Dive Brief:
- Building on its past work together, Target on Monday announced that it has entered into a multiyear agreement with FAO Schwarz, according to a company press release.
- Exclusive FAO Schwarz toys will be available only at Target stores and its website, and at FAO store locations beginning in October.
- A space dedicated to FAO Schwarz will be in all Target stores and on the big box retailer’s website.
Dive Insight:
Target wants to create a one-stop holiday shopping experience for consumers. And that means boosting its toy department through exclusive products and an extended partnership with FAO Schwarz.
"One of the reasons families love shopping at Target is because of our incredible assortment of toys, and that selection is only getting better with our new exclusive agreement with the beloved FAO Schwarz brand," Jill Sando, executive vice president and chief merchandising officer at Target, said in a statement.
The FAO Schwarz assortment includes over 120 products across all toy categories and a capsule collection that celebrates the toy retailer’s 160th anniversary. Items will range in price from $9.99 to $149.99, with 50 toys under $20. Items include the FAO Schwarz Ride On Train, Dance on Piano Mat and over 50 new plush toys.
Target will also have toy demonstrations throughout the holiday season at select stores, wherein shoppers get to enjoy hands-on play in the store’s aisles.
In recent years Target, along with Amazon and Walmart, began picking up market share in the toy space following the bankruptcy of Toys R Us. Target, which has worked with FAO Schwarz in the past on exclusive products, has also enhanced its toy department through a collaboration with Disney. In 2019 the box retailer launched Disney shop-in-shops in select Target locations. The retailer then tripled the number of Disney stores to over 160 ahead of the 2021 holiday season.
Yet, the 2022 season may have increased competition through a department store player. Over the summer, Macy’s and WHP Global announced that Toys R Us-branded shops will open in every Macy’s store. It is an acceleration of a store-in-store partnership that began last year. That store-in-store concept ranges from 1,000 to 10,000 square feet at Macy’s locations. The rollout began in July and will run through Oct. 15, in time for the holiday shopping season.
