Marketing forms an essential part of the organization and any company who is looking out to gain an extensive consumer share will be required to ensure that the company comprises of a systematic marketing plan (Stone and Woodcock 2014). With the advent of technology, digitalization has become extensively popular and due to this the different organizations have started investing in technology like digital marketing and web based marketing. The report will be discussing the different aspects of the Toys R us brand and will be looking out to discuss the different web based marketing and digital marketing techniques which can be successfully applied by the company in the long run.
Toys `R` Us, is an American clothing, toy, video game and baby product retailing company which was found in April 1948 with its headquarters situated in New Jersey. The company was found by Charles Lazarus and the founder added various toys and offerings to the children. The company has been involved in the toy business for more than 60 years and operates around more than 800 stores within the United States and 800 stores outside of the country (Toysrus.com. 2018). Although the business has been performing fairly well, the number of stores have been declining with time.
The company has expanded as a chain and become fairly popular in the niche domain of the toy retail. The company is represented by the Geoffrey the Giraffe and the company has branched out into launching various branches and stores like the Babies R Us, Toys R us express and the Kids R Us (Baltes 2015). The company has recently filed a bankruptcy case and announced that the business would be going out of business and selling out with respect to all its locations.
However, there are various branches still present with the exception of the Canadian store.
The Traditional Marketing can be described as a type of promotional activity or advertisement popularly used by a company since a long period of time and thus has a pre-defined success rate (Preston 2015). The different methods which are used in traditional marketing comprise of techniques like the print media advertisement, newsletters, flyers, newspaper print media ads and others.
The conventional promoting strategy which is available is generally considered to be an outbound system where the organization aims to transfer the image message to the limited group of customers it possesses. These mediums are clear in nature and limited time leaflets, post cards, announcements on the radio, organizational occasions, foster calls and referrals. These were some of the methods which were popularly used to connect and attract the new clients in the company. These techniques can be described to be fairly effective in nature (Karjaluoto, Mustonen and Ulkuniemi 2015).
Furthermore, it can be stated that Traditional Marketing makes the entre process of marketing less focusing in nature with respect to the intended interest group. It has high chances that the individuals who are the direct target market will not be attracted but instead the entire audience shall be targeted (Varley 2014).
On the other hand, the Digital Marketing can be described as the new age of marketing which tends to showcase various strategies for the worldwide domain and using the different web discovery, the digital marketing technique has helped the brand to make various advances and helps the firm to achieve an extensive client base. The different channels as used to achieve digital marketing techniques are as follows:
By following all these promotional methods, the organization can successfully ensure that it can make use of the flexible advertisement technique rather than the customary one which is very limited.
Advantages of using Digital Marketing techniques over Traditional Marketing
Although the conventional methods of advertising comprises of its own advantages, the new digital marketing is also very attractive. It provides high scale customary promoting benefits and the advanced digitalized marketing makes less use of prospects and directly focuses on the customers.
Having stated the concepts of digital marketing and traditional marketing, it could be witnessed that the digital marketing technique is more profitable in nature and that it needs to be the objective of the company to adopt the digital marketing technique. Given below are certain reasons why digital marketing should be invested in by the Toys R Us brand:
The internet has been expanding extensively
According to a recent research having been conducted, the internet has being growing continuously and the different people spend a minimum of 6 hours on the internet every day (Stephen 2016). Hence, the internet can be described as an extraordinary platform to spread the information about the company and thus, if the company Toys R Us invests in the internet marketing, it will be able to reach out to a lager consumer base. This is because it is more persuasive in nature.
Precise Audience
One of the weakest aspects about the traditional marketing technique is that the impact on the consumers is very limited in nature (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014). The audiences cannot be segmented using the traditional marketing means as strongly as using digital media can. Hence, by making use of the different digital marketing tools, Toys R Us can successfully target the designated audience for the brand and be able to determine the geographic location, interests and the demographics.
Boosts creativity
The primary advantage of digital marketing is that it helps to boost the creativity of the company. There are various options available which can help a firm to convert the ambiguous prospects of a project to reality by insertion of captions, images and the graphics (Royle and Laing 2014). By using innovative techniques, the company can making a memorable impact of the brand identity in the eyes of the customers.
Measurement of Results
Moreover, using the digital advertisement means, the company can make use of various tools and metrics to ensure that their advertisements and promotional techniques are being received well by the audience. This can assist them in taking measurable steps to improve their positioning in the market.
The Website Performance optimization technique should be the top priority of all businesses who aim to ace the online competition. Since the digital optimization tool can be described as an optimum tool which can be used by the organization, it is important for the firm to have an appropriate website which will further contribute towards ensuring that the organization is able to perform well and improve the overall performance of the website (Hair Jr and Lukas 2014).
The following procedures can be used by the company Toys R Us in order to ensure that the company performance is improved:
Continuously testing the Speed of the Website
A website speed test may be used by Toys R Us in order to ensure that the overall speed of the website improves (De Mooij 2013). If the organization makes use of the different website speed optimization tools like using Firefox and Chrome as required then it will successfully be able to migrate to HTTPS and take advantage of the optimization.
Image Optimization
The image optimization can be described as a relevant tool which can be used to attract more customers on to the website of the brand. The customers are largely attracted to the brands who tend to have a lively website which can help them in navigation. However, the websites often take time to load and if the images are optimized well then the company can make image sizes smaller which will then assist the firm in ensuring that they can gain more customers.
Caching
Leveraging the browser cache is very crucial for the business enterprise as it assists the organization to have a max age of 7 days which will help in controlling the excess data as present. If the company is successfully able to control the browser cache so that the customers are not welcomed by unnecessary data and are easily able to ensure success. Modifying the Cache Control response header can be useful in the long run
Database optimization
Leveraging the browser cache is very crucial for the business enterprise as it assists the organization to have a max age of 7 days which will help in controlling the excess data as present. If the company is successfully able to control the browser cache so that the customers are not welcomed by unnecessary data and are easily able to ensure success (Hartley and Claycomb 2013). Modifying the Cache Control response header can be useful in the long run
Web Font Performance
The web font performance of a website is also very crucial. Most organizations these days make use of custom fonts which tend to improve the performance of the website. However, very often the use of such fonts make the http requests added in their nature and hence, the company needs to ensure that the different websites performance adequately in order to ensure that there is priority based optimization which will help Toys R Us to achieve success.
Infrastructure
Another aspect to achieve success is to ensure that the web host is smooth and it can act as the backbone of the site. The company needs to ensure that it makes the use of the VPS managed host which will then ensure that the website runs very smoothly in nature. There are various companies and software which help in the given domain (Boone and Kurtz 2013). These are Linode, Vutr and others which assist the company to maintain the infrastructure of the website which can further optimize the services of the firm.
Database Optimization
The last crucial step for the website optimization of the store Toys R Us is to optimize the database and clearing out the excess data which is available with the firm. This shall require SQL tuning and other techniques specific to the requirements of the chosen store.
The benefits to the company will be as follows:
Through the given steps the brand awareness of the company Toys R Us will improve considerably and become highly popular among its competitors (Järvinen and Karjaluoto 2015).
Optimizing the website will also contribute towards increased website searches. The website searches then expose the inventory of the company to the different consumers which shall then assist the toy store to gain higher revenues and to increase their market share as well.
Optimization of the website will also serve as a good medium for cost effective marketing technique of the organization as it shall contribute towards the saving of costs for the firm.
Hence, by using the different techniques stated in the section, the toy brand Toys R Us will be successfully able to gain a larger market.
Search engine optimization refers to the process of attracting as many as traffic as possible to the particular website. This is being done by optimizing the visibility of the particular website in the search engine. Thus, the more will be the traffic in the website, the more will be potential customers and business (Killoran 2013). Toys “R” Us can also be benefited from the use of search engine optimization for their official website. This will help them to enhance their business from their website. The following sections will discuss about different steps and strategies in search engine optimization that will help Toys “R” Us to enhance the visibility of their website.
Mobile friendly sites
In the current time, majority of the online searches being done by the customers are from their mobile devices. Thus, it is important for Toys “R” Us to make their website more mobile friendly (Shih, Chen and Chen 2013). It will enable the search engines to show the particular site mobile friendly and thus it will remain in the top part of the search results along with increase in the website visibility.
Descriptive keywords
It is also recommended that the keywords used in the search engines for the Toys “R” Us should be more descriptive and specific to the location. This is due to the reason that Toys “R” Us is having their business in different regions around the world. Thus having the location specific keywords will help them in having their website at the top of the search results when customers will search for toy shop in a specific location (Berman and Katona 2013). Currently, Toys “R” Us is not having location specific location based keywords and thus they are not able to target market specifically. In addition, the more descriptive keyword will be given, the more will be the probability of getting matched with the search words of the customers. Therefore, the more will be the matching of the words, the more will be the top ranking for their website in the search results.
Competitive analysis
Search engine optimization also involves competitive analysis. This is due to the reason that prior to the optimizing the sites of Toys “R” Us, it is important for them to identify the keywords used by their competitors in staying in the top positions. In addition, it is also important for them to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the websites of their competitors (Park et al. 2015). This will enable Toys “R” Us to design their websites accordingly and stay ahead in the search results. In addition, effective identification of the weaknesses of the competitors will help Toys “R” Us to have more efficient website that will meet the requirement of the customers more efficiently.
Using of third party publications
In order to enhance the visibility of the website by means of search engine optimization, Toys “R” Us should also use the third party publications such as bloggers and news websites. Content written by the third party publications about the brand of Toys “R” in the online mediums will ensure that they will have more probability of showing their content as the latest in the search engines. Thus, visibility of the websites of Toys “R” Us will get more traffic (Ur Rehman and Khan 2013).
Using of pay per click in enhancing the visibility
Pay per click refers to the strategy of advertising in different websites by paying charges. This helped the advertising firm to make their brand visible to the traffic entering in the website where the advertisement is being given (King, Abrahams and Ragsdale 2015). In this case, charges are being paid on the basis of the number of traffic entered through the advertisement given by clicking on it. It is recommended that Toys “R” Us should first identify the websites with having higher rate of traffic. This will have different results due to the reason that different regions or countries will have different sets of websites with having higher ranking. The next step should involve advertising through these websites (Altberg et al. 2015). Thus, initiation of the pay per click strategy will help Toys “R” Us to target the customers from different regions effectively and in maximum number. This can be made possible by using the websites with higher rate of traffic in different countries. The huge traffic entering in these websites will be able to see the advertisement of Toys “R” Us and thus the visibility will get increased (Kritzinger and Weideman 2013).
Using of online display and video marketing can help Toys “R” Us to be visible more in the online market. However, there are number of steps should be followed by them in order to have maximum return from it. The first step is to identify the target customers along with the trend and requirement of them (Dinner, Van Heerde and Neslin 2014). This is due to the reason that different countries are having different sets of cultural and social backgrounds. For instance, online display on the western countries can be more explicit in nature but it cannot be showed in the Middle Eastern regions (Barford et al. 2014). Thus, the designs of the online display and the video marketing should be made in accordance to the cultural aspects of the local market. The next step is to determine the popular sites where the display ads will be given. This is important due to the reason display ads and video marketing should be done only through the sites, which are having higher level of daily traffic and those are the top ranked sites in the target market. This is important due to the reason that advertising through the top ranked steps will help them to target the maximum customers along with enhancing the authenticity of their advertising. The step is to design the display and video. It should be considered that the display and the video should be the product centered and should enable the customer to have affair knowledge of the products offered (Kireyev, Pauwels and Gupta 2016). The more effective and specific will be the display and the video, the more will be the probability of attracting new customers.
Social media marketing is one of the most effective and emerging medium in the current time. In the recent time, huge chunk of the global population are active in the social media. However, there are having the need and importance of smart plan of social media marketing in order to target and engage the customers (Vinerean et al. 2013). The first factor that should be considered in the social media marketing is the content. It is recommended that Toys “R” Us should come up with a content that will have acceptance to maximum target customers and that will effectively communicate the benefits and features of the products. In this case, Toys “R” Us can come up with video content due to the reason that video will help to offer more practical content to the customers along with the fact that video content will increase the visibility and attractiveness among the customers.
Another factor that also should be considered is the communication process through the social media. This is an important factor due to the reason that effectiveness of the communication will determine the level of retention and engagement of the customers. Toys “R” Us should initiate two ways communication mechanism with their customers. Thus, the feedback and the opinions being shared by the customers against some content of Toys “R” Us in the social media should be replied accordingly. This will help them to get engage with the customers and identify their needs and requirements. Accordingly, they can initiate the product development process in future. Social media platforms such as facebook and twitter should be sued due to the reason that these mediums allows to post video content along with provide the platforms to get engage directly with the customers. Social media marketing can also be used as a tool for retaining the existing customers (Luo and Zhang 2013). It is recommended that Toys “R” Us should initiate loyalty programs for their existing customers and these programs should be communicated through the social media channel. Communication through the social media will help the existing customers having the idea about the loyalty programs.
Thus it can be concluded that social media marketing of Toys “R” Us should be extensive in nature in order to cover the major sections of the customers. In addition, the social media marketing of Toys “R” Us should also be interactive in nature along with having the orientation towards the customers.
Email marketing is one of the major forms of direct marketing that refers to the process of communicating with the customers about the products by the mean of email. It is recommended that Toys “R” Us should initiate this strategy in order to update their customers about the recent product development and launches. In addition, email marketing should have to be communicated to the customers in a more personalized way (Sahni, Wheeler and Chintagunta 2018). In this case, the customer segments should be segmented on the basis of different parameters such as the income level and preference pattern. Emails should be sent in accordance to these criterions that will further help Toys “R” Us to effectively target the customers in more personalized manner.
On the other hand, content marketing should be used by Toys “R” Us in order to increase their visibility of their website in the search results as well as communicate with the customers regarding the product brief. Content marketing should also be incorporated in the social media marketing of Toys “R” Us. This is due to the reason that coordination between the content marketing and market penetration capability of the social media will help Toys “R” Us to have the maximum output from their digital marketing strategy. In addition, it is also to be noted that content marketing can also be incorporated with the entire advertisement strategy of Toys “R” Us ranging from online mediums to traditional mediums (Kee and Yazdanifard 2015). This is due to the reason that content is the core and primary factor that determines the effectiveness of the marketing strategy. Quality of the content will also determine the extent to which customers will get attracted towards a particular brand.
Moreover, the email marketing can also be used as the complementary medium of the social media marketing. It is recommended that Toys “R” Us should use the email marketing process to communicate their customers about the information of their social media activities. Thus, the customers will be able to have the knowledge about what is going on currently on the social media channel of Toys “R” Us. On the other hand, this will also help Toys “R” Us to enhance the traffic of their social media channels. The more will be the traffic in the social media channels, the more will be the potentiality of covering the major section of the target customers.
Web Analytics can be rightfully described as the collection of online data and tools in order to understand and optimize the web presence of a brand. The web analytics turns the experience of visiting a website into a quantitative data which provides the company all the information of its users which can then be rightfully used by the brand in order to ensure that it is successful in the long run.
Hence, using the stated concept Toys R Us can apply the web analytics tool in the following manner:
Hence, the company can use Web Analytics to gain a better understanding of the different customers which will then allow the firm to make changes to the web presence which will then contribute towards improvement of the consumer experience, sales of the company, increase leads and get conversions. The company needs to make use of the relevant data which will then help to strengthen the marketing efforts of the firm.
Traffic Sources – The analytics which is usually used can contribute towards providing insight into the advertising domain. Once the company purchases a certain package, should be able to track the traffic to their website and track the moves as taken by them. This assists during the paid search campaigns as well as banner advertisements.
Usability – The website analytics also goes a long way in providing data for every page. The bounce rates, exit rates and the conversation funnel can also be accessed which helps a company like Toys R Us to understand the improvements which are required to be made on the website and the different weaknesses (Chaffey and Smith 2013).
The company Toys R Us can make use of different metrics like the following to analyze their use of Web Analytics:
Average Time on Site/Page –
This will help the firm to measure the time which a user spends on the page.
Bounce/Exit Rates –
This helps to understand the last page which the individual visits before leaving the website.
Pages/Visitor –
To analyze the number of visitors on the page.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the given analysis it can be stated that the major reason why the company Toys R Us has not be successfully in its operations because the marketing activity of the company. With the advent in technology, the digital tools and their use have become increasingly popular but the Toys are us brand failed to adapt to these digital means and this is the reason why it failed to operate in the long run. The given report analyzed the digital marketing concepts and theories and applied these theories to suggest the ways in which Toys R Us can apply these for the long term welfare of the firm and to achieve competitive edge.
After the analysis, it can be recommended that the company needs to ensure that it undertakes the following:
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