La Grande Récré Bets on Digital Push to Drive Store Traffic Before Christmas
Elisa Ouvrard says 80% of La Grande Récré’s online audience ends up in stores, as the French toy chain moves towards a cooperative network.
Photo: Toute la Franchise
French toy retailer La Grande Récré is steering its online marketing towards bringing shoppers into its physical stores for the festive season. Elisa Ouvrard explained the strategy in an interview with e-marketing.fr published on Monday.
Ouvrard said 80% of the brand’s online audience eventually turns into in-store visits. The chain therefore relies first on geolocated campaigns on Meta, alongside a digital display programme with the advertising network Azerion that is triggered by users’ location.
Those campaigns promote in-store activities held every Wednesday and Saturday, ranging from Beyblade tournaments to Lego building workshops. The whole set-up will be stepped up for Christmas.
The retailer is also changing shape. Acquired by the JouéClub group in June 2023, it is gradually moving from a network of company-owned branches to a fully cooperative model. By the end of 2026, Ouvrard said, 60% of its 113 current stores should be independent and 40% branches, with the transition due to be completed by 2028 at the latest.
On pricing, the chain launched its “Coup double” operation on October 16, running for ten days this year and giving a 25-euro voucher for every 50 euros spent, redeemable from November. Ouvrard added that strong discounts are being prepared for Black Friday, with another major offer planned for early December.
For advertising, the brand has dropped traditional linear television, now too costly, in favour of catch-up platforms such as M6+, TF1+ and Disney+, and works with Bonial, ShopFully and Promoaccro to relay its deals online.
