TORONTO,
Nov. 25, 2014 /CNW/ -
The hustle and bustle of the holiday season is nearly unavoidable,
especially with last minute gift shopping, sifting through
thousands of toys on the shelves and not to mention travel. That's
why Mattel and Walmart Canada are teaming up to help make life a
little easier for Canadian travellers with the unique Virtual Toy
Store – a mobile based, digital shopping experience located at the
busiest and largest airport in Canada, Toronto Pearson International
Airport.
This unique, fun and interactive, one-stop virtual shop for the
hottest toys from Mattel will provide time crunched business
travellers and gift-givers heading home for the holidays with an
enjoyable, hassle-free shopping experience while waiting to board
their next flight.
"We are constantly seeing retail shopping evolve and become
increasingly mobile. In April 2014, a
study conducted by InfoSys found that nearly a third of consumers
now want more personalization in their shopping experience," said
Melissa Farjo from Mattel. "That's
why we are taking mobile shopping one step further and providing
Canadian travellers with a fun and interactive digital shopping
experience – one that is fully personalized by the user and
controlled in the palm of their hand."
Future of Retail: The Virtual Toy Store
The Virtual Toy Store installation features three LCD screens
that consumers can personalize and control via their own mobile
device to browse and shop the hottest toys from Mattel including
favorites like Barbie®, Hot Wheels®, Fisher-Price®, Thomas &
Friends™ Mega Bloks® and Monster High®.
Shopping at Virtual Store is very easy – to begin, connect to
the screen and enable your Smartphone as a remote control by
entering the URL into your Internet browser. Next, you can choose
to play one of the interactive games or browse and shop for holiday
toys by building your toy wish list. To complete your shopping,
check-out securely from your Smartphone on Walmart.ca
and have your purchases shipped anywhere in Canada, free-of-charge*, or have your toy wish
list sent to you via email to view/purchase later. It's that
easy!
The Virtual Toy Store will be located inside Toronto Pearson
International Airport Terminal One, between gates D41 and D42 and
conveniently by the food marketplace, which last year saw nearly
1.6 million travellers pass through. With the launch date of
November 25, 2014, Virtual Store will
run for four weeks.
"Shopping for toys during the holiday season can be very
stressful with so many toys to choose from and finding the time to
shop for them," said Cheri Anthony,
director of merchandising, toys at Walmart Canada. "The Virtual Toy
Store carries some of this year's hottest toys making shopping
easy, accessible, interactive, and convenient, especially for the
busy traveller."
The innovative technology, allows consumers to fully
personalize, control and interact with digital content on their
mobile device in a secure environment, without needing to download
any apps. The power of this technology is that all shopping
information is always in the hand of the consumer, allowing them to
continue their shopping experience on their own device and
ultimately purchase at their own convenience.
This program recognizes that the future of retail is changing
and showcases thought leadership from Mattel and Walmart Canada in
this ever evolving landscape. Mattel's technology partner,
BrandFire Marketing Group, is responsible for developing the
technology, while Strategic Objectives supported the program
through PR.
*Standard shipping option only. Free shipping excludes some
remote markets. If available, free shipping options are shown at
the checkout.
About Mattel
The Mattel family of companies (Nasdaq:
MAT) is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and
marketing of toys and family products. Mattel's portfolio of
best-selling brands includes Barbie®, the most popular fashion doll
ever produced, Hot Wheels®, Monster High®, American Girl®, Thomas
& Friends® and Fisher-Price® brands, including Little People®
and Power Wheels®, MEGA® Brands, including MEGA BLOKS® and
RoseArt®, as well as a wide array of entertainment-inspired toy
lines. In 2013, Mattel was named one of the "World's Most Ethical
Companies" by Ethisphere Magazine and in 2014 ranked No. 5 on
Corporate Responsibility Magazine's "100 Best Corporate Citizens"
list. With worldwide headquarters in El
Segundo, Calif., Mattel's companies employ nearly 30,000
people in 40 countries and territories and sell products in more
than 150 nations. At Mattel, we are Creating the Future of Play.
Visit us at www.mattel.com, www.facebook.com/mattel or
www.twitter.com/mattel.
About Walmart Canada
Walmart Canada operates a growing
chain of 391 locations nationwide serving more than one million
customers each day, as well as its flagship online store,
www.walmart.ca, which is visited by over 400,000 Canadians daily.
With more than 90,000 associates, Walmart is one of Canada's largest employers and is ranked one
of Canada's top 10 most
influential brands. Walmart Canada is focused on supporting
families in need. Since 1994, the company has donated and raised
more than $200 million to Canadian
charities and not-for-profit organizations. Additional company
information can be found at walmartcanada.ca,
facebook.com/walmartcanada and at twitter.com/@walmartcanada.
SOURCE Mattel