Part of my job is to review registry software. I ensure it works well for retailers, registrants, and gift-givers (family and friends). I also assess whether it offers good value (price vs. results).
When looking for registry software, some retailers consider MyRegistry.com for their registry service. I reviewed a retailer's site using MyRegistry.com and assessed how a customer would make a registry purchase. For privacy purposes, I blurred the store's name in the screenshots shown.
How to quickly view and navigate between all products in a collection.
November 28, 2023
Your Shop Local Store has a new feature: We've made it easier to view and browse through products in a collection. A product's Details page now displays thumbnail images for all products in the collection.
Previously, one could only click the "Next" button to navigate to the next product in the collection. If one wanted to view all products in a collection, one had to browse to a brand's Home (Collections) page. With this update, one can quickly view all products in a collection and...
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How to help your registrants share their registry with family and friends.
November 20, 2023
Your Shop Local Store has a new feature: We've made it easier for gift registrants to share their registries. There is now a new "Share Your Registry" card on the Overview page that allows registrants to share their registry via mobile or email.
The registrant can share their registry by doing the following:
If a registrant wishes to share their registry via mobile, they can scan the QR code with their mobile phone and share the generated link with their family and friends.
How to view top retailers, brands, and products to help find ways to grow your registry business.
November 17, 2023
Your Shop Local Store has a new feature: We've added a new Leaderboard page to your account. This page shares top-performing retailers, brands, and products.
The Leaderboard page shares the following information related to gift registry sales:
You can determine the quality of a shopping platform by looking at reviews from customers who have used it. Below are excerpts from three reviews from shoppers who bought a gift using our software:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
"I wanted to take care of this online and the website was easy to navigate…always a plus!"
~ Jerri Ann Fitts in TX
Ms. Fitts made a purchase at The Ivy House, an indie retailer in Texas that has used our e-commerce software since 2015.
Nur Boutique, an indie store in California, signed up for a free account last week. The store used the Brand Syncing Service to send Sync requests to top brands.
Less than a week later, Nur Boutique is now synced with 4 brands: Bugatti Italy, Pampa Bay, Rosenthal, and Versace by Rosenthal.
By Syncing, the store has 3,326 products listed on its Online Store.
When customers visit the site, they also see a news page with posts shared by the store's synced brands.
How to quickly view all active registries by registry type.
October 26, 2023
Your Shop Local Store has two new features to help you keep track of your registries: On the Registry Reporting page, you can now view your active registries by event type. On the Registry Lists page, you can view the current registries by registry type for a specific year.
With these two updates, your store can easily identify the number of active registries by event type.
In the examples shown, we see the Registry Reporting page for a store.
How to determine which collections are top sellers.
October 10, 2023
Your Shop Local Store has a new feature: we've made it easier to quickly identify best-selling collections.
A new green "Best Seller" banner indicates which collections are top sellers.
In the example shown, we see the Results page for a Beatriz Ball collection listed on The Ivy House's site. At the top of the page, we see the green "Best Seller" banner, signifying that the Vento collection is a top seller.
In September, brands raised their prices on 910 products, producing an average price increase of 9%. If a retailer didn’t make these changes, these price increases would cost their store 9%.
Thankfully, indie stores using Shop Local have the updated price for these 910 products. They don’t lose 9%. The stores receive the updated prices instantly via our Brand Syncing service.
How to view popular gifts to add them to a registry.
October 4, 2023
Your Shop Local Store has a new feature: We've made it easier for gift registrants to view and add gifts to their wedding registry. There is now a new "Add Gifts" page that showcases popular gifts that a registrant may wish to add to their registry.
The Add Gifts page is tailored to the registry type. For example, the Add Gifts page for a wedding registry displays the following content:
You can determine the quality of a shopping platform by looking at reviews from customers who have used it. Below are excerpts from three reviews from shoppers who bought a gift using our software:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
"Thanks for making shopping fast, simple and convenient!!! Your website is easy and very manageable!"
~ Sue Maners in MO
Ms. Maners made a purchase at Babcock Gifts, an indie retailer in Tennessee that has used our e-commerce software since 2016.
How to set interior designer pricing for your brands.
September 28, 2023
FOR BRANDS AND DISTRIBUTORS
Your Shop Local Store has a new feature: Interior designers can now view interior designer pricing for your brands and make purchases. If an interior designer is approved by your business, they can log in to your account and buy items at the wholesale designer price set by your business.
In the example shown, we see an interior designer logged in to BIA Cordon Bleu's account. The interior designer can place wholesale orders at the designer pricing set by ...
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How to set price floors for each brand you sell to remain profitable and meet minimum reorder amounts.
September 26, 2023
Your Shop Local Store has a new feature: You can now adjust the price floors for your brands. The price floor feature helps your business avoid making a sale to a general public customer that is not profitable and/or that does not meet minimum reorder amounts from the brand.
Previously, all Syncing Brands had the same price floor level, and all non-Syncing Brands had the same price floor level. With this update, your store can update an individual price floor level for each brand you ...
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Your Shop Local Store has a new feature: You can now make a product tax-exempt.
With this update, your store can decide whether or not to charge tax on a product. This is handy, for example, when selling most food online in New York State, where such purchases are tax-empt.
Please follow these steps to access this feature:
Log in to your Shop Local account.
Browse to the product you wish to make tax-exempt.
On the product's Details page, click "Edit product&
We recently conducted a study to review Google search results for wedding registry purchasing. In the results for 32 states in which we have clients, Shop Local stores ranked on page 1 of Google ahead of national chains and other registry services, which often have larger customer bases and bigger website budgets.
When conducting the search for "wedding registry [state name]", many Shop Local stores beat MyRegistry.com and Shopify apps, like Gift Reggie.
Shop Local analyzed the websites for the top-20 selling brands in the tabletop and giftware industries. We assessed what discounts brands offer when one signs up for a newsletter.
Brand Study Findings:
Of the 20 brands, 5 (25%) offer a discount when one signs up for a newsletter.
For brands that offer a discount, the average discount is 15% off.
Some brands offer other promotions for signing up for a newsletter, including free shipping and a raffle entry.
H Mercantile, an indie store in Louisiana, signed up last week for a free account.
The store owner heard about the service from their Ivystone sales rep and signed up online.
In just a few minutes, the store used the Brand Syncing Service to Sync with Casafina. It instantly had data for 955 products to create an online store and gift registry filled for free.
The owner saved $1,000+ in labor on adding products to a website.
How to view key performance statistics to determine how Shop Local is helping your business.
September 11, 2023
Your Shop Local Store has a new feature: We've added a new Performance Statistics page to your account. This page makes it easier to access your account's stats.
Previously, this page was titled "How Shop Local is Helping My Business?" Now, the page is titled "My Account's Performance Statistics."
For Retailers, the stats displayed on the Performance Statistics page include:
How to switch your account to visitor mode to hide admin features and wholesale prices.
September 7, 2023
Your Shop Local Store has a new feature: We've made it easier to switch your page view to Visitor Mode. The new purple bar at the bottom of the page allows you to toggle between Office Mode and Visitor Mode.
Office Mode is designed for administering your account. You can perform functions unique to owning your account, such as adding, editing, and deleting content.
Visitor Mode shows your account as a visitor (customer) may see it. Turning on Visitor Mode hides admin features and...
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