Throughout the major Canadian cities we find many of the large category killer stores. These stores expanded across Canada in the 1980’s and 90’s. These category killing stores specialize in one particular category, but offer a moderately deep assortment of brands, styles, and prices in all of the merchandise classes that make up the category. One of these stores in present in Lethbridge. This store is Toys R Us. This store can satisfy most of the needs of the target market.
Most of the jobs that a small toy business would have to look after are performed through a head or regional office. This gives Toys R Us a distinct competitive advantage over the competition from the small toy retails in Lethbridge. Ordering, pricing, payroll, storage, advertising, and many other day to day activities are performed by few for very many.
Toys R Us is a large category killing store that is located at 225 1st Avenue South, right next door to the Park Place Mall in Lethbridge, Alberta. It offers a wide range of toys, bikes, computer games, baby needs, and games to children and adults throughout Southern Alberta. Toys R Us has been open in Lethbridge for almost six years.
Market Selection Strategy The market selection strategy for a category killer such as Toys R Us is fairly simple. A strategy often determines the target market, and the different market segments that the store is looking toward for the majority of its business.
Toys R Us is a store which is in a mature market. The majority of the growth that has happened in this market occurred in the 1960’s, when the majority of consumers enjoyed a higher disposable income and therefore large chain stores began to appear. The market is still strong and stable and Toys R Us can expect increases to their sales every year as there are no plans for another major toy competitor in the area.
The toy market is a very competitive business. Stores such as Wal-Mart and Zellers boast large toy departments and these are the biggest competition for Toys R Us. The store has some loyal customers. However, most of the customers in the toy market are very price sensitive and will shop at the store with the lowest prices. In order to increase their sales and market share, Toys R Us must look for ways to keep their customers loyal to the store.
The geographic location of the store helps to attract more customers off the highway and those potential shoppers from out of town. As Toys R Us sits next to Highway 3, it makes it easier for out of town customers to get to the store. Toys R Us is able to target consumers anywhere from the Alberta/Saskatchewan border to the east to Fernie, Cranbrook and Creston to the west. They also have the ability and size to attract all customers to the south of Lethbridge, including those who live in northern Montana. Customers to the north have the option of shopping at the larger Calgary store or Lethbridge. This gives Toys R Us a very large customer base.
The target market refers to the primary market that the store is trying to attract. In the case of Toys R Us, their target market is individuals with children, which range from 25-45 years of age. The target audience is also the adults but the advertising can often hit the children, ultimately who will enjoy the products the most. Toys R Us finds the majority of their customers are the parents, but for some of their video games, the older teenager often has a disposable income high enough to spend on the featured games in stock.
By understanding that the majority of buyers are the parents, Toys R Us has also stocked itself in the off-seasons with product parents may be interested in buying. These products include, learning games, adult games such as Trivial Pursuit and adult bicycles. As the population of Lethbridge expands, the sales of Toys R Us will increase.
Most market research for Toys R Us is conducted at the regional offices or head office. The information gathered from here is passed on to the 65 individual stores across Canada. Some primary research is done on the store level such as checking competitors prices and wages. Other primary research done at the store level is the customer satisfaction surveys that are conducted over the year.
Secondary research is used at head office and regional offices to conduct more through market research for the stores. Very little money is budgeted for the stores to conduct market research. Often at the smaller stores such as Lethbridge, it is just another responsibility of the store director.
Personnel Management
The store has a three tiered management structure that tries to cover all areas of the store throughly and completely.
Due to the size of the business, the chart is not as in depth as a smaller business would have. The Director oversees the entire store and is responsible for the everyday operations of the store. All store decisions must pass through the director for approval. The director is responsible to report to the District Manager. The assistant director is responsible for maintaining the sales floor and making sure that this area is kept up to standard. He/she reports to the director but is not responsible for looking after the other manager. The other manager is responsible for the storeroom. Also, included in their duties is the maintenance of the computer and game system area. The manager reports to the director.
The four department heads are given three different departments to look after. One sales floor department head maintains the sales area. This space includes everything except the special deals area and seasonal. (See appendix A). The other sales floor DH looks after these areas. They report to the assistant director. The operations DH is responsible for the tills, shipping and receiving, meetings, and the video game area. He/she reports to the assistant director and director. The last DH looks after the storeroom and those employees and reports to the manager. Employees in all areas report to the DH’s and look after their respective areas. DH’s delegate tasks each day to the employees and work closely with the employees.
Often a smaller store like Lethbridge has a senior DH to fill the gap of a second manager that the larger centers have. These person(s) are given more responsibilities and can open and close the store without a manager or director present. The senior DH is often the person who is next in line for promotion to manager. They are no higher on the organizational chart than a normal DH, but do receive added job benefits(pay increase), and are often called upon in difficult situations.
Hiring
Toys R Us has a diverse set of employees ranging in age from 16 to 60. The number of employees greatly fluctuates throughout the year. A mass hiring is done in late October to fill positions of night crew and to have extra staff available for the Christmas season. An optimal number of 32 employees are kept for the rest of the year. At Christmas that number increases to 50-55. Employees must be 16 years old and have a positive attitude toward work. Most employees are required to work on ladders, so anyone with a fear of heights is often overlooked for hiring. Hiring is often not needed throughout the year as 5-7 people are kept after Christmas to help strengthen the numbers. From February to September hiring is done on a need only basis. Applications are accepted and kept throughout the year.
Training
A successful applicant is given a minimal amount of training. This is the weakest component that exists at Toys R Us. New employees are given handbooks, a two-hour video session of store policies, and a small tour of the store. After that, it is strictly on the job training. Cashiers are quickly trained by senior staff for a shift and a checklist is gone over. Sales assistants are often matched with a DH or a senior staff member to help the new employees with their job tasks. Often this training only lasts for one or two days. Employees are expected to learn the store layout on their own and very quickly. DH’s and managers are available to the employees for any questions that occur on the job. Training is on going at Toys R Us and as an employee stays with the company longer, they will be given more responsibilities and privileges.
A probationary period of three months is given to all new employees. Anytime up to ninety days the employee can be let go without recourse. A small evaluation is given to employees after the probationary period is completed.
Training sessions are also given in dangerous chemical handling (WHIMS), and employees are periodically given tips on how to fold strollers etc. at the bimonthly staff meetings. Also, the Chinook Health Region holds training sessions in the store for expectant mothers and employees on car seat and booster seat installation and proper fitting for children. Bomb threat and fire drills procedures are gone over every six months to ensure employees know the location of fire equipment and the proper policies.
