At its annual meeting, Bed Bath & Beyond executives said their investments in diversifying the business and integrating store and digital operations have been advancing, making the company a better home merchandise resource for consumers.
The executives also pointed out that whatever bottom-line constraints those investments imposed, they would pay off in the long term as consumers recognized Bed Bath & Beyond, and associated banners from buybuyBaby to One Kings Lane, as destinations for both everyday shopping and life events.
Bed Bath & Beyond has introduced fresh ideas in merchandising, assortment and store layout in its namesake stores, Christmas Tree Stores/And That and other store concepts. Those initiatives include a move to showcase more and stock less product as the company encourages shoppers to tap greatly expanded selections available though the company’s websites via promotion, merchandising and technical enhancements including the addition of free in-store WiFi.
In addressing the meeting, Leonard Feinstein, Bed Bath & Beyond co-chairman, said that, in this era of dynamic retail transition, the company enjoys the opportunity to deepen and personalize its relationship with its customers no matter which of the company’s banners they shop.
The organization has been changing and intensifying its effort to establish Bed Bath & Beyond in the mind of consumers as a primary destination for a broader range of home-oriented products, whether in categories where it traditionally has had abundant recognition, such as small electrics, or where it may have had a lesser profile, such as furniture. The company through acquisition, as in the case of One Kings Lane in home furnishings, and by building on operations, is focused on better engaging customers as they move through their lives with an emphasis on “heartfelt” events whether going off to college or downsizing to a retirement home. In addition to merchandise assortment, the company is boosting its service offering, particularly registries, to cement a closer relationship with the consumer.
Although it comes at a cost in terms of investment in the business, including in research, online operations and stores, primary attention to Bed Bath & Beyond’s identified mission to be the company’s first choice for home-related and life-altering events, will generate success, Feinstein said.
