> Terminal Velocity
Tableware Today _ June/July 2002
Over the past 11 years Silicon Valley’s MarCole Enterprises has perfected its GiftRegistryWorks system, interactive software that facilitates bridal registries at both department stores and independents. The Walnut Creek-based business has carefully fine-tuned its software for vendors and retailers alike so that it integrates in-store and Internet channels to bring customers and retailers together via systems tailored for each store.

Independent store owners have a tough go of it, competing with their multi-store brethren on various fronts. But the wedding registry, according to Ronald Coleman, president, CEO, and founder of MarCole Enterprises, the Silicone Valley software developer, doesn’t have to be one of them. And to that end, he and his team have spent a great deal of blood, sweat, and tears tailoring GiftRegistryWorks, a solution, they say, for small specialty store retailers who don’t have the resources or inclination to host their own e-commerce sites. MarCole makes it possible for store owners to offer the same high level registry services to their customers as department stores or multichain independents. And GiftRegistryWorks has the backing of the Gift Association of America whose members have vociferously requested programs that provide the same competitive edge as their Goliath-like competitors. Dann Wade, executive vice president of MarCole, has extensive experience helping emerging businesses move to the next level, and is up to the challenge of spreading the MarCole word. "We’ve invested considerable resources toward developing a solution specifically for independent retailers that enables them to compete with major players,"Wade says.

The solution is the aptly named Independent Retailer Solution, and as part of GiftRegistryWorks saves the independent time, effort, and money customizing an e-commerce bridal registry. The solution provides the independent retailer with an in-store gift registry solution that can be extended to the Internet on a web site hosted and maintained by MarCole. The web site is branded with the retailer’s name and logo to help strengthen the retailer’s image and market reach. GiftRegistryWorks is a multilingual system which supports multiple languages and can support any type of registry event. Couples register online or at the store. Guests, either in the store or online, find the couple’s registry, view the registered-for merchandise via digital images, and purchase a gift. Simple as ABC, the MarCole folks say. "Electronic commerce is clearly something of interest to retailers here and around the world," Coleman states, "and this product is ideally suited to tap into that growing segment of the industry." And with his years of techno-literacy on the rest of us, Coleman knows of which he speaks. He’s been tweaking computers and software since 1977. Coleman is, unabashedly, the prototypical techno-geek.

The exec founded MarCole 11 years ago along with his wife, Sandy Markus, a retail marketing executive. (It is Sandy who gets top billing in the MarCole moniker; she’s on extended hiatus raising the couple’s two kids.) Beginning in 1991, the couple were a noticeable presence at the New York Tabletop Shows where they peddled their product, terminal in tow, to an extremely techno-illiterate (and seemingly proud of it) crowd, leaving their work cut out for them, to say the least. "It has been a much more difficult job than we anticipated," Coleman candidly admits. He likens the challenge to the chicken/egg conundrum: you see, it’s expensive gathering visual data. It takes a long time to photograph product and download it, and, well, those cyber-dollars begin to add up. So Coleman and Markus were, at first, greeted by very supportive but hesitant manufacturers. And hence the conundrum; when there aren’t enough vendors signing up, the image-based system, for the retailer, makes little sense. Add to this lackluster reception the fact that this was 1991, a time when not too many among us were visionary enough to buy into the e-commerce thing. And, unfortunately, many tabletop producers still don’t "get it." Wade concurs, but puts it more kindly. "The tabletop industry has been less technologically advanced than other industries," he says. Some folks though gauged the system’s potential which encouraged Coleman’s persistence. (Oneida and Noritake were two of the more vocal supporters.)

If Coleman didn’t believe in the need for his software program, he would have cut his losses. But when he and Sandy were preparing for their own 1986 nuptials, they were not pleased with their registry experiences. Being the computer and marketing whizzes they are, they found a way to bring the industry into a brave new world by developing a system today’s new age couples could use and feel familiar with. Registration sizes would, theoretically, increase with a seamless and complete registering experience. Fortuitously, at the time Coleman was developing video-based systems which inspired his idea of cataloging vendor’s assortments digitally. So over the next few years, he and Sandy developed GiftRegistryWorks and upon its introduction waited, and waited, and waited for vendors high and retailers low to rave about the ease of the system... which they did, but didn’t really want to participate in. Mostly a question of dollars, not sense, they’d say.

Coleman, though, is a Silicon Valley survivor, a proactive thinker, used to moving on a dime, and Internet technology has finally caught up with his vision, which explains his now cautious optimism that GiftRegistryWorks will carve a niche. Coleman simply (all right it wasn’t so simple) revamped the way the data is maintained. It was difficult and time consuming for MarCole to maintain vendors’ databases of digital catalogs, so they created an online library and tools (called DataWorks) that vendors can use to easily update pricing, product information, and images. "It’s their data," Coleman says. "It shows their products, pricing, descriptions; everything a consumer needs to know. Now the supplier can maintain its own data internally and provide the information they want the consumer to see. MarCole systems will automatically provide updates to retailers who are authorized to receive the vendor’s data." Wade adds. "It’s pushing the edge of technology, replacing the old, cumbersome, and expensive manual way of collecting data which provides immediacy for both vendor and retailer."

Over the years, they’ve worked with an impressive slate of vendors including Oneida, Noritake, Lenox, Reed & Barton, Pfaltzgraff, Waterford Wedgwood, Syratech, Royal China & Porcelain, and Lunt. The up front costs of photographing assortments is the major investment with catalogs ranging from 200 to 5,000 items and every image averaging $25 a pop. Still, GiftRegistryWorks has amassed a library of 20,000 images. Retailers, too, are coming on board. A sampling: Sur La Table, Neiman Marcus, Boscov’s, Linens ‘n’ Things, Z Gallerie, Jordano’s, and Cook’s Emporium: more than 1,000 doors and ten web sites so far.

Lorraine Hudak is Boscov’s bridal director and she’s got the system in place. "One of the most exciting and beneficial aspects of the system is the tabletop data entry system," she says. "With accurate and up-to-date vendor information, it allows the consultant to select the pattern and item descriptions for available product without looking at price books. It also allows consultants to complete registrations for items not shown on the sales floor. And, one step further, you can start the registry without creating the store SKU. Once the item is actually on the registry, the SKU can be created for sales entry. The next embellishment would be creating the image file corresponding to the data so the bride or guest can see the selection. This will be useful when not all patterns are available in each store." Hudak has, thus, become a real fan. "Imagine the possibilities as a sales tool," she continues. "You can show a bride the digital image of accessory pieces and register more product, which transfers to more sales."

Coleman concurs. "Retailers can only show a fraction of available merchandise. With GiftRegistryWorks and the vendors’ data, they can show all the pieces in a pattern, not just the five they carry, as well as show patterns they don’t carry." And when that happens, people buy more. "We’ve found the number of items registered for, as well as sales, increases 25 to 50% with our system," Coleman shares. Pretty convincing math. "This is a $17 billion market," Coleman continues, "with tremendous opportunity for growth." This is why he repeatedly pounded the pavement, insisting to naysayers he had a valuable product on his hands. Today, GiftRegistryWorks contributes 90% to the coffers of the privately-held, 18-employee enterprise. (The remaining 10% of volume is generated by cataloging systems, store directories, custom programming, tech support, web site hosting, and project analysis.)

Gathering industry support is a major validation for MarCole. In addition to the Gift Association of America endorsement, recently they began partnering with the National Bridal Service to bring GiftRegistryWorks to the bridal service’s member stores. "Small shops simply can’t compete with the big guys," Wade says, "and no one’s provided this service to the independent retailer before." And if all goes according to plan, GiftRegistryWorks and DataWorks will move beyond tabletop into wallpaper, furniture, lighting, and licensed goods...to start. "We’ve got the foundation, and the software can handle many other product categories," Coleman says. And then, the execs anticipate, the domino effect takes hold. "Now," Wade says, "we have retailers who want the system. We were just a little ahead of the techno-curve."

Coleman acknowledges there are still myriad challenges ahead, and a key concern is finding the best way to adapt the program to each store. "There’ll be some hiccups along the way," Coleman admits, "but we’ve got this program pretty complete now." And, yes, these days, Coleman, in tandem with Wade, can still be seen at the New York Tabletop Show (as well as a slate of trade shows across the country) talking up his software, because he’s got a product he clearly believes in. Coleman concludes, recalling that chicken/egg conundrum alluded to earlier. "Right now we seem to be standing somewhere between the chicken and the egg," Coleman chuckles.

For more information on the GiftRegistryWorks system, call MarCole at (925) 933-9792.

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