Sears to offer 'Kidvantage.' - Sears, Roebuck and Co.'s KidVantage, children's clothing marketing programs

Discount Store News, August 5, 1991

Sears To Offer |Kidvantage'

Unveils Frequent Purchase Program and Full Warranty

CHICAGO -- Sears has introduced two programs for its children's apparel department to help build loyalty among shoppers--a frequent purchase program that awards consumers 10% to 15% off children's apparel and a full warranty on children's clothing.

Sears termed the concept KidVantage and began offering the incentives in July.

Under the warranty, Sears will replace a worn-out children's apparel item as long as the child wears the same size.

The frequent purchase program credits parents for every purchase made. When $50 is accumulated, the shopper is awarded 10% off the next purchase. If $100 is accumulated, the discount is 15%.

No sales figures were available at press time to show how the frequency purchase program was working, but Gary Ramsy, national sales manager, children's apparel, said shoppers were enthusiastic in West Coast stores he visited.

The purchase program applies to all apparel in the Kids & More department and to infant furniture. The warranty applies only to items in Kids & More.

Ramsy said Sears is funding the program, which it announced to vendors at a recent seminar. He does not think it willbe a high-cost program.

"It's not a high-risk venture," he noted. "Our quality standards are very high and this is a way of putting our money where our mouth is."

Sears tested the warranty for eight months in more than 100 Sears stores on private-label merchandise only. Ramsey reported very little change in the number of returns during that time.

The moves resulted from consumer group studies which pointed to four key factors for parents, Ramsey said.

"We found that consumers wanted value pricing and more sales, so we increased the number of sales; they wanted more brands, so we added brand names to the warranty and continue to build on that," he said.

"The other two concerns parents had were that kids wore out and grew out of clothes too quickly. The KidVantage program addresses these issues," Ramsey said.

Defining what "worn-out" means was easy, Ramsey said. "The way we have directed our point-of-sale people to deal with the warranty is by letting the customer determine what's worn-out."

Neither program covers shoes, outlet merchandise or catalog sales. Ramsey said the catalog business unit was monitoring the success of KidVantage in the stores.

SearsCharge card holders will receive information about the program in their July/August statements. Ads in consumer magazines will also highlight it. And details will be printed on the back of Sears cash register receipts.