Hamleys is one of the oldest multinational toy retailers in the world.

The firm works on a very

large scale worldwide and has multiple outlets across the globe. 90% of the company’s sales
are generated from retail stores. This is due to the value proposition of the brand that it has
been offering its customers all these years.

Customer Experience at a Hamleys Store

Hamleys believes in creating an experience for store buyers. The retail shops’ size at Hamleys
is three times the size of other retail stores. The store space is utilized not only for attractive
visual merchandising (VM) but also for having different toy demonstrations.

● Toy demonstrations of the stores start right from the entrance, one sees Hamleys
employees playing with toys like bubble guns, frisbees, etc.
● On entering the store, there are a set of toys kept open for display. For eg: electronic
water resistance frogs jumping in a water bowl. These toys are used as props to attract
the customers
● If you further enter the store you will find toys kept open for children to play. In fact,
Hamleys also have a small sitting area where family members can enter the store and
play different games. One of the best examples include a 100m robotic cars racing area,
● Store employees also have fun and join the family members and children to play. This
keeps the customers engaged and also allows one to check the condition of the toys. If a
toy is not in a working condition, it is removed and immediately a new toy is kept at the
space place to keep the experience intact.
● Within 10-15 seconds of a customer entering you always have an executive who guides
them in the store and encourages them to check different alternatives and at times try
them too.

Since Hamleys has been offering this experience to its customers, it has also generated a trust
level in them and at times parents leave their children in the stores to play with executives and
also celebrate their birthdays.

Situation due to Covid 19

The pandemic has hit and affected various industries, the retail industry being one of the most
affected. People are afraid of going out to the stores to get basic amenities for their day to day
living. In such a case customers have been avoiding entering the Hamleys stores too in fear of
them or their children catching the virus.
They believe numerous people would have entered the store and touched the toys and
maintaining sanitation in such large stores on a regular interval is a difficult task. At the same
time, the customer experience of the brand is completely focused on providing an experience in
the stores and not any other medium

Due to this scenario, the sales of Hamleys has dropped significantly. Additionally, the
organisation has a huge fixed cost in terms of the rent of the stores and employee salaries. This
has led to huge losses to the firm.

Business model canvas of Hamleys