The Winter holiday season is typically regarded as the busiest time of the year for small toy stores. Small toy stores experience a record number of sales during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since the demand for toys and gifts increase during the festive season, shop owners expect more than usual traffic in the stores. However, this is not the case this year because the pandemic has forced people to stay inside and avoid public places. Since the pandemic, we have seen how businesses are adopting e-commerce activities and implementing strict health & safety guidelines. Similarly, consumers are also adjusting to online shopping creating a new normal.
The small toy store retailers are concerned about the implementation of new operational protocols. They can’t keep up with their forecasted sales since there is a limit on the number of people allowed in a small retail outlet. Similarly, with low sales, it's difficult for them to maintain the expensive PPE inventories. Furthermore, small retailers in the toy industry don’t have the necessary resources to shift their businesses online overnight. This is where big businesses like Amazon and Big Box have an advantage over small toy stores. They can benefit from a situation like these by capitalizing on the customers lost by small toy stores. Experts suggest that this holiday season can further widen the gap between large chains and small toy stores. Do you think that the small toy store industry will be able to survive?
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/14/business/toy-stores-small-business-amazon/index.html
3 comments:
People are continuing to shop for holidays, maybe less than in previous years, but they are still shopping. The demand for toys will be there no matter what as the population continues to grow. Whether or not small toy stores stay in business is entirely dependent on a case-by-case basis. In a small town where people were not affected by covid as much, the little toy store will continue to do business. However, in areas with high unemployment, the demand for toy stores may not be very high. Especially in big cities where people are not ordering online, the small stores that do not deliver to homes may not survive.
Small toy stores are likely going to struggle as we approach the holiday season. As you mentioned, people are resorting to online companies and bigger companies such as Amazon which by the way has in fact seen a lot of growth this year due to the pandemic. There have been some initiatives to push people to invest in local businesses such as these small toys stores, but I think unless the government steps in like in some European countries whereas they forced bigger businesses from closing certain aisles with non-essential such as toys, forcing people to buy them from smaller retailers, then they will indeed have a hard time surviving and competing.
I would have to agree with Haris. I feel that with the Holiday season approaching, people are still going to want to go about and buy toys for children. Even though there is an increase in COVID-19 cases, I feel like people keep buying toys and getting them delivered to their homes. But in areas where the economy is not doing well, they would be limited to buy new toys.
Post a Comment