. Not only did Toys R Us introduce curbside pick-up practically overnight, it also announced a tie up with food delivery service DoorDash to offer same day shipping on items that were available in-store. “We didn’t actually think that was going to be something that would differentiate us. To this day, what we implemented was a test-and-learn model without integrations, completely manual and we were like, ‘let’s see how this is going to work’ and it became a challenge and we turned it on pretty quickly,” Cherian said. He said it took the company less than three weeks to test the idea, create the design, and coordinate the front and back end. “All our teams did a fantastic job on it and our marketing team did a great job making sure it’s visible so people would know what they’re getting and understand that it’s a new channel opportunity,” Cherian said. “So it started out as experimental but it turned out that you can get your toy and your pizza order at the same time.” Shortly after launching with DoorDash, Cherian said they’ve already had about 120,000 orders. “On average, a Dasher comes into our stores every 12 to 15 minutes. Average delivery time was between 20 to 25 minutes per toy order and today we’re averaging at 30 to 35 minutes depending on the location. It became a game changer for us. It allowed us other avenues and opportunities to explore,” Cherian said. “You need to look at all your channels and optimise where you can,” he added.  Importance of feedback Cherian said the pandemic made the company value all its channels, technology, teams, and most of all, customers and their feedback. “A loyal customer is a valuable asset, but it is also amazing if you have a customer that gives feedback. And that was something we had to pay close attention to, the voice of the customer,” he said. Customer feedback is what informed the launch of Toys R Us curbside pickup last year. “Last year, families had to stay at home. Moms and dads are stuck in the house, the kids are driving them crazy, they would want to get something in their hands quickly, how do we do that? We had to kind of pay attention to that, give the customers what they want,” Cherian explained. The company encountered positive and negative feedback after introducing the service, which helped the business iron out the kinks.  “For the curbside pick-up, our first reaction to everything was how do we make sure that we’re out there and we have an offering immediately? We had to start offering our product where customers can get their hands on it pretty quickly, so we basically built a whole product offering,” Cherian said. According to Cherian, after the curbside pick-up idea, they had to quickly think of new ways to market the idea, design it and merchandise their products.  “It was really interesting, integrating all that and knowing we didn’t really have that a month ago and just turned that on overnight. It accelerated a world of difference internally for us,” he said.