August 28, 2015
Walmart gets head start on rivals for Christmas
Talk about your Christmas creep. Yesterday, Walmart made clear the retailer is intent on winning the 2015 holiday selling season by launching its layaway program two weeks earlier than last year and by publishing a list of the top toys for Christmas chosen by its kid customers.
Walmart is kicking off its holiday layaway program today and has lowered the price for eligible items to $10 with a $50 minimum basket.
"There is no opening fee for customers to start a layaway account, and they only need to put down 10 percent. The last day to pick up layaway items is Dec. 14," Walmart spokeswoman Molly Blakeman told The City Wire.
As with past holidays, Walmart is banking on toys to drive traffic and generate sales in its stores. Today, also marks the beginning of Toy Week for the chain. The event includes a major rollout of new and exclusive Star Wars items to leverage interest in the new movie in the franchise, "Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens," which opens in theaters on Dec. 18. Walmart has also published a list of top toys for the holidays as chosen by kids between the ages of 18 months and 12 years.
Testing a toy during the 2015 Chosen by Kids event. – Photo: Walmart
"Outside of the holiday season, we could be looking at the biggest week of 2015 for toys and we’re giving customers every reason to choose Walmart," said Anne Marie Kehoe, vice president of toys at Walmart, in a statement. "We’ve made a tradition out of letting kids tell us which toys will be most popular during the holidays. Between their selections this year and the excitement around Star Wars, parents know exactly what will top kids’ wish lists, and they can count on us for great prices."
This year has proven to be a strong one for the toy category with all segments, excluding crafts, showing gains for the first six months of 2015. NPD Group estimates full-year sales will increase 6.2 percent.
"There are certain events that will likely make the close of 2015 even better for the toy industry," said Juli Lennett, senior vice president of the U.S. toys division at The NPD Group, in a statement. "For example, the recent retailer promotions during the week of July 13 helped cause a surge of 16 percent growth in the toy industry. Also, with the movie releases of ‘Minions’ and ‘Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens’ falling in the second half, and continued momentum from ‘Jurassic World,’ ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron,’ and others, licensed toys will continue to invigorate toy sales."
- Santa’s summer vacation is over! Walmart starts holiday layaway two weeks earlier than last year – The Daily Mail
- Walmart Launches First-Ever Toy Week with Top Toys, Holiday Layaway & Force Friday – Walmart Stores, Inc.
- Wal-Mart kicks off Christmas toy deals before Labor Day, other retailers to follow – The City Wire
- Positive Mid-Year Sales Performance for U.S. Toys Positions Industry for Year-End Growth – The NPD Group
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Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
What are your sales projections for the upcoming Christmas holiday season? Do you see Walmart gaining an advantage by beginning to focus on the holidays before Labor Day?
Poll
While I think sales will be slightly higher for this holiday season, Walmart kicking off holiday shopping before Back-to-School has finished seems a bit nuts. Why not just kick off holiday shopping on December 26?
The recently published increase in both consumer confidence and spending is truly an indication of a better Christmas holiday season. Since Walmart sets the bar for retailers around the world, this move does give them an advantage. With two additional weeks worth of payments, more customers will see a much lower payment schedule and will possibly buy more. Buy more from Walmart, that is, unless others follow the leader, which they will normally do.
The only disruptions in this program may be how we measure the sales and if the consumer completes the payments ahead of season, if it will change the outcome of the Christmas holiday sales measurement. It may even add to the Thanksgiving or even Halloween sales periods. At any rate it is a good move for Walmart, once again!
Depends on when you measure. Two weeks from now Walmart may well be “ahead.” How they rank in January will be little influenced by the extra two weeks of layaway time.
I estimate retail holiday sales will be close to $900 billion with e-commerce being about 10 percent of the total.
Walmart is smart to focus in on the holidays. Labor Day is soon and it is the mind-shift point that tells consumers and my wife that it is time to think birthday and Christmas. Walmart’s layaway moves are smart. Each year we go to Walmart and pay off someone’s layaway account — we do leave a $9 balance.
We go for the big layaways that represent a lot of kids and no dad toys.
The holidays will be here before you know it, as will NRF!
Why not promote Christmas all year long? To me the thought of buying cheap low-cost merchandise and putting it on layaway sounds absurd. I would think 98 percent of the population would just swipe their credit card, go home, and put the toys in the closet. Or buy online and have them shipped for free. Are there really that many people in the market for cheap Walmart merchandise that have no money and no credit? That it’s worth it for Walmart to devote labor and warehouse space? Does Costco do this? Maybe I’m out of touch. I don’t see the appeal of such a service in this day and age.
Walmart is going to lose on this one. Customers are getting tired of extending the Christmas buying season or any other season. The longer the sales period the less the overall return.
Sales should be up this holiday season. Focusing on them earlier has never helped any retailer though. By the time November rolls around (when the early early birds start holiday shopping) do you really think anyone is going to remember this?
I love what Walmart is doing with layaway. There are many Walmart patrons who live from paycheck to paycheck and don’t want to incur added interest charges if they even have credit cards. Giving them the extra time and low basket is a big plus.
While I don’t know what the forecasts are for this holiday season, I do expect it to be higher than last. Lots more consumer confidence this year.
For my 2 cents.
My belief is that shoppers are tired of seeing Christmas come so early in stores. Shoppers are smart enough to know that if this works for Walmart, then other retailers will join in next year. If shoppers truly don’t want to see Christmas everywhere too early, they will use Walmart as the way to make that point to all retailers who are watching.
The attempt we are witnessing from Walmart’s early approach to the Christmas selling season is simply posturing to maintain necessary sales dollar volumes. It is no longer a secret that the world economy is continuing to recede from the boom era that started its countdown to disaster a decade in years ago. Most very large corporations have a good handle on the money supply and can make a relatively accurate prediction as to what will be spent for Christmas. As a result of the severe shortages of credit worthiness the need for creative financing, as in layaway, is in order. Layaway with earlier start dates will allow access to bigger ticket sales and bigger ticket sales usually provide higher percent margins to the sales receipt. But that’s just what I think it’s all about.
I have no doubts that sales will be up this holiday season and retailers that want to win will need a strong long term strategy — that’s exactly what Walmart is aiming to do with this layaway program. But two weeks won’t make a big difference unless Walmart uses that time to really push their early start. Sure, it could help them gain more sales, but the pricing has to be right.
If only because of lower gasoline prices, I do believe sales for Christmas holiday season 2015 will be slightly up over last year. I was in a Costco three weeks ago and should not have been surprised to see the Christmas lights and the Lawn Santa already out on the sales floor.
The holiday buying season seems to get going earlier each year. When you look at the merchandise promotion campaigns Walmart is running in conjunction with the early layaway program, their first ever “Toy Week,” and the “Star Wars Force Friday,” the earlier than ever layaway program move makes sense in terms of getting a jump on the competition.
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While I think sales will be slightly higher for this holiday season, Walmart kicking off holiday shopping before Back-to-School has finished seems a bit nuts. Why not just kick off holiday shopping on December 26?
The recently published increase in both consumer confidence and spending is truly an indication of a better Christmas holiday season. Since Walmart sets the bar for retailers around the world, this move does give them an advantage. With two additional weeks worth of payments, more customers will see a much lower payment schedule and will possibly buy more. Buy more from Walmart, that is, unless others follow the leader, which they will normally do.
The only disruptions in this program may be how we measure the sales and if the consumer completes the payments ahead of season, if it will change the outcome of the Christmas holiday sales measurement. It may even add to the Thanksgiving or even Halloween sales periods. At any rate it is a good move for Walmart, once again!
Depends on when you measure. Two weeks from now Walmart may well be “ahead.” How they rank in January will be little influenced by the extra two weeks of layaway time.
I estimate retail holiday sales will be close to $900 billion with e-commerce being about 10 percent of the total.
Walmart is smart to focus in on the holidays. Labor Day is soon and it is the mind-shift point that tells consumers and my wife that it is time to think birthday and Christmas. Walmart’s layaway moves are smart. Each year we go to Walmart and pay off someone’s layaway account — we do leave a $9 balance.
We go for the big layaways that represent a lot of kids and no dad toys.
The holidays will be here before you know it, as will NRF!
Why not promote Christmas all year long? To me the thought of buying cheap low-cost merchandise and putting it on layaway sounds absurd. I would think 98 percent of the population would just swipe their credit card, go home, and put the toys in the closet. Or buy online and have them shipped for free. Are there really that many people in the market for cheap Walmart merchandise that have no money and no credit? That it’s worth it for Walmart to devote labor and warehouse space? Does Costco do this? Maybe I’m out of touch. I don’t see the appeal of such a service in this day and age.
Walmart is going to lose on this one. Customers are getting tired of extending the Christmas buying season or any other season. The longer the sales period the less the overall return.
Sales should be up this holiday season. Focusing on them earlier has never helped any retailer though. By the time November rolls around (when the early early birds start holiday shopping) do you really think anyone is going to remember this?
I love what Walmart is doing with layaway. There are many Walmart patrons who live from paycheck to paycheck and don’t want to incur added interest charges if they even have credit cards. Giving them the extra time and low basket is a big plus.
While I don’t know what the forecasts are for this holiday season, I do expect it to be higher than last. Lots more consumer confidence this year.
For my 2 cents.
My belief is that shoppers are tired of seeing Christmas come so early in stores. Shoppers are smart enough to know that if this works for Walmart, then other retailers will join in next year. If shoppers truly don’t want to see Christmas everywhere too early, they will use Walmart as the way to make that point to all retailers who are watching.
The attempt we are witnessing from Walmart’s early approach to the Christmas selling season is simply posturing to maintain necessary sales dollar volumes. It is no longer a secret that the world economy is continuing to recede from the boom era that started its countdown to disaster a decade in years ago. Most very large corporations have a good handle on the money supply and can make a relatively accurate prediction as to what will be spent for Christmas. As a result of the severe shortages of credit worthiness the need for creative financing, as in layaway, is in order. Layaway with earlier start dates will allow access to bigger ticket sales and bigger ticket sales usually provide higher percent margins to the sales receipt. But that’s just what I think it’s all about.
I have no doubts that sales will be up this holiday season and retailers that want to win will need a strong long term strategy — that’s exactly what Walmart is aiming to do with this layaway program. But two weeks won’t make a big difference unless Walmart uses that time to really push their early start. Sure, it could help them gain more sales, but the pricing has to be right.
If only because of lower gasoline prices, I do believe sales for Christmas holiday season 2015 will be slightly up over last year. I was in a Costco three weeks ago and should not have been surprised to see the Christmas lights and the Lawn Santa already out on the sales floor.
The holiday buying season seems to get going earlier each year. When you look at the merchandise promotion campaigns Walmart is running in conjunction with the early layaway program, their first ever “Toy Week,” and the “Star Wars Force Friday,” the earlier than ever layaway program move makes sense in terms of getting a jump on the competition.