Archived Speculation: Expect layaway next

[Softlines Owns My Soul]

Since Target seems to only do things to keep up with the Jones' (Walmart), I just saw a commercial that Walmart is bringing back layaway for Christmas...Target will surely follow suit, it's typical of them.

 

[redeye58]

Yep, that "me, too" game is gettin' old.

 

[sjf10718]

I disagree their are several reasons why layaway is bad idea for target just because it's miss sales when u stash the product to some one that might or might not buy it in the end of their layaway period... Then their the issue of finding space to put all the stash inventory ...I know Walmart just did this because they are desperate to get their customers back ... Now a far as the price matching and coupons I can see target doing that ... Btw remember Walmart had layaway before for so many years and target never had that before so I see no reason why they should this year if they did so well in the pass being competive without it

 

[targetismylife09]

I've had a lot of guests come to the service desk asking "how our layaway works"; guess they are assuming that we will copy Walmart in everything else. I use it as an opportunity to sell a Red Card! LOL "No we don't have layaway but we have something even better: you can save 5% and take your gifts home with you right now!"

 

[Softlines Owns My Soul]

I also saw a K-Mart commercial for their layaway after I made this thread...they will follow suit I think, if not this year, next year for Christmas time.

 

[tellmeaboutatime]

I think layaway is a bad idea. If Target really wants to capture a few more sales they should rethink how they price match. We offer it but make it as difficult as possible. Let the guest do it through the lanes. We train cashiers how to do purchase orders, complete instant credits etc, why not let them do the price match there?

 

[naterstx]

Layaway is excellent business, it only ever went away because of mass credit card use. I'm not sure why it took so long to bring it back.

Someone makes payments on something (you don't actually hold it), if they miss a payment you keep what they've already paid and owe them nothing.

 

[dek067]

hmmm.. don't you hold it?
it's been a while since i've seen the whole layaway thing, but i know they actually store it, correct? wasn't that part of the issue that wally world claimed? and as ticked as people get making returns, im sure they'd be extra excited when some poor kid couldn't find their stuff after it's paid for.

 

[Squid7085]

I hope we don't follow with layaway, I don't want to deal with it, or deal with the people that use it. What we really should do is do what Lowes is doing, 0% for 6 months OR 5% off. Personally, if you can't secure credit for what you want to buy, you shouldn't be buying it.

 

[3LetterDevil]

I think layaway is a bad idea. If Target really wants to capture a few more sales they should rethink how they price match. We offer it but make it as difficult as possible. Let the guest do it through the lanes. We train cashiers how to do purchase orders, complete instant credits etc, why not let them do the price match there?

We're not supposed to do it at the registers??? OOPS!!! We don't do it often in the pharmacy, but I've done it a couple of times.....didn't realize I was supposed to send them to GS!!!

 

[eatcowsnotCAFS]

It's not a huge deal to price match from the front lanes. If the guest is in a hurry or guest service is looking pretty busy, I say go for it.

The difference is how it's put through. In guest service we're given 1 extra reason for why you're lowering the price. On the cashier side the reasons are something like Guest Price Challenge, Damage, Ad Substitute, etc. At guest service another option is Competitor Ad Match. When we select that, the computer prompts us for what competitor is is, etc... information that is useful to Target.

So yes, you can do it at the front lanes if the situation calls for it (well, I guess you should go by what YOUR store says.... but at mine this is what I say), but it's done more accurately at guest service.

Another reason it's not usually done at the front lanes is the cashiers may not know the "rules"... no price matches for stores like Big Lots, BJs, and other wholesale clubs. The ad must be within 2 weeks. No percentages off. No "day only" sales. No matching Target.com and the guest *must* have the *physical* ad for whatever competitor they're looking to match.

 

[eatcowsnotCAFS]

Oh and obviously, no word-of-mouth price matches like Walmart *claims* to do. If a guest says to you "well so-in-so sells this foot cream for only 2.99 and you sell it for 5.99", you can't change it (imagine how much fraud that would lead to?) but you can say "oh wow, well if you see that in any of their ads, feel free to bring it in and we'll adjust the price for you!"

 

[redeye58]

Checklane price changes are only raincheck, guest price challenge, ad substitute & damaged.
Guest price challenge is used only if it's within empowerment guidelines or - in the event of an extreme adjustment - with the approval of a TL or ETL, usually when an old sign was left up or an item was improperly signed/labeled.
Price match is at service desk only for the guidelines listed above: guest must present a physical ad, must be within 2 weeks, no short promo sales (one/two day events) & no wholesalers like Big Lots, Sam's, etc. Not all cashiers are familiar/trained in price-match which is why it should be done only at the service desk.

 

[Sasha]

You know after this whole crap thing we have to do with the rain checks, I'm gonna be super mad if we have to do layaway, my store doesn't have the space for layaway anyway! haha

 

[The Mule]

Layaway is excellent business, it only ever went away because of mass credit card use. I'm not sure why it took so long to bring it back.

Someone makes payments on something (you don't actually hold it), if they miss a payment you keep what they've already paid and owe them nothing.

That is NOT how lay-a-way is suppose to work. You are entering into a contract with a company to make payments for good that they will hold for you. They are suppose to place it off stage and secure it for your eventual full payment at the end of the contract. If at any time you no longer wish to make payments or you void the contract, they are usually required to repay your funds back, minus some type of administrative overhead(i.e. - flat fee or % of original order). This was the exact method when I use to work for Kmart years ago and from my personnal experience from other retails at various times.

 

[naterstx]

That is NOT how lay-a-way is suppose to work. You are entering into a contract with a company to make payments for good that they will hold for you. They are suppose to place it off stage and secure it for your eventual full payment at the end of the contract. If at any time you no longer wish to make payments or you void the contract, they are usually required to repay your funds back, minus some type of administrative overhead(i.e. - flat fee or % of original order). This was the exact method when I use to work for Kmart years ago and from my personnal experience from other retails at various times.

It depends a lot on how the contract is set up. However, layaway of the olden days required you hold the product(s) b/c logistics didn't work as fast/well as they do today. If someone comes in and puts an XBOX360, PS3, and 5 games on layaway, why would you dedicate precious space to holding those items? I'm not saying that I know how Wal-Mart/K-Mart/Target/Whomever do/would set-up their system, but it doesn't make sense to me that you'd hold those items. You know you can get as many XBOX's, PS3's, and games as you want, why waste space holding them? You know when the contract ends, plan to get more of those items in a few days before the end of the contract.

Also, different layaway systems work differently, some require an admin fee as you said (usually fairly hefty), some require forfeiture of all payments made.

It's all hypothetical and I don't know how Target would set things up if they chose to have a layaway plan, but it still seems like great business to me.

 

[redeye58]

Other stores I worked at all had lay-a-way & they were similar in that:
The item was physically placed in a holding area
There was an admin fee (about $10) included in the total price & you had a minimum you paid monthly
The length was 4 months max
You could pay it off sooner if you wanted. If you cancelled, it had to be within the time frame & you were refunded everything but the admin fee. If you missed payments or were late, you would forfeit the item & what you'd paid thus far.

Because the majority of Target's merch has a 90 day run, I look for it to be a shorter time period. Plus they'd have to make allowances if the item had gone clearance in the interim. They'd also have to impose limitations on high-demand items, too.

 

[sjf10718]

Layaway is excellent business, it only ever went away because of mass credit card use. I'm not sure why it took so long to bring it back.

Someone makes payments on something (you don't actually hold it), if they miss a payment you keep what they've already paid and owe them nothing.

yeah you do hold it...i remember my mom did it once in walmart back in 2000 when dvd players first came out...we put a dvd player on layaway for 3 months made a few payments then when ever we found a better deal we decided not to get the one from walmart so we cancel layaway and we got out money back...but we did pay a 30 dollar cancelation fee
soo my point is from a Business stand point its bad.. remember merchandised goes clearance, or manufacture price cuts ..you have a chance to sell it at regular price when its available on the sales floor to any impulse buyer but if you hold that item to a guest that might or might not buy it and let just say it goes clearance during that layaway period then the guest will buy it at clearance price..

Let me asked anyone this question how many times during holiday season you put an item on a 24 hr hold for a guest that calls and says they will be their on so and so time..and then you get a guest in the store thats looking for that exact item but you can't sell it to them because you got the other guest that is coming ...and then they never showed up...so that item you could of sold on the spot you miss the sales because you stash it to someone that might of bought it...so again layaway bad idea that is why walmart go rid of it in the first place back in 2004 and that is why kmart is posting negative sales over and over..and rank behind us. because they keep making these bad business decisions .i think target should just look into their price matching policy i think it very strict that makes a guest not want to price match in our store... but i do think that layaway is good for the cash strap consumer but VERY BAD FOR BUSINESS..

 

[AmICrazy]

I disagree their are several reasons why layaway is bad idea for target just because it's miss sales when u stash the product to some one that might or might not buy it in the end of their layaway period... Then their the issue of finding space to put all the stash inventory ...I know Walmart just did this because they are desperate to get their customers back ... Now a far as the price matching and coupons I can see target doing that ... Btw remember Walmart had layaway before for so many years and target never had that before so I see no reason why they should this year if they did so well in the pass being competive without it

Was told by a Kmart employee that layaway is a waste. Many times people will put things on layaway and then change their minds.

 

[Ludwig3]

I don't see where Target will store all the holding items, esp in our store. Plus Target way more focused on the "Sales on the floor" attitude. Holding items just takes up space.

 

[Bullseye Flow TM]

Speaking from experience, I was the department head of layaway in another retail chain MANY years ago. (No, not Wal-mart nor Kmart) Anything could be placed on layaway minus clearance items & seasonal items unless it was a seasonal layaway. Our seasonal layaways were longer than our normal 2 month layaway. Christmas layaways could first be "purchased" in July with final payment & pickup about Dec. 20. Payments were required every two weeks. 10% payment at time of purchase & a minimum charge of $5 non refundable, plus 10% payments every two weeks. I had to call customers if they had missed a couple of payments. Post cards were mailed, and eventually those layaways were cancelled and items returned to the sales floor. Yes, there were times that layaways were lost, also when my "team" would give the wrong layaway to the wrong customer. (Same last name but different account numbers) Thankfully this was a rarity. One issue I had was the packing of the boxes. Oftentimes it was difficult to find boxes to fit all their items in one or two boxes. Plus stacking issues in our off stage area. I found myself almost daily checking it to see how the boxes were stacked and if it was safe. (More so during the busy holiday season than at other times.) There needed to be aisles between the stacks and labels had to be visible.

In my opinion I honestly don't see Target going this route. As others have mentioned we don't have a place to store the layaways unless we go off site somewhere.

Edit: The only thing the customer lost if they chose to cancel or we did was the $5 service fee.

 

[spikegrouchy]

I've had a lot of guests come to the service desk asking "how our layaway works"; guess they are assuming that we will copy Walmart in everything else. I use it as an opportunity to sell a Red Card! LOL "No we don't have layaway but we have something even better: you can save 5% and take your gifts home with you right now!"

Great job. Write yourself up a GTC & sign my name to it!!!!

 

[TargetOldTimer]

I disagree with OP. I don't see Target ever going to layaway. Its just not consistent with Target's brand.

 

[mrknownothing]

Let me asked anyone this question how many times during holiday season you put an item on a 24 hr hold for a guest that calls and says they will be their on so and so time..and then you get a guest in the store thats looking for that exact item but you can't sell it to them because you got the other guest that is coming ...and then they never showed up...so that item you could of sold on the spot you miss the sales because you stash it to someone that might of bought it

I don't know about other stores, but my store does not do 24-hour holds at all during the holiday season. We don't have space for holds, let alone layaway.

 

[Target Annie]

I disagree with OP. I don't see Target ever going to layaway. Its just not consistent with Target's brand.

completely agree - I can't see it - it just seems not our brand to have items held offstage for guests that begin a law away with good intentions, then never come back. More reshop!