Marketing Blog Post - forbes.com - Bed, Bath, & Beyond

 

BED, BATH, & BEYOND!

https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com

The article I chose was from forbes.com and titled, “Bed Bath & Beyond Stock Jumps Over 20% After New CEO Buys 50,000 Shares”. It drew my interest with the title and made me wonder if the company in question was doing well or not doing well, which made me want to read more to find out if this business was in a crisis. 

According to the article, the new CEO of Bed, Bath, & Beyond purchased a large number of shares quickly after accepting the role as CEO. Several other leaders for the company followed suit and made a large purchase of the company's stock as well. This move was favorable from the perspective of investors; however, Wall Street analysts have now been warning the public that this means the business is in a precarious position financially from consistent plunging sales. The business has been continuing to suffer after failed marketing efforts from closing stores which were not performing well and launching new private-labels brands. Overall the business has seen heavy losses recently and has gone from a market value of $3 billion to just over $400 million as of July 2022. Here is the link to the associated article which tells the reader about the predicament the company is in and the unorthodox move made by the new CEO… Bed Bath & Beyond Stock Jumps Over 20% After New CEO Buys 50,000 Shares (forbes.com)

The Value Proposition from Bed, Bath, & Beyond is that they have a variety of unique goods related to home decor and aesthetics. They thrive on providing people with products which are not found at other stores or are related to different types of home accessories. The benefit of selling these types of goods is that people seek out these accessories for themselves or for gifts which makes the products very versatile in sales. I believe that Bed, Bath, & Beyond has typically promised customers to deliver a unique variety of quality brands at affordable prices. Their competitive advantage is their niche that they have, not many other companies sell similar items, and this when this company is able to deliver on it’s promise as well as continue to provide unique and good quality items, then this creates their advantage and also allows for them to stand out in their market. When putting it into a single sentence, the advantages of Bed, Bath & Beyond are found through their promise to deliver a unique variety of good quality products to their customers for their home accessory needs.

The relevance of the article to marketing is shown by the actions taken by the CEO who was recently hired. In purchasing the shares then the CEO is showing full support of the brand which has been suffering. This caused the stock to jump up nearly 22% making this a clever move. In this context, these actions are related to crisis management, which is seen by the Wall Street analysts that have noticed the dangerous position the company is in financially. Other Wall Street analysts have noticed that other attempts from the company to improve marketing efforts have failed, such as their creation of private-label brands unique to the company and cutting losses by closing non-profitable stores. Other more in-depth attempts to fix the business have been focused on expanding the company’s board and changing focus to their other brands like their baby-focused business, Buybuy Baby.

This shows the challenges that the company faces, and the plummeting market value of the business is the real challenge that the business faces moving forward. Although they have attempted to turn things around through branding and store management, this didn’t work well and still saw the market value diminish. The new CEO took one step toward combating this challenge by making the purchase of 50,000 shares and had some other leaders follow suit. What makes this particular marketing effort unique is the boldness and risky nature of this effort from the CEO. While the stocks have gone up temporarily, overall, the business has continued to face challenges from massive losses in market value. The buyer persona affected the most from this move was investors that had purchased stock in the company.

I view this approach as good, it was a risky move, but it drew attention from the shareholders and affected them in a positive manner. I believe it followed certain guidelines set by Seth Godin and definitely followed his purple cow analogy. The move was considered unorthodox and unexpected which makes it remarkable by the definition set by Godin. In making this particular move then the CEO was able to show faith in the business and raise the numbers which make this a perfect first step for the CEO. If I were to be in the same situation as Sue Gove, then I believe I would want to make the same decision due to the effectiveness of the move she made, for the company and for her career. 

I learned that being unique and remarkable is an effective marketing strategy, and that standing out is achieved through a variety of means, such as showing a different perspective or by doing something unexpected.