Toys-R-Us-Is-With-Us!

Have you heard that Toys-R-Us is back to retail America!?I believe that you, the reader has both followed the business past of this former powerhouse retailer and purchased from them over the decades. I certainly have, and I passionately believe in my opinions on this subject, and the role & responsibilities of retail businesses expecting to succeed in today’s hyper-changing market landscape.

As you may recall, Toys-R-Us shut down its U.S. operations, eliminating the jobs of some 30,000 employees ending brand and product relationships with generations of children and parents; even with Geoffrey the giraffe mascot. The closing of the company's 740 U.S. stores finalized the downfall of the chain as it succumbed to heavy debt and relentless trends that undercut its business, like online shopping and aggressive big box retailers enhancing their toy offerings.

Well, in my personal opinion, “we the people” have some pent-up?shopping sagacity and passion?to offer a?returning Toys R Us. We the people?would like?more from Toys R Us such as community localization, kinetic associate smiles, community relevancy along with?a real, consumer-exercised, brick-and-mortar relationship-heart.?All of which will gain our toy pocketbooks, our kinetic shopping, and our buying cooperation. Most importantly, smartly valued?consumer warranted relevancy in-market will insulate Toys-R-Us from mammoth competitive threats, flinty attacks, and lost revenues and profits.

By the way, are you curious as to what exactly has changed that Toys-R-Us can suddenly return to compete with e-commerce and big-box retailers carrying toys??I am.?Toys-R-Us built their retail platform by offering the largest emporium of toys in a physical location within?neighborhoods (trading areas) across America. But now everything digital has changed the mettle of that old value proposition. The four walls of retail are extremely porous, and no pricing nor toys are unavailable in the cloud. Toys are everywhere in the cloud, everywhere at doorsteps across America within 24 hours of ordering. Just how will the new Toys-R-Us compete?

I personally believe the following 7 heartfelt and happy pieces of advice will build highly competitive and effective local community store traffic, as well as web e-boomerang relationships with Toys-R-Us best consumers: children, teachers, and parents as well as for their hungry revenue, profit and market growth.

1. Please build a child focused relationship with and for every child within a 5 to 8 mile radius of your physical stores. How? As example, issue a child’s Geoffrey card (an expensive, really good looking and highly valued card) to each child, which connects to a unique manufacturer-Toys-R-Us rewards program. Meaning, every time the child simply walks into your physical store they gain X amount of Geoffrey points. If they purchase with mom or dad anything during their visit they gain more points on their Geoffrey cards. And when they download let’s say a Mattel Barbie Doll app to their mobile device they earn even more points. Of course, when mama makes a Mattel specific purchase even more points for little Sarah. Not expensive to administer with brand manufacturer direct support.
2. Identify, focus and core down with each and every school (pre-K, elementary, junior and high schools) to build an unshakeable, unyielding happy and prosperous relationship with each child, principal, teacher and administrator. Imagine having every school teacher registered with their local Toys-R-Us store for in-school programs including toy fairs, school donations, special Geoffrey events. Geoffrey appearances for special school sporting events... back to school programs… for whatever is most relevant to teachers, parents and children. Even school class trips to Toys-R-Us for a special Star Wars and Barbie doll event (parents invited). Toy-R-Us?could also sponsor sports uniforms for children in their local 8-mile trading communities. Community relevancy and relationships is the original key to any physical retail stores, still is. And the stronger the relevant brand magnet physically, the stronger the relevant buying relationship magnet will also be for toysrus.com.
3. Smile, please! Please require your in-store employees to smile, to be happy, to over-service and support for competitive advantage… to pay off on your original Geoffrey brand and vision promise:?"Our vision is to put joy in kids' hearts and a smile on parents' faces."?Please create a smiling, happy, energizing, joyful and exciting in-store and on-line atmosphere as your smartest boomerang for traffic. Toys are happy, they make us wonder and smile and laugh and giggle. Your brand mantle, your brand promise, your employee promise must be the same: happy, friendly, exciting, joyful, passionate, dynamic... wonderful! Happiness and smiles are highly relevant in the language of competitive advantage. These in-store attributes and emotional capital will drive fiduciary capital your way... prevent store closures... create demand for new stores from other communities for store openings by children, teachers and parents.
4. Give Geoffrey a much bigger heart. Give Geoffrey a much friendlier voice and demeanor. To the point when children, teachers, parents - even your competition sees him, hears him, dreams of him they wrap their hearts, minds and pocketbooks around their local Toys-R-Us store. They become hungry for time with Geoffrey, time with toys. Make Geoffrey a highly desired, loved and cherished “movie star.” Guest appearances on local market TV, radio, e-commerce shows, school events and sporting events. Remember, Geoffrey has no competitor as an iconic symbol of children and grown up joy and happiness… at least no competitive brand mascot today.
5. Give something fun away with Geoffrey’s image?on it. At each cash register, after transaction require each associate to say, “Thank you for shopping at Toys-R-Us and please come back to see Geoffrey and all of us again real soon.” Then they hand out something (can be sponsored and paid for by various manufacturers) i.e. one side of the lollipop wrapper this month is Geoffrey and the other side Spider Man. One side of the squeezable Geoffrey is The Lion King the other side is Toys-R-Us. Simply relevant relationship-building paid for by manufacturer brands. Even special edition giveaways are great for launching a new line of toys, games, computers, etc.
6. Stop thinking B2C. With physical stores in local communities please think B2C, B2B and B2ME. Require your store managers to physically leave their store and visit the Superintendent of Schools... the principals and teachers. Determine consumer and corporation targets: change your thinking, your focus and your celerity (speed) to increase your local same store sales YOY, month over month... day over day. Build relevant relationships in local communities and we the people will reward you back with store traffic, loyalty and your unfair share of physical store and e-commerce sales. Create a B2ME direct program for various community clubs (Boy Scotts, Adventure Clubs, etc); for organizations (Parent’s-Teachers), etc.?
7. Don’t forget to give back to local community centric charities and fund raisers. The more you give, the more you show up, the more you get from your own employee good will, the more you will receive from the local community. It is true for any retailer “it is better to give than to receive… and when you do give, trust me you will get back.” And please make sure Geoffrey attends and is your "spokesperson" for all community, regional and national fund raisers.

Finally, please do not look over to pure-play e-commerce retailers for a sliver of advice relevant to your physical stores. They have all profitably prospered from the lack of retailers local in-market focus, lack of in-physical-store associates happiness or excitement to serve, to help to support consumers.

You see e-commerce only retailers do not have to worry about their associates smiling or physical consumer facing care. Consumers have now been trained to love their cloud experiences over physical store engagements because robotic apps, e-commerce engines, service, support, gift wrapping, delivery and even returns all start with and end with a robo-smile and a big “thank you” for your order.” Even, “thank you for your return order.” They acknowledge gratefully who each consumer is.

Imagine if a physical store like Toys-R-Us did all we suggest here for decades in localization within a 5 to 8-mile radius of each store how prosperous they would be; they could be ahead. How easily they could fend off both e-commerce and retail competitors. How happy children who grow up with Toys-R-Us will be to bring their future children to a happy, friendly and exciting land they all call with their hearts, emotional capital and pocketbooks,?“my Toys-R-Us.”

?Local market relevancy and relationships with joyful heart, energy and excitement is what “we the consumers”?hope will be the return of Toys-R-Us. Of course, all physical and OMNI-cloud retailers need to get some of the Toys-R-Us future mojo construct. Remember Geoffrey and Toys-R-Us, please give us more and we the people in ambient union will absolutely give you back more including our smiles, our joy, our loyalty our happily opened pocketbooks.

Well, there are only two toy centric questions left to consider! “R-Toys-R-Us-with-Us? Will you become a Toys-R-Us kid again?”

Peter Weedfald is the author of Green Reign Leadership designed to enlist superior sales and marketing disciplines and market leadership available at?amazon?and?Barnes and Noble?and other book retailers.