Toys”R”Us, a major multinational toy chain, recently filed for bankruptcy protection in Virginia, USA, and its 1,600 or so stores will continue to operate as usual, and this bankruptcy protection does not include operations outside the United States and Canada.
Many people wonder why even the well-known giant of the toy industry will fall one day? Some analysts have pointed out that on the one hand, Toys”R”Us has been hit by competitors Walmart and Target, which has led to a decline in business, and more importantly, on the other hand, due to the prevalence of online shopping, consumers tend to buy their favorite goods online, which has severely dealt a blow to the business of physical stores, resulting in today’s failure.
In fact, the bankruptcy of Toys”R”Us is not the tip of the iceberg, in fact, many traditional enterprises around the world are also facing the same problem, and have been eliminated from the market in an instant before they have successfully achieved digital transformation, used the advantages of digitalization to maintain their competitiveness, and even realized the importance of digital transformation.
Don’t think that online shopping in Hong Kong is still prevalent, this digital force is still far away, in fact, it has officially made its way to Asia.
US e-commerce giant Amazon has spotted the potential of the Southeast Asian market and launched an ultra-fast delivery service Prime Now in recent months. Users can purchase a variety of products such as fresh food and consumer electronics, and receive the goods within two hours with free shipping, and even within one hour with additional shipping. This service has attracted a lot of people to use it, and it has been in the limelight for a while.
If this service comes to Hong Kong, I believe that many local enterprises will be able to fall. Therefore, as corporate leaders, we must take a long-term view and understand that digital transformation and the development of an efficient and comprehensive digital strategy are long-term competitiveness, rather than simply “multipliing” investment projects in the short term, so that we can ride the “Noah’s Ark” out of the crisis of brand decline and closure.
