Toys ‘R’ Us, the international children’s toy retailer, has launched a new ecommerce website to support the growth of its multichannel retail business in the Middle East, implemented by Astound Commerce, the leading digital commerce agency and systems integrator.

Launched by franchisee Al-Futtaim in 1995 in Dubai, Toys ‘R’ Us MENA is now present in 19 locations in the Middle East and North Africa region, and has emerged as the market leader for all child-related products. To support its growth and deliver omnichannel capabilities to its customers, Al Futtaim Group sought to launch a new ecommerce website, toysrusmena.com.

The sub-platform for the website not only had to combine ecommerce and targeted marketing functionality, but also allow the toy retailer to quickly roll-out a further six ecommerce sites in other MENA markets over the next five months.

Astound Commerce designed and delivered the solution, configuring and integrating both Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Marketing Cloud applications, to provide personalised online experiences for shoppers. The website’s capability extended beyond commerce, to include marketing and customer service focused applications, such as personalised shipping notifications, delivery and ready-to-collect emails as part of its click-and-collect offering.

The new ecommerce site also includes a special gift finder, allowing customers to search for presents based on the age of the child and allocated budget. Additionally, customers can pay online using Samsung Pay, a unique application of Salesforce Commerce Cloud. The result is an advanced trading platform with the scalability and flexibility to future-proof Toys ‘R’ US MENA’s digital channels, with the first order delivered just twelve hours after the site went live.

Rizwan Rajpoot, Managing Director at Al Futtaim, said: “I thoroughly enjoyed working with Astound who instantly hit it off with the senior management at Al Futtaim and were an absolute pleasure to work with. Here at Al Futtaim, we now look at Astound as an extension to our existing team. The quality of the work they deliver is first class and I’m genuinely looking forward too many, many years together as one team. “

Astound Commerce UK MD, Terry Hunter, commented: “This is an exciting double first for us. Our first project to go live in this market since launching our Dubai office last year, and the first time our team has integrated both Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Marketing Cloud in a single project. This implementation is indicative of the fully integrated, consultative approach Astound Commerce takes to digital strategy, combining best practice in ecommerce, marketing, customer experience, technology, analytics and insights, in order to deliver value to global brands and retailers.”

The Toys ‘R’ Us website is the first live project from Astound Commerce Dubai, which opened in 2017, working closely with Astound Commerce UK, its European HQ in London, to grow the company’s customer base in MENA.