Online Bridal Registries - 'Something New' (674 words)

The potential payoff for catalogers is tempting. Since the average wedding includes 100 to 200 guests who spend about $100 each, a wedding registry offers catalogs multiple high-value transactions—sort of a supercharged friend-get-a-friend program.

Do online registries work? Williams-Sonoma would vote yes. When the upscale home cataloger launched its own online wedding registry at wswedding.com in June, it constituted the company's first foray into e-commerce. According to Pat Connolly, executive vice president and general manager of Williams-Sonoma catalog division, "In its first six days, the site has generated more sales than our largest Williams-Sonoma store without any marketing or advertising to our customers."