A while back, I waxed nostalgic about Christmas Clubs–the largely dormant concept of a bank savings account into which savers deposited set amounts at regular intervals–as well as other nostalgic remnants of a saving society. In a Christmas Club, savers could withdraw the set-aside money (with interest), and use it to buy what they saw fit. The concept has been coming out of dormancy during the recession, and has just arrived at Toys”R”Us in the form of the Christmas Savers Club Card. The card is actually something like a layaway without a specific purchase in mind. Load the card with holiday-spending cash, and earn a reward (what might be called “interest” in the banking world)–3% of whatever’s on the card on October 16. So, in essence, this is a layaway/Christmas-Club hybrid, with a reward in return for a promise to spend with Toys”R”Us or Babies”R”Us. An old and reliable value prop for an age of new frugality.
Rewarding for intent to spend rather than history of spend is interesting, but in other cases might be risky. If consumers who are pre-loading cards are unsure of continued transactions with a company, they might not find the investment of pre-loading or the reward that comes with it as appealing as it might in other cases. The power wielded by the Christmas Savers Club Card is its very clear goal orientation. If you’re a parent or someone else with kids on the Christmas list, holiday toy purchases are pretty much guaranteed in your future. You may not know exactly what toy is going to land in your basket, but you know that it will–and will accompany others. Toys”R”Us is employing incentive and a little holiday cost relief in helping consumers visualize that goal now and realize it later.
