K-Mart Offers Discounts to the Unemployed

Today, the word is out that unemployment has reached 9.5% . As the unemployment rate inches toward 10%, many are wondering what to do, and how they will cope. For the unemployed in Michigan (which has the highest unemployment in the country), help may be coming a little sooner. K-Mart plans to offer discounts to those who are on the unemployment rolls .

For those who can show that they are registered with the government as unemployed, K-Mart will provide a “Smart Assist Savings” card. This card will be valid for six months, and will offer 20% savings on K-Mart brand products . While the offer won’t apply to everything in the K-Mart store, discounts on already discounted labels are likely to help — and may even lure customers back to the store. Douglas McIntrye offers this look at the strategy in 24/7 Wall Street :

The new savings package is not completely selfless. K-Mart caters to the lower end of the middle classes, a segment of the economy that has been especially hard hit as corporations cut costs. K-Mart has probably lost many of its customers completely and believes that the new incentives will bring these people back .

Even with the alterior motive, the savings program is a nice touch during these tough economic times. Michigan was probably chosen due to the fact that before K-Mart merged with Sears, Troy, Michigan was its headquarters. If things go well in Michigan, K-Mart could roll out the program to other markets .

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