Mattel and Walmart Canada's Holiday Virtual Toy Store Takes Flight at Pearson Airport with an Innovative Technology that Enables a Personalized Shopping Experience!

TORONTO, Nov. 25, 2014 /CNW/ - The hustle and bustle of the holiday season is nearly unavoidable, especially with last minute gift shopping, sifting through thousands of toys on the shelves and not to mention travel. That's why Mattel and Walmart Canada are teaming up to help make life a little easier for Canadian travellers with the unique Virtual Toy Store – a mobile based, digital shopping experience located at the busiest and largest airport in Canada, Toronto Pearson International Airport.

This unique, fun and interactive, one-stop virtual shop for the hottest toys from Mattel will provide time crunched business travellers and gift-givers heading home for the holidays with an enjoyable, hassle-free shopping experience while waiting to board their next flight.

"We are constantly seeing retail shopping evolve and become increasingly mobile. In April 2014, a study conducted by InfoSys found that nearly a third of consumers now want more personalization in their shopping experience," said Melissa Farjo from Mattel. "That's why we are taking mobile shopping one step further and providing Canadian travellers with a fun and interactive digital shopping experience – one that is fully personalized by the user and controlled in the palm of their hand."

Future of Retail: The Virtual Toy Store

The Virtual Toy Store installation features three LCD screens that consumers can personalize and control via their own mobile device to browse and shop the hottest toys from Mattel including favorites like Barbie®, Hot Wheels®, Fisher-Price®, Thomas & Friends™ Mega Bloks® and Monster High®.

Shopping at Virtual Store is very easy – to begin, connect to the screen and enable your Smartphone as a remote control by entering the URL into your Internet browser. Next, you can choose to play one of the interactive games or browse and shop for holiday toys by building your toy wish list. To complete your shopping, check-out securely from your Smartphone on  Walmart.ca and have your purchases shipped anywhere in Canada, free-of-charge*, or have your toy wish list sent to you via email to view/purchase later. It's that easy!

The Virtual Toy Store will be located inside Toronto Pearson International Airport Terminal One, between gates D41 and D42 and conveniently by the food marketplace, which last year saw nearly 1.6 million travellers pass through. With the launch date of November 25, 2014, Virtual Store will run for four weeks.

"Shopping for toys during the holiday season can be very stressful with so many toys to choose from and finding the time to shop for them," said Cheri Anthony, director of merchandising, toys at Walmart Canada. "The Virtual Toy Store carries some of this year's hottest toys making shopping easy, accessible, interactive, and convenient, especially for the busy traveller."

The innovative technology, allows consumers to fully personalize, control and interact with digital content on their mobile device in a secure environment, without needing to download any apps. The power of this technology is that all shopping information is always in the hand of the consumer, allowing them to continue their shopping experience on their own device and ultimately purchase at their own convenience.

This program recognizes that the future of retail is changing and showcases thought leadership from Mattel and Walmart Canada in this ever evolving landscape. Mattel's technology partner, BrandFire Marketing Group, is responsible for developing the technology, while Strategic Objectives supported the program through PR.

*Standard shipping option only. Free shipping excludes some remote markets. If available, free shipping options are shown at the checkout.

About Mattel
The Mattel family of companies (Nasdaq: MAT) is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of toys and family products. Mattel's portfolio of best-selling brands includes Barbie®, the most popular fashion doll ever produced, Hot Wheels®, Monster High®, American Girl®, Thomas & Friends® and Fisher-Price® brands, including Little People® and Power Wheels®, MEGA® Brands, including MEGA BLOKS® and RoseArt®, as well as a wide array of entertainment-inspired toy lines. In 2013, Mattel was named one of the "World's Most Ethical Companies" by Ethisphere Magazine and in 2014 ranked No. 5 on Corporate Responsibility Magazine's "100 Best Corporate Citizens" list. With worldwide headquarters in El Segundo, Calif., Mattel's companies employ nearly 30,000 people in 40 countries and territories and sell products in more than 150 nations. At Mattel, we are Creating the Future of Play. Visit us at www.mattel.com, www.facebook.com/mattel or www.twitter.com/mattel.

About Walmart Canada
Walmart Canada operates a growing chain of 391 locations nationwide serving more than one million customers each day, as well as its flagship online store, www.walmart.ca, which is visited by over 400,000 Canadians daily. With more than 90,000 associates, Walmart is one of Canada's largest employers and is ranked one of Canada's top 10 most influential brands. Walmart Canada is focused on supporting families in need. Since 1994, the company has donated and raised more than $200 million to Canadian charities and not-for-profit organizations. Additional company information can be found at walmartcanada.ca, facebook.com/walmartcanada and at twitter.com/@walmartcanada.

Image with caption: "Mattel and Walmart Canada’s holiday Virtual Toy Store will be located at Pearson Airport as of November 25, 2014, featuring three LCD screens for a personalized shopping experience for the hottest toys from Mattel at Walmart.ca. (CNW Group/Mattel)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20141125_C6685_PHOTO_EN_8481.jpg

SOURCE: Mattel

For further information: To coordinate a media walkthrough to experience the Virtual Toy Store at Toronto Pearson International Airport, to request images or an interview with a representative from Mattel, please contact: Stephanie Lanari, Strategic Objectives, 416-366-7735 ext. 224, [email protected]; Ciara Dalziel, Strategic Objectives, 416-366-7735 ext. 237, [email protected]