Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NASDAQ:$WMT) saw slower sales growth industry-wide last December and has since struggled to pick up this year. The company implemented its holiday layaway program as it hopes to see an early cash-in.

The world’s largest retailer initially started the layaway program on Sept. 1st, a day before it did last year where customers are able to pay as little as $10 to hold items worth a minimum of $50.

The layaway program is paramount to the overall percentage of holiday revenues at Wal-Mart stores in poorer regions in the U.S, having accounted for 15% last year.

Wal-Mart also released Star Wars products at its stores on Sept 1. This is expected to elevate sales due to the strength of the Star Wars franchise. Specifically, the store has increased inventory at a variety of price points this year.

According to data collected by the NPD Group, the U.S. toy industry increased 5.5% between January-November 2016, but slowed down to only 3% in December. The annual 2016 growth ended up at 5%, a decrease from 2015’s 6.7%.

Further, this number continues to dwindle in 2017.

Who’s the culprit? Video Games, and Youtube videos have taken the place of traditional toys by offering digitized experiences for the modern consumer.

Featured Image: twitter