Amazon Brings Holiday Gift Catalog to Roblox in Digital Shift

Amazon.com Inc. is abandoning the traditional gift catalog in favor of a digital-first approach that blends gaming, voice technology and physical retail, a bet that today's youngest shoppers spend more time in virtual worlds than flipping through paper pages.

The Seattle-based e-commerce giant said Tuesday it would launch its 2025 Holiday Kids Gift Book as a three-pronged experience spanning a printed catalog, a Roblox game and Alexa-powered audio adventures. The move marks a significant departure from the mail-order catalogs that have long been a staple of holiday marketing, reflecting broader changes in how retailers reach Generation Alpha consumers.

The initiative comes as Amazon seeks to deepen engagement during the critical fourth quarter, when retailers generate a disproportionate share of annual sales. Unlike earlier forays into virtual retail spaces, Amazon's approach directly links gameplay and voice interactions to product purchases on its platform.

"This tri-platform model distinguishes Amazon's campaign from other retail-metaverse experiments," said industry observers, noting that previous efforts by retailers largely amounted to advertising placements within games rather than integrated shopping experiences.

Amazon's Roblox Experience Connects Gaming to Holiday Shopping

The physical catalog, featuring woodland-creature characters, puzzles and QR codes, serves as a gateway to "The Great Holiday Climb," a Roblox experience where players join an Amazon fox mascot through weekly challenges and product discovery tied to actual listings. The game will offer collectible tokens and branded environments, with direct links to Amazon.com product pages.

Families can also activate "Readyland," an Alexa feature that delivers audio adventures corresponding to specific catalog pages through voice prompts. The digital toy store will showcase more than 200 items, including exclusive Amazon Essentials blankets and a "Squishmallow" fox figure, alongside merchandise from Lego, Barbie, American Girl and other major toy brands.

The catalog also features tie-ins to "Wicked: For Good," the upcoming theatrical release, with exclusive movie-inspired merchandise.

Amazon's Roblox presence has gained traction, with visits to its experiences growing to 15.7 million in 2024 from 7.7 million the prior year, according to reports. Previous catalog editions experimented with augmented reality and QR codes linking to virtual worlds.

While other retailers including Walmart Inc., Nike Inc. and Claire's have launched Roblox experiences, none have integrated them with physical catalogs and proprietary voice AI across three platforms simultaneously, according to people familiar with retail metaverse strategies.

The move underscores how retailers are rethinking customer acquisition as younger consumers migrate to gaming platforms. Rather than viewing the catalog as a simple mail piece, Amazon is positioning it as an engagement tool designed to capture attention in environments where children already spend significant time.