Reduce Price to Improve Revenues and Margins
CHOICE 1 OBJECTIVE: REWARD CUSTOMERS
CHOICE 2 SEGMENTS: LOW DEMAND PERIOD SEGMENT / INDUSTRY RECESSIONS
CHOICE 3 COMPONENT: WAIVE FEES OR MAKE A ONE TIME OR PERIODIC PAYMENT
| No. | SIC | Year | Notes |
| 1 | 5331 | 2009 | Sears is planning to give customers who lose their jobs a break on appliance purchases, part of an effort to spur sales amid the recession. Customers who spend at least $399 on a store credit card for appliances between July 6 and August 1 will receive help on payments if they are out of work 60 days to a year after making the purchase. One-twelfth of the purchase price will be credited to their accounts for every month they are unemployed. The full debt will be forgiven for customers who find themselves jobless for more than a year, and they will be able to keep the appliance. |
| 2 | 5331 | 2009 | Sears Holdings Corp. is letting customers who lose their jobs keep their appliances, in an effort to assist them, and itself, during the recession. Customers who buy big-ticket items like refrigerators and washing machines and become unemployed after the purchase will have one-twelfth of the price—including warrantee and service charges—taken care of by Sears each month. If the job loss lasts a year, Sears will write off the purchase. The program is being run as a pilot program for products $399 and more. Sears came up with the program after hearing from customers who said they needed the merchandise and had the money but were afraid to commit because they were concerned about their jobs. The program covers customers who lose their jobs from 60 days to one year after the purchase. |
| 3 | 5611 | 2008 | Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. sells suits, but investors have been casual about its stock price. Late last year, the company offered deep discounts to encourage penny-pinching consumers to shop. It also placed ads for the first time on the ESPN sports cable network. Its number of customers rose 16% to 4.4 million last year. Bank has promotions that include risk-free suit offers, in which customers who can prove they lost their jobs would be get their money back but be allowed to keep the suit. |
| 4 | 5611 | 2009 | In March, apparel retailer Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. offered to refund as much as $199 of a suit's price and allow customers to keep it if they are laid off through early summer. |
| 5 | 7011 | 2008 | The lodging industry has started rolling out incentives that help guests offset some of the costs of hitting the road. Some offer prepaid gasoline cards (ranging from $10 to $50); others are extending cash bonuses or reducing room rates to guests who drive a hybrid vehicle, or take a train or bus to their destination. |
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