Customers to buy toys in stores during the holiday season

"With the loss of Toys R Us, there is a void to fill," said Marissa DiBartolo, editor of The Toy Insider, a toy review website. "I think all the retailers are trying to grab it."

Where consumers will shop

Toys R Us was, as its name suggests, a major player in the toy market. The company generated $ 11 billion in revenue during its last fiscal year.

Given this market hole, RetailMeNot wanted to know where customers plan to buy toys, according to Michelle Skupin, the company's chief marketing and communications manager.

"We were curious about what buyers would do in the absence of Toys R Us on the market," Skupin said.

The answer seems to lie with other giants of the retail trade. Seventy-seven percent of respondents who plan to buy toys in person said they would go to big box stores, such as Target and Walmart. At the same time, 37% said they would go to department stores to buy their toys, 25% to warehouses requiring a membership card and 15% to a local children's store.

Skupin said that the number of people planning to buy holiday toys in the shops was "not so surprising" because a vast majority of retail purchases are still made in physical stores.

As for why consumers prefer in-store shopping, Neil Saunders, general manager of the retail board GlobalData, said it was an "opportunity" to shop with kids. And for shoppers who do not have children or who do not know their preferences, Saunders said that it was "probably good" to shop in person to learn about the toys, see at what they look like and make sure that they fit well. like gifts.

The cover of Target's toy catalog. (Photo: target)

The prevalence of printed toy catalogs

To attract customers, some retailers use a tactic that Sears popularized in the early 1900s: gift catalogs posted in which toys and their prices are displayed.

Target is one of those companies that invests in toy catalogs. Although Target has been printing these catalogs for years – including 22 million copies distributed this year at home and in stores – the company has reintroduced a new feature on its mobile application that will allow customers to digitize Catalog items and shop from there, according to the spokesman for the target, Lee Henderson.

"We want to make sure that there will be a seamless transition" between online and in-store customer shopping experiences, Henderson said.

While Target is a well-known player in the toy catalog, Amazon released a toy catalog for the first time this year, combining its digital presence with a classic print mechanism.

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"Physical lookbooks will be delivered to millions of customers in November and limited quantities will be available at Amazon bookstores and at Amazon 4-star establishments in New York's SoHo neighborhood, Park Meadows of Lone Tree, Colorado, and Berkeley, California. "The spokesman for Amazon said in a statement. "The catalog presents some of our best choices."

Saunders said toy catalogs were a smart marketing initiative for retailers because they helped "reach customers who may not always have toys in their minds"