Word: r
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...parlance of the Web, Toys "R" Us and KB Toys are "clicks-and-mortar" businesses, combining their retail stores with online versions. Retail observers and investors are watching this holiday season closely for clues as to which type of operation is better positioned to serve customers and make a profit in the 21st century--the eToys model, which operates online only, or the Toys "R" Us version, with which old-fashioned chains are finally forging a Web presence...
Investors clearly think the game is over, rewarding pure-play e-tailers with market capitalizations that dwarf their off-line competitors--Amazon's $32 billion, vs. Sears' and K Mart's combined $17 billion; eToys' $4.5 billion, vs. Toys "R" Us' $3.6 billion; and, even more amazing, airline-ticket broker Priceline.com's $8.3 billion, vs. the combined $8.6 billion market cap of Continental Airlines, US Airways and United Airlines...
...Robert Kenzer, CEO of Kenzer Corp., a retail executive-search firm, says retailers will have to do online, off-line and catalog in order to survive "or have strategic alliances that permit them to do all three." Companies such as Circuit City and eToys' competitors KB Toys and Toys "R" Us are proving they're not out of the game. "Clicks-and-mortar has a lot of inherent advantages," says Seema Williams, e-commerce analyst at Forrester Research. "For one thing, an existing, powerful brand presence. It's going to be awful tough for an online retailer to maintain...
...Toys "R" Us was at first regarded as an industry joke, its website plagued by overcrowding and inadequate order fulfillment. KBkids.com didn't even exist last year. The space belonged to eToys, the first online retailer to design a truly kid-friendly toy site. Kids could create electronic wish lists, gifts came wrapped, batteries came included. "I saw immediately that here was a channel that could revolutionize how you serve the toy market," says eToys CEO Toby Lenk...
...line toy retailers, that kind of problem solving was intimidating enough to keep them on the sidelines during the holiday season, caroling that the Web was just a passing phase. As late as last year, Robert Nakasone, then Toys "R" Us CEO, was more eager to talk about store redesign than Web strategy. Toys "R" Us has had problems with its stores...