What are some retailers doing to entice reticent shoppers?”
Lead on toys was bad enough, but last week’s recall of a toy tainted with a date rape drug threatens to turn into a lump of coal for toy retailers just as the key holiday selling season gets started. The recall of Aqua Dots comes just as the industry was starting to see shoppers return to toy stores after summer’s high-profile recalls of more than 21 million Chinese-made toys with high levels of lead or dangerous magnets. Aqua Dots, distributed by Spin Master Ltd. in the U.S. but made in China, was on many retailers’ hot toy lists, and there are very few substitutes, retail executives say.Reports of children knocked unconscious after swallowing the tiny colorful beads set off a whole new level of worry among parents. The good news for shoppers is that they’re being bombarded with free shipping offers and fat discounts as rivals like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Toys “R” Us try to out do each other and draw reticent consumers. Most of the discounting had been planned, but at least one toy r
