Lay a way

[Aiemond]

bigjon said:

During the hard finacial times many store are going back to a lay a way service. What affect do you see this having on Holiday sales?

 

I think we will see the largest one week in history, the week before Cmas. Most lay a way programs reguire pickup by the 22nd or 23rd, meaning a crap load of sales taking place those days. Sales are not recorded until the product is paid for in full, also I do realize that some stores will not allow Electonics on Lay a way, but some do. Like My Sears does not, but my Walmart, Kmart, and Target do.

 

I bought my wife's engagement ring using lay a way. I think it is a good system that got overshadowed by the vast availability in credit that the country had gotten used to. On to this season, with the way the market is, the layoffs, and the general uncertaintity, I do not believe that sales will be large, even if lay a way is brought back universally. Many people will have to get on board the "new" system quickly for it to have the level of success you described and people will have to be WILLING to spend (another thing that I don't see happening).

My prediction is low retail sales and lower than average game and console sales. The target demographic for christmas shopping is parents and relatives. These are where the extra sales come in. We have not seen many sales suffer yet in this industry because alot is driven by hardcore gamers, who will buy not matetr what. This is the crowd who buys mostly during the non holiday season. Since they are not the ones who buy the majority of christmas software and consoles, the bump from the holiday will be lower than normal. Thats my opinion.