Toys "R" Us is a licensed brand, so vendor EDI usually runs through the operator that buys the goods. In the US the largest channel is Macy's, which runs Toys "R" Us shop-in-shops chainwide. AIMS360 handles 850, 855, 856 with GS1-128 labels, 810 and 997 for Macy's and the other operators from built-in EDI, with no outside EDI provider and no document or kilocharacter fees.
Toys "R" Us is a licensed brand today, not a single buying retailer. The company that writes your purchase order is the operator running that channel, and in the United States the biggest one by far is Macy's. Get that right and the EDI is straightforward. Get it wrong and you build a mapping for a trading partner that never sends you an order.
Yes, but not the way it worked before 2018. Toys "R" Us is now a licensed brand owned by WHP Global rather than a single chain with one buying office. Operators license the name, buy the merchandise and run the stores, so your EDI relationship is with the operator, not with the brand.
In the United States the largest channel is Macy's, which runs Toys "R" Us shop-in-shops across its chain nationwide. If your product is going into those shops, you are trading on Macy's EDI specification and shipping to a Macy's distribution center.
The brand is genuinely growing. Alongside the Macy's shops there are flagship stores at American Dream in New Jersey and Mall of America in Minnesota, further flagships in Chicago and Texas, an airport store at Dallas Fort Worth, shop-in-shops at Navy Exchange Service Command stores, and more than 1,400 stores and e-commerce sites across roughly 31 countries. What changed is the commercial structure underneath the sign above the door.
This is the question to settle before anyone builds a mapping. Each channel is run by a different operator, and each operator has its own EDI specification, routing guide, ship-to locations and label rules.
| Channel | Operator | What that means for your EDI |
|---|---|---|
| Shop-in-shops | Macy's | The largest US channel. You trade on Macy's specification, ship to a Macy's distribution center and follow the Macy's routing guide and compliance program. |
| Flagship stores | Go! Retail Group | Standalone Toys "R" Us stores including American Dream and Mall of America. Purchase orders and vendor setup come from the operator. |
| Airport retail | Duty Free Americas | Travel retail, starting at Dallas Fort Worth. Smaller assortments and different pack requirements. |
| Military | NEXCOM | Navy Exchange Service Command locations, with their own vendor onboarding. |
| International | Regional licensees | Separate entities market by market, each with its own documents and terms. |
Practical rule: read the buying entity off the purchase order and the remit-to off the invoice instructions. That entity is your trading partner. WHP Global owns and licenses the trademark, so it is not the party issuing purchase orders for these channels.
Whichever operator you trade with, the document set is the standard retail one. The exact list, the X12 version and which segments are mandatory are set by that operator's specification.
| Doc | Name | Direction | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
850 |
Purchase order | Inbound | The order. Lands straight onto live inventory and allocation in AIMS360 instead of being retyped from a PDF. More on the 850. |
860 |
Purchase order change | Inbound | Quantity, price, ship window or cancellation on an order already placed. Applied to the live order with allocation following. More on the 860. |
855 |
PO acknowledgment | Outbound | What you can accept, change or reject, sent from the same order record. |
856 |
Advance ship notice | Outbound | Carton by carton pack structure with the SSCC-18 on each. Built from the actual pack so it cannot disagree with the label. More on the 856. |
810 |
Invoice | Outbound | Billed off what shipped, with the operator's terms and allowances carried through so it clears without a deduction. |
997 |
Functional acknowledgment | Both | Machine receipt. Missing 997s are the first sign a connection has quietly broken. More on the 997. |
846 |
Inventory advice | Outbound | Program dependent. An availability feed where the operator wants to see sellable quantity before writing the next order. |
Carton labels are the usual source of deductions. AIMS360 prints GS1-128 labels with the SSCC-18 from the same pack record that builds the 856, so the label and the notice always match.
Start with the operator rather than the brand. The sequence is the same one that applies to any retail program.
If the answer is Macy's, that is a connection AIMS360 already runs. See Macy's EDI or the full EDI retailer list.
Toys "R" Us Canada commenced proceedings under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act on February 3, 2026, and is operating under court supervision with Alvarez and Marsal Canada appointed as monitor. Reporting at the time of filing put amounts owed to vendors at more than 120 million dollars, with the store count reduced to roughly 22 and the Canadian e-commerce site suspended.
The Canadian business is a separate entity from the United States brand operations, so this does not describe the Macy's shop-in-shops or the US flagships. If you are considering shipping into Canada, review credit terms carefully and speak to your factor before accepting an order.
AIMS360 supports factor credit approvals inside the order workflow, so a credit hold is visible at order entry rather than after the goods have shipped. Status current as of August 2026; confirm the present position before relying on it.
Selling the same product into Macy's, a flagship operator and your own direct channel means three trading relationships and one stock record. That is where most systems break, because the EDI lives outside the ERP and somebody has to reconcile the two.
AIMS360 EDI is built and maintained in house and runs inside the same platform that holds your inventory and order book. One provider, one contract, one support team, with no separate EDI vendor in the path.
No per-document, per-kilocharacter or VAN charges from AIMS360. A heavy order period does not turn into a bigger bill, which matters most in a fourth quarter toy season.
Every operator, marketplace and direct order draws from the same availability. Wholesale and EDI commitments are subtracted before your direct channel ever sees a sellable number.
AIMS360 includes 350+ retailer EDI programs and 24x7 emergency support with priority support for EDI. See built-in EDI.
What brands ask before they chase this account.
Yes, but not in the way it worked before 2018. Toys "R" Us today is a licensed brand rather than a single buying retailer. WHP Global owns the trademark and licenses it to operators who buy the merchandise and run the stores. Vendor EDI therefore runs with whichever operator is buying, not with a central Toys "R" Us buying office. In the United States the largest channel by far is Macy's, which operates Toys "R" Us shop-in-shops across its chain nationwide.
Whoever issues the purchase order. For Toys "R" Us shop-in-shops in the United States that is Macy's, so you trade on Macy's EDI specification and ship to a Macy's distribution center. For the standalone flagship stores it is Go! Retail Group. The Dallas Fort Worth airport store is operated by Duty Free Americas, and the military shop-in-shops are operated by the Navy Exchange Service Command. International markets are run by regional licensees. Confirm the buying entity on your purchase order before you build any mapping.
The usual retail set, defined by whichever operator is buying: the 850 purchase order inbound, the 855 purchase order acknowledgment outbound, the 856 advance ship notice with GS1-128 carton labels outbound, the 810 invoice outbound and the 997 functional acknowledgment both ways. Many programs also use the 860 purchase order change inbound and the 846 inventory advice outbound. AIMS360 supports all of these from EDI built into the ERP.
Start with the operator, not with the brand. If you want product in the Toys "R" Us shop-in-shops, that is a merchandising conversation with the relevant Macy's buyer, and the vendor setup that follows is Macy's vendor setup. For the flagship stores it is Go! Retail Group. WHP Global owns and licenses the brand, so it is not the party writing purchase orders for those channels.
Toys "R" Us Canada commenced proceedings under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act on February 3, 2026, and is operating under court supervision with Alvarez and Marsal Canada as monitor. Reporting at the time of filing put amounts owed to vendors at over 120 million dollars, with the store count reduced to roughly 22 and the Canadian e-commerce site suspended. The Canadian business is a separate entity from the United States brand operations. Any brand considering shipping into Canada should review current credit terms carefully and speak to its factor first.
Assume yes and confirm against the operator's current routing guide. Any operator receiving at a distribution center scans cartons on arrival, and the advance ship notice and the carton label have to agree exactly. AIMS360 prints GS1-128 labels with the SSCC-18 serial number from the same pack record that builds the 856, so the label and the notice cannot drift apart.
No. AIMS360 EDI is a feature of AIMS360, built and maintained in house and running inside the same platform that holds your inventory and your order book. One provider, one contract, one support team, with no separate EDI vendor in the path and no document or kilocharacter fees. Where an operator mandates a particular network, AIMS360 works within it and still builds and reads the documents itself.
Yes. Each operator is configured as its own trading partner with its own specification, ship-to locations and label requirements, while every order draws from one master stock record. That matters because the same toy, plush item, apparel style or accessory can be sold into Macy's, a flagship operator and your own direct channel at the same time, and only one of them can have the last unit.
Purchase orders, changes, acknowledgments, ASNs with GS1-128 labels and invoices, generated by the same platform that holds your inventory. Built-in EDI, no middleware, no document or kilocharacter fees.
By Shahrooz Kohan, CEO, AIMS360. Reviewed by the AIMS360 EDI team. Last updated August 2026. Talk to our team.
Toys "R" Us is a trademark of its respective owner, as are Macy's, WHP Global, Go! Retail Group, Duty Free Americas and NEXCOM. AIMS360 is an independent software vendor and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of them. Retail structures and corporate status change; confirm the current buying entity, specification and credit position with your trading partner before acting on this page.
