Title: The Demise of Toys R Us: What Went Wrong
Headings: What Went Wrong: The Demise of Toys R Us
Marketing
What Went Wrong: The Demise of Toys R Us
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Knowledge@Wharton High School

Content: Kids spend way more time playing online video games. You don’t have to go to a Toys R Us store for those. In addition, the shopping experience has moved online, and Toys R Us hasn’t been the strongest in that area. Competitors like Amazon, Walmart and Target have been very strong online, so that also added to the difficulties.” The Amazon Factor
Knowledge@Wharton High School
Though Toys R Us’s business was eroded by big box “everything” retailers like Walmart, Target and Costco, Amazon dealt the chain some particularly tough blows, said Kahn, who is author of the upcoming book, The Shopping Revolution: How Successful Retailers Win Customers in an Era of Endless Disruption. “Amazon changed customers’ expectations about convenience, particularly millennial parents who were a prime segment for Toys R Us,” Kahn said. “ These parents became Prime members and got used to the convenience of ordering online.” At least part of the damage was, in a way, self-inflicted. In 2000, Toys R Us launched a 10-year partnership with Amazon, in which it paid the e-commerce giant $50 million a year plus a percentage of sales to be Amazon’s exclusive seller of toys and baby products.