We have Toys "R" Us stores here in the Netherlands. Why can't I participate?

 

I think this is important enough to get front page mention--any mods reading this?

Thank you for a very thorough survey, Barry. Best one I've taken on this subject... ever!

One thing I neglected to mention under this question:

Coupons. If vendors must charge higher prices on exclusives and collector's pieces (not basic kids toys), consider giving collectors a little percentage break.

I manage a book/gift store (have nearly 15 years experience in retail) and have also worked in marketing, public relations, and even assisted in purchasing decisions, so I'm very familiar with what's involved in actually getting a product on the shelf. I can often tell just by looking at a product what the actual cost was and what the profit margin is from the retail price.

And I've seen the prices on what both "brick & mortar" stores and specialty retailers end up selling certain items at on clearance. So I always wonder why specialty stores don't try a little harder to market collectors by luring them in with discount coupons.

TRU does offer a coupon to their email subscribers on occasion, but it's never often enough for me. (Then again, I'm cheap too.) Still, my employer regularly offers coupons through email blasts, and 80% of the time the customer always buys more than one item so the *investment* of the coupon and marketing pays off in increased sales.

TRU also seems to have either supplier or stocking problems (likely the latter), from my observation. There are two TRU's within 20 minutes of where I live and even though their Star Wars and Transformers sections have the highest visibility of product in the entire action figures/cars section, there's hardly any Transformers product available. It's practically empty, and just looks embarrassing. I would actually shop at TRU more often over their Walmart and Target competitors if they had their TF product stocked more regularly. We're talking at least 2 months now that one of the TRUs in the area has looked like this.

I can only imagine how much TRU must lose in sales not having product in stock. And it seems more of a problem with mismanagement than of suppliers. If WMT and Target are regularly getting new product, there should be no reason why TRU isn't. Either employees aren't being properly directed to pull backstock regularly, or management isn't ordering replenishment often enough. And sadly, it's probably a combination of both.

I hope you get some highly useful data from your survey. Improved customer service and direct-marketing collectors could perhaps give TRU a huge advantage over their competitors. WMT and Target hardly even acknowledge the collectors' market except through overpriced and difficult-to-find exclusives. It would be great to see TRU cater directly to collectors' needs and interests.