Well, that is certainly a major contributing factor for Toys R Us’ demise.
people are questioning what went wrong for the once mighty, culturally emblematic business.
The inability to accept EBT cards for toy purchases?
Over the past decade or more, Toys R Us would rarely have “sales”, and often, their “sales” were “buy 2 get one free” for the same type of toys.
This seemed to be the strategy, even during Christmas shopping season. We never needed THREE of the same type of toy, and probably no one else did, either. It discouraged us from even looking there, until we got in the habit of just ordering most toys online. If they had tried other “sale” efforts, such as $10 off a $30 purchase, or 20% off anything.... etc., we would have been much more likely to shop there.
We have also found different and high-quality toys at Barnes & Noble.
We will not miss Toys R Us.
My daughter told my seven year-old grandson that Toys R Us going out of business. He said "No wonder their toys are way too expensive!".
He concluded that after receiving a 20 dollar gift card but was only able to afford one "toy".
When i was young, I played with toys
kids now play video games
No doubt, they are correct... demographic decline is the macro-trend that most hurt them. But, in the end...it was their own inability to adapt that put them out of business. The birth rate decline was highly predictable.
Another factor that I think has hurt them is: The rise of “toy recycling”. Google “Little Treasures”.... I don’t think my wife will EVER pay full price for a child’s toy again. She gets things at this sale that are practically brand new (many still in original packaging) for >75-80% discount.
Combine that with the rise of internet sales (Which, Toys ‘R Us did NOT embrace)... and, you have a dead company.
Toys R Us always gave off a creepy vibe. I didn’t like going there as a kid and as a young father. The entrance and exit doors were far apart from each other and you had to walk through a phalanx of short wood walls, kind of like cattle. Inside the store layout forced you to go through certain areas to get to the area you wanted.
I won’t miss it.
Kanye West is in talks to Buy it and rebrand it as “We Be Toys &Chit”
Declining birth rate?
My wife and I did all we could to fight that off!
On line sales had nothing to do with it…right.
Amazon and internet shopping has a lot to do with it, likely more so than the birthrate.
Blame, Blame, Blame. Toys R Us made the mistake that most big chains do. They sacrificed uniqueness and instead chose all mainstream toys. They didn’t have anyone readily available to talk about the child you’re purchasing for and what they might enjoy. As a result, people buying toys for children go to smaller stores with an individual touch to find interesting toys for children. For the generic mass-produced stuff, they’ll buy it online. It’s cheaper, it’s delivered to your door, and it hasn’t been mauled in a retail environment.
How was their online presence, pricing and delivery? Did they compete online with Amazon for toys (where they should have had a volume pricing advantage)? I’m guessing no.
Toys R Us demise was caused by stupidity because it supported the murder of it’s own customer base (Planned Parenthood)!
Competition. Capitalism. Consumer preferences.
You don’t adapt, you die. It’s that simple.
Population was only one factor.
1. The “birth rate factor” has been in the handwriting on the wall for quite some time, since they peaked in the 1990s, but maybe Toys R Us bricks and mortar footprint did not shrink as fast as the birth rates declined. In fact it expanded all through the decade from the 1990s into early 2000s.
2. Bain Capital did not “rescue” Toys R Us. Toys R Us would have been better off with major strategic downsizing and not all the debt Bain’s “leveraged buyout” placed into the company. Debt service is an issue with a pile-on affect to birth-rate-driven declines in revenue. When capital is needed for restructuring due to declining birth rates, Toys R Us is saddled with higher debt costs (to Bain) than its competitors.
3. Has the online partnership with Amazon helped or hurt Toys R Us? Whose been profiting most from it?
Lastly. 1. The “holiday season” represents a HUGE percentage of toy sales annually. The buyer and current owner of the K B Toys store brand is looking at stepping into the loss of Toys R Us with “pop-up” stores that can come and go seasonally. 2. Electronics have eaten more than many thought into “Toy” sales. I see more and more kids at younger and younger ages getting electronic games and equipment as gifts, and a lot of it sold in stores like Best Buy and others. 3. Toy sales as whole are NOT “down”, they have increased even if slower than previous years. That also points to Toys R Us problems being a lot more than the birth rate.
Does anyone remember the 5&10 cent stores? Simple toys on the cheap, and lots of them. It was my guilty pleasure as a kid.
I’m surprised they didn’t try to blame climate change.
Schwinn bicycles went into a steep decline moving into the 70s, but they were saved somewhat when the bike riding craze took place in the 80s. They now make more adult bikes than kids bikes.
Gerber baby food also felt the pinch and so in order to stay afloat with their investors they branched out into insurance.
I often think of what our country would have been like had we not been trying to control births through pills and abortion.
One thing is for sure, we would have no jobs for foreigners to take away from our native-born citizens.
Kimberly-Clark. (Disposable diapers) downsizing citing same reason