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Toys R Us to launch its online store

Toys R Us Australia  has taken the leap  and announced the launch of their online store  bringing them more in line with their American counterparts which sport a feature rich ecommerce website. Created by Citrus digital marketing agency the Toys R Us website is designed to make large, hard-to-stock outdoor toys such as trampolines, swimming pools etc available online during the coming summer sales rush and open up a profitable sales channel but where are the toys?

For Toys R Us, the site represents a smarter approach to in-store merchandising and an opportunity to reach the 6.7 million Australians that have bought a product or service online in the last 12 months. The site will also enable the retailer to market more effectively off the site and open up its products to a new market space not currently reached by its bricks-and-mortar stores.

Vistors to the site may be disappointed to find that none of the ranges of toys, games and other items commonly found inside Toys R Us stores are on offer on the site. Perhaps there is a strategic reason for this besides being very costly to set up, the competition in toys is intense and may not make sense at this stage.

Only large outdoor type products are available from the site at this point in time. This being said, there is a respectable range of outdoor equipment available just in time for summer. We tested the "Do you deliver to my area " feature, and very quickly found out that goods are only deliverable to Eastern seaboard states. We further tested some Melbourne suburbs, and were interested to find for example  that delivery is possible to 3163 (Bentleigh and surrounds) but is not deliverable to 3173 (Keysborough and surrounds) which is about 16 km away. We inspected Toys R Us sites proximities and found store locations at Chadstone and Frankston both relatively close to these respective areas so why is one area open to delivery and the other not, unless drop shipping from the supplier is being used? Freight charges of $25 seemed reasonable for a $500 trampoline to the 3163 postcode and were relatively transparent and easy to find during the order process.

Follows is the official media release.  We’ll try and contact the team at Citrus to get a heads up on the digital strategy, fulfilment strategy and technical back end shortly.

30 September 2009

Toys “R” Us plays in ecommerce space

Leading toy retailer Toys “R” Us Australia has engaged digital marketing agency Citrus to launch a new online brand destination with ecommerce capabilities focused on hard-to-stock outdoor products in time for the summer sales rush.

Digital marketing agency Citrus, digital partner to the retailer’s Australian operations, secured the brief to revamp the website to create a highly profitable sales channel, market more effectively off the site and open up its products to a new market space not currently reached by its bricks-and-mortar stores.

Toys “R” Us, globally headquartered in the US, has more than 30 stores across Australia supported by a Sydney-based marketing team.

Targeting mums with kids aged 4-12 - the majority who live within 15 kilometres of a store - Toys “R” US aims to expand its customer base and capitalise on the growing number of Australians shopping online. Around 6.7 million, or 38% of Australians bought a product or service online in the last 12 months, according to a recent Roy Morgan report.

Going live 1 October, the first phase of the site will focus on the sale of about 100 outdoor product lines in high demand over the summer months such as pools, slides, and bikes. The site also features the online catalogue, gift cards and the VIP program.

Citrus CEO Peter Noble said, “The digital solution fulfils a key business need to free up in-store floor space and provides a richer shopping experience for big outdoor products that can’t be displayed in-store.