Business 2.0 reports that Toys R Us, struggling to remain relevant to consumers in a market where Wal-Mart owns 40 percent of the nation's holiday toy sales, is using its decades-old jingle - "I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys R Us kid" - in television and radio commercials to remind shoppers of its long tradition.
Invoking memories, according to the magazine, is just the latest strategy employed by the toy retailer. Facing a situation in which surveys show that Wal-Mart's prices are more than five percent lower on "top 50 toys," Toys R Us has responded with its own price cuts, coupon books, and efficiency-oriented moves such as closing down Kids R Us stores and the Imaginarium educational toy chain.
Ironically, one of the few bright spots for Toys R Us has been its online business - which is run by Amazon.com. If you remember, the online business was a disaster a few years ago for the company when it took a lot of orders that it didn’t fulfill before Christmas. After that, it made a deal with Amazon, one that has appeared to pay off.
Invoking memories, according to the magazine, is just the latest strategy employed by the toy retailer. Facing a situation in which surveys show that Wal-Mart's prices are more than five percent lower on "top 50 toys," Toys R Us has responded with its own price cuts, coupon books, and efficiency-oriented moves such as closing down Kids R Us stores and the Imaginarium educational toy chain.
Ironically, one of the few bright spots for Toys R Us has been its online business - which is run by Amazon.com. If you remember, the online business was a disaster a few years ago for the company when it took a lot of orders that it didn’t fulfill before Christmas. After that, it made a deal with Amazon, one that has appeared to pay off.
- KC's View:
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The only problem with the nostalgia-oriented use of the old jingle is that Toys R Us is counting on it evoking pleasant, warm memories. It makes us think of crowded stores, crummy sales help, and an element of holiday seasons past that we'd rather forget.
Forget Toys R Us. Forget Wal-Mart. We're using Amazon.com this year, as we have every year for the past several.
By the way…
That wasn't a mistake above when we used virtually the same phrase to describe two different companies.
Who would have thought a couple of years ago that we'd use the phrase "one of the new bright spots is the online business" when describing companies such as Safeway and Toys R Us - and on the very same day. It shows, we think, that there is tremendous vitality and innovation happening in the online segment…and that maybe retailers need to figure out how to transfer that to their brick and mortar operations.
