[US] Walmart.com: Various sets with "free" gift card

rocao

Walmart.com is offering free gift cards with the purchase of various LEGO sets. The $ amount of the gift card varies with the value of the sets. Free shipping starts at $50.

I couldn't find a way to pull up only the sets being offered as part of the promotion, but this link is a good start:
http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?Find=Find&_refineresult=true&ic=16_0&search_constraint=4171&search_query='lego+gift+card'&cat_id=4171&search_sort=

I think some of these deals work out to be better than others, so let's crowdsource. If you find something of interest, please try to post the following and I'll keep an updated list:

- Item name
- A link to the item
- Cost, gift card value
- % savings or MSRP

I'll start:

60% off
#76009 Supeman Black Escape
$17.97 w/ $10 gift card... 60% off (MSRP 19.99)
http://www.walmart.com/ip/LEGO-Super-Heroes-Superman-Black-Escape-Play-Set-with-10-Gift-Card/32291556

50% off
#79107 Comanche Camp
$19.97 w/ $10 gift card
http://www.walmart.com/ip/LEGO-Lone-Ranger-Comanche-Camp-Play-Set-with-10-Gift-Card/32291553

#9488 Elite Clone Troopers
$10.00 w/ $5 gift card
http://www.walmart.com/ip/LEGO-Star-Wars-Elite-Clone-Troopers-and-Commando-Droid-B-with-5-Gift-Card/32291547

40% off
#9496 Desert Skiff
$24.97 w/ $10 gift card... 40% off
http://www.walmart.com/ip/LEGO-Star-Wars-Desert-Skiff-Play-Set-with-10-Gift-Card/32291549

33% off or less
#31010 Creator Treehouse
$29.97 w/ $10 gift card... 33% off
http://www.walmart.com/ip/LEGO-Creator-Treehouse-with-10-Gift-Card/32291527

#60022 Airport Cargo Terminal
$88.97 w/ $20 gift card... 31% off (MSRP 99.99)
http://www.walmart.com/ip/LEGO-City-Airport-Cargo-Terminal-with-20-Gift-Card/32291524

starfailure

some deals better than others.
http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?tab_value=all&search_query=lego+gift+card&search_constraint=4171&Find=Find&pref_store=5447&ss=false&ic=32_0&

starfailure

for the record, i only ordered a couple 76009 - black zero escapes and 9488 battlepacks. used the $10 compensation GC from the walmart fiasco and paid about $47 total. there should be $30 of GCs coming back, too.
anyone recommend other bundles?

busumoe1

I ended up getting #79107 (LEGO Lone Ranger Comanche Camp Play Set) for 50% off after gift card. The irony is that I actually tried to order this set for 10.99 but it was cancelled.

For those who had ordered before me, would you check your confirmation email? All items that indicated that there would be a *physical* gift card are now priced on the receipt as if there will not be any gift cards. (Edit: To clarify: Instead of $19.97 with $10 gift card for the set, the receipt shows that WM just charged me $9.97 instead)

WM is not really short-changing me but I'd have gotten more points/cash-backs if I had been charged full price. It's not a lot, but still a bonus.

Thanos75

I ordered the Cargo Terminal. My email confirmation shows me being charged $68.97 for the set and $20 for the gift card for a total of $88.97. It is kind of a weird way of doing it but it works out the same.

rocao

Tricky of Walmart to do this, of course, as gift cards notoriously go unredeemed. Also there won't be the same record of lower price history as there would be if they slashed the prices directly.

rocao

Oops... didn't see this post when I created mine... merging the two

Thanos75

Wow...$5 battle packs...that one way to build a clone army.

madforLEGO

Wow, a lot of stuff is going on today.

madforLEGO

I think this is also a way that retailers are going to get around price matching as well.

gmpirate

rocao said:

Tricky of Walmart to do this, of course, as gift cards notoriously go unredeemed. Also there won't be the same record of lower price history as there would be if they slashed the prices directly.

Not sure if I would call this "tricky". Every business has to figure how much they can afford to discount and weigh the possible extra benefits -- increased volume, extra sales, extra visits, brand awareness, etc. Having a percentage of unredeemed coupons enables businesses to offer greater discounts to those that do take advantage.

To me, tricky is limiting when the coupons/gc's can be used, raising the prices during that term and spreading them out so that there is little value in them in discounting anything else.

Buy a $100 toy and get a $20 gift card back to use whenever and on whatever we want? Pretty straight forward to me.

jadeirene

The Superman set and Comanche Camp just went OOS. I had two of each in my cart and when I went to check out, they were OOS. =(

rocao

For me, the trickiness is running this type of promotion rather than offer a straight discount.

This mostly started with popular items like video game consoles, where resale price maintenance was probably in effect, but there's not the same pressure on a $10 LEGO set. I'll grant you that it's not "tricky" in the worst sense of deceit, but it is a ploy... and tricky is usually the adjective for that :P

Your perspective is that the % of gift cards that will go unclaimed are already factored into the promotion? To me, that's a pretty big leap of faith.

busumoe1

While it's true that retailers may bank on people not using their gift cards, in this case, I was thinking it's more about bringing customers back into your store.

I thought I read somewhere that there is a slight bounce in January, when shoppers are trying to use up the "Christmas" gift cards.

In order to get folks back into the stores, I can see why WM is willing to do such a steep cut with such a gift card deal. I think it backfired in this case since it'd likely deplete all of their physical gift cards. Or maybe there just not enough gift card accounts to satisfy all the orders?

prevere

The unsophisticated buyer will take that $5 gift card, go back to the store and drop $28.89 on other stuff. The sophisticated buyer on the other hand...

TheLoneTensor

^Will lose it.

Thanos75

I dont normally buy gift cards. Are you always charged tax when you buy one? If you get one of the gift cards and spend it yourself you end up paying tax on it twice , once when you buy it and again when you redeem it. Do I have that right?

EKSam

^ I don't think you are charged tax when you purchase a gift card.

ColoradoBricks

No, you do not pay taxes on GC. You only pay sale taxes when buy the item not the GC. It is like getting a $10 bill at the bank and using it to pay for an item.

gmpirate

rocao said:

For me, the trickiness is running this type of promotion rather than offer a straight discount.

There are obviously a million different scenarios for different kinds of discounts, coupons and promotions -- each having different effects. A good business will track the results of each promotion and observe what works best.

Would you rather have a $20 gift card for a future purchase or 10% off a $100 item? My suggestion is, you will get a greater discount by retail stores if they are given the "opportunity" for more repeat business. TRU is an example of being "tricky".

rocao said:

Your perspective is that the % of gift cards that will go unclaimed are already factored into the promotion? To me, that's a pretty big leap of faith.

The last I read, about 25% of gift cards go unused. That's a pretty good margin to allow factoring in. And its not a "leap of faith". I've been in retail my whole life and can tell you, it does factor in offsetting costs. Talk to any card processor or loyalty affiliate and they can give you the whole break down.

rocao

The leap of faith is more about how much savings you think cycles back to the consumer. I agree it's probably nonzero, but your hypothetical advances the notion that the promotion savings might be double due to gift cards. I think it'd be far short of that.

The trickiness is that Walmart benefits from the way most of our minds work.
In which of the following ways do you think most people think?

A. "The cost is $10 but I get a $5 gift card, so this is only costing me $5".

B. "The cost is $10 and I'm getting a $5 gift card. There's a 1% chance Walmart fails to send me the card. If they fail to send me the card, there's a 20% chance I forget or for some reason don't follow up on having them rectify it. If I receive the card, there's a 10% chance I lose it before I spend it. The whole time I'm sitting on the unused card, I will be paying interest on that $5 since I carry a revolving credit card balance or I could have earned 3% interest on that money instead. When I use it, there's a 12% chance that whatever I use it on was available somewhere else for cheaper and I would have bought it there were it not for the fact that I have these gift cards to spend. So this is costing me $10, and 88.6% of the time I will be getting $4.64-$4.28 back. The other times I might be getting far less."

I'm saying it's A, and in that scenario Walmart gets the FULL benefit of the savings perception without absorbing the full cost. Sure, the onus is on the consumer to make good on the gift card, but Walmart knows of the disparity between perception and reality, benefits from inflated sales figures, and materially gains by holding our money while the gift cards are unredeemed. Thus, tricky. Is it as deceitful as TRU rewards? No, not at all. I wasn't saying it was, but it's also not as magnanimous and consumer-friendly as it sounds like you are suggesting.

gmpirate

rocao said:

The leap of faith is more about how much savings you think cycles back to the consumer. I agree it's probably nonzero, but your hypothetical advances the notion that the promotion savings might be double due to gift cards. I think it'd be far short of that.

It could be double, triple or just 10% better. Just trying to illustrate my point :)

rocao said:

The trickiness is that Walmart benefits from the way most of our minds work.
In which of the following ways do you think most people think?

Sort of like selling something for 9.99 instead of 10? Psychology of advertising.

rocao said:

it's also not as magnanimous and consumer-friendly as it sounds like you are suggesting.

Not saying that. Walmart is a business, and the purpose of any business is to maximize profits.

I don't disagree with what you are saying in regards to the benefits Walmart, or any other business, derives. Really, I take issue with the word "tricky" as I feel that comment infers there is something nefarious going on. Walmart has made a straight forward offer and we as consumers can decide if it is a good deal or not. I fail to see how the benefits to Walmart have anything to do with making our own personal decision. Unless someone has a compelling argument to make to Walmart to sweeten the deal, it matters not how they make out.

TheLoneTensor

It's not nefarious, it's the fact that marketing looks at psychology and human nature and tries to manipulate/twist/brainwash the individual shopper to the maximum amount it can (by law, anyway). @rocao listed exactly why it's a great PR move to give out gift cards like this. The perception of discount far Far FAR outweighs the actual discount that is realized.

madforLEGO

It is smart on Walmart's part because another store cannot really price match this. You get the set for x dollars, but what really is the difference is you are getting a gift card as well, which also endorses someone spending more down the road at the same retailer.
Shrewd move by Walmart, and one I'm guessing other stores are likely to start doing to get around competitors trying to price match.