Dive Brief:

• Sales at Wayne, NJ-based toy retailer Toys "R" Us fell last year 7.4% to $12.5 billion, its lowest sales level since 2009, the company reported Wednesday.

• CEO Antonio Urcelay said the retailer must improve its customers’ experience both in its stores and online, the availability of its inventory, check-out speed, and returns.

• Urcelay, who has been with the company 17 years but came on as CEO in October, also noted that the declining U.S. birth rate and increased competition from other retailers have been factors in falling sales in recent years.

Dive Insight:

Toys “R” Us is a highly recognizable and respected brand, but the company is sagging under the weight of competition and fewer American babies to play with its products. Not much the retailer can do about that, but there is plenty of room to improve things it can control, like make the improvements in customer experience — from shipping to check-out — that CEO Antonio Urcelay is clearly aware of. That bodes well for the company since the first step to improvement is to admit you have a problem.