Bed Bath & Beyond's Nostalgic Comeback | Fast Five Shorts
The home goods giant is back! In this segment from the Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Simbe, Mirakl, Infios, Clear Demand, and Ocampo Capital, Chris and Anne analyze Bed Bath & Beyond's return to Brick x Mortar retail, complete with their iconic coupons.
But is nostalgia enough to succeed in today's crowded home furnishing market? Hear why Chris is "selling hard" on this comeback and Anne's take on whether there's still room for middle-tier home goods retailers.
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For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/pB45J7EFcCI
#BedBathBeyond #RetailComeback #RetailNostalgia #BrickAndMortar #RetailStrategy
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Transcript
Something that Chris, hopefully you are much more well versed in than AI models in vogue.
Speaker A:Bed Bath and Beyond is set to return on August 8, complete with its iconic coupons.
Speaker A:According to Retail Touchpoints.
Speaker A: yond home store following its: Speaker A:The store and those that succeed it will be operated by the Brand House Collective, which recently rebranded from its former name, Kirkland under that company's investment partnership with Beyond Inc.
Speaker A:The partnership also includes plans for a physical buy by baby and overstock store coming at a later date to honor the brand's history.
Speaker A:Guests are invited to yes bring their legacy Bed, Bath and Beyond coupons to to the store.
Speaker A:God knows what kind of stains and disgusting things are on those things from being at the bottom of a drawer.
Speaker A:And if they would like, they can exchange it for a fresh version which will be available when they come into the store.
Speaker A:Chris, are you buying or selling the second coming of Bed, Bath and Beyond stores?
Speaker B:And I'm selling this one.
Speaker B:I'm selling it really, really hard.
Speaker B:And funny enough, before this headline even broke this week, I was actually talking about Bed, Bath and Beyond with my, with one of my former bosses and one of my biggest mentors out there.
Speaker B:As he was in town, I was having breakfast with him on Friday and he was telling me this story about how he was taking his daughter to college and how previously Bed, Bath and Beyond had been such an important part of the going back to college experience.
Speaker B:That's where a lot of people went to get all the things they needed.
Speaker B:And he was going through it with her and he's like, wow, yeah, Bed Bath Beyonds is gone.
Speaker B:I don't miss them at all.
Speaker B:And so we got into the discussion, I was like, yeah, you're right.
Speaker B:And he's like that, he's like, do you miss Kmart?
Speaker B:And I was like, do you miss Toys R Us?
Speaker B:Do you miss Sears?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:So there's all this nostalgia that we have for the brands when at the end of the day, no one really, really misses them all that much, you know?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And that's the key thing here.
Speaker B:And so like, it's a fun headline but.
Speaker B:And congrats on the opening.
Speaker B:It's cool.
Speaker B:But like, long term, I don't see this going anywhere because it's still a really crowded space.
Speaker B:There's a lot of unbranded merchandise there's a lot of private label merchandise in this space.
Speaker B:It's hard to break in.
Speaker B:It's hard to create.
Speaker B:The reason for being in the home furnishing space, you know, especially in the physical world.
Speaker B:I mean, Wayfair is trying to do it.
Speaker B:They haven't cracked the code on it either.
Speaker B:And then the other part that really annoys me and just as a merchant in my core.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Is the coupons is the hook you're using the coupons, the nostalgics, the nostalgia of coupons to get people in the door.
Speaker B:So you're discounting your brand from the get go to get people into the door.
Speaker B:You're saying come to us to get a deal versus like come to us because of what we are in home furnishings and what we stand for and why you want to come shop here day in and day out.
Speaker B:Not because you want to get the old junky coupons out of your drawer.
Speaker B:And by the way, whoever has those coupons still, like, I mean, my God, like, come on.
Speaker B:I mean, I would have thrown those out a long time ago.
Speaker B:But anyway, that's my take said merchandising strategy.
Speaker B:I think it's a, actually as a starting point for a merchandising strategy to open a store.
Speaker B:I think it's a terrible idea, horrible idea to leverage the coupons.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I think it's so funny.
Speaker A:We have two major AI related headlines this week that are kind of shifting things in the retail industry as far as we know it.
Speaker A:And then we go to Bed, Bath and Beyond, reopening a physical store accepting printed coupons.
Speaker A:Yeah, I know, but you know, I was really trying to think about this and the only, the only thought I had of like where this could kind of carve out a niche is that there really aren't any like high quality goods at middle of the road price points all in one spot that are like, there's multiples of.
Speaker A:So like I'm thinking if you do decide you want to step above like an Amazon, Ikea or Target sheet for your back to college, you want something that's a little bit nicer but not like, you know, department store prices or you know, 1,000 count, you know, thread count sheets, this could be the place that you could get that.
Speaker A:But I just worry again, which I think is why they're using the coupons so significantly is like, I worry that there's, the price point is still going to be a little bit too high than what people are willing to pay.
Speaker A:I think that they'd rather go to a Home goods or TJX or something and be like, well, I'll just deal with these like striped printed sheets.
Speaker A:I don't care.
Speaker A:They're, they're that high quality at the price point that I'm willing to spend instead of, you know, having that variety.
Speaker A:So I'm, I'm selling too.
Speaker A:I don't think that this is going to be long for this world, unfortunately.
Speaker B:Yeah, and the point I would add on, on, on what you said about the, the middle price point or whatever is, you know, having spent a lot of time in the home furnishings business and spending, you know, majority of my time in my career in the home furnishings business, the difference in quality between like even like Target's best Target or maybe not Walmart's but like Target's best quality products and say like the best towels at Target or the best sheets at Target, at least back in the day, I don't know now because not in merchandising there now, but back in the day versus like even Pottery Barn or West Restoration Hardware is almost negligible.
Speaker B:So there's really no, if you actually look at the product, there's not that much you can get for the increase in make.
Speaker B:You're just paying for the, the brand at that, at that, at that point.
Speaker B:And smart home furnishing shoppers get that, which is why the prices have, have migrated down so much over the years.
Speaker B:And you know, and those particular retailers have done so well in garnering the market.
Speaker B:Wayfarers, Target, Walmart and Bed Bath beyond is gone because Bed Bath beyond was kind of playing that position that you just talked about already.
Speaker B:But you're like, well, what's the real value here ultimately?
Speaker B:And so that's, that's the dynamics of how the category works.
Speaker B:It's kind of true in apparel too because you're just taking so much margin for what is essentially brand on top of quality.
Speaker B:So.
