Toys R Us was very popular at its peak and children who used to shop at the time are now adults with their own children who may very well look back on Toys R Us with a great fondness. However, will they be satisfied with online shopping to honour their nostalgia or will they opt for cheaper options? While Toys R Us dominated the toy industry in its heyday, there are now numerous, potentially cheaper, alternatives today such as Smyths, The Entertainer and online markets such as Amazon and eBay.

I spoke to Shivani Patel, a business student, to get her input on the opening of Toys R Us as an online shop.
 

How do you think Toys R Us will fare economically as an online shop?
“In my opinion, Toys R Us may be able to succeed online. This is because the internet plays a huge role in today’s dynamic and also due to the pandemic, there has been an increase of people working from home etc. meaning they wouldn’t have enough time to visit stores and being online is much more efficient and easier.”
 

Do you think toys r us will be a worthy competitor of the other businesses in the toy industry?
“As Toys R Us has been in the toy industry for quite some time, there is a probability of Toys R Us being a worthy competitor against other toy businesses like for example The Entertainer. This is because Toys R Us has quite a bit of experience operating in the toy industry. However, as Toys R Us did go through some financial issues and not gaining enough profit for the business to succeed led it to fail and become bankrupt, it could be difficult for the business to gain profits in which they were originally making as the business was not able to keep up with the social trends and changes the business world was going through.”

From a business point of view, what do you think Toys R Us need to do to set them apart?
“I believe to make Toys R Us stand out and be different from other toy businesses, they will need to use different marketing strategies, more advertisement (to increase their image) and also making new and unique products that will appeal to young children. In order to develop an effective marketing strategy, Toys R Us needs to create a marketing plan and outline their main goals and objectives to ensure business success. Without a plan, there is a likelihood that Toys R Us could become insolvent.”
 

Toys r us has been closed for a long period of time, do you think nostalgia will be enough to spark and maintain customer interest?

“Toys R Us is fortunate to have a very strong brand that people can identify with and there is indeed an element of nostalgia that is in their favour, but you cannot build a long term business model on nostalgia. Toys R Us must remember why they went bankrupt, and it was due to an outdated business model and an unwillingness to move with changes in the market, mainly the rapid growth in internet shopping, with behemoths like Amazon undercutting pretty much all of retail.

The most important thing to ensure Toys R Us maintains customer interest is not just from nostalgia, but from providing a good service, an easy to use intuitive website, competitive prices and advertising. Using nostalgia to bring customers to their website will amount to nothing if their website is slow and frustrating to use and/or their prices are too high. With the convenience that the internet brings, customers will very quickly go to another store.”

As it’s an online store only, do you think it will have the same success as the physical store?
“There could be a possibility of Toys R Us having a great deal of success being online as many stores etc. are e-commerce at this current time. Before, Toys R Us was not able to keep up with the different social trends and changes of business which ultimately did leave the business bankrupt. However, now, they have decided to become an online retailer which could result to an increase in sales and revenue, which will benefit them hugely.”

There are many different aspects to a large company like Toys R us but hopefully they have learnt from their mistakes and can aspire to achieve their previous success as an online shop. There are many things that could go wrong but there are also many new tactics and strategies that can entice customers in the business industry, if executed proficiently. Will Toys R Us fare well or will it be a final farewell? Only time will tell.