One year ago this week, Toys “R” Us closed its doors in the U.S., ending a 70-year run as “The World’s Biggest Toy Store.” While the company continues to live on in Canada and other territories, most toymakers and consumers in the States have moved on. Even when Tru Kids Brands gets its U.S. Toys “R” Us revival off the ground (it just relaunched e-commerce in Australia), they’ll be joining everyone else in trying to capture a piece of the nearly $12 billion pie that was left behind when Geoffrey locked the doors for the last time. The eCommerce Toy Story — a new report from Profitero — crunches the numbers on where the customers have gone, and provides insight into how toymakers and distributors can adapt to capture business in the Amazon-dominated marketplace.
A May 2019 consumer survey conducted by Profitero reveals that 62% of consumers in the U.S. prefer to shop for toys online, and 77% of them begin their search on Amazon — which is essentially becoming “the Google” for toys and games. Of the U.S. consumers who purchased toys from Toys “R” Us in the past year, Walmart became the go-to retailer, followed by Amazon and Target. In the UK, which also saw the closure of Toys “R” Us, Amazon is now the number one destination for toys, followed by Argos and Smyths Toys.
Beyond the wealth of data, the report offers best practices for selling on Amazon and preparing for specific key dates, including Prime Day and Black Friday. The report notes that interactive content is driving toy sales, with video on product pages resulting in a 55% bump in average shelf life, and nearly half of all shoppers (48%) search for video when shopping for toys online. Additionally, search engine optimization (SEO) is key, as 70% of shoppers may not click past the first page of results.
The full report from Profitero is available for download here.