Toys"R"Us not playing when it comes to e-commerce

Toys“R”Us Inc. plans to bring its U.S. e-commerce operations in-house, including building and managing a new platform for Toysrus.com, Babiesrus.com and FAO.com, by the end of summer 2016.

Toysrus.com launched in June 1998. In 2000, the company entered into a strategic partnership with Amazon.com to manage site development, order fulfillment and customer service. The partnership ended in 2006 and Toysrus.com transitioned to the GSI Commerce platform. GSI was then acquired by eBay Enterprise in 2011, and eBay Enterprise has since been managing the site.

“As part of our ‘TRU Transformation’ strategy, one of our most important priorities is to optimize our e-commerce business and significantly improve the customer experience online. To accomplish this, we believe it is in our best interest to manage and control all aspects of our e-commerce platform as we move forward,” said Fred Argir, SVP, chief digital officer, Toys“R”Us Inc. “We expect this will provide us with the flexibility needed to grow and expand in an omnichannel world, while allowing us to rapidly respond to changing customer dynamics and an ever competitive marketplace.”

Toys“R”Us Inc. says it will continue to work with current provider eBay Enterprise to ensure optimal operations for the existing websites, while facilitating a seamless transition to the new platform over the course of the next year.

Toys“R”Us Inc. operates 865 Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us stores in the United States, Puerto Rico and Guam, and in 735 international stores and 245 licensed stores in 37 countries and jurisdictions.