Bed Bath & Beyond Reveals Next Step In 3 Year Transformation With Launch Of At Least Eight Customer Inspired Owned Brands In 2021

UNION, N.J., March 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bed Bath & Beyond (Nasdaq: BBBY) today announced the biggest change in its product assortment in a generation, with plans to launch at least eight new Owned Brands in fiscal 2021, with six of these being launched sequentially in the first six months of the fiscal year.  Marking another major step in its recently announced comprehensive growth strategy, the Company will launch thousands of new products available only at Bed Bath & Beyond to drive differentiation, preference, and authority in the $180 billion Home market.  

These Owned Brands will connect with the core customer and category segments across bed, bath, kitchen/dining, storage/organization, and home décor, all key destination categories for the Bed Bath & Beyond banner that represent over 60% of its revenue.  The Company will also launch its first cross-category, opening price point Owned Brand, with the first six new Owned Brand assortments launching ahead of the important Back to College and Holiday seasons.   

Bed Bath & Beyond is number one in terms of consumer brand association in bed, bath and kitchen, as well as a leader in other home categories. The Company expects its new Owned Brands to further enhance its authority in these key destination categories that have been driving growth throughout 2020. The sales penetration of Owned Brands is expected to grow from approximately 10% to approximately 30% within the first three years, and drive improvement in gross margin as a result of the Company's ability to strategically design to cost, source at scale and provide great everyday value.  

Mark Tritton, President & CEO, said, "In the next six months, we will deliver the most significant transformation of our product assortment in a generation, by providing our customers with inspirational Owned Brands across every room in their homes. Available only at Bed Bath & Beyond, our new range of Owned Brands will infuse purposeful innovation and affordable quality to drive gross margin and category dominance.  Combined with our continued investment in the key national brands consumers know and love, this will create a platform for sustainable long-term growth and true authority in the Home market, while helping customers realize the potential to create a happier home in each and every room.    

"In 2020, we rebuilt and stabilized the foundations of our business while creating growth. As we enter our Company's 50^th year, we look forward to welcoming our customers to the new Bed Bath & Beyond, with a truly customer-inspired assortment, reimagined stores, an enhanced omni-always, digital-first shopping experience, and exceptional value across every price point." 

Accelerating the Comprehensive Growth Strategy 
The Company plans to introduce at least 10 Owned Brands in the next two years, including launching a new Owned Brand assortment every month in the first half of the 2021 fiscal year. The plans are part of a comprehensive, data-driven growth strategy that includes resetting the merchandising assortment by categories and rooms, remodeling approximately 450 stores, enhancing the digital-first, omni-always shopping experience and introducing a modern, 360-degree approach to marketing and customer engagement.  As part of the accelerated transformation program, the Company is also removing thousands of under-performing labels, brands and products across the core destination categories which account for the majority of its assortment. 

The transformational Owned Brands program will start later this month with the launch of Nestwell™, a highly relevant assortment of quality bed and bath goods that will build authority in the growing sleep category.  The Company also plans to relaunch its Haven™ bath brand in April, providing a spa-inspired assortment of organic cotton products and more, to help customers create their own bath sanctuary.  In addition, the Company will also launch Simply Essential.™, a new Owned Brand assortment at opening price point, that will include more than 1,000 hard-working household essentials and highly functional, well-designed products at great value across multiple destination categories and rooms.

About the Company
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. and subsidiaries (the "Company") is an omnichannel retailer that makes it easy for our customers to feel at home. The Company sells a wide assortment of merchandise in the Home, Baby, Beauty and Wellness markets. Additionally, the Company is a partner in a joint venture which operates retail stores in Mexico under the name Bed Bath & Beyond.

Bed Bath & Beyond operates websites at bedbathandbeyond.com and bedbathandbeyond.ca.

Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the Company's progress and anticipated progress towards its long-term objectives, plans with respect to potential asset sales, as well as more generally the status of its future liquidity and financial condition. Many of these forward-looking statements can be identified by use of words such as may, will, expect, anticipate, approximate, estimate, assume, continue, model, project, plan, goal, and similar words and phrases, although the absence of those words does not necessarily mean that statements are not forward-looking. The Company's actual results and future financial condition may differ materially from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements as a result of many factors. Such factors include, without limitation: general economic conditions including the housing market, a challenging overall macroeconomic environment and related changes in the retailing environment; risks associated with COVID-19 and the governmental responses to it, including its impacts across the Company's businesses on demand and operations, as well as on the operations of the Company's suppliers and other business partners, and the effectiveness of the Company's actions taken in response to these risks; consumer preferences, spending habits and adoption of new technologies; demographics and other macroeconomic factors that may impact the level of spending for the types of merchandise sold by the Company; civil disturbances and terrorist acts; unusual weather patterns and natural disasters; competition from existing and potential competitors across all channels; pricing pressures; liquidity; the ability to achieve anticipated cost savings, and to not exceed anticipated costs, associated with organizational changes and investments, including the Company's strategic restructuring program; the ability to attract and retain qualified employees in all areas of the organization; the cost of labor, merchandise and other costs and expenses; potential supply chain disruption due to trade restrictions, and other factors such as natural disasters, pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, political instability, labor disturbances, product recalls, financial or operational instability of suppliers or carriers, and other items; the ability to find suitable locations at acceptable occupancy costs and other terms to support the Company's plans for new stores; the ability to establish and profitably maintain the appropriate mix of digital and physical presence in the markets it serves; the ability to assess and implement technologies in support of the Company's development of its omnichannel capabilities; the ability to effectively and timely adjust the Company's plans in the face of the rapidly changing retail and economic environment, including in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; uncertainty in financial markets; volatility in the price of the Company's common stock and its effect, and the effect of other factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, on the Company's capital allocation strategy; risks associated with the ability to achieve a successful outcome for the Company's business concepts and to otherwise achieve its business strategies; the impact of intangible asset and other impairments; disruptions to the Company's information technology systems, including but not limited to security breaches of systems protecting consumer and employee information or other types of cybercrimes or cybersecurity attacks; reputational risk arising from challenges to the Company's or a third party product or service supplier's compliance with various laws, regulations or standards, including those related to labor, health, safety, privacy or the environment; reputational risk arising from third-party merchandise or service vendor performance in direct home delivery or assembly of product for customers; changes to statutory, regulatory and legal requirements, including without limitation proposed changes affecting international trade; changes to, or new, tax laws or interpretation of existing tax laws; new, or developments in existing, litigation, claims or assessments; changes to, or new, accounting standards; foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; and the other factors summarized in the Company's reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update its forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.