WesternWarehouse.com launches a layaway option

Seeking an additional way for customers to pay for purchases, WesternWarehouse.com has introduced a layaway plan for online purchases with software that automatically recalculates terms as customers change parameters of how they want to pay.

Western Warehouse, an Albuquerque, NM-based retailer of western wear and cowboy boots with 29 stores in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and California, requires a $250 minimum purchase to participate in the layaway plan and a 25% deposit. Customers can choose the length of time they want to pay for the purchase--up to six installments in up to three months--and the method of payment--check or automatic charge to credit card.

The company did a soft launch of the layaway option today to test it. The company expects to start marketing it more broadly next week. It will charge a 10% fee for cancellations after a layaway program has started.

Western Warehouse is hoping to increase sales by providing another payment option to a customer base whose average annual income is $25,000-$30,000, Rick Shankles, Internet applications manager, tells InternetRetailer.com. “Many of our core customers don’t have credit cards, so it’s very helpful to them to be able to do this online or over the phone,” he says. He says the layaway option could increase sales by 10%. WesternWarehouse.com’s cowboy boots can cost up to $4,000.

Western Warehouse developed the layaway program in-house, Shankles says, following a practice of launching self-developed services that it is unable to find elsewhere. WesternWarehouse.com also developed a software-driven custom-boot program for Lucchese Boots. After customers choose the down payment amount and the length of payments, the software automatically calculates monthly payments. The customer can change any parameters and the software will re-calculate the terms. Programming for the layaway system was done by the Foresite Design Group Inc.