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Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim

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Speaker 1: Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio.

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Speaker 2: All right, we're going to switch gears a little bit

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Speaker 2: because we have a great guest with us in studio here.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if you've been on overstock dot Com today, Tim,

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Speaker 2: but if you load that in, you're going to get

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Speaker 2: redirected to the bed Bath and Beyond website because Overstock

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Speaker 2: dot Com is now operating as bed Bath and Beyond

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Speaker 2: in the US following the rebrand in Canada. And we

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Speaker 2: are joined by the CEO, Jonathan Johnson in studio. Jonathan,

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Speaker 2: thank you so much for coming in today. I am

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Speaker 2: currently shopping for some midcentury modern products on the website here.

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Speaker 2: But also previously, while I was working, I did a

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Speaker 2: video on bed Bath and Beyond and the title was

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Speaker 2: bed Bath and Bankruptcy. How are you planning to leverage

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Speaker 2: the assets and ip that you spent a little under

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Speaker 2: twenty two million dollars on to leverage the brand without

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Speaker 2: that same ending.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great question. You know.

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Speaker 3: We we've long liked and looked at bed Bath and

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Speaker 3: Beyond as a brand and as a loyal customer base.

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Speaker 3: We understand it's business fell on hard times. Our view

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Speaker 3: is that management can kill companies, but none necessarily brands.

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Speaker 3: And before we purchased the brand, we did some consumer

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Speaker 3: research and we saw that in the home space, bed

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Speaker 3: Bath and Beyond was still a top five brand, well known,

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Speaker 3: well trusted, and associated with home. Overstock, on the other hand,

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Speaker 3: has a business model that really works, but a brand

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Speaker 3: that was actually creating some headwind. We started two and

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Speaker 3: a half decades ago as a liquidator, but it's been

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Speaker 3: twenty years since we were a liquidator and a lot

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Speaker 3: of our customers still were not and potential customers still

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Speaker 3: were not associating us with home products, home furniture. They

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Speaker 3: were associating with liquidations. So we thought, why don't we

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Speaker 3: take our great business model and this great consumer, iconic

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Speaker 3: consumer brand that is bed Bath and Beyond, put them

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Speaker 3: together and it allows us to really rebrand in a

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Speaker 3: way that's a lot less expensive, a lot less time consuming.

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Speaker 3: Hasn't really been done before, uh And when we did

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Speaker 3: it started last month in Canada to test it, it

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Speaker 3: really resonated.

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Speaker 2: Well, So let's see what's the impact on revenue.

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Speaker 1: Well, hard to know just yet.

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Speaker 3: We've been kind of quiet about the impact on revenue

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Speaker 3: in Canada, but it was significant.

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Speaker 2: What is significant?

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Speaker 3: You know, I'm going to be I'm going to be

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Speaker 3: very careful not to talk about We had our investor

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Speaker 3: call last week. We didn't we didn't talk about it,

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Speaker 3: but something significant enough that we wanted to rush and

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Speaker 3: do this rebrand as soon as possible. In the US

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Speaker 3: that going out of business brick and mortar stores just

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Speaker 3: closed this weekend and we're up and run today. That

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Speaker 3: I think that tells you that it's meaningful for us.

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Speaker 4: So I'm curious about the experience that people have shopping

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Speaker 4: at the new bed Bath and Beyond versus the old

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Speaker 4: bed Bath and Beyond and versus that Overstock. Is the

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Speaker 4: experience that you're going to get when you visit Overstock's

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Speaker 4: website now goes to bed Bath and Beyond. Is that

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Speaker 4: a bed Bath and Beyond experience or is it an

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Speaker 4: Overstock experience?

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Speaker 1: I think it's a mix.

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Speaker 3: And by the way, those customer sets have a lot

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Speaker 3: of overlap in their behavioral demographic. You know today when

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Speaker 3: you go to that site, it's gone from red the

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Speaker 3: Overstock customer, to color to blue the bed Bath and

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Speaker 3: Beyond color the Overstock logo is still there today.

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Speaker 1: I see it.

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Speaker 4: That's the rewards club logo.

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Speaker 3: Well, and it's the rewards club logo. We will sunset

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Speaker 3: that over time. We just want our overstock legacy overstock

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Speaker 3: customer to feel comfortable the taxonomy and the search will

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Speaker 3: feel very comfortable, very familiar, or the over customer.

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Speaker 1: There's a little bit.

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Speaker 3: More promotion and prominence to bed bath and kitchen products sure,

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Speaker 3: so that the bed Bath and Beyond legacy customer feels

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Speaker 3: comfortable there, but it will really feel like both for

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Speaker 3: a time, but morphing to bed Bath because that's who

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Speaker 3: we want to become.

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Speaker 2: You've also got the classic tried and true bed Bath

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Speaker 2: and Beyond coupon offerings advertised at the top of the page.

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Speaker 2: That is part of what people thought was a potential

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Speaker 2: downfall for bed Bath and Beyond. So how are you

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Speaker 2: thinking about some of the things that made bed Bath

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Speaker 2: and Beyond so well known. But also we're a little

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Speaker 2: bit of a tailwind or headwind rather for them.

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Speaker 3: So we are a promotion We've always been a promotional

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Speaker 3: company with with site sales, with coupons. As we do

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Speaker 3: this rebrand launch. The coupons are big, they're bed Bath

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Speaker 3: and Beyond.

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Speaker 1: Esque size over time.

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Speaker 3: They won't be that big always because our prices have

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Speaker 3: been sharper.

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Speaker 1: But for that Bed Bath and Beyond.

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Speaker 3: Customer who has loved the coupon, what they really will

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Speaker 3: love is the new bed Bath and Beyond mobile app.

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Speaker 3: If you download that today, there's a nice coupon there.

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Speaker 3: We will continue to push promotions that way. That's been

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Speaker 3: a hugely successful thing for Overstock, and we want it

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Speaker 3: to be that way for the new bed Bath and Beyond.

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Speaker 4: Bricks and mortar strategy, is there one?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, there is, and it's not to have it And

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Speaker 3: so you know, we never say never, will continue to

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Speaker 3: look at it. But we like our asset Light business model.

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Speaker 3: We think part of what brought the prior Bed Bath

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Speaker 3: and Beyond down was lots of leases, lots of inventory

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Speaker 3: moving away from name band product to private label. We

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Speaker 3: like our business model asset light, name brand.

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Speaker 2: Uh.

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Speaker 3: So we never say never, but we say never for now.

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Speaker 3: If that moron makes sense.

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Speaker 4: That makes sense. But I do wonder because some of

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Speaker 4: the products are so big, some of the products people

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Speaker 4: would argue you need to be tried. How do you

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Speaker 4: get the consumer past that?

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Speaker 3: So I think Overstock has done really well with that,

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Speaker 3: and so for the typical bed and bath product linens,

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Speaker 3: small appliances, kitchen where that seems like it will fit

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Speaker 3: really well. What Overstock is historically been good at is area, rugs, sofas,

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Speaker 3: patio furniture.

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Speaker 4: This is the beyond part. It is the beyond bed

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Speaker 4: bath and Beyond. We're good at the bed and the bath,

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Speaker 4: and I would say Overstock was the beyond.

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Speaker 3: And I would say it's a much bigger, better beyond now.

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Speaker 3: The number of products that are available on the new

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Speaker 3: bed Bath and Beyond site is much bigger and it's

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Speaker 3: a lot of beyond and so so we think we've

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Speaker 3: done well at that, even with the headwind of kind

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Speaker 3: of this Overstock brand that didn't fit who we were.

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Speaker 3: We think with bed Bath and Beyond, that headwind turns

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Speaker 3: into a tailwind.

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Speaker 2: So, as you know, revenue at Overstock and formerly bed

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Speaker 2: Bath and Beyond had been falling year over year. I

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Speaker 2: know you won't give a specific but what inning would

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Speaker 2: you say we're in when it comes to reversing that.

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Speaker 3: Well, I think the economy has been particularly tough for

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Speaker 3: our industry. The pandemic was huge tailwind, you know, and

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Speaker 3: everyone got that pandemic bounce, and then I think, well,

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Speaker 3: the country may have avoided a recession. I think our

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Speaker 3: industry did not. Furnithing and home furnishings have been in

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Speaker 3: a recession. I think that's normalizing now to seasonal trends,

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Speaker 3: but it's not back to normal as far as what

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Speaker 3: people are spending their money on. It's still very much experiential.

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Speaker 3: It's it's going to the Taylor Swift concert. It's it's

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Speaker 3: doing those kinds of things that will come back. And

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Speaker 3: I think our playing offense during this lower time in

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Speaker 3: our industry cycle, when the cycle comes back, we'll be

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Speaker 3: able to slingshot out bigger and stronger.

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Speaker 2: How would you feel if you became a meme stock,

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Speaker 2: a lot, bath and beyond.

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Speaker 1: We don't want to be a memestock.

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Speaker 3: We want to we want to perform based on on

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Speaker 3: We want to be rewarded based on performance. So when

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Speaker 3: it's time to change our ticker, I can tell you

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Speaker 3: one ticker we won't use, and that's BBB Y because

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Speaker 3: we don't want to go back to that place.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, how's the consumer right now?

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Speaker 1: The consumer is out there, Uh, they're looking.

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Speaker 3: For deals and so for example, around fourth of July.

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Speaker 3: We had a great Fourth of July. We had a

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Speaker 3: great Memorial Day. We expect to have a great Labor

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Speaker 3: Day because it's big promotions that are going on. The

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Speaker 3: consumer has money to spend, but they want to be

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Speaker 3: careful and make sure they're getting a great deal.

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Speaker 4: Do you think there's going to be a.

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Speaker 1: Well, I'm hopeful there's.

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Speaker 3: Not, particularly since I think this industry has been in

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Speaker 3: its mini recession as it is. By the way, I

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Speaker 3: think some of the things that are fending off a recession,

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Speaker 3: like higher interest rates, are actually pushing us back down.

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Speaker 3: When mortgage rates goes up go up, people aren't moving.

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Speaker 3: It means they're not buying more furniture. It means they're

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Speaker 3: not redecorating at the same level. So what keeps the

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Speaker 3: country out of a recession ultimately is good for us,

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Speaker 3: but short term it's probably a little makes it a

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Speaker 3: little tougher.

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Speaker 2: It's really interesting to think about you guys being tied

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Speaker 2: closely with the housing data that we cover as well.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Jonathan, really really appreciate your time

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Speaker 2: joining us in studio today. Again overstock dot Com. If

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Speaker 2: you load that up right now, you're going to see

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Speaker 2: bedbath and beyond on your screen. Really interesting talking with

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Speaker 2: the CEO Jonathan Johnson here. Thank you so much for

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Speaker 2: that