Introduction
Toys “R” Us was started around 1948 by Charles Lazarus, and it specializes in a retailer. Currently, the company has about one thousand five hundred stores worldwide with three divisions. It is the leading retailer of both baby products as well as toy products, thus giving various shopping experience to its consumers via its diverse family brands (Haldeman & Dagenais, 2008). These brand families are currently available in a total of thirty-eight countries worldwide. It currently has more than six hundred thousand in total. The first division is Global Toys, which mainly operates the most famous toy stores of the company both locally as well as internationally except in Japan. It contributes 90% of the company’s sales annually because it operates the largest amount of the entire toy stores. The second division is the Babies “R” Us, and it operates approximately two hundred toy store lines. It sells the various products for both expectant women as well as babies. This division has gone through remarkable growth within the recent years. Hence, it holds the highest profit margin of the company. The final category is the Toys Japan. It has a toy store chain in Japan with the brand name of Toys “R” Us. Thus, the business holds less than 50% of the shares in this division (Haldeman & Dagenais, 2008). For optimum operation, Toys “R” Us companies has performed the following options;
Proceeding to operate the business as a sole retail unit but minimizing substantially the stores for toys in addition to the expenses. This has to be done by making an offering to the public on the Toys Japan Company.
The value of the Babies “R” Us division must be monetized through the spinning or else splitting it off into stockholders. This is carried out by envisioning so as to end up the shareholding in the two public companies.
The final, as well as very critical alternative, is the retaining of the Babies “R” Us as the sole remaining Retailing Company division and then selling the Global Toys. The reason is that by selling all or part of the Global Toys at a capital loss, there will be a reduction in the tax ramification towards the Company.
Customers’ experience in both online and in-store transformation
The organization must put right initiatives to enhance the experience of their clients in shopping methods. This can be done by providing numerous stores for more investments in both interiors as well as exterior organization’s physical infrastructures (Nishat et al., 2006). For example, there should be an installation of elevated lighting standards within the entire stores. By aiming at becoming a more consumer-centric organization, insights from the customers will provide guidance in making services as well as improving the sales. Although this strategy requires a deeper integration, it will lead to more growth of the company as a whole. By transforming the in-store experience of the customers, the organization will be in a position to maintain their clients as well as to provide efficient service to them at any time.
E-commerce business optimization
Although the organization currently has a global growth of about $1.1 billion of the e-commerce business, there is more need for the firm to develop profitably in the online business. This will be made possible by performing an end to end assessment of the online business so as to find out critical areas of functionality as well as processes for improvements. There should be more strength on the company’s Omni-channel ability which comprises in-store pickups as well as ships from storage execution regions during the peak seasons (Haldeman & Dagenais, 2008). For example, the company has to add more value to their mobile application system to improve its e-commerce traffic and reach more customers at ago. This will help in acknowledging the digital visits coming from both the tablets as well as mobile devices used by their clients and by improving their mobile capabilities, Toys “R” Us will be able to provide their excellent service to their customers at a cheaper cost (Shafer et al., 2005). The following are some of the internet sites that Toys “R” Us organization utilizes mostly; toysrus.com, FAO.com in addition to babiesrus.com to hence their e-commerce business.
Designing a more efficient and streamlined organization
The organization must have the right-size of the organizational structure consisting of the goal-oriented team. The managerial team has to focus on the seeking of the substantial coast as well as working capital opportunities for saving by improving both the process and operation systems within the company (Shafer et al., 2005). Additionally, the managerial team has to put more emphasis on the operational cost-cutting measures throughout the company’s global businesses. On the other hand, the company must incorporate diverse talent as well as highly engaged personnel in the management process. For the instant, the management can decide to outsource some of the elements of it operation accounting as well as fixed assets in the most developed countries such as the USA and Canada to the third-party providers within other nations.
This can be done by considering the consistency in the number of operational retailers globally. Another important mechanism in an efficient organization, Toys “R” Us can shift from a decentralized type of leadership to a more centralized leadership within the pan-European regions. This will enhance a stronger harmonization as well as the creation of a greater efficiency business performance within the European countries. By establishing mini-managerial board on every continent, the company will be in a better position to provide an effective leadership structure, thus resulting in a clear company’s business operation throughout the continents (Shafer et al., 2005). This because the new management boards within every country will be handling all the domestic issues, thus representing the interest of the consumers, the employees as well as other stakeholders within the given respective market.
Implementation of the E-commerce Optimization
As discussed above, the utilization of both the smartphone as well as tablet technology to reach out the potential customers throughout the globe. By cooperating with other software creation companies such as Oracle Corp, Toys “R” Us Company can buy ATG E-Commerce software to reach out to their potential customers. This will give the organization the significant priorities to advance its e-commerce business as well as meaningfully improve the online customers’ experience. By implementing this, the company will gain flexibility required to develop as well as expand its business within the Omni-channel world. Additionally, the business will be in a position to respond quickly to the varying consumer dynamics in addition to the competitive geographical markets (Shafer et al., 2005). Another reason for implementing this e-commercial optimization is because shoppers from the various cultural backgrounds will be able to have a broader online choices of a distractive baby as well as toy products. Hence, through this, the commitment of the company to serving its communities through caring as well as a reputable neighbor will be enhanced by e-commerce by helping in safeguarding the kids as well as aiding them in a time of their need.
There is the advancement of technology throughout the world, and commercial organizations have to move with technology. Hence, for Toys “R” Us Company to remain competitive as well as maintain its competitive advantage, it must optimize its e-commerce both locally as well as internationally. This will increase the profitability of the organization because mobile technology is available all over the world and the software applications are easy to use by every interested customer. The system to be adopted by the company will also help them in managing process because the number of active customers as well as their purchasing rate can be easily analyzed by using the system. Therefore, Toys “R” Us Company has to implement the e-commercial optimization as the best strategy for it to continuouslly grow profitable and remain in the market as the most reliable, productive as well as a competitive company within the toy industry at large.
Conclusion
Every business must have strategies so as to remain in the market as well as to maintain its competitive advantage. Therefore, by putting the above-discussed strategies, Toys “R” Us Company will be in a position to provide excellent services to its customers all over the world. The most important strategy is the e-commerce, which must be implemented by the organization. This will help the firm move on with the technology because there is a continuously changing, especially in this era of information as well as the internet.
References
Haldeman, S., & Dagenais, S. (2008). A supermarket approach to the evidence-informed management of chronic low back pain. The Spine Journal,8(1), 1-7.
Nishat Faisal, M., Banwet, D. K., & Shankar, R. (2006). Mapping supply chains on risk and customer sensitivity dimensions. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 106(6), 878-895.
Shafer, S. M., Smith, H. J., & Linder, J. C. (2005). The power of business models. Business horizons, 48(3), 199-207.