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Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores

bloomberg.com

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Re: Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores

#11

Post by vinhboy »

I think Amazon should do it.

I personally believe Toys R Us just missed an opportunity to run a proper business. They have a ton of retail space, but every time I've been there, it's run like Walmart. Shit everywhere, no one to help you find anything, etc...

There's nothing suburban parents like me want more than an indoor play space for my kid (for extremely hot or cold days). If they properly utilized their store and made it more like a play space, I would bring my kid there every weekend.

Right now I am paying money to go to those "kids museum". Why didn't Toys R Us think to capitalize on that market?

Also, if they had people to playfully demo the toys to my kid, I am pretty sure we would buy way more toys instead of just leaving frustrated because we can't find what we wanted.

Re: Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores

#12

Post by libria »

empath75 wrote: post #6

> Additional stores would give Amazon space to showcase its popular Echo line of devices, which run on the Alexa voice-activated platform. I'm pretty sure they're not going to buy a big box retailer to jam a bunch of echos into it.

They already have one in Seattle with a large section dedicated to Echos and Kindles, so it's not without precedent for them.

Now why an ecommerce giant is retrogressing to brick and mortar I can't imagine.

Re: Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores

#14

Post by tonyedgecombe »

vinhboy wrote: post #11

I think Amazon should do it. I personally believe Toys R Us just missed an opportunity to run a proper business. They have a ton of retail space, but every time I've been there, it's run like Walmart. Shit everywhere, no one to help you find anything, etc... There's nothing suburban parents like me want more than an indoor play space for my kid (for extremely hot or cold days). If they properly utilized their store a…

Shit everywhere, no one to help you find anything, etc...

It would fit right in with Amazons style of business then.

Re: Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores

#15

Post by CodeCube »

libria wrote: post #12
empath75 wrote: post #6

> Additional stores would give Amazon space to showcase its popular Echo line of devices, which run on the Alexa voice-activated platform. I'm pretty sure they're not going to buy a big box retailer to jam a bunch of echos into it.

They already have one in Seattle with a large section dedicated to Echos and Kindles, so it's not without precedent for them. Now why an ecommerce giant is retrogressing to brick and mortar I can't imagine.

It's just an additional sales channel ... if they can have a place where a) people can go to physically preview inventory, and b) can go to immediately obtain merchandise when they can't wait for it.

Additionally, it can help to simplify logistics ... if there are more locations where they person can go pick up their package rather than having to deliver it, surely that can be a boon to their operations.

Re: Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores

#16

Post by slouch »

libria wrote: post #12
empath75 wrote: post #6

> Additional stores would give Amazon space to showcase its popular Echo line of devices, which run on the Alexa voice-activated platform. I'm pretty sure they're not going to buy a big box retailer to jam a bunch of echos into it.

They already have one in Seattle with a large section dedicated to Echos and Kindles, so it's not without precedent for them. Now why an ecommerce giant is retrogressing to brick and mortar I can't imagine.

So they can same-day-deliver to my house in [not a big city].

Re: Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores

#17

Post by MadBohr »

vinhboy wrote: post #11

I think Amazon should do it. I personally believe Toys R Us just missed an opportunity to run a proper business. They have a ton of retail space, but every time I've been there, it's run like Walmart. Shit everywhere, no one to help you find anything, etc... There's nothing suburban parents like me want more than an indoor play space for my kid (for extremely hot or cold days). If they properly utilized their store a…

It's important to note that a lot of the failure of Toys R Us has to do with private equity buyout rather than a poor business model. Of course, their business model was flawed, but remember that Toys R Us was bought in 2005, and the toy market was MUCH simpler back then. Amazon was hardly the player it is now. The private equity firm then loaded them up with crippling debt. Move forward a few years, and enter Amazon et al, and market situations shifted drastically. Toys R Us, loaded with debt from the private equity buyout, could not invest in their own infrastructure and improvements. Even if they had the perfect business model to capitalize on, they would have no cash to execute, and regardless, they would be forced to bankruptcy. In this case, they had so much debt that they couldn't escape chapter 11 and had to resort to chapter 7. And so it goes.

Re: Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores

#18

Post by gedy »

vinhboy wrote: post #11

I think Amazon should do it. I personally believe Toys R Us just missed an opportunity to run a proper business. They have a ton of retail space, but every time I've been there, it's run like Walmart. Shit everywhere, no one to help you find anything, etc... There's nothing suburban parents like me want more than an indoor play space for my kid (for extremely hot or cold days). If they properly utilized their store a…

Issue is, a company does that and then parents still search and buy the toy for cheaper on Amazon from their phone.

I have family members who run a small retail store with excellent inventory and service, and they barely scrape by due to people show rooming. They are not in toys, but they simply cannot compete on price, as Amazon, etc sells it cheaper than they can buy from the suppliers.

Re: Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores

#19

Post by jpindar »

CodeCube wrote: post #10
jgh wrote: post #5

On the topic of toy stores / toy store innovation, that American Girl doll store is insane. My wife and I went there to buy a doll for our friend's daughter for Christmas and holy hell is that place busy / kinda weird. It's like a Bloomingdale's or something for dolls. Kids can even sign up for "doll spas" and bring their dolls in to have their hair and nails done and stuff. Obviously I don't really get it because I'…

This is part of the reason that IMO a lot of retail is failing ... customers don't want or need a static display of inventory; they can easily get that from their already-installed Amazon app. Retail needs to evolve to be an event destination ... a place that gives the consumer a _reason_ to get out of the house and go there. A place where they can experience something other than just simple consumption. Obviously, n…

Radio Shack should have tried to evolve into maker spaces rather than cell phone stores.

Re: Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores

#20

Post by aswanson »

vinhboy wrote: post #11

I think Amazon should do it. I personally believe Toys R Us just missed an opportunity to run a proper business. They have a ton of retail space, but every time I've been there, it's run like Walmart. Shit everywhere, no one to help you find anything, etc... There's nothing suburban parents like me want more than an indoor play space for my kid (for extremely hot or cold days). If they properly utilized their store a…

Youre right. There's something unclean and bad about the aesthetics...its like stuck in the 1980s. They need someone that can redesign and modernize it. Whoever did that work for Target would probably know what precisely to do.
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