Chelisa Ramsahai

Toys “R” Us was founded in 1948 by Charles Lazarus, the company made its name debut in 1957. They once Operated over 1,500 stores in 35 countries and jurisdictions around the world under the Toys “R” Us banners. The store was extremely popular for its wide variety of toys for children that was until it went bankrupt.
Competitive factors
In my opinion, the fact that Toys “R” Us was not legally the only store that was prohibited to sell toys but was the only one that was so invested in this area of goods they thought they were invincible. However, the competition with other stores led the company to bankruptcy. If the company had tried to get certain restrictions on other toy stores such as getting Toys “R: Us to be the only company that can sell certain toys or certain toys can only be found there maybe, they would still be in business. By doing that they would of knock out the competition.
Social factor
One of the biggest downfalls of Toys “R” Us was that they did not grow with technology enough. As time went by Toys “R” Us started to sell online yes, but they did not pay attention that their targeted market “children” were gradually not interested in physical toys, they were more interested in online games and videos. I believe if the company had invested in taking its product into the online world or even recognize that the market was dying and pulled the plug earlier it wouldn’t have been in bankruptcy.
Demographic factor
The biggest demographic factor for the Toys “R” Us company was kids. As children’s interest in physical toys decline the profits of the company did as well. The closing of the Toys “R” Us store wasn’t just the end of the company, I felt as if it was the end of an era as well. Since the business went out so did toys and outdoor activities, kids these days prefer to be cooped up in their room on any electronic device they can get their tiny hands on.
Economic factor
Even though the company tried to get back on its feet, it kept falling due to its competitors. The Toy “R” Us stores were beyond memorable and unique, but people forgot about that, as businesses went online, people stopped going into stores and started with online shopping. Some people even started importing their goods at cheaper costs. This caused the company’s income to reduce and hence contributed to leading them into bankruptcy.
Political and Legal factors
Toys “R” Us tried to expand and joined with Amazon to sell its toys online hoping to make more profits and widen its customers. But this attempt backfired, it ended up not being financially worth it in the end. Toys “R” Us paid Amazon and expected exclusivity, but Amazon started selling third-party items at probably lower prices. Toys “R” Us was already financially strained and could not afford Amazon but amazon didn’t want to let them out, so they took Amazon to court for failure to keep up their end of the deal. While they did win the lawsuit, the time lost battling in court could have been spent setting up their own online retail website INSTEAD.