LITTLE ROCK — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Monday that it will extend its Christmas season layaway program to 90 days - up from 60 days a year ago - and will make more merchandise categories eligible for the service.
The layaway period begins Sept. 16, although Facebook users who “like” their local Wal-Mart store can start their layaway shopping two days earlier. And a $15 fee imposed on those using the program will be refunded on a Wal-Mart gift card for customers who make their final payment.
Shoppers who cancel their orders will forfeit the $15 fee.
“It’s starting to resonate already,” Duncan Mac Naughton, Wal-Mart executive vice president and chief marketing officer, said in a conference call with reporters.
Last year’s Christmas layaway plan was limited to toys and electronics. This year’s plan includes small home appliances, jewelry, toys and sporting goods including basketball goals, trampolines and exercise equipment.
The total layaway purchase must be at least $50. A down payment of 10 percent or $10, whichever is greater, is required.
Wal-Mart had discontinued layaway in 2006 for all items except jewelry, but brought the program back for a two-month period last year. Executives had cited the program’s reinstatement as a key to its successful 2011 Christmas shopping season.
This year, the layaway program will begin Sept. 16 and run through Dec. 14, - giving shoppers an extra month to pay off their purchases.
Mac Naughton said that last year, the “real demand” for layaway was for the Christmas season, although he said there was still demand for the program year-round for jewelry.
He declined to discuss how many layaway users failed to make their final payments, but said a “distinct majority” paid off their purchases, adding that the number of users was in the millions.
Other retailers with layaway include Sears, Kmart, Toys R Us, TJ Maxx, Best Buy and Burlington Coat Factory.
Business, Pages 21 on 08/21/2012