A Toys "R" Us Sociotechnical Plan for Moving into Online Marketing
Introduction
Our Store, Toys "R" Us, is arguably the world's foremost toy store (Utulo, 2017). However, as parents get busy and we have of two-parent working families increases, this plan is designed to maintain our dominance in the toy market. Our strength is our ability to get parents and children in our stores playing with the toys.
Scope
This plan intends to use warehouse shipping, video instructions, hands-on experiences, and selective recordings added to our web page as the foundation implemented as a sociotechnical plan.
Purpose
Toy suppliers are seeking increased sales volumes, and other companies are stealing our customers with lower prices. The children come to our stores to touch the toys, and the parents find the same toy for a lower price on another retailer's website.
Supporting Forces
The toy manufacturers value us and do not want us to go out of business. By shifting to warehouse shipping, we can increase our volume commitments and compete with resellers that do not have physical locations.
Challenging Forces
The United States Postal Service is not as reliable as other commercial shippers. The challenge is to find a shipper that fits our new pricing model. We will investigate a drive-up warehouse model similar to drive-up pharmacies where you pick up your prescription in minutes. Innovations in packaging and delivery are critical to implementing this innovation successfully. To avoid a merger, our investors will need to back this plan, or we will need to obtain short-term construction financing to shorten this plan's implementation timeline (Oberoi, 2020).
Methods
Our choice for plan implementation is a structured design process based on backward planning. We can use a structured design to achieve our goals by identifying the result (Joseph & Davies, 1990). Understanding the end allows us to remove the complexity of these overlapping innovations. We will trace each step and identify the integrations with our current model as the starting point.
Models
Figure 1 is a top-down planning model for automated process improvements (Joseph & Davies, 1990). We will work from the bottom up with our end goals end mind during our planning process.
Figure 2 depicts the backward planning techniques we will use along the way.
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Analytical Plan
The plan is based on simplicity as we will only develop one module simultaneously. As the project progresses, we will update any previous module or feature to ensure accuracy and efficiency in the final system. Rules and standards shall be developed and taught to employees at each phase of the process, eliminating confusion and gaining widespread adoption.
In our playrooms, videos show the children how to play with a toy, reducing toy breakage and creating a place where parents see how to supervise their children. We will record each play session and use the best ones as advertising on our website to draw more children to our stores.
Anticipated results
We anticipated increased efficiency as the stores no longer have to replace toys across numerous isles. When we close for the day, we replace broken toys and repair toys to give to local charities, thus improving our social acceptance throughout our community. We can provide support for last-minute shoppers by shifting delivery to external contractors with guaranteed delivery. The change to warehouse shipping and specific playroom stores provides an immediate operational expense reduction of fifteen to twenty percent (15% to 20%).
Conclusion
Implementing this sociotechnical plan provides implementable actions as the company moves toward online shopping. This plan includes several disruptive ideas to keep Toys "R" Us at the forefront of the place where children have fun.
Areas of Future Research
We can explore the option of selling videos of the children learning how to use a toy to parents. For groups, we can provide videos for their later enjoyment and memories. Selling videos requires legal analysis before implementation. As technology improves, we can explore virtual learning videos for our most popular toys.
A toy-use hotline with recorded messages and scheduled
appointments for our customers will increase customer stickiness and
differentiate us from pure drop-ship resellers.
References
Joseph, A., & Davies, B. (1990). Implementation of a “Backwards Planning” Technique in the Automation of Process Planning. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 5(4), 321-344.
Oberoi, S. (2020). 6 Examples of Merger Failures Owing to Cultural Incompatability. https://www.spiceworks.com/hr/hr-strategy/articles/examples-merger-failure-cultural-incompatibility/
Utulo, S. M. (2017). Case Study Toys "R" Us [College Paper]. https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/jose-rizal-memorial-state-university/fundamentals-of-accountancy-business-and-management-2/a-case-study-about-toy-r-us/23045377
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