Play It Safe at Home, or Take a Risk Abroad

Case study «Play it safe at home, or take a risk abroad» analysis

Coe’s is a big lease-to-own chain in U.S., which has been established by Terry Windham from 1950’s from investing $600 in 32 chairs to rent out to auction. Starting from this the business expanded to party equipment and sickroom gear and later on in 1970’s it is oriented on furniture and the household goods. Stan Windham, a CEO of Coe’s chain and the son of Terry, has opened the 1,000’s store in South Tucson.

Not looking for a market saturation, such as Mr. Rental and Walmart, the company doing great as it is differ from them. Unlike its competitors, Coe’s is accented on ownership offering a monthly payment schedule and a shorter contract period, as well as free delivery of items and free repairs. The policy of a chain is to train Coe’s managers in way that they only approve lease agreements only for people who could afford the payments. The policy of a company to identify customers who were not aware about renting-to-own before, but though he economy has a recession, were afraid about committing a big-ticket items at once. Another things, which make Coe’s chain more attractive to customers is that, in case they couldn’t afford to make payments, it is possible to resume the contract with no penalties whenever the financial situation improved.

The situation is that investors want the Coe’s chain to grow. One expansion which was rather successfully done in the 1990’s into Canada and there are over 100 stores now. But they have one failed expansion into Puerto Rico a several years ago. It was a bad experience as many customers took products and did not make their payment so that managers can’t find them. After that a Coe’s share price had plunged so that time before to take any decision it is necessary to think twice.