US toy retailer, ToysRUs enters India for the 2nd time, opens first store

Its online store toyrus.in and it will also sell exclusively on ecommerce platforms, Flipkart and Myntra.

ToysRUs has entered India for a second time and has opened its first store in Hyderabad as it looks to tap the $1.5 billion toy market in India, over 90 per cent of which still remains unorganised. The US-based toy retailer is working with an omnichannel approach and will have smaller stores compared to what it has globally. 

Its online store is toyrus.in and it will also sell exclusively on ecommerce platforms - Flipkart and Myntra. 

Its Indian licensee is a 50:50 joint venture between Ace Turtle and Flipkart. 

ToysRUs had come to India with a different licensee partner just before the pandemic and had opened 10-12 stores, which it was forced to shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

In India, ToysRUs will have 75 stores over the next three years and the store sizes will be between 5,000-15,000 sq ft. Globally, the store sizes are in the range of 50,000-75,000 sq ft. 

The company has already set up dark stores to cater to demand which will come in online. The company expects 70 per cent of its revenue to come from ecommerce and its own website, and the remainder from its brick-and-mortar stores. 

The average selling price of the toys will be around Rs 1,000, but the retailer intends to have a range of toys which will go upto Rs 25,000. 

“India stores are going to be smaller, but there is a  difference between the India launches and the rest of the world. In other markets, ToysRUS are all brick and mortar and then they started to go online now trying to go omni channel, we are already launching with an omnichannel approach,” Nitin Chhabra, CEO of Ace Turtle, told Business Standard. 

Chhabra said that its private label toys are already being manufactured in India and in the second phase, toy brands which are not owned by the toy retailer, will then enter the Indian market with the retailer. The second phase of its entry will come into effect before the end of 2023. 

The global toy brands will also manufacture toys in India. Ace Turtle will get the know-how and designs from the global brands, but these toys will be manufactured in India.