can set out a list of things they really want and then get others to pay for the products. Gift lists can be found on major retail sites, the idea being that for things like weddings and new babies, gift lists can be put together and shared with friends and family.

If you are able to get a gift listing facility into your nursery website then this is obviously a very good idea from a revenue point of view as you are expanding the amount of people who can realistically pay for your products, some of which may be going into hundreds of pounds.

Adding the ability to share gift lists on social media and by email further expands the amount of potential people who can pay for a gift on the list, which is great for you as a nursery retailer.

Once items are on a gift list, this gives you some opportunities to offer incentives, offer deals and entice that sale which is great but the best thing is that you already know that the customer wants to buy those items and what’s more they want to buy them from you!

Working with Wish Lists

Wish lists are in many ways similar to gift lists, but instead of visitors to your website writing a list for others to pay, the visitor is writing a list of things that they really want to buy themselves at some point from your online store. This opens up all sorts of avenues for you as a retailer to sell more products and quickly.

Just having a wish list facility has been shown to reduce basket abandonment rates as the fact the customer has a wish list means by default that customer must have an account on your website. The number one reason for basket abandonment is the need for customer registration on a website before purchase, but if that customer is already registered then this hurdle is removed completely. This means naturally lower basket abandonment for those who have wish lists.

If a customer has bothered to set up a wish list, this usually means that the customer really wants those items. This is great for you as a retailer, as items which have an emotional attachment give you real leverage to sell. Try the following for items in a wish list:

• Offer a discount if the customer purchases within a certain time frame.
• Offer bundle deals on the wish list. This can work surprisingly well!
• Think creatively and offer special discounts if that customer is willing to share their purchase on social media or write a great review for you (I especially like this one, as it gives some Search Engine Optimisation value as well!).
• Send through regular emails, reminding that customer of the items in their wish list
• Whilst you’re at it, remind customers if items in their wish list come back in stock or you have new, updated versions of the items in store.
• If you have the facility, send SMS messages with special offers on items in the list.
• Engage with clients who have lists on social media and build up a rapport. This may swing the deal!

Above all, wish lists give you the chance to interact with your customers, which in itself gives you a better chance of converting a sale. Look at your customers wish lists and gift lists for that matter as an opportunity to increase the ‘stickiness’ of your website and business for your customers. Creating community and connections with your customers from a business point of view can only be a good thing, because it means if there is repeat business to be had those customers are going to think of you first!

This article was written by David Fairhurst, Head of eCommerce at Intelligent Retail.  It originally appeared in industry leading trade magazine, Nursery Today.

• Featured image by T. Shaw via Pexels (CC0 1.0)