That’s the due date at least. With childbirth, I’m sure things never go as planned, which is why I’m not counting on that date at least. Should be an exciting time! April/May 2010 will be busy with the birth and the fact that I’ll be finishing my MBA from the University St. Thomas – Opus College of Business, provided I pass my last two classes.
Registering
So much of the registering and research we’ve done is online, but we have actually gone to Babies R’ Us in Richfield to register. I must say I was sorely disappointed by retail experience there. The cavernous warehouse feel was contrasted by the outrageous prices! There is truly a disconnect there, with the terrible lighting and merchandise presentation, I was expecting rock-bottom prices, but this was not the case.
In addition, all of the things we registered for showed up with a quantity of two in our registry! Not what we wanted, and my wife had a tough time going through all of the things we registered for and fix them on the web registry site. And now, with the clunky web interface coupled with the scanner registering all items with a quantity of two, we really need to go through and make sure all of the items were added. Now, we’ve lost trust in them, and I feel they don’t value our time, since we spent 2-3 hours in their store, which should have been more enjoyable, but it sure wasn’t.
Its amazing that a store like this isn’t laser-focused on the registry experience. Isn’t that where most of the purchases and business comes from? I would think so, especially with the big-ticket (and presumably, high-margin) items, so I’m confused why they aren’t dedicated to having the best possible experience, perhaps their financial issues are to blame? Either way, hopefully our Target baby registry experience will go more smoothly.
The perfect time for marketing, so what’s wrong?
From attending events at the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association, speakers have remarked at how some consumer products companies don’t really have their eye on the ball in terms of targeting users that are having major life events like weddings and first children. I’m on Twitter, and posting things to Twitter and Facebook about the fact that we’re having a baby, and have yet to hear from any baby products manufacturers.
What gives?
Maybe this is just a sign on the new “pull” over the old “push” marketing? I’m not sure, but it seems odd we aren’t being courted more, in spite of all of the product research we are doing.