When Toys R Us was on the verge of bankruptcy a few months ago, the iconic toy seller had blamed the top American retailers for the crisis, and pointed fingers at Amazon (AMZN) also. It seems the love-hate relationship between the two companies, marked by a series of legal disputes spanning more than a decade, is not yet over.
With the holiday season around the corner, Amazon is all set to cannibalize the market share of Toys R Us, a strategy the e-commerce giant has followed ever since it started dominating the marketplace. The heavy discounts rolled out by Amazon and others when Toys R Us was struggling to stay afloat, particularly during last year’s holiday shopping season, came as the final nail in the toy retailer’s coffin.
With the holiday season around the corner, Amazon is all set to cannibalize the market share of Toys R Us
But, the Jeff Bezos-led online conglomerate plans to fill the void left by Toys R Us in its own unique way. The company will send toy catalogs designed for holiday sales to people across the country – a practice usually followed by brick-and-mortar retailers. Though the catalog resembles the ones Toys R Us used to hand out to its customers, many households find it less appealing.
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According to reports, the catalogs will also be distributed to customers visiting the stores of Whole Foods, which was acquired by Amazon last year marking its official entry into store-based retailing. After buying Whole Foods, Amazon had made a failed attempt to acquire some of the Toys R Us stores since physical stores are a more ideal platform than online apps to reach children who are the main customers of toys.
While it is not the first time Amazon is copying traditional retailers to push merchandise during the shopping season, this time it went the extra mile by wearing the hat of an entity that went bust.
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Meanwhile, the other retailers allegedly responsible for the closure of Toys R Us are also ramping up their toys division by adding more items and increasing shelf space. Toys R Us ceased to exist last month when the company closed the last of its 800-plus stores across the country after it went bankrupt amidst mounting debts and continued loss.