Bed Bath & Beyond lives on, thanks to Overstock

We have good news and bad news. The good news is Bed Bath & Beyond will live on, thanks to Overstock.com. The bad news, if you miss that overpoweringly sweet store smell, is that the retailer will be online only.

The e-commerce brand won an auction for Bed Bath & Beyond’s intellectual property rights in bankruptcy court late last month, and now plans to relaunch its website and mobile app under the Bed Bath & Beyond moniker later this month or in August, CEO Jonathan Johnson told CBS MoneyWatch.

The move is in keeping with Overstock’s transition from a liquidator of everything from jewelry to electronics to an online furniture and home furnishings destination, which started nearly four years ago, Johnson previously told Retail Brew. Well in advance of Bed Bath & Beyond’s bankruptcy, Overstock began carrying similar products, such as small kitchen appliances, to appeal to its competitor’s customers.

• Overstock’s purchase does not include Bed Bath & Beyond’s physical locations, which have closed their doors.

“We loved the brand, hated the business model," Johnson told CBS MoneyWatch. "Like all the [other] brick-and-mortars, their digital game was there, but it was not A-plus."

Time to audible: The IP acquisition will accompany a number of changes for Overstock, including a rebranding of its “Club O” loyalty program to “Welcome Rewards,” which will still offer 5% reward dollars that can be used for future purchases.

• Since the auction closed, Overstock’s stock price has climbed, peaking at $32.57 on June 30 and trading at $30.45 as of Tuesday morning.
• This year, the stock bottomed out at $17.60 on May 23, roughly a month before the auction.

Zoom out: As we previously reported, Overstock has a lot of work to do as it completes its furniture-forward transition. In Q1, revenue was down 29% YoY, and the company saw a 35% YoY decline in active customers, which is why it’s making every effort to capture those lingering Bed Bath & Beyond shoppers.

• Overstock is also making an effort to engage Bed Bath & Beyond’s wedding registry customers, who drove a lot of business.

“We’re self-aware enough to know that no one is going to put on their wedding invitation, ‘registered at Overstock,’” Johnson told MoneyWatch. “But we’ll build the wedding registry so that people can be registered at Bed Bath & Beyond.”