A few weeks ago, Toys R Us announced that it was launching a “toy reservation service” for the toys it predicted would be the hottest toys of the Christmas season. Parents who place a reservation (with down payment) by October 31 are guaranteed a toy when they are released before Christmas.
Here’s a story about the whole thing from when it was announced in early September.
Reading that story and thinking about it for a bit, I came up with the following conclusions:
1. You have to reserve by Halloween, which means we’re now officially rolling Christmas back before Halloween.
2. From the consumer point of view, this seems a lot like pre-ordering from Amazon. Except that most of the pre-orders I do are for books I know I’ll want to read, not toys I’m trying to predict if my kid will want three months from now.
3. Do kids always really want the “hottest toys”? What if you reserve and then on Christmas morning your kid’s all “meh”?
4. Arbitrage. Reserve now, then sell on Ebay for six times the price on December 22?
5. I wonder if there’s a limit from manufacturers on the number of toys Toys R Us can order, or if it would be possible for TRU to take enough reservations that manufacturers won’t have any stock left to sell to other retailers. If that happens, it could mean that TRU has essentially put Walmart, Target, and every other toy retailer out of business for the entire Christmas season.
6. From a supply chain perspective, this could make things far easier for toy manufacturers to predict and meet demand without excess.
What do you think about this? Would you do it?
In a heartbeat! It’s so close to layaway – so what’s the diff? My daughter wants the Furreal Little Butterscotch that I saw on Amazon for $125 and I don’t want to pay that. I’ve been looking for things I know she wants already at TRU/Target because of timing/price (hot toys are hard to find and I hate stressing it at Christmas!). I found the horse at TRU two weeks ago and I asked if they price matched it. Was told only 14 days, but if I put it on layaway, I could hold it until 12/14. So, I put down 20% (it was $109 and $10 off coupon) and will continue to watch for a price reduction. When I see one, I’ll jump on it, but knowing its safe and ours is nice.
I think this could be useful with older kids who might be more “serious” about wanting something that may be a big purchase and hard to find. With a 3yo, she doesn’t really have the desire for the “hot” toys and I personally don’t care that much about what’s “hot” as much as what is developmentally interesting/useful for her.
We are vaguely thinking about getting her the kiddie “Tablet” made by TRU, so I’d consider putting that on hold, but I can’t decide if that’s a ridiculous purchase to make. It is more sturdy than getting her a regular tablet and I see the educational value and how it might last us a long time, but it seems crazy to buy electronics for a 3yo. Hubby loves the idea, though… (Possibly because it would mean he no longer has to give up his tablet!)