When TechCrunch first covered gift registry platform Thankful Registry eleven years ago, its philosophy was turning the act of asking for presents right into a conscious course of, as a substitute of a grasping seize for stuff. Quick ahead greater than a decade, Thankful continues to lean into that mindset with its relaunch. Along with a redesign, Grateful additionally has new options like the power to ship money with extra switch apps.
When Amazon removed the ability so as to add gadgets from different websites to its Wishlists and registries in 2023, it opened a brand new alternative for Grateful. Based in 2013, the bootstrapped startup, which is run out of Taipei by Kathy Cheng, desires to turn into the world’s hottest common present registry and wishlist. It additionally desires to be one of the vital stunning, with an emphasis on design and person expertise. As Cheng places its, “gifting by nature is a social transaction. You can’t simply be an online tool.”
Proper now, 80% of energetic accounts on Grateful are marriage ceremony registries, 10% are child registries and relaxation had been began by nonprofits and common customers. Half of its customers are in the US, whereas the remaining are unfold out in Australia, Canada, the UK and the remainder of the world. Since Grateful’s delicate relaunch in October, 1 in 4 new trial accounts have transformed into paid accounts.
Cheng first acquired the thought for Grateful when a pal acquired married and Cheng used her Macy’s on-line registry. She tells TechCrunch that she “hated” the expertise. “It was just like a shopping list. Everything was super small, images were super small. It was like you’re just ticking an item off someone’s list. There was no information about the couple, no beautiful photos, no welcome message,” she says.
She got down to construct a registry platform that will make asking for presents and giving them a extra significant expertise. Along with a concentrate on design, Grateful additionally has options, like ones that allow individuals write messages after they purchase a present.
Earlier than its redesign, Grateful’s homepage stayed unchanged for 10 years. The brand new model was designed by Cheng and Corey Li, a contract UX designer based mostly in Kaohsiung. Cheng says she desires to replace the design and add extra capabilities, together with a concentrate on money presents for worldwide customers. The brand new model additionally makes it simpler for customers so as to add presents to their registries. Earlier than, they used a bookmarklet, however now they will additionally paste hyperlinks and add pictures.
For nations the place money presents are standard, Grateful has a Pockets characteristic that lets individuals request multi-currency money presents by way of standard direct money switch platforms. These embrace PayID in Australia, Monzo in the UK, e-Switch in Canada and Sensible for world presents. Within the U.S., accessible platforms are Stripe, PayPal, Chime, Zelle, Venmo and CashApp. Cheng says one in 5 presents given by way of Grateful is money.
Cheng notes that present registries like The Knot, Zola, Pleasure and Babylist have expanded their registry companies by way of dropshipping fashions, incomes cash by processing and transport orders to clients. However Grateful avoids dropshipping as a result of Cheng says she hates the “shop ’til you drop” mentality of registries that encourage individuals to ask for extra gadgets to allow them to make income. As an alternative, Grateful makes use of a pricing mannequin with two choices. Clients make one-time funds of $60 for a yr’s registry or $90 a yr for everlasting registry.
As a common present registry, Grateful is utilized by many individuals so as to add gadgets from small companies, together with mother and pop retailers, unbiased designers and Etsy.
A screenshot of Grateful’s child registry
“There are so many D2C brands now,” says Cheng. “People are choosing to buy from D2C brands instead of Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, Kmart and Target. So you can have somebody who has 20 retailers on their registry page, and that’s all going to look good and work together.”
Along with marriage ceremony and child registries, Grateful can be utilized by non-profits to ask to donations. They embrace Cincinnati Zoo, Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Perth Inside Metropolis Youth Companies and Refugee Schooling UK. When Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Courtroom in June 2022, numerous donations got here by way of registries for Deliberate Parenthood. Earlier than that, individuals requested for donations to go to ACLU when Donald Trump was elected 2016.
“You have to be so flexible and that’s why I think universal is the way to go, but competitors, because their money is made in dropshipping don’t want to go universal,” says Cheng.
Cheng says that regardless that donation accounts make up lower than 2% of complete presents fulfilled on Grateful, the platform has facilitated greater than $412,000 in donations to date. About 80% of those donations, or $330,000, have gone to U.S.-based non-profits, with the common quantity at round $100. Grateful doesn’t cost transactions or platform charges for donations and offers non-profits and academics complimentary perpetually accounts for fundraisers.
The relaunch marks the primary time Grateful has up to date its pricing mannequin in a decade and one of many causes is that it’s founder-owned and competing towards different registries, together with ones with enterprise capital funding like Joy and Zola. Cheng notes Grateful remains to be inexpensive than different rivals like cash-only honeymoon funds Hitchd and Traveler’s Pleasure.
Cheng says she desires clients to see Grateful as a service that stays with them for various milestones. Many {couples} first join their weddings, earlier than utilizing Grateful for child registries. Different customers embrace individuals who use the platform as evergreen present lists for his or her prolonged households, registries for canine adoptions and lists of issues wanted for individuals going by way of severe diseases.
“Gifts really touch so many parts of our lives,” says Cheng. “We just want to make it as easy and thoughtful as possible.”
