Union, N.J. — Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. aims to go back to basics: to better serve customers, drive growth and deliver business returns. To that end, Bed Bath & Beyond has realigned its executive team and also has begun closing approximately 150 lower-producing Bed Bath & Beyond banner stores.
“We are announcing immediate actions aimed to increase customer engagement, drive traffic and recapture market share,” says Sue Gove, director & interim CEO. “This includes changing our merchandising and inventory strategy, which will be rooted in national brands. Additionally, we are focused on driving digital and foot traffic, as well as optimizing our store fleet. We believe these changes will have a widespread positive impact across customer experience, inventory assortment, supply chain execution and cost structure.”
The company has begun implementing significant, additional SG&A reductions to right-size its cost structure. These reflect the company’s immediate priorities of merchandising, inventory and traffic, and also align with changes in store footprint, lower owned brands development and support, and deferral of longer-term strategic initiatives. Cost optimization plans include a reduction in force, including approximately 20% across corporate and supply chain.
The company expects these actions will reduce SG&A by approximately $250 million in fiscal 2022.
The company’s teams are working closely with supplier and vendor partners to ensure customers have access to a strong assortment of their favorite brands across both store and digital channels. The company will host a supplier event in early fall 2022 to build on new and strengthen existing relationships, address any issues to ensure strong support, and work collaboratively to create the best experience for shared customers.
Bed Bath & Beyond has shaken up its executive leadership team as well. Mara Sirhal has been appointed to executive vice president and brand president of Bed Bath & Beyond. In addition, Patty Wu has been promoted to executive vice president and brand president of buybuy BABY. The newly created brand president roles will be responsible for each banner’s merchandising, planning and allocation, brand marketing and stores, and will report directly to Gove.
Sirhal most recently served as the company’s executive vice president and chief merchandising officer for the Bed Bath & Beyond banner. Sirhal joined the company in January 2021 as senior vice president and general manager for Harmon to lead all operational aspects of this business. Sirhal’s retail experience includes nearly 20 years across a variety of categories in merchandising, product development, planning, digital, inventory management, supplier diversity and leased businesses at Macy’s, Inc.
Wu has served as the senior vice president and general manager of buybuy BABY since joining the company in January 2021. Prior to buybuy BABY, Wu held several executive leadership positions across retail and business, including the roles of chief commercial officer of Beautycounter, chief commercial officer and general manager of the baby division at The Honest Company, as well as senior management roles at Mattel, Inc. and Walmart.
In conjunction with these changes, the company has eliminated the chief operating officer and chief stores officer roles. Accordingly, John Hartmann and Gregg Melnick will be departing the company.
“It is clear from the focused work to date, evidenced by the breadth of today’s announcements, that Sue has quickly formulated and executed important changes to customer-facing strategy, operations, management team, cost structure and liquidity,” says Harriet Edelman, independent chair of the Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. board of directors. “On behalf of the entire board, we are very pleased and confident that Sue’s dedicated leadership will continue to have a significant, positive impact on company performance. Regarding our search for the company’s next chief executive officer, the company’s board of directors previously announced that it retained nationally recognized firm, Russell Reynolds. We are in the earliest phase of the search process and will provide an update when appropriate.”
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. and subsidiaries is an omnichannel retailer that 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. For more information, visit www.bedbathandbeyond.com.
SOURCE: Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.