This distinction was one of the most important factors during the development of eLayaway’s application. Given that a large percentage of our potential market did not have a relationship with a bank, we could not depend solely on ACH to draft payments from our members; hence our partnership with MoneyGram®. Our greatest challenge, shared by eCommerce as a whole, remains the digital divide. Although much of our market has limited access to the internet, community outreach programs and educational initiatives have been successful in their efforts to bring this market online. This market is also one of the fastest growing adopters of mobile technology. So, how big is this market?

A recent study by  the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) and Core Innovation Capital reported that the “United States underbanked financial services are a $78 billion marketplace that encompasses close to two dozen products and services provided to over 68 million consumers.”  As more and more of these consumers migrate to online services and online shopping, merchants will need to find creative and affordable ways to engage these consumers. eLayaway and the eLayawayMALL are such a solution!

Learn more about the unbanked and underbanked markets:

View the 2011 Underbanked Marketing Sizing Study 

View the 2011 FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households

Related articles:

Layaway Programs Stage a Revival 

Retailers Woo Hard-Hit Families

The eLayawayMALL offers both retailers and consumers a new and engaging way to transact using eLayaway as the payment process and affordability as the incentive. While more and more consumers are finding it difficult to make a purchase due to limited funds or a lack of credit, many of them are turning to eLayaway to help them better afford the things they want most. Retailers looking to capitalize on this are joining the eLayawayMALL through affiliate networks such as Commission Junction and PepperJam Exchange. These pre-integrated networks make it easy for retailers to add their products to the eLayawayMALL. The Mall is marketed to eLayaway members by email and also through SEO and Google AdWords®. Although eLayaway earns a commission on every sale, it provides retailers with an effective and affordable way to reach a market that may not have been able to previously serve.

Over the next several weeks, eLayaway will introduce new features to the Mall, including an enhanced search engine, expanded advertising program and a fresh, new look. Visit the eLayawayMALL.

In addition to the mall, eLayaway also offers merchants the option to integrate the eLayaway payment process directly into their checkout process. Learn more here.

Read the latest press release about The New eLayawayMALL.

Today’s online retailers depend on third-party solutions to manage their online stores. Everything from hosting to product feeds to payment processing is out-sourced in order to keep costs down and to ensure that the technologies they depend on remain current and compliant. eCommerce solution providers such as osCommerce, Magento and Zen Cart offer online retailers the tools they need to create and manage their online stores. Their open-source platforms attract hundreds of thousands of merchants looking for cost-effective solutions and the support that comes from a community environment. These communities provide eLayaway an efficient way to reach and convert merchants. Through the use of pre-integrated modules, eLayaway has developed a simple way for these merchants to add eLayaway to their existing suite of payment options.

Growth opportunities do not stop with merchant acquisition. eLayaway benefits from the combined marketing efforts of this growing community of merchants as they promote the new eLayaway payment option to their customers. This in turn increases membership and transactions through the system. Add that to the set up fees and subscription payments collected from each merchant and one can see the combined power of these merchant networks. Together, they will form the foundation from which eLayaway can continue to build the best layaway payment technology in the world. As for the whales… stay tuned for ‘thar she blows!’

Layaway has always been considered more of a consumer benefit. The fact is that it offers a great deal of insight and opportunity for the retailer as well. Every layaway purchase is a pre-order of an item or service scheduled for fulfillment once the item has been paid for according to a layaway plan. Planning is one of the core elements that make up every layaway purchase. The same process that helps a consumer afford a purchase also helps the retailer plan and prepare for that purchase.

The inherent foresight built into the sales cycle of every layaway plan benefits both online and brick & mortar retailers in many ways:

• Increase margins - Some use that knowledge to bundle orders and take advantage of volume discounts and drop shipping. With margins getting tighter and tighter, layaway helps retailers capture every bit of a sale!
• Predict trends and prepare for future demand – When consumers drive demand, and take an unexpected turn, layaway helps retailers benefit from emerging trends. Be in the know with layaway!
• Collect pre-orders on popular products that are “coming soon.” – The pre-paid aspect of the layaway process reduces consumer anxiety when items are limited and in high demand. It eliminates the need for the first-come, first-serve lines that usually require additional resources to manage and control. In this case, it’s more about convenience than affordability for the consumer and about efficiency and customer service for the retailer. Win, win!
• Expand market reach – Offering layaway can increase sales by engaging those consumers who are dependent on affordable, credit-free payment alternatives. For online retailers, layaway opens the door to consumers who, in the past, have never been able to transact online. Use layaway to attract new customers!
• Reduce Costs - The transaction fees associated with processing a layaway (using eLayaway, of course) are less than traditional merchant fees charged by banks processing credit cards. Does your banker help you attract more customers?
• Improve Marketing – Layaway gives retailers something new, different and consumer-centric to market to its customers. It can also provide a competitive advantage for retailers looking for consumer benefits beyond just lowering prices. Sometimes a sale comes down to affordability and not just price!

As an added incentive, users can earn reward points for sharing links and posting their own related content. The eLayaway Community Hub makes it easy for users to share through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, Tumbler and many more. Content ranges from an individual user’s experience to notification of new merchants offering eLayaway. As a marketing tool, the eLayaway Community hub provides our brand managers and product developers with the firsthand knowledge they need to ensure that eLayaway remains relevant and consumer-friendly. It also lets the Company capitalize on trends quickly and efficiently, helping their marketing team get the most out of every marketing dollar.

The hub not only helps eLayaway identify its biggest fans, it gives those fans a voice. So far, eLayaway has identified several users that they call “eLayaway Brand Champions.” A survey is offered to users of the community. The results will be used to enhance eLayaway’s products and services. The hub is the last piece of the puzzle in the Company’s efforts to create a solid and scalable foundation for its 2013 sales and marketing efforts.

Visit eLayaway’s Community Hub and see for yourself.

In fact eLayaway is a company formed to enable any retailer to implement a cloud based layaway program. This kind of program must include an ACH collection component in order to maximize personnel and financial efficiency.

The question is: Can your business benefit from a “layaway” program and can you implement at little cost? As you may have surmised we think the answer is yes.

Using an Automated Payment process your business can offer payment plans for services and products. For example let’s say you are a lawyer and your fee for will preparation is $600. For many $600 is a lot of money even if they know they need that protection.but what about saying “4 monthly payments of $150″ or something similar. Your business gains access to a whole new potential customer base and you know completely distinguish yourself from your competition.

On the back end it literally can take you but a minute to set up a payment plan to debit that customer at a pre-determined date via ACH or credit card payment. Reporting tools make it easy to stay on top of payments received.

So consider the benfeits of your own “Layaway” program for you business. There are MANY ways to make automated payment processing work to make your business more profitable.

2. As more people begin to shop online, have you seen an increase in business?
Yes, naturally as more people adopt online shopping, the amount of online transactions we process increases. Growing at an even faster rate than the online shopping community is the amount of consumers without the cash or credit to shop online. Many consumers are finding layaway to be an affordable alternative, especially for seasonal purchases.

3. I read that you are expanding to a Mobile-Based Communications and Payment Option – Where are you all in that process and when should consumers expect to see it?
Mobile-based communication is an area that we have wanted to expand into for quite some time. We are excited to begin working with Text-A-Day to facilitate our mobile communication program. Currently, we are in the process of creating a text program that will help further engage our members and notify them of special promotions and holidays they should begin planning for. Although we are still in the planning stages of this program, we expect it to be launched in Q1 of 2013.  In the future, we hope to further expand our mobile-based communication program to the point where it will become an extension of our current account notification process with the ability for the member to customize the type and amount of notifications they receive to fit their individual needs. Ideally, it will communicate successful layaway payment notifications, future upcoming payments, layaway completion notifications and fulfillment information based on the members specified preference.

4. Members of The Herd obviously blew Cyber Monday out the water this year. I feel it’s because of where the economy currently stands, so people are trying to find the best deals possible for their dollar. What kind of feedback are you receiving from your customers?
Agreed. Due to the (somewhat unstable) economy, most consumers are looking for the best deal or money saving offer they can find. This is only further substantiated when we receive feedback/comments from our customers that thank us for offering our service. For some, the holidays would not have been possible without the ability to pay for an item over time. The fact that our service is offered over the Internet, includes thousand of hot products from name brands and provides a cash payment source appeals to many consumers that would not have had the opportunity to purchase otherwise.

5. What makes you all different from sites like Lay-Away.com and Youlayaway.com?
eLayaway is the only layaway payment platform currently on the market. Our technology gives other businesses and retailers the ability to integrate our layaway payment process so that they can offer, manage and automate a layaway program to their consumers. Lay-Away.com is only a layaway retailer, meaning, they offer products on their website for layaway purchases only. They do not process their own layaway payments nor do have their own technology platform that other retailers can use to offer layaway online. YouLayaway.com is simply an online layaway aggregator. They do not sell or process any payments. They simply offer a “hub” where consumers can visit to find out what products are available for layaway at certain big box retailers.

6. Apps, Apps, Apps, The Herd loves Apps. Do you plan to have one in the future or is that part of your progress into the mobile platform?
Yes! We definitely plan to expand our application into the mobile market via an app. Eventually our app will let you start a layaway from your phone just by scanning the product on the shelf at a participating retailer or by responding to a promotional text.

7. Today you announced the arrival of the Hosted Layaway Department SMB™, “described as “…a new product that is designed to provide small and medium-sized online and brick & mortar retailers with the ability to create, automate and manage their own layaway program in a efficient and cost effective manner…”  Is this a sign that you all believe that layaway programs are becoming a rising trend with businesses as everyone tries to maintain their customer base (sans job loss, price hikes, etc…)
Layaway programs are definitely becoming a rising trend with businesses. We hear first hand accounts from merchants all the time that tell us how certain sales would not have been possible if layaway was not a payment option. More often than not, we have realized that offering a layaway payment option can make the difference between a consumer’s purchase (or exit) from a business’s physical or online storefront. As more and more retailers struggle to keep sales going in these troubling economic times, we wonder why any retailer wouldn’t want to offer a layaway program to help them convert more sales. Especially when eLayaway’s Hosted Layaway Department SMB™ helps make it so easy!

8. Is there anything you want to add?
We get a great deal of requests from retailers for layaway this time of year. It’s right about now that they start to feel the pressure of their competitors who are already offering layaway in one form or another. Unfortunately, most of them arrive to their conclusions too late, forcing them to put off their plans to offer a layaway program. Like the process itself, you must pre-plan for layaway. It will take time for consumers to learn about and engage with new services, especially ones like layaway that require an added level of pre-planning from the consumer. While most retailers are too busy to consider new programs, such as layaway in the 4th quarter, some of them use this time to plan for next year, which brings us to the first quarter.
Social Media:
• Facebook:facebook.com/eLayaway
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• Foursquare: foursquare.com/eLayaway
• LinkedIn:linkedin.com/company/eLayaway
•  YouTube: youtube.com/user/eLayawayVidMaster

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[Rant Finance: Financial News, Blogs, and Social Network]

The Hosted Layaway Department SMB™ provides retailers with an affordable and quick-to-market eCommerce layaway solution that boasts features and benefits such as:

• Turnkey solution that eliminates integration
• Includes the eLayaway payment process
• Product search engine
• Exceptional customer service

Unlike the original Hosted Layaway Department, which was developed as a highly-customizable enterprise-level solution, Hosted Layaway Department SMB™ takes a SaaS (Software as a Service) approach, providing small and medium-sized retailers with a template from which to build their online layaway store. The newly-created online layaway department can then be accessed from the retailer’s existing website through a link or it can be used as the basis for an in-store layaway kiosk. The biggest benefit to the program is that these sites do not require any integration, limiting (and sometimes eliminating) the retailers need for any IT resources. Retail marketing and sales directors will appreciate the turnkey approach to creating their very own layaway program.

The Hosted Layaway Department SMB™ will launch with an introductory set up fee of $999 plus a $149 per month hosting fee. Additionally, a 1% transaction fee is assessed for payment processing.

Learn more about eLayaway’s Hosted Layaway Department.

Customers put a percentage down on an item they wanted to buy and made payments over a period of time. While the customer made payments, the retailer took the item out of stock. Once the item was paid for, the customer picked it up and took it home.

Because the retailer simply held the item until it was paid for, there were no finance charges for the customer.

Partly due to the demand for instant gratification through credit cards, most major retailers did away with their layaway plans years ago, like Sears, or simply stopped promoting them, like Kmart.

Now, the old-fashioned layaway plan is making a comeback.

According to Judy Gordy, owner of Macomb�s Sears Hometown Store, the Sears company brought back layaway plan in full this year, after making it available in only certain departments last year. Sears cancelled its original layaway program in 1989.

�It�s making a comeback,� Gordy said about layaway. �We�ve done several layaways. They have to put 20 percent down and pay for it in eight weeks, so it’s a good program.�

For purchases greater than $400, Sears offers a 12-week option available in-store. A $5 service fee is required for all of Sears’ layaway contracts.

Gordy said one of the recent items put on layaway at her store is a range, but smaller items, such as toolboxes, have also been put on layaway.
Kmart, a subsidiary of the Sears corporation, never stopped its layaway program but started to actively promote it again in 2008. Kmart’s layaway terms are $15 or 10 percent (whichever is greater) down and a $5 service fee. Eight and 12-week plans are available, but the 12-week plan is only available in-store.

Kmart and Sears have online layaway on their Web sites, available for the same terms as in-store layaway. Once an item is paid for, it’s shipped to the buyer. A number of other large retailers, including Toys R Us, T.J. Maxx and Burlington Coat Factory, have also brought back layaway plans, both in store and on their Web sites.

Like Kmart, Macomb’s Farm King store, 1620 E. Jackson St., has never stopped its in-store layaway program. Farm King Assistant Manager Mary Milby said the program has been steadily used by customers, especially during the holiday season.

“A lot of times, they put sporting goods on layaway, a lot of clothes, some household items like appliances,” Milby said.
Farm King’s layaway terms are 20 percent down with monthly payments. Items must be paid for within 90 days. There are no restrictions about what can be put on layaway.

Cory Teel, 36, of Roseville, has worked at Farm King for the past three months and uses the store’s layaway plan.

“I see something that’s a good deal, so I’ll put it on layaway to give me a couple of weeks to pay it off,” she said.

Teel said she has put shoes, a coat and other items on layaway, and she is currently thinking about putting a television stand on layaway. She’s also used layaway at other stores where it’s available.

A large number of other Farm King employees also use the store’s layaway plan, Teel said.

“I would say a quarter to half have used it at some time,” she said, referring to both the retail store in Macomb and the warehouse, also located in Macomb.

Not all retailers, however, have jumped back on the layaway bandwagon. Walmart cancelled its layaway program in 2006, and J.C. Penney no longer offers layaway.

Instead, those retailers are pushing options such as their store credit cards and free shipping to stores.
“We’re pretty comfortable with offering our credit card as a means of making monthly payments,” said Kevin DeFrain, manager of the Macomb and Canton J.C. Penney stores.

Some retailers that don’t offer layaway, such as Best Buy and The Apple Store, have agreements with Web sites like eLayway, http://www.elayaway.com. The eLayway site offers merchandise from over a thousand merchants and no credit card is required payments are deducted directly from a customer’s bank account. There are no finance charges, but the site charges a flat 1.9 percent transaction fee. Once an item is paid for, it’s shipped to the customer.

Whether online or in-store, Gordy said she thinks layaway plans are back for good. The weak economy, she said, has been partly responsible for the return of the layaway plan. Consumers want to spend wiser and avoid credit card interest debt.

“I think it’s everyone,” she said about the people who have tossed aside their credit card and gone back to layaway. “Sometimes you just need time to make payments.”

What should you ask before opening a layaway account?
- From the Better Business Bureau Web site, http://www.bbb.org

• How much time do I have to pay off the item?
• When are the payments due?
• How much do I have to put down?
• Are there any storage or service plan fees?
• What happens if I miss a payment? Are there penalties? Does the item return to inventory?
• Can I get a refund or store credit if I no longer want the item after making a few payments?
• What happens if the item goes on sale after I’ve put it on layaway?
• Does the retailer or third-party layaway service have a good BBB rating?

Be sure to get the complete terms and conditions in writing, and don’t forget to keep detailed records of all payments made.

Since we are already well into the 4th quarter, let’s start here. We get a great deal of requests from retailers for layaway this time of year. It’s right about now that they start to feel the effects of their competitors who are already offering layaway in one form or another. Unfortunately most of them arrive to their conclusions too late, forcing them to put off their plans to offer a layaway program. Like the process itself, you must pre-plan for layaway. It will take time for consumers to learn about and engage with new services, especially ones like layaway that require an added level of pre-planning from the consumer. While most retailers are too busy to consider new programs, such as layaway in the 4th quarter, some of them use this time to plan for next year, which brings us to the first quarter.

We call the 1st quarter “merchant retention month” here at eLayaway. That’s when retailers, many reeling from a so-so 4th quarter, call on us to help them build their layaway programs. Once they learn how layaway can help them year-round, they are quick to add it to their sales process. Having layaway in the 1st quarter provides retailers with the most selling opportunities throughout the year. In addition to an increase in organic sales, layaway makes secondary holidays such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Valentine’s Day more marketable, helping retailer stand out to consumers. If we were to pick the perfect “season” for a retailer to add a layaway program, this would be the one.

The 2nd quarter is an interesting quarter. While regular consumers take a break from spending, layaway consumers plan their Summer purchases. Retailers that offer layaway use this time of year to promote bigger ticket items such as appliances and travel packages. This is also a popular time of year for retailer to add layaway in preparation for the next popular layaway season – Christmas in July.

For retailer that offer layaway, the 3rd quarter is the new 4th quarter. Not only does it provide marketing opportunities galore – Christmas in July, Back-to-school and Summer vacations – it also offers retailers some insight into the upcoming 4th quarter. Many retailer use the layaway pre-orders to anticipate inventory needs and to take advantage of volume discounts from their distributors. For retailers looking to add layaway for the 4th quarter, this is their last chance.

To summarize, layaway does not only benefit the consumer. it helps the retailer serve their consumer base by providing an affordable alternative to credit. There are year-round benefits of offering and using layaway including increased sales, improved margins (layaway processing is less than credit card processing) and an enhanced customer experience. Offer layaway today!

Learn more about layaway trends from our 2012 Online Layaway Trends Report.