Bye, Bye, Geoffrey..
One of my fondest childhood memories is my dad taking me to Toy R Us. As a treat, or just for spectacle; whenever we went, it made my day. That was in the early to mid nineties. Fast forward nearly a decade, and my wife and I are taking our kids to the same store. For me, I felt the same energy, the same excitement and appreciation of a good toy. The wonder for me, as an adult was seeing the expression of excitement of my children’s faces. I knew, they were getting the same treatment I did as a child.
So, I hurt just like the rest of the world when we found out that the toy store giant was closing. It was no surprise to me; being in business for the amount of time I have, I can notice certaint trends. And it was evident that the big box store was not doing their due diligence to remain relevant in today’s market.
Why Toy’s R Us closed..
Here are my thoughts, yet simple I believe they are poignant. I believe there are a few simple reasons as to why the very popular store saw its demise, and these are lessons I think we can all learn.
Amazon/ accesibility
I tend to think we like to blame Amazon for everything… And, in most cases we are correct in thinking that. Amazon and Jeff Bezos came in like a wrecking ball, demolishing everything in sight. Key to their supremacy over stores like Toy’s R Us were pricing and convinience.
I looked up a Captain America toy, from the Marvel movies. In the store, it’s priced around $21.99, not including tax. However on Amazon, it’s priced at $19.99, not including shipping and handling. There is the punch line here, the number one reason parent, grandparent and the like shifted their devotion from Toy R Us and other big retailers… Convinience.
Amazon will ship to you, Toy R Us will S well; but user interface of heir website lacks ability to simply type in what you’re looking for and have that item shipped to any Amazon shipping station that’s closest to you.
No matter how romantic we are with the idea of walking down the aisles and feeling this sense of nostalgia, it’s not necessary for everyone else. Most people want access. You have to consider the time when Toys R Us was most popular; the 80’s and 90’s. A lot has changed since then. Parents are busier and need to get things done quick, fast and in a jippy (can’t believe I just said jippy).
This brings me to my second reasoning behind Geoffrey closing..
They did not meet current needs of consumer..
One thing you will always hear in business is that the customer is always right.. So is the case here. The new age parent works, has school they have to attend all while picking Johnny up and dropping him off at the babysitter. The parent today looks drastically different from the parent of the 1980’s and 1990’s. Less parents are spending time at home; and it could be for a number of different reasons. But when you get right down to it; Toys R Us failed at meeting those needs of their customers.
New generation
Lastly, we are looking at a new generation. A generation that may not be as familiar with the talking giraffe as we were growing up. But what did Toys R Us do to make sure their reputation lasted longer than the generation that grew up with them. It comes down to one word. Legacy… If you ask my wife and those close to me, they’ll let you know that this has been a major topic for me as of late. I’m really interested in solidifying my legacy and leaving a mark to be remembered by those that come after me. It seems as if, Geoffrey and his board of directors were not too concerned with that. They were more concerned with bottom line numbers, which caused them to lose the fan base and future fan base that came to fall in love with them. This makes me ask the question to you; budding business owners and entrepreneurs. How are you ensuring that your name or brand is remembered? Because no matter how successful you are today. What matters is if people are still talking about you tomorrow.
That’s it for my rant, if you need more of me ranting about business and all things in between follow me on social. Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat @dezimonalicea. Or if you need help and just want someone to bounce ideas off of; let me know.
