Semi-OT: Analyzing the Mistakes of a Certain Toy Company, B-School Style
This is a tough topic to post about without it going the wrong way, but I actually find it fascinating. Brian linked a Wapo article describing the struggles of Toys R Us, currently run by you-know-who.
The purpose of this post isn't to laught that DB is doing badly: I want to know WHAT he is doing badly. I have some pretty good ideas, many of them gleaned from extensive exposure to Ross B-School students and graduates.
The headline: "Why is Toys R Us Still Struggling - Even as the Wider Toy Industry Booms?"
Too lengthy to fisk the whole article (about which I have extensive thoughts) but I will point out one thing: DB handwaves a $200 mil decline in video game/electronic sales by saying that mobile gaming is growing. But Sony, the biggest fish in the pond, had a great year, including record PS4 sales and strong game sales as well. Seems problematic to just chalk up a big decline when your products are selling really well elsewhere.
We know DB is the problem. There are probably people on this board who would, literally, be a better CEO than DB; what would you guys address here?
A couple of things struck me while reading the article. First was DB's statement that video game playing is moving increasingly to apps. I could be wrong of course, but I think he's flat wrong, or at the very least behind the curve, on that. He may have been correct 5-10 years ago when smart phones first came out that let you play games via apps, but the novelty of that has worn off and people found playing video games on apps to be lacking for the most part. They've returned to consoles and PCs for more serious gaming, which is where DB should be focusing to get ahead of the next curve.
The second point was just how similar DB is running TRU to how he ran UM and Dominos. DB always seems to focus on everything BUT the core product. At Dominos he took the company public and made it profitable, but the pizza itself, the core product, was absolutely horrendous, almost inedible. IMO, Dominos goes under had the new CEO after DB not re-focused the company on improving its core product--ie, the food it sells starting with pizza. Similarly, at Michigan, DB focused on marketing, sales, monetizing Michigan Stadium, rock music, sky writing, finding a Michigan man as coach . . . all while the core product, the football team, got worse on the field year over year. At TRU, too, he seems focused on other things than selling toys, eg, protecting profit margins by not discounting, coming up with a shop-in-shop experience, etc. I'm not a toy selling expert, so I'm not sure how TRU is to go about focusing on its core business (selling toys), but then again, it doesn't seem like DB knows either.
I eagerly await his email telling me to stop drinking and go bed.
Maybe the only thing DB is doing badly is attempting to run a major toy retailer in the age of Amazon / Walmart.
Interesting article, thanks for sharing. (And I'll also digress to say that if there is one person here who could make a post about Dave Branding that isn't too heavily bogged down by malicious (and completely justified) invective about what a horrible person he is, it's our MGoPastor whose tempered and insightful posts I've always appreciated. As they say, only Nixon...)
When my 10 year old son saves enough of his allowance to where he can spend it on something mwaningful, he usually wants a lego set or a video game. If he is undecided about what he wants, we always go to Target so he can look around and see which lego sets are available and let him compare and buy something within his "budget". If he knows exactly what he wants or if it is something that is somewhat hard to find, then we often buy it online unless we plan to be near our neighborhood Target and we are pretty sure it will be there. My son prefers Target because he gets the toy right away. For video games, he usually donwloads them through the X-Box or iTunes. We don't go to TRU very often; usually only around Christmas or his birthday. They do have a better toy selection than Target so it is good for one-stop toy shopping during the holidays. There is only 1 TRU in our metro area and it's about 30 minutes away so it's a bit of a pain going over there.
continuted to bitch about Dave Brandon. Maybe even bitch about Warde Manuel.
Name checks out
-Brick and mortar stores are getting their asses kicked by online sales
-Toys R Us is stuck in the 1990s
-Dave Brandon is a con man, douche and incompetent boobie...how he got this job or any job is beyond me
Toys R Us will be gone within 3-5 years
April 14th, 2017 at 10:51 PM ^