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Amazon buys toy e-store
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November 30, 1999: 10:21 a.m. ET
Acquisition of catalog company will provide classic, specialty toys
By Staff Writer Michele Masterson
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Aiming to grab a bigger slice of the multi-million dollar online toy market, Amazon.com said Tuesday it acquired Back to Basics Toys, a catalog retailer of specialty toys.
Amazon did not disclose financial terms of the acquisition of the Hendron, Va.-based merchant. On Tuesday, Amazon launched a Back to Basic virtual store within its toy area on its Web site.
Ten-year-old Basics Toys features classic, hard-to-find specialty toys, such as talking Raggedy Ann dolls, doll houses, GI Joes and log cabin building sets.
"We continue to broaden our toys selection and toys like these are the ones we remember from our childhood,” said Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. "A lot of children are going to be thrilled this holiday season to enjoy the same toys that their parents did."
In early November, Amazon launched four new "stores” or e-commerce sites and acquired a catalog tool company.
Research released this week indicates that the online toy sector is among the leading e-commerce areas on the Internet. Nielsen/NetRating’s E-Commerce Index puts online toy buys at the top of their list, showing that during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, from Nov. 24 to Nov. 28, online toy stores experienced an 86 percent surge in traffic. In the battle for top dog, Nielsen picked Toysrus.com as the winner.
A joint e-commerce study from Goldman Sachs and PC Data Online released Monday reported that home Web shoppers spent $274 million online last week, an increase of more than $66 million from the previous week. Of those shopping the Internet, 440,000 were buying toys. The report said that toys ranked second as the most purchased product online, following computer software.
"This week was about gift-buying online and it’s not surprising that toys are leading the charge,” said analyst Cameron Meirhoefer of PC Data Online. "Nearly one in five people who went to toy sites actually made a purchase.”
E-tailing analyst, Anthony Noto, of Goldman Sachs said Tuesday’s Amazon acquisition may not help boost their toy market share significantly, but instead, enable it to offer a more robust product line.
"This allows Amazon to fill a key void and offer greater depth and breadth,” Noto told CNNfn. "While they can offer greater selection, typically, mass-market toys lead in sales rather than specialty toys.”
In trading early Tuesday, Amazon declined 3-1/16 to 87-3/8. 
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