I have a lot of love for Bed, Bath, and Beyond. They’ve reduced the price of a large purchase just because we asked, they have a gift wrapping center, and they give out 20% off coupons like candy on Halloween. So my ears perked up when I saw a story on the news this week that stated Bed, Bath, and Beyond is thinking of discontinuing the 20% coupons.
No more blue 20% off coupons in my mailbox?
Bed, Bath and Beyond is contemplating discontinuing the well known coupons with a loyalty program. For a yearly membership fee of $29, members will get 20% off every order, as well as free shipping for online orders. This move is to position themselves to better compete with Amazon Prime. This program, named Beyond+ is currently being tested by invitation only.
This switch has several positives and negatives for consumers:
Positives
- Free shipping for online orders
- 20% entire purchase (not just one item as with current coupons)
Negatives
- Must spend $150 before customer recoups yearly membership fee
- Auto renew of membership could cause unwanted charge
Obviously the new loyalty program is a great thing for consumers that shop at Bed, Bath and Beyond frequently. It’s not a great program for the occasional shopper. The goal is to encourage people to sign up for the program, and to buy things at Bed, Bath and Beyond that they may have previously purchased somewhere else in order to take advantage of the features of the program.
To determine whether such a program would be good for you, some analysis needs to be done as to just how much shopping you do at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. They sell things such as towels, sheets, pillows, knife sets, glassware, candles and some seasonal furniture. In other words, most items sold at Bed, Bath and Beyond are infrequently purchased items. The only product they carry that I buy on a regular basis are K-cup coffee pods. In a given year a person might buy new sheets, new pillows, and a new fancy knife set making the membership well worth the cost. The next year there may not be any housewares upgrades purchased. Doing such an analysis may surprise consumers as to how much, or little, they spend in a year on housewares.
Knowing this switch might be coming, I plan to keep track of purchases that I make that could have been bought at Bed, Bath, and Beyond as well as whether it would have been cheaper to purchase there if it was 20% off. I’m very wary of any program that attempts to change my spending behaviors. Until I know whether it would actually save me money, I’m not ready to sign up.
How about you, EOD Nation? Do you do a lot of shopping at Bed, Bath, and Beyond? Do you think Beyond+ would save you money?
Very interesting. I wrote not too long ago about how great BB&B’s customer service policies are, including those coupons. But I’m fairly sure I don’t want to pay for this new loyalty program. I don’t believe I’ll necessarily spend $150/year on average there now that I’ve established my home. If I were just starting out, it might be worth it when you’re buying across many of their categories. I hope they decide to maintain their other policies which are great for the shopper.
I don’t think we spend the $150 per year to justify the membership cost. I hope they reconsider.
I’m pretty sure that this would bankrupt the company. People like their coupons and are not going to pay up front for the privilege of getting what they’ve been getting for free for years and years.
This would make New Coke look like a raging success.
This is similar to what happened to JC Penney. Some consultant or ambitious young MBA thought it a good idea to do away with the coupons/promotions…their stock is still in the single digits…