PLAY TIME ON WEB

Toy firms chase $

Who needs Toys ‘R’ Us when you have the Web?

Hasbro and scores of other toy makers are trying to fill the gap left by toy giant Toys ‘R’ Us’s bankruptcy by selling their dolls, action figures, and teddy bears directly to consumers.

Hasbro just last week launched a new e-commerce site where shoppers can find exclusive merchandise — like the set of 14 princesses from Disney’s “Ralph Breaks the Internet” movie, for $199.

It’s only available on Hasbro’s new Pulse Web site, along with roughly 100 other toys shoppers can pre-order before they are available in physical stores.

“We are rethinking the way we go to market,” Scott Stroud, Hasbro’s vice president of e-commerce and direct-to-consumer businesses, told The Post. “We have the ability to provide the quality, access and make sure that this is the premier way to buy” Hasbro products, he said.

Toys ‘R’ Us made up 14 percent of the market before it liquidated its stores last year. Its collapse has left toy makers with fewer sales options, including limited shelf space at stores like Walmart and Target — all of which helped drag down sales this past holiday season.

The industry also doesn’t want to be limited to the whims of Walmart, Target and other large retailers who might not order enough of their products, especially during the crucial holiday period, experts said.

“If Walmart, Target or Amazon runs out of an item at the end of the year, there’s no way to get it to them that late,” said Chief Executive Jay Foreman of toy maker Basic Fun. “But we don’t want to miss that sale, so if we have merchandise in our own warehouses, that’s one way to get the product out.”

In addition to Hasbro, other large toy manufacturers are also selling directly to customers, including Spin Master, Lego and Funko.

Mattel has taken its wares online with a site that offers merchandise aimed at collectors, including a Barbie Signature line and hard-tofind Hot Wheels products.

The site sells annual memberships for between $19.95 to $34.95 in exchange for access to limited edition dolls like the Andy Warhol Barbie for $52.50 or a Selma DuPar James doll for $41.99.

Hasbro’s new site also offers a $50 membership program, which includes free shipping for a year and access to flash sales and perks at conventions.

“We are still working out the details about what people get for the $50,” Stroud said.

Mattel and other toy makers, including Basic Fun, the maker of Lite-Brite, also are looking to boost sales by building dedicated retail shops with Amazon.

These fledgling online stores are another way for toy manufacturers to “control their own distribution and to build demand for their products outside the discounters,” said a toy expert with knowledge of these plans who did not want to be identified.

“If you don’t get the placement in Walmart or Target that you want, you turn to the internet,” Jim Silver, president of toy review Web site TTPM, told The Post.

Those retailers might carry between 2,500 and 3,000 toys in their stores, compared with the 5,000 sold in a typical Toys ‘R’ Us store, Silver said.