Tips for holiday toy shopping
NEW YORK — Want the holiday season’s hottest toys? Or maybe you want a retro game. Whatever the goal, with some holiday toys already in stores, shoppers may want to start planning their strategy.
That may mean buying the most popular toys whenever you can and focusing on deals afterward. After its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, Toys R Us has promised business as usual, though there could be some wrinkles if nervous suppliers hold back on shipments.
“If you are looking at the top 100 toys, you need to buy it earlier than later,” said Jim Silver, editor-in-chief of TTPM, an online toy review site. “If you are looking for a classic board game, you can shop later.”
The site offers shoppers information on the inventory of particular toys by store and also offers price comparison of toys.
Silver says that several toys like Spin Master's Luvabella, an interactive baby doll, and BB-8, a toy droid inspired by the Star Wars movie series, are hard to get right now.
The good news: A wider variety of stores are expanding their toy offerings. For example, J.C. Penney in the United States has opened toy sections this fall in all 875 stores that will be open year-round.
And while some hot holiday toys run close to US$200, there are plenty that are affordable like WowWee’s Fingerlings, interactive monkey figures that sell for $14.99. Some tips for toy shopping this year: GET THE HOT TOYS EARLY: Try shopping online because in a few clicks you can search such sites as Walmart, Toys R Us and Amazon to find out quickly if the item is available, Silver says. Also, it’s good to follow retailers on Twitter, where some post when they get in their next order of certain hot toys in the final weeks before Christmas.
KNOW WHEN THE SALES ARE: If you can afford to wait, stores offer toy discounts of up to 50 per cent and also bundle toy deals during the Black Friday weekend. But the best time to get deals on basic toys is two weeks before Christmas, when toys are discounted up to 70 per cent, according to DealNews.com, a deal comparison website. Take advantage of deal trackers. With CamelCamelCamel.com, shoppers can set up alerts when the price of an item falls to a certain level. It also offers a price history of all products sold on Amazon.
Overall, Amazon.com offers the lowest toy prices, with Walmart a close second, according to Lindsay Sakraida, director of content marketing for the DealNews site.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF LAYAWAY: Walmart kicked off its layaway service in the U.S. in September and customers have until Dec. 11 to pay off their account. As in past years, there's no opening fee to start a layaway account but customers need to put down 10 per cent or $10, whichever is greater.
EMBRACE SERVICES: Most stores now offer pickup services inside the store for online shoppers.