This case study showcases how Toys”R”Us captures customers’ attention by complementing physical presence with new eCommerce experience through Commerce Cloud by Salesforce during the pandemic crisis.
Toys”R”Us Asia, a top retailer of toys, educational products, and leisure equipment, operates more than 470 stores across many geographies. Hence, the company’s target audiences are children and their parents or the family.
The company’s products are available and distributed across the Asia Pacific region, such as Hong Kong, China, Japan, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Macau, and the Philippines. Overall, the company has over 10,000 team members in APAC.
Goal
Toys”R”Us understands the importance of physical stores for their loyal customers and the company overall. But the strike of the pandemic crisis changes consumer preferences drastically. Hence, the company’s goal is to prioritise accelerating eCommerce presence in an interactive way for their customers, like what children experience when they enter into a Toys”R”Us store.
Challenges
Toys”R”Us faced two challenges in implementing a new eCommerce experience for customers, which include:
- Decentralised or locally managed market: Local markets used to handle the company’s brick and mortar stores before COVID-19 existed. Customers used to witness value-added sales and marketing activities that changed during the pandemic.
- Multiple websites in local markets: Customers in various countries can buy the company’s products in physical stores across Asia. Each local market has an individual website pre-COVID. Hence, maintaining multiple websites posed a huge challenge.
- Capturing the magic of in-store shopping: The toy company faced a great challenge on how to bring the magic of in-store experience online.
Solutions
Streamlining and centralising eCommerce: Toys”R”Us centralised online commerce using Commerce Cloud. As a result, customers experience faster and better online services. A regional team maintains and handles eCommerce on a single platform while local teams drive sales in their specific areas.
Building a unified shopping experience: Customers can now enjoy offline and online promotional offers. Regardless of the channel, customers have more shopping options. A unified shopping experience involves enhancing offline and online strategies, such as personalised product recommendations. In addition, customers can buy Toy”R”Us products in physical stores and online at the same price. Hence, improving the overall customer journey.
Makes everything more convenient for customers: When an in-store promotion is available, customers also receive emails about it. Customers can now purchase the promo product online conveniently, which is made possible with Commerce Cloud, resulting in a more seamless omni-channel journey.
Enrolling customers in an instant loyalty program: With the company’s Star Card Loyalty Programme, customers can earn points both in-store and online. They receive exclusive offers and event announcements instantly. The enrollment allows Toys”R”Us to track customers’ behaviour. Therefore, customers can enjoy personalised experiences based on their interests. For instance, Toys”R”Us sends customer information tailored to their child’s age.
Bringing the magic back: In-store shopping experience is incomparable. Toys”R”Us Asia has been excellent in in-store sales and marketing. Customers, particularly children, enjoy seeing and holding toys, games, and other products the company sells. But customers are restricted because of the pandemic crisis due to lockdown, community quarantine, social distancing, and other health protocols. So, Toy”R”Us decided to strengthen their online presence using Commerce Cloud.
Tim Halaska is the Regional General Manager of Toys”R”Us’s Digital Strategy in Asia. According to him, Toy”R”Us launched new mobile-first websites across seven markets by embracing Commerce Cloud of Salesforce. The company can now leverage economies that are lacking online presence before the pandemic, such as Thailand. In addition, the company can establish new integrations and obtain new franchise partners. Therefore, the company can serve customers both offline and online better than ever.
