Toys R more than Us
Stores of all kinds battling for a bigger share of market shattered by bankruptcy filing
Following the demise of Toys R Us, stores of all kinds are battling for bigger share of holiday market.
Eva Luna Medina scanned the Walmart toy shelves and pointed to the Baby Born doll, an realistic toy infant that can eat, cry and even go to the bathroom. Her father, Nicolas, asked, “You want this one?”
“Yes,” the 6-year-old girl replied, nodding her head.
“OK, let’s take a picture so we can tell Santa this is what you want,” Medina, 50, said, snapping a photo on his cell phone using a Santa messaging app. “I will send it to Santa.”
Although Christmas is more than a month away, some Houston-area parents and grandparents have already started shopping for children’s gifts, hoping to beat out the crowds and the fierce competition for the season’s hottest toy. This year, no single toy on the scale of Beanie Babies, Tamagotchi and Cabbage Patch Kids has emerged as the must-have present for kids — and parents desperate not to disappont them — but several including the collectible dolls called L.O.L. Surprise! and Poopsies unicorn slime are expected to quickly fly off the shelves in both stores and online retailers distribution centers.
Nicolas Medina knows first-hand just how competitive the hunt for hot toys is. Last year, the Memorial resident and father of four began looking for the popular Hatchimals toy right after Thanksgiving. He scoured all the stores, but couldn’t find the small furry creatures that hatch from colorful, speckled eggs. Ultimately, Medina ordered a Hatchimal on Ebay for $50, a roughly 20 percent markup.
“If by Thanksgiving, you haven’t bought Christmas gifts, you’re cooked,” Medina said.
Consumers are forecast to spend $8.2 billion on toys this holiday season, up about 4 percent from a year ago, and retailers are in fierce battle to grow their share of that market following the recent demise of Toys R Us, which filed for bankruptcy in
September 2017 and went out of business earlier this year. Before it failed, Toys R Us had annual revenues of $1.3 billion, representing 5 percent of the $27.3 billion U.S. toy market.
As a result, many retailers have expanded their toy selection this holiday season to attract former Toys R Us patrons. Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, said it is offering 30 percent more toys in stores and 40 percent more online than last year. The discount chain, which published a toy catalog, is hosting events at its stores where families can test popular toys, take pictures with Santa and pick up posters and stickers.
Target expanded its toy section in more than 500 stores nationwide, adding nearly 250,000 square feet of retail space dedicated to toys across these locations. The Minneapolis retailer is offering more than 2,500 new toys, double that of last year.
Other big-box retailers, such as Kohl’s and BJ’s Wholesale Club, as well as specialty stores, such as Michael’s, Party City, Barnes & Noble and Ace Hardware, are also expanding their toy selection. Toy retailers, such as FAO Schwarz and KB Toys, are opening pop-up toy shops nationwide.
Independent toy stores are also expanding. For example, Wonder Works in South Carolina earlier this year opened a Mattel shop inside one of its Charleston stores.
“Customers should have no trouble finding places to buy toys this year,” said Jackie Breyer, editor-inchief of The Toy Insider, an industry publication.
Retailers can find it challenging to pinpoint the hottest toys among hundreds of new products hitting the market for the holidays. Stores last year struggled to restock fidget spinners, a spinning toy that became wildly popular among children and teenagers.
Many retailers go to trade shows to scope out new toys, monitor web traffic and seek input from hundreds of child toy testers. They also pay close attention to social media influencers, such as Ryan’s Toys Review.
Four years ago, Ryan started uploading videos of so-called “unboxing” videos and toy reviews on his YouTube channel. Today, the 7-year-old YouTube star has 17 million subscribers and 25 billion views on his online channel, which has catapulted popular toys such as slime, surprise eggs and stuffed animals. His family, who does not give their last name or where they live for safety reasons, this year inked a deal with Walmart to sell Ryan’s World-branded toys.
Still, there’s often a lot of guesswork involved in figuring out the hottest toys of the year. “The toy industry is really a fashion industry,” Breyer said. “Trends come and go.”
Breyer, who oversaw the publication of the 13th annual The Toy Insider toy guide, said trending toys for this holiday season include those that focus on bodily functions, such as Snot It; collectibles, such as Moose Toys Treasure X; and toys with technology, such as Hexbug 3Doodler.
The Walmart in Spring Branch began preparing for the holiday toy rush in mid-October, adding six additional aisles for new toys such as hoverboards and Ryan’s World- and Harry Potter-branded toys. After two Toys R Us stores closed within a five-mile radius, toy sales at the Walmart location have surged by double-digits, store manager Joe Cervantes said.
Cervantes, the Walmart store manager, has noticed Easy Bake ovens, hoverboards and Baby Alive dolls have been popular toys so far this season. The other day, six customers picked up Poopsie Slime, a rainbow-colored slime toy, he said.
Cervantes, who has four children ranging from 5 to 14 years old, hasn’t started Christmas shopping yet, but plans to start soon. He’s looking to buy ninja toys for his 5-year-old son and athletic gear and electronics for his older children.
“Seeing the kids light up when they open their gifts, there are no words to describe it,” Cervantes said. “It’s the best.”