Have a stash of Bed Bath & Beyond coupons? You better use them soon

New York
CNN
—

Attention Bed Bath & Beyond coupon shoppers: if you have a stash of her big blue 20% coupons in your drawer or in your inbox, better use them soon.

The struggling home goods retailer issued a grim prediction on Thursday, casting doubt on its ability to stay in business much longer and said he was exploring a way forward that includes filing for bankruptcy.

A bankruptcy filing, which could occur in a few weekscould mean the end of its iconic coupon programs, especially if the company is pursuing a bankruptcy process that involves liquidation rather than simple restructuring.

“If Bed Bath & Beyond files for bankruptcy, the retailer could honor the 20% coupons for a period of 30 days. After that, and especially if he starts closing stores and setting up clearance sales, creditors won’t want to allow shoppers to add that 20% off on top of 70% off the prices of liquidation,” said Burt Flickinger, retail expert and managing director. . retail consultancy Strategic Resource Group.

Other retailers followed a similar game plan after bankruptcy and store closures.

Toys ‘R’ Us honored gift cards, store credits and coupons for a 30 day period after filing for bankruptcy in 2017 and then liquidating its operations in the United States. The toy retailer has since begun attempting a comeback through a partnership with Macy’s, and opened its first post-bankruptcy store in 2019 under new ownership.

It’s not just creditors who might take issue with the store honoring coupons in addition to clearance discounts. “For big-name brand suppliers in particular, they wouldn’t want deep discounts to negatively impact their brand image,” said Ali Besharat, associate professor of marketing and co-director of the Consumer Insights and Business Innovation Center at the University of Denver. Daniels College of Business.

Bed Bath & Beyond introduced their oversized coupon for 20% off a single item three decades ago.

Over time, the oversized postcard-style mail and digital coupon with a vibrant blue-purple border and The typeface displaying “20% off in store or online” has developed a cult following and has become a successful marketing strategy to attract repeat shoppers, Flickinger said.

The coupon has become so synonymous with the homewares chain that it has earned a nickname – “Big Blue”, according to a New York Times report. And then it became a pop culture staple as celebrities and late-night talk show hosts incorporated it into their on-air conversations, according to the report.

Rumors have circulated on various social platforms that Big Blue coupons never expire, even though the weekly coupon has an expiration date.

Then the pandemic hit and hit the retail sector. With stores closed for months and consumers rethinking their non-essential purchases, Bed Bath & Beyond’s sales and profits have taken a hit. At the end of 2020, the retailer said he was reduced on its popular coupon program to boost its business.

Two years later, company executives called the move a “big mistake”, admitting they had misjudged the number of shoppers coming to the regular Big Blue coupon cadence.

And now Big Blue’s future could really be in jeopardy. It depends on what comes next.

“Whether or not the Bed Bath & Beyond loyalty programs survive also depends, in part, on whether the company goes through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, known as restructuring, or Chapter 7 bankruptcy, that is. ie liquidation,” said Chandan Jha, an associate professor of finance at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY.

“If this is the first, there’s a very, very good chance the rewards programs will survive and the company will honor all existing rewards and coupons. After all, the business would not want to lose its customers and these loyalty programs or loyalty rewards are designed to retain customers,” Jha said.

But if the company goes through a liquidation process, it’s uncertain whether or not those reward points and coupons will be honored, he said.

Since the company no longer exists, it is quite possible that the points are simply useless. However, sometimes reward points work differently and can survive even after the death of the parent company,” he said. “In any case, if I was a customer holding rewards points and coupons, and the company was going through a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, I would use it before it lost value.”