Wishing on a Store

A new program from Best Buy would let consumers register for anything, anywhere online. Called GiftTag, the idea has obvious appeal for consumers. It could also help level the playing field for specialty retailers, because now shoppers don’t have to choose between indie uniqueness and mass market breadth, or confuse their friends with a lot of different lists.

The downside? Best Buy see every transaction, whether they’re marked private or public, including the consumer’s identification. The company says it doesn’t plan to use that info for one-to-one marketing, just aggregate data. But it still gives the retailer a big advantage over its competition in learning what people want.

If any retailers want to be excluded, Best Buy said it would honor those requests, but it hopes other retailers will design to the open source specs. The program doesn’t handle any transaction info, such as card numbers.

What do you think? Will GiftTag encourage more shoppers to register for your products, or are you planning to opt out?