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Retailers hitch a ride on Clunkers

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By BRITTANY LEVINE MarketWatch

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 11, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO - "Cash for Clunkers" may have ended, but some retailers are piggybacking on the popular federal car rebate program, offering their own deals with a clunker twist.

There are cribs for clunkers and printers for clunkers, and this fall the U.S. government is introducing Cash for Clunker's cousin: "Cash for Refrigerators."

Cash for Clunkers, offering rebates of up to $4,500 to qualified buyers, encouraged car owners to trade in old gas-guzzlers for newer, more fuel efficient vehicles. The program caught on immediately, draining its initial $1 billion in funding in less than a week and prompting Congress to pump in an additional $2 billion to keep it going.

Retailers saw the success of the $3 billion clunker program, and it makes sense that they want to leverage it to their advantage, marketing experts said. The point is simple: Get consumers to buy a new product even if they have an old one, they said.

"I think it's pretty good marketing," said J. Scott Armstrong, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania. "One of the things you want to do is to tie into what people know, and now people know bringing in a clunker gets them a deal."

MarketWatch

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