Australians are shopping earlier this Christmas due to fears for delivery delays and supply disruptions that have impacted many businesses around the country.
For Toys”R”Us this meant continued sales growth for the period ending 30 November 2021 compared to the previous corresponding period (pcp). Indeed, sales revenue increased by 139 per cent to $4.09 million, while number of orders received totaled $31.2K, an 81 per cent increase versus pcp.
“Despite challenges arising from delivery delays to our shoppers and associated order backlogs, we are pleased with the strong growth rate of Toys“R”Us, a tribute to the efforts and cohesive teamwork of our employees,” Dr Louis Mittoni, CEO and managing director of Toys“R”Us ANZ, says.
While Toys”R”Us was looking forward to introducing new services including next-day delivery, the increase in overall volumes occurring earlier than usual meant this would’ve created an unacceptable risk to already busy operations.
“The company is currently focused on executing important future goals including completion of the current trading period that extends through to New Year sales, construction of the new 19,650 square metre ecommerce fulfilment facility in Victoria and expansion into the United Kingdom,” Mitton adds.
Indeed, Toys“R”Us ANZ and WHP Global, the parent company of Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us, recently signed a long-term exclusive licence agreement for Toys“R”Us ANZ to run digital and physical retail commerce for Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us in the UK.
“We selected Toys“R”Us ANZ as our partner to expand into the United Kingdom because of their proven success in launching with us in Australia under the leadership of their CEO, Dr. Louis Mittoni,” says Yehuda Shmidman, WHP Global and Toys“R”Us chairman and CEO.
“Toys“R”Us today is a vibrant business with over 900 stores and e-commerce sites across 25+ countries generating over US$2 billion a year in sales and growing, especially with the new launches underway for both the US and UK markets.”
Toys“R”Us ANZ also recently announced a purpose-built, state-of-the-art warehouse distribution and adjoining head office facility in Victoria. The new premises have been specifically designed and configured to house its headquarters and to accommodate the company’s medium-term requirements for warehousing, office space as well as a Toys“R”Us retail experience centre.
This includes an initial $2 million investment in Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) technology to increase capacity and efficiency.
The new centre will enable the company to realise its UK growth ambitions, with a further strategy to transfer these technologies and other processes to future locations.
