Did Amazon kill Toys"R"Us?
- Thread starter Krow
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Poor decisions from previous higher ups that left the company adding tons of debt. Their prices were far too high as well, no one is going to buy toys for such a high price. Video games, smart phone games and VR are far more popular than toys and they last longer too. Lastly people are having far less children now, and the ones that are having children can't afford to purchase the toys from Toys R us.
Castle
Ch!ld0fV!si0n
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As a major competitor Amazon does put the squeeze on brick and mortar retailers, but the b&m retailers are also to blame.
Going out to the store is often more hassle than it's worth. The major difference between internet and b&m shopping is service. Online there is no service, but many major retailers offer shoddy service at best. Take Best Buy's GeekSquad, for instance. It is common knowledge that these guys don't know what they're doing and many consumers report them behaving arrogantly. Retailers just don't put their employees up to high standards anymore. Hardly anyone does, really. Employment has become a revolving door with high turn around. Employers pay their employees cheaply, treat them poorly and offer little incentive to do well because they know that as soon as one quits or is fired another is lining up to take their place. This translates into poor customer service.
With online retailers the only customer service consumers risk dealing with is if there is something wrong with their order. Better to roll the dice and hope everything goes well online than put up with the guarantee of having to deal with cashiers, store clerks, returns, long lines, congested parking, and other shoppers at retail.
Also, until recently online retailers selling in the United States were not subjected to sales tax which gave them a huge advantage. All customers had to pay was shipping. But the recent internet sales tax has leveled the playing field and shipping prices are astronomical now.
Going out to the store is often more hassle than it's worth. The major difference between internet and b&m shopping is service. Online there is no service, but many major retailers offer shoddy service at best. Take Best Buy's GeekSquad, for instance. It is common knowledge that these guys don't know what they're doing and many consumers report them behaving arrogantly. Retailers just don't put their employees up to high standards anymore. Hardly anyone does, really. Employment has become a revolving door with high turn around. Employers pay their employees cheaply, treat them poorly and offer little incentive to do well because they know that as soon as one quits or is fired another is lining up to take their place. This translates into poor customer service.
With online retailers the only customer service consumers risk dealing with is if there is something wrong with their order. Better to roll the dice and hope everything goes well online than put up with the guarantee of having to deal with cashiers, store clerks, returns, long lines, congested parking, and other shoppers at retail.
Also, until recently online retailers selling in the United States were not subjected to sales tax which gave them a huge advantage. All customers had to pay was shipping. But the recent internet sales tax has leveled the playing field and shipping prices are astronomical now.
Rubik
King of Lorule Lounge
Toys R Us was killed by a leveraged buyout. The company that bought it paid for most of the aquisition with loans and the interest payments on the loans caused the company to bleed out while the company that bought them profited by charging them consulting fees.
If they hadn't been bought out, they'd be operating at a mild deficit. Factoring out their interest payments on the buyout, the company wasn't honestly doing that bad by the end.
If they hadn't been bought out, they'd be operating at a mild deficit. Factoring out their interest payments on the buyout, the company wasn't honestly doing that bad by the end.
I don't play with toys anymore so I didn't frequent Toys R Us before the end. But many retailers are closing because they did not prepare themselves to survive in the modern world. Its not the fault of the online stores like Amazon for providing a service people find more convenient or cheaper. Most things come in packets anyway and you cant play with them so why not look at it online and get it delivered rather than going all the way to Toys R Us
The stores doing really well at the moment are the ones that offer a service and experience you can't get online. Barbers, cafes, certain restaurants, some clothes stores. I know Lush is doing well here which is a British cosmetics chain where you can smell all the different bath bombs and soaps in store. Its amazing in there. And the staff are always really friendly. Which is probably due to the incredible aroma of the store they are working in. That sort of thing you can't get online.
The stores doing really well at the moment are the ones that offer a service and experience you can't get online. Barbers, cafes, certain restaurants, some clothes stores. I know Lush is doing well here which is a British cosmetics chain where you can smell all the different bath bombs and soaps in store. Its amazing in there. And the staff are always really friendly. Which is probably due to the incredible aroma of the store they are working in. That sort of thing you can't get online.
Cfrock
Keep it strong
Toys R Us was largely ruined by high level financial mistakes. The Company Man did a good video on it, which I've put below.