Thursday, March 22, 2018

How Toys R Us’ Demise Could Benefit Amazon And Other Retailers


pymnts.com - One retailer’s loss could be another retailer’s gain: Even though Toys R Us is facing bankruptcy, other retailers may benefit from the embattled toy retailer’s demise.

Amazon could take over some of Toys R Us’ stores, which may be soon vacant as the retailer winds down its operations. And while Amazon doesn’t want to keep the Toys R Us brand, it could use the space to display its own products, Bloomberg reported.

But the stores could, for example, give Alexa — and the devices it powers — a brick-and-mortar home. The voice-activated technology’s benefits are easier for consumers to see and experience in person, after all.

Beyond Alexa and the Amazon Echo, Toys R Us’ space could be of use to the eCommerce giant for, say, groceries. Think of the new stores as mini-Whole Foods delivery depots: If Amazon were to take over some of the space left vacant by Toys R Us, the company could gain space to store groceries for delivery.

In addition to groceries, Amazon has been growing its brick-and-mortar presence. For example, the retailer is reportedly gearing up to open as many as six of its Amazon Go cashless brick-and-mortar convenience stores.

But whatever Amazon has in mind for Toys R Us, talk of the company taking over its stores is still just speculation: Those plans may never come to life.

About three years ago, Amazon considered taking over a few RadioShack locations when the retailer went bankrupt. As with Toys R Us, RadioShack’s locations would have been places in which to showcase the company’s hardware.

In the end, Amazon’s plans to take over RadioShack’s locations never materialized. Had that happened, it would have been the retailer’s biggest buy-in into traditional retail at the time. ContinueReading

No comments:

Post a Comment