NEWS & OPINION
Counter Insurgent
This month, our mystery toy retailer wonders who benefits from the supermarket’s sales promotions and what the Internet means for the future of impulse buying
Toys R Us quiet about bringing ‘tablet stores’ to UK
New ‘shops within a shop’ arriving in the US this autumn, stocking Meep X2, Kurio and XO Tablet among others
By Dominic Sacco
TOYS R US is acting coy over whether it will bring its new 'tablet stores' to the UK or not. The retail chain is adding dedicated 'tablet shops within a shop' to all 600- plus of its US outlets this autumn as part of a refit, according to sister publication PCR. These will measure 32ft long and contain 25 live display models - both family and child-focused products. But when asked whether these will be heading to the UK, Mike Coogan, director of marketing and e-commerce at Toys R Us UK, commented: "We sell a wide variety of tablets in our UK stores, but generally our methods of display vary from country to country." Exec VP and chief
merchandising officer Richard Barry said: "Tablets are very popular with
66 October
young kids. [We have introduced these tablet stores] to counter headwinds in the consumer electronics and entertainment businesses.” Toys R Us saw
double-digit sales growth among children aged 11 and below. Tablets in the new US
displays include the Meep X2 by Oregon Scientific, the Kurio 10s from TechnoSource (InspirationWorks in the UK), the XO Tablet from Sakar, Toys R Us’ own-label Tabeo E2 and more. Barry added that the tablet stores will be accompanied by a "dynamic online component". Tablets have proven to
be a very popular product for children in recent years, especially during the Christmas period, with products like the InnoTab, Kurio and LeapPad selling strongly in the UK.
There was a time not long ago that I knew almost any price of the toys we sell. Staff who couldn’t be
bothered to run to the price book could stop me in the shop knowing I could recite the price off the top of my head. But now it’s impossible and not just because of my advancing years. There is no way that anyone could remember what price is what. Prices are all over the place. Many of the ‘big boys’ are
going out at what we would have called full retail just so they can offer discounts for a couple of weeks. Argos, it seems has started its three for two deals and 25 per cent offs earlier this year, the kids aren't even back to school and already the consumer is as confused as they can be. Every year we moan about Christmas getting later and yet what incentive has the consumer got to buy early when they don’t know what a good deal looks like? Promotions in supermarkets are designed to be confusing and even after recent scathing reports, culture doesn't seem to have stopped consumers from buying into them.
Maybe I’m the idiot, but if something is on a promotion where I have to buy three in order to get it at the price I’m prepared to pay, I now don’t even bother. I do without. We all know that supermarket online shopping is becoming more and more popular, so much so that some of the big supermarkets are now no longer looking to build normal ‘public’ stores, but units designed for either home delivery or the growing click and collect culture.
And despite their money being invested in this, it must scare the hell out of the supermarkets, becoming one of the reasons why there are so many supermarket convenience stores popping up. I know from my
experience that when you food-shop online you buy what you need. You aren’t faced with promotions and you don’t go wondering through aisles of things you don’t need, but want. Internet impulse sales
are rare. It is normally a considered purchase, very often with two or three steps to eventually order the item, and checkout
abandonment is a bigger proportion than we care to admit.
I don’t care how good a
website is – how many pop ups come up while shopping or even how many emails come through (let’s be honest, more than one newsletter every couple of days now gets marked as spam and never seen again) nothing online can replace someone wandering the aisles of a supermarket, with screaming kids wanting the latest e- numbered laced cereal, or Haribo packet of sweets. In recent years suppliers have fallen over backwards to get into the toy aisle of the supermarkets, but with the growth in this online grocery shopping, there is no pester power, there are no promotions that consumers will see and no impulse purchase. Maybe now is the time
for them to look long and hard at what support they offer supermarkets. Because as the internet
takes more and more from the High Street, it’s going to be a shadow of its former self when the supermarkets start to convert some of their stores to ‘internet hubs’.
www.toynews-online.biz
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