Several formerly defunct retailers have announced relaunches, or expanded on recent relaunches, this year. Through a variety of strategies, their well-known IPs are coming back, both online and as shop-in-shops and/or standalone retail locations: Bed Bath & Beyond returned to bricks-and-mortar retail through partnerships with The Container Store and Kirkland’s, both announced in October. The […]
Tag Archives | Toys ‘R’ Us
More NFT IPs Jump Offline
Three leading NFT projects have made significant moves into the world of physical consumer products this fall: The most recent example is VeeFriends, which partnered with Toikido to create a line of plush and vinyl figures based on 10 of its characters. The products will be sold starting on October 17 through Toys ‘R’ Us […]
Playing to Win
With the holiday season coming up quickly, it seems like a good time to take a look at what toy industry players are doing to position themselves for success. In the midst of a changing retail landscape, evolving leisure time habits among kids, trade and tariff concerns, and other challenges, companies involved in the production […]
Toy Story
As we approach the all-important fourth-quarter selling season for toys, it seems like a good time to take a look at what has been happening in the industry since Toys ‘R’ Us closed the last of its U.S. stores in June of this year, after declaring bankruptcy in September 2017: Other retailers are trying to […]
The Post-Apocalyptic Retail Landscape
While news of retail store closures has seemingly slowed since last year’s “retail apocalypse,” there has still been a steady stream of chains reporting multiple location shutdowns in 2018. Just last week, for example, Lord & Taylor announced it would shutter 10 stores, including its Fifth Avenue flagship. In fact, the pace is not far […]
Q&A About TRU
Toys ‘R’ Us announced last week that it would shut all 735 of its U.S. stores under the TRU and Babies ‘R’ Us banners, after declaring bankruptcy last fall and subsequently posting poor holiday results. This move raised a number of key questions for toy companies, retailers, analysts, and licensing executives. Question 1: What happened? […]
Shopping for New Retail Strategies
Retail chains continue to experiment with different business models as they deal with ongoing challenges. Some recent ventures illustrate the variety of strategies being tested: Partnerships with etailers. Lord & Taylor is launching a presence on Walmart’s website starting in spring 2018, referring to the initiative as its online flagship store. The deal brings the […]
Hot Toys for the Holidays
Over the past couple of months, key retailers have released their hot holiday toy lists, predicting the playthings consumers will be buying for fourth-quarter gift-giving. Licensed products account for between 16% and 32% of the products on each of the lists released by Amazon, BJ’s, Kmart, Target, Toys R Us, and Walmart, with Amazon at […]
Sparking Creativity Through Consumer Products
Much of the merchandise being given a high profile at retail this holiday season is connected to the Maker movement, loosely defined as a community of do-it-yourselfers of all ages, from artists and crafters to tech-driven inventors, engineers, and programmers. Maker-associated product categories currently being featured in stores of all types include: Maker-labeled goods. Barnes […]