Wal-Mart Ressurect Layway

For many Americans, the recent market turndown has made it harder for many consumers to shop. Many stores such as Best Buy have relied on customers with credit cards for years, however with the loss of credit; stores may no longer have that luxury. Already stores have changed their policies to deal with creditless customers, Wal-Mart Stores the world’s largest retailer, plans to resume layaway on electronics and toys this holiday season as customers struggle to make purchases.

Wal-Mart, which canceled layaway for everything except jewelry in 2006, is trying to reverse declining sales at US supercenters and discount stores, which slipped 0.9%. Wal-Mart shoppers’ biggest concern is unemployment, Chief Financial Officer Charles Holley said on a conference call last month.

“We’re always looking for ways to ease budget strain for our customers, and we know this holiday season in particular brings with it additional financial pressure,” Duncan Mac Naughton, Wal-Mart’s chief merchandising officer, said in the statement.

Despite the recent moves though, many investors remain worried, and rightly so, because Christmas season has been the US‘s redeeming feature for the last few years, and every Christmas companies have used holiday profits to pad their books for the upcoming leans spring and summer.

Moreover, some analysts worry that layaway may be to outdated of a policy for American consumers who have become accustomed to credit purchases dealing with one bank instead of several stores. However, despite the misgivings Wal-Mart executives are pushing the plan for the 2011 holidays here in the US.

(아주경제 앤드류 이 기자)

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com