Lay-by

It's that time of year when people get into shopping mode in search for the perfect gifts to give friends and loved ones in this festive season of Christmas.

Here in Australia, anytime of the year shopping is made easy on the pocket because of lay-by. In Tagalog, paiyakan or hulugan or "gives". But the goods don't come from our friendly tinderas or from officemates or from "viajeras" as in the Philippines but from big retail stores like KMart, Target, BigW, Myer, and David Jones to name a few. (In the Philippines, these stores are equivalent to Shoemart, Robinsons, and Landmark for the first three on the list, and Rustans for the last two. Incidentally, Myers has the same slogan as our very own Shoemart - "It's my store" - wonder who copied from whom? Hmmm...)

Lay-by purchase beats buying on credit because there are no interests although payment has to be completed within eight weeks. Periodically, these stores would extend the lay-by terms depending on their promotions. In September and October, KMart and Target offered lay-by terms with payments until the 24th of December this year. Now that's what I call being shopper-friendly. And you can bet I've used this option before to buy presents for my sons' birthdays and I've put on a couple of Christmas presents on lay-by, too.

Introducing lay-by in the Philippines won't be such a bad idea given that the Filipino shopper is already predisposed to this concept at home, at school, and at work. Big retailers make big money during their quarterly sales blitzes, so why not consider lay-by and make the cash register ring some more? Now wouldn't that make shopping a tad more pleasant?

But of course nothing beats the fun out of haggling the vendors and surviving the crowds in Divisoria.