With the demise of Toys R Us, Amazon is looking to fill the gap by launching a toy catalog this holiday season, mailing it to millions of U.S. households and distributing them at its Whole Foods Markets.
Bloomberg reported that Amazon had plans to acquire Toys R Us locations earlier this year.
The Toys R Us “Big Book” toy catalog was about 100 pages, with toymakers starting holiday advertising in late October. Toys R Us generated $6.5 billion in U.S. sales last year, according to Bloomberg.
Toys R Us began liquidating its 180 stores under both its Toys R Us and Babies R Us banners as part of the restructuring process in March. It had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September in an effort to restructure outstanding debt and establish a sustainable capital structure.
Toys R Us also had a brutal holiday season, due to Amazon and big-box retailers slashing prices, when many other retailers were seeing gains.
MCM Musings: While retailers are trying to beat Amazon or become more like them in their offerings, it seems Amazon is going the other way by incorporating traditional retail methods. For instance, it has been opening Amazon Go trial stores, acquired Whole Foods, opened physical bookstores and now may be launching a holiday toy catalog. It looks like the “everything store” marketplace is angling to become everything to everyone as well.