Sears Adds Vaca to Layaway Plan
Sears is adding to its layaway plan. Now, customers can go beyond winter holiday purchases and plan and pay — over time — for vacations through Sears Vacations.
The business, which first launched in February of this year, is managed, hosted and operated by International Cruise & Excursions (ICE), Inc., a licensed partner of Sears Holdings. Last week, SearsVacations.com went live offering consumers full-service travel packages.
Sears Vacations, which bills itself as the "Official Sponsor of Family Fun," kicked off the site with 100 separate packages priced at $399 or less. All of the services available come with a "Best Price Guarantee" and a variety of payment options including layaways. Sears’ customers also can earn the retailer’s Shop Your Way reward points when booking travel services.
According to a report on SmarterTravel.com, Sears Vacations requires a $99 deposit on vacation packages. While it does not charge interest on principal owed, Sears does add a $9 fee on top of monthly payments. The site was unable to get details on cancellation policies and other fine print and has recommended that consumers take "a thorough look" before signing up for the offer.
BrainTrust
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions: Will Sears have success with vacations on layaway? Do you see layaway opportunities with other non-traditional product or service categories?
Hmmm, when was the last time Sears came up with a great idea? Oh, maybe when Roosevelt was president … Teddy.
The American consumer, unlike the federal government, is still in deleveraging from debt mode. This play has limited upside for Sears, unless they are attempting to pick up the vigorish of nine bucks a month for their profitability.
While I am not 100% sure, I do hope Sears will be successful. Similar retailers in Europe provide this service today and do very well. Sears, like so many retailers, needs to find more ways to not only attract customers, but to provide an improved shopping experience. They recently updated their stores to provide free WiFi for their customers, so this is a continuation of what appears to be targeting back their customer base. They may also see competitors enter the space and we all may benefit by that with lower cost travel and vacations. Travelocity, Expedia and Priceline.com are also going to feel the pain when retailers such as Sears provide lower cost travel.
Sears will have limited success with vacations on layaway. The primary reason why is, does anyone think of Sears when booking travel?
I think the layaway idea actually has a perceived and real value to the customer segment and mentally eases the payment process.
Sears’ vacations on layaway is another forerunner of Sears moving toward a permanent layaway. While this deal may ease the payment process, the $9 a month fee is a good deal for Sears, a bad deal for its customers.
This strikes me as a non-transferable, high cost Sears deal that seems as futile as a clock in a deserted house.