Target - Toys 'R' Us Partnership: What To Know About The New Online Store

Beleaguered toy store chain Toys R Us is finding new life online thanks to a recently announced partnership. Target on Tuesday announced that it would be partnering with Tru Kids, the parent company of Toys R Us, to help power the company’s online store.

Under this new online alliance, Reuters reports that shoppers browsing the newly launched Toys R Us website, ToysRUS.com, can choose the “Buy now at Target.com” option to finish their purchase. With this comes all the benefits of Target’s online shopping infrastructure, including free two-day shipping, same in-store or curbside pick-up, and same-day delivery through Shipt.

“By applying our capabilities in a new way with Toys R Us, we can serve even more toy shoppers, drive new growth, and build on our toy leadership,” said Nikhil Nayar, senior vice president of merchandising at Target.

This is the latest move by Target to expand its presence in the toy market.

“We spoke to a lot of different folks as we went through this process,” Tru Kids CEO Richard Barry said about the partnership. “What inspired me about Target was their investment in the category… We have completely reimagined [the website]… to a site which is immersive and heavily content-oriented. One of the things we have been working on with the initial launch is to make the site very relevant for consumers this holiday season ... with a big focus on the products we think will be magic this year.”

Alexis Christoforous of Yahoo Finance said the partnership "makes a lot of sense." She pointed out how toy sales have been important for Target, citing strong same-store sales. In a report of its 2018 holiday results, the company reported a 5.7 percent increase in same-store sales, with significant performance in toy sales. The company also added almost 250,000 square feet of retail space for toys at 500 locations ahead of last year’s holiday season.

Christoforous said she wanted to know "how much of each sale goes to Target and how much of each sale goes to Tru Kids."

The move by Target is another sign of the company's aggressive expansion. Recently, it introduced “shop-in-shop” Disney store destinations in 25 of their locations near the kids' clothing and toy areas.