Bed Bath & Beyond reports another quarter of same-store growth

Bed Bath & Beyond saw its second consecutive quarter of same-store sales growth, up 5% across its core namesake banner and 2% overall (including its Harmon, BuyBuy Baby and Cost Plus World Market stores).

The consecutive quarters of growth follow four years of decline. Same-store sales increased in the first quarter by 6%. The retailer is undergoing a resurgence, driven in part by a renewed focus on store brands. 

However, the latest report did present a decline in net sales by 5%, partly due to store closures previously reported to be part of its comeback strategy. Ahead of the quarterly call, the retailer announced it would officially be closing 200 locations by 2022. In total, BB&B reported a net loss of $75.44 million. Total revenue fell 5% to $2.62 billion.

For the latest quarter ended Nov. 28, 2020, digital was integral to the growth, generating comp sales that were 94% higher among BB&B stores digitally and 75% overall, year over year. 

"We knew this holiday season would be like no other and we took several steps in advance to help our customers shop safely and with ease, including over 100 meaningful improvements to our digital-first, omni-always customer experience and enhancements to our contactless new store and curbside pickup and same day delivery service offerings,” said Mark Tritton, president and CEO. “We are delighted by the strong customer response to these efforts. We are seeing a deepening level of recognition and engagement from our customers, including the more than 2 million new online customers in the third quarter. We are also seeing favorable market share trends in several of our key destination categories, including positive share gains over the past two months within the bed category.”

Other strong results from the report included an 11% gain in same-store sales growth across its top five destination categories that represent two-thirds of Bed Bath & Beyond namesake stores. Additionally, with its focus on digital, the retailer saw more than 2 million new online customers during the quarter and is up over 7 million for the year.