Toys R Us France is offering Parisian customers an unusual fulfilment method this Christmas by delivering orders by rollerblades.

Toys R Us has teamed up with courier firm Tok Tok Tok to enable customers to order products through the French start-up’s website and app and have them delivered to their home or office in Paris and surrounding suburbs within an hour of placing their orders.

The alternative delivery option will be available until December 24.

Toys R Us has recorded a fourth consecutive profit drop in the UK as pre-tax profits for the year ending February 1, 2014 fell 24% to £4.55m.

Gilles Mollard, directeur général of Toys R Us France, said the service would appeal to time-poor parents and help set Toys R Us apart from its competitors.

In the UK, the toy retailer made a net operating loss of £5.2m during for the year to February 1, 2014 down from an operating profit of £10.78m the year before. In the prior financial year pre-tax profits dropped almost 50% from £11.44m to £5.98m. Its continued fall in profits have been blamed on its inability to compete with online rivals such as Amazon and grocers such as Tesco and Asda.

Sales at the retailer continued to fall with sales down 7% from £461m to £428m year-on-year.

 

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