Today I’m going to share my thoughts on gift registries. It is true that most ecommerce Web sites these days call them “wishlists,” but there are a few companies out there that make the distinction. Additionally, wishlists are often kept private and then sent out by choice, or made public by choice. Gift registries are usually public and searchable (makes it easier for guests to make use of it).

I’ve found a few ecommerce Web sites that really make a big deal of offering gift registries — especially for weddings and babies. But other events — birthdays, housewarming parties, anniversaries — are getting play as well in terms of gift registries.

One of the more interesting experiences is signing up for gift registries. I did this when I got married (don’t be fooled by the false information you’ll see later), but I didn’t do it online. You’ll see several of the sign up pages included on this post as well.

My first example is from the Kohl’s ecommerce Web site:

You can see above that it is possible to choose what kind of event the registry is for. It is also possible to leave a message for your guests. I’m not sure what sort of message I’d leave, but I guess some people find this feature useful.

Many ecommerce Web sites that offer multiple gift registries allow you to manage your registries, offering a page that gives you access to your options. I like this idea, since it gives you an overall view of what you have, and makes it easier to keep track of your gift registries by event.

Finally, the list above shows some features that a good gift registry should have:

• Clearly states who the gift registry is for.
• Provides visuals of the items.
• Gives pricing information.
• Offers the option to order from the gift registry (to shop to recipient).
• Provides information as to how many of each item has been requested.
• Keeps track of what has been bought already for the recipient.
• Option for a printer-friendly version of the gift registry.

Amazon also provides a good examples of gift registries. One thing I like about Amazon’s registry is that when you sign up, you can choose a “ship-to” address from your account information. Many of the other ecommerce gift registries made me fill this information in all over again, even though it was already in my account.

JC Penney offers a great example of a value-added gift registry. As you can see, this particular gift registry allows you to choose free “event cards” when you sign up. Additionally, the barcode at the top of the registry makes it easy to keep track of items that are purchased in the store — provided the gift-giver brings the list for scanning, of course.

Viva Terra is one of those sites that requires a new gift registry account. As you can see, a pop-up was involved. I don’t really like the idea of a separate gift registry account, since it adds yet another online shopping item to sign up for. However, I do find it interesting that Viva Terra offers the option to require a guest password to see the registry.

Macy’s gift registry sort turned me off. I do like the gift registry manager that the store has, but I thought that the sign up was a bit long. Indeed, the sign up page was so long and involved that it was impossible to get a screenshot of the entire thing. And it seems to me that asking how many guests are coming seems a little superfluous.

Here are some more ecommerce gift registries. On those that offer interesting sign up features, I’ve included those screenshots as well.

Anthropologie

Buy.com

Crate and Barrel

Lillian Vernon

Moosejaw

Oneida

REI

Wal-Mart