Marketing essay
Toys “R” Us, Inc. is a specialized toy and juvenile products retailer, which was founded in 1948. The company sells a huge variety of different eco-friendly baby items, including developmental games, toys, electronics, visual aids for learning (charts, diagrams, etc.), children’s clothing and juvenile designer furniture. Nowadays, Toys “R” Us operates more than 875 dedicated stores in the United States, more than 685 international stores worldwide, and 170 official shops in 35 jurisdictions. Undoubtedly, Toys “R” Us is a unique brand, and it is actually very hard to compete with it, both in price and size of the project, and in association with the products of the brand.
In fact, the company continues to grow internationally and make great attempts to expand into the new markets. Thus, in order to reach its potential customers and be attractive to important channel partners, the company utilizes different ways to find new customers, and consequently, increase its sales. Firstly, they create the strong relationship with other people and communities through social and mass media: networking websites, displays, broadcast, E-mail, telemarketing, fax, Internet, and corporate websites that are innovative communication channels, which “can allow for greater ease and efficiency of such communication” (Ki and Chung 2).
Next, the company makes SMS linchpin with the purpose of reaching busy parents on-the-go. According to assistant manager Meghan Kennedy, “Mobile is a key component of the company’s omnichannel strategy, allowing customers to shop with Toys “R” Us wherever they are and receive great offers while on-the-go” (qtd. in Borison par. 3). In return, executive vice president of Sumotext John Styers agrees that SMS is one of the most effective and efficient channels to connect with the customers. He argues that “the use of SMS to a base of opt-in subscribers is the fastest and most effective way to achieve the reach desired by retail marketers” (qtd. in Borison par. 14). In fact, it is a great idea to engage the clients through mobile, and thus, find the new customers.
Toys “R” Us is itself a huge retailer in the toy industry, which produces a wide assortment of different eco-friendly baby items for the final consumer. Undoubtedly, Toys “R” Us products are available through direct mail (catalogs) and on the Internet. The Toys “R” Us catalog can be found on the official website ‘www.toysrus.com.au.’ All the items provided can be viewed online or downloaded as a PDF file. Besides, Toys “R” Us operates the FAO Schwarz brand and its flagship stores located in New York City. In addition to this, the company operates a portfolio of e-commerce sites, such as eToys.com, Babiesrus.com, FAO.com and Toysrus.com. Also, it not only sells its products online through the official website and other websites, but also through online retailers carried out via an alliance with Amazon.com, Inc.
Social trends are a sustainable development of related social phenomena. Social trends are accented on employment, occupational training, protection of vulnerable groups of population, the fight against poverty and social inequality, as well as price sensitivity, health and wellness concerns, greener consumers, privacy concerns, and a time-poor society.
In fact, social trends can both positively and negatively impact the success of the company.
This is a well-known fact that the pricing of your product is a critical element in identifying the profitability of your business. Despite this fact, it is not always easy to get it right. For example, price sensitivity – “the highest price that a customer would agree to pay for the desired product” (Harmon, Raffo, and Faulk 316) – can negatively impact the success of Toys “R” Us. If the price is too high, product demand will surely reduce and the company may price itself out of the market. However, if the price is too low, the sales volume may not entail necessary revenue in order to cover the different costs connected to your business. Therefore, ineffective pricing can cause very potential threats to the company’s success. Hence, the less price sensitive your potential clients are, the greater monitoring you have over your pricing. In such a case, it is critical to determine how much the company’s potential target market will pay for its products or services. However, price sensitivity can have a positive impact on the company’s success. It helps the companies understand the profitability of your business and become more competitive at the international global market.
The health and wellness concerns have become a critical tool for marketers. Since persons try to change their habits and lead healthier lifestyles, many different organizations stand to benefit. For instance, the companies that produce environmentally-friendly baby items will surely see high demand for their major products as a consequence of the health and wellness trends. On the contrary, the companies, which produce poor health items, will be negatively impacted by a public concern about the health and wellness issue.
In return, a green consumer is a person who is greatly concerned about the environment, and thus, only buys the products that are eco-friendly. Also, the companies that produce environmentally-friendly baby items and try to develop ‘green’ consciousness will surely see high demand for their products, but the companies, which produce poor health items, will be negatively impacted by a public concern about the environment since people choose excellent quality and safe products for their own consumption (Rezai et al. 4496).
Nowadays, privacy concerns are of great importance. For most organizations, customer trust is a high priority; that is why they try to protect customer privacy to be more competitive and in high demand with the population. Thus, poor customer privacy can bring negative consequences to Toys “R” Us, but effective customer privacy can only benefit the company and make it more trusted. In fact, we all live in an increasingly “time poor” society – even eating is being done “on-the-go.” This social trend can both positively and negatively impact the success of the company. For instance, the company needs to be more creative and implement up-to-date technological advices (e.g. SMS options) with the purpose of reaching busy people “on-the-go.” Surely, the company must respond quickly to this trend and try to find effective ways to address and overcome it.
However, despite the fact that many of the above-mentioned social trends can negatively impact the overall success of the company, it can, in fact, leverage some of these trends. For instance, Toys “R” Us can leverage health and wellness concerns and greener consumers to obtain benefit. As it is widely known, this company manufactures only eco-friendly baby products, and thus, it is obvious that it will see high demand for their items as a consequence of the health and wellness trends.
