Cop Out, Cash Cow, or Both?

February 10, 2010

New e-tailer ThoughtfulGuy.com, brought to our attention by The Digitel Charleston, isn’t just another shopping site. For one thing, you can’t actually browse any products. Users must sign up or sign in to use the service, then answer a list of questions about their prospective recipient (any woman in their life, from girlfriend to mother-in-law) and her taste, as well as her age, occupation, and the shopper’s prospective price range. (On the latter, if the sky’s not the limit, it’s close — up to $100 still covers only the extreme far left of the slider.) He selects the holidays he wants gifts for… and that’s it. Thoughtful Guy will email him suggestions closer to the day, which, if he approves, can be wrapped and shipped directly to the recipient, or to him to hand over in person.

Clearly the site is filling a niche for all the guys who feel their gift giving skills are not up to the job of pleasing their partners, something we see in the popular press around every major gift giving holiday. But I have to wonder where the line is between helpful and cheesy — will a girl who finds out her guy used this site actually find him thoughtful for seeking help to get something she’ll really like, or will she feel the actual thought-that-counts approaches zero when you let someone else do the picking out? And in this immediate gratification culture, won’t it irritate users not to be able to see the goods right away, especially for last minute shoppers? And will a guy who can’t pick out his own presents really be able to answer whether she likes large earrings? Only time will tell.

Posted by Virtual Merchant Today on February 10, 2010 | Comments (1)

February 18, 2010

In response to: Cop Out, Cash Cow, or Both?
The Thoughtful Guy commented:

There are a few errors in this post that I know you will want to correct. Thoughtfulguy.com does permit members to browse gift items. Membership is free. We will soon have the ability to permit non-members to browse and purchase also. The post suggests that we send a single gift suggestion. Not so. We send five hand-selected gift suggestions for each event the member selects. As you noted, the guy first has to know several things about the recipient to complete a meaningful profile and then he has to choose a gift item from among alternatives. He can browse similar items if the five selections do not hit the mark. In the "thought-that-counts" category, most of our vendors are artisans whose one-of-a-kind or hand-made items are not available in many places. The alternative for many guys is wandering a mall (and then asking a sales associate to *suggest* something based on a description) or browsing Internet sites hoping to find a gift by chance. Is there some objective "romance" or "thought" in those approaches? I am not sure what you mean about not being able to see gifts: we provide an image and detailed description of each item offered. How is that different from any other Internet or catalog-based offering? Thoughtfulguy.com is not for guys who can't pick their own gifts. The site reminds guys when special events approach, encourages them to think about uncharacteristic occasions (e.g., anniversary of first date), provides targeted suggestions, and permits one-stop shopping. It is really like a skilled personal shopper (my wife) merged with cool internet technology for an experience guys and their women love. Thanks!