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Showering the groom with gifts

By Farnoosh Torabi | Special to amNewYork

February 12, 2007

This Valentine's Day more than 200,000 couples are likely to get engaged, according to the Diamond Information Center.

What typically follows is several months, maybe even years, orchestrating the perfect wedding. And while the joyous occasion traditionally celebrates the union between husband and wife, let's face it, the event is mostly a bride's affair.

Steve Zeller has bared witness. The 31-year-old attended about five weddings each year in his late 20s.

"It always seemed interesting. ... So many things were women-oriented," he said. "The gift registry was always at Pottery Barn or Tiffany's. ... We didn't want to send [the groom] a crystal vase."

Last October Steve Zeller, unmarried, turned his observation into a business, launching Groom2B.com, a free online wedding gift registry service that lets grooms sign up for a selection of gifts Zeller thinks they'd enjoy. Friends and relatives are invited to the site to purchase presents.

Groom2B.com has 14 categories of products ranging from recreation to sporting, tools and home theater. "Because," as the site says, "men get married, too." Zeller picks the items based on his own taste, from two online vendors, Amazon and Yahoo. Most items average $150.

"What's surprising is the positive response from women," he said, explaining that the site tries to offer fun gifts for the whole couple, not just the groom. "It's fun for [the women] because ... it gets the men in the spirit of things."

Since its launch, the Web site has drawn more than 100,000 visitors and is approaching its 100th registry, according to Zeller. The business earns referral commissions, ranging from 2% to 8%, from its two primary vendors.

Despite the site's impressive growth in four months, Zeller has no plans of quitting his day job working full time as a manager at a Web hosting company. He funded the site with his own savings and said he doesn¹t expect it will demand much of his time, since it pretty much self-runs. "I really just thought this thing should exist, and I built it on that premise," he said.

The top gifts currently include a barbecue grill accessory set for $75, a 300-piece executive poker set for about $80 and a home theater sound system for $270. "We're trying to be an editorial site, so you won't see every TV model. We pick things that are fun," he said.

Farnoosh Torabi is a video correspondent for thestreet.com. Reach her at amSmallBusiness@gmail.com.