How many wristwatches does a person need?
Tzvi Solomon can tell you: Just one. Problem is, he received a whole armful for his bar mitzvah two years ago.
This glut led the 15-year-old Teaneck, N.J. resident to dream up what has become his latest business venture: a b’nai mitzvah gift registry.
“The gift they want … at the price you want” is the heading on www.barbatregistry.com, a sophisticated new Web site offering more than 500 items in 34 categories, including one labeled “Tzvi’s Favorites.” Shoppers can even order fresh flowers to be sent as a mazel tov on the day of the simcha.
The site functions similarly to wedding registries that enable celebrants to sign up free of charge and indicate which gifts they would like to receive. Once someone is registered, he or she may print the information about the registry on the invitation.
Alternatively, Solomon offers a separate complementary card that can be included along with everything that accompanies the invitation, like the reply card and directions to synagogue.
Several other elements make Solomon’s service distinctive. For one, this is not a spin-off from a retail operation. Solomon obtains products at wholesale prices direct from manufacturers, which he then offers at a markup.
With a philanthropic outlook, Solomon has decided he will donate 7 percent of all profits to charity. He’s still working out those details, debating whether to allow each registrant to designate his or her charity of choice or whether to announce the selection of a different organization each month himself.
Another unusual feature is a “Suggestion Box” encouraging customers and recipients alike to bring to his attention items they would like to see for sale. If Solomon doesn’t already carry something, he’ll offer to obtain it from a local merchant. And for those who may be stumped about an appropriate gift, Solomon will even do the shopping for you, so to speak. Just email him whether you’re looking for a boy or a girl and what your price range is, and he’ll select an item.
To keep abreast of 12- and 13-year-old tastes, Solomon explained, he has an intensive “interviewing” system in place. Being not too much older than his target audience, helps, he said, as does the fact that one of his two younger sisters, Tehila, 13, has her finger on the marketplace.
He taps into his extensive contacts, monitoring what’s hot and what’s not by continuously calling all friends, friends of friends, friends of friends of friends, and so on. “When I hear that something on the site is ‘so last year,’ it comes off,” he said.
Before launching the registry, Solomon test-marketed the concept with a wide network of clients he’s cultivated through a birthday party business for younger children he operates with his cousin, Shifra Bluman, and Miriam Srawgo, a friend, both Teaneck teens. “The response I got was extremely positive,” said Solomon of his inquiry to parents about whether they would use the site.
Solomon’s savvy in marketing and customer relations aside, not everyone is a fan, he conceded. Typical objections he’s heard are that a gift registry for children is “tacky” and that guests don’t want recipients to know what they’ve spent. To both, he responds with questions that force skeptics to acknowledge the truth. For example: “Wouldn’t you rather get a child something she’d like and you know won’t be returned or exchanged?” Or, “What’s the difference if you hand over a check instead of a gift?”
In addition to using word-of-mouth, Solomon plans to promote the registry by sponsoring communitywide, charitable events. The tactic has worked well for him in the past; he was able to raise awareness of his birthday party business by having his staff of seventh- and eighth-graders braid girls’ hair and run games and other activities at a local Jewish day school’s Sukkot carnival. And, taking advantage of the Internet’s promotional strength, Solomon has joined several online bar/bat mitzvah chat groups where he’s posted an announcement about the registry.
A sophomore at Torah Academy of Bergen County, Solomon said he hasn’t a clue about future career plans, despite his obvious entrepreneurial talent. For “fun,” he said, he reads The Wall Street Journal and has subscriptions to publications such as Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Inc.
There may be a genetic component, too. His dad is a financial planner and his mom a project manager in banking. Both not only encourage him, but give him a hand with some logistics while he juggles homework, playing on his school’s basketball team and writing for the school’s sports newspaper, “Storm Watch.”
While the site wasn’t up and running last year for sister Tehila to register for her bat mitzvah, Solomon anticipates that by the time it’s 9-year-old Atara’s turn, any kinks will be ironed out.
This article previously appeared in Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a supplement to the Jewish Standard.