Here are some thoughts i have, maybe they arent true, but it is atleast something.
1. Price matching - From a business point of view seems like a stupid idea. The company pays for products, and has to pay back the venders I assume. So if you are price matching, you lose the money that you are supposed to paying off the venders with. So I would think the company would have to go into a seperate area to get the money from all of these price matches. I do think it is good for customers, but at the same time I dont think it is totally needed.
2. Over pricing - Which it really isnt. Companies like Toys R' Us, Kb Toys, etc. buy product for a price. They have to mark it up to the point of profit. Of course they arent going to have the same prices as Walmart or Target. Walmart is a multi-billion dollar company, they buy far more product. So in turn Walmart gets way better prices which makes sense. So they can turn around and sell for less of a price obviously.
3. The Return Policy - Now that is going to hurt Toys R Us because honestly I would think they would want to be considered more of a friendly store. Now they are making this return policy that seems like a a huge chain walmart type deal. Now they are going to turn off frequent customers, and totally make them not want to shop in their stores. Returns hurt businesses too, but that is something I think is needed in order to compete. I've worked several retail jobs, and it is a low move when someone brings back a product, and basically tells you that they arent sure its from your store, or where they got it. To me thats a low move to make, but you have to deal with it, and realize most people arent like that.
Now with that said I was in a Toys R Us a year ago, that pretty much made me not want to ever go in that store again. I went in there looking for a Tom Brady figure, and had all their boxes out (Toys R Us does a night crew during Christmas which they have all their boxes on the sales floor, until their shift starts usually around 10pm at night) So I see over 3 boxes of solid Tom Brady figures. I ask one of the people working there who of course has been following me all around the store looking if I was going to steal product. That had me annoyed a bit, but I ask the person hey can I grab one of those Tom Brady figures. The guys no you cant, I dont have authority to open boxes. So I go okay well there are about 36 Tom Brady figures there, so honestly I would like one. I understand if its against your policy, but I live far away and wouldnt want to drive all the way back up here tomorrow morning. So I go can I speak to a manager maybe I can work it out with them. At this point I was totally fine if their policy was against putting out product before the time. So I speak to the manager, and she says no I cant give you the figure, night crew opens boxes. So I'm like okay maybe they have to enter their stuff into the computer or something. So I ask that,and she goes no, I just cant give them to you. At this point I'm in shock about how insane this girl was being to me.
First off I was a frequent customer, and wasnt asking for something extreme. I was polite, honest, and didnt even raise my voice. What she fails to understand is sometimes you have to bend the rules for a customer. I'm not talking about breaking the rules, but you have to be able to go with the flow, and realize not everything is so black, and white. So anyway, at that point explained to her that I was a frequent shopper there, and after this visit honestly wouldnt be coming back. She replied with well I dont want to be threatened, I'm sorry you cant come back in the morning. So I walked out, and that was that. I didnt call her District manager, didn't scream, or make a scene. I was just shocked by that.
My point with that story is Toys R Us should be focusing on helping the customer. Walmart, and Target have something to fall back on. They have the cheap prices, and pretty much dont need customer service. People will shop their regardless. Now I dont know if this is how all Toys R Us stores are, but it's not going to win them a lot of customers.
