Wal-Mart promo gives away PCs - personal computers

Discount Store News, Sept 2, 1991

Wal-Mart Promo Gives Away PCs

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Coinciding with the back-to-school season, each Wal-Mart store is giving away an IBM personal computer and science study software to a high school in its trading area.

Dubbed CLASS (Computer Labs to Aid Science Studies), the promotion enlists the sponsorship of 12 Wal-Mart vendors. They are: * Emerson (stereo, TVs, VCRs); * Unisonic (TADs/printers); * Bell South (telephones); * Hanes (T-shirts, underwear, and Hanes Her Way bras and panties); * Eveready (batteries); * First Brands (STP and Prestone); * Gitano (apparel); * Procter & Gamble (Downy and Tide); * Kimberly Clark (Kotex, New Freedom and Huggies diapers); * S.C. Johnson (Pledge, Glade and Raid); * Ray-O-Vac (batteries); and * Good Times Video.

Store signs urge Wal-Mart customers to buy the sponsoring products highlighted with CLASS shelf signs and then vote for the school of their choice by dropping their ballots in the entry box at each store. No purchase of sponsoring products is necessary, however, and customers may vote as often as they wish.

The contest entry from helps build Wal-Mart's customer database by asking for shoppers' names, addresses and daytime phone numbers.

On Sept. 18, the school getting the most votes will receive a Model 30 IMB PS/2 personal computer and a PSL science software package, according to a sign in a Louisville Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart operates 1,627 stores, and each store will donate a science lab.

The total value of the computer package has not been released and is difficult to estimate. IBM offers three variations of the Model 30, with list prices of $1,795, $1,995 and $2,345. In addition, an IBM representative said a final decision on which model to award the winner has not been made.

"We may do some substitution," the IBM rep said. IBM is discontinuing the two lower-priced models, and retailers are heavily discounting the cheapest model, pricing it as low as $700, or about $1,100 less than list.

Suggested Cost Is $1.6M

Including a monitor and software, the cheapest model 30 package would run about $1,000. That suggests a minimum cost of the program at about $1.6 million.

IBM apparently is defraying part of the cost, but both companies have not disclosed any details of their arrangement.

In addition to in-store signs and flyers, Wal-Mart is pushing the CLASS promotion in its August circular, which also features other BTS specials, including a layaway program for BTS clothes with no service charge and 10% down.