2018 Top 100 Retailers Power Players : Home Goods

2018 Top 100 Retailers Power Players : Home Goods

https://stores.org/2018/06/28/2018-top-100-retailers-power-players-home-goods/

 

〈IKEA〉

Home goods is one of the more dynamic segments in retailing, where consumer preferences, innovative products and creative designs cannot always be anticipated by Amazon’s algorithms and artificial intelligence. Wayfair is continuously broadening products offerings, At Home is one of the fastest-growing retailers in the country and Ikea is looking to provide whole-home solutions.

 

Even non-Power Players in the category are making noise. Anthropologie Home is setting up shop inside of 15 full-line Nordstrom stores, and when Z Gallerie opened a 7,000-square-foot store at the Galleria in suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul, it brought the tenancy of home goods retailers in the mall to 51 percent.

 

Bed Bath & Beyond CEO Steven Temares, acknowledging some tough sledding for the company last year, pledges a better digital shopping experience for customers, increased unique and proprietary merchandise, shorter delivery times and more focus on the loyalty program from management over the next three years. He also promises investors that earnings growth will return by the end of 2020. “We have spent the last few years driving the digital experience in terms of getting customers to understand us as a digital choice for them,” Temares says. “We’ve been doing that to some degree at the expense of profitability.”

 

Last year, approximately 50 percent of Bed Bath & Beyond’s capital expenditures were devoted to technology upgrades with an emphasis on enhancing online sales channels, according to Sue Lattmann, the company’s chief financial officer.

 

One of the approaches Bed Bath & Beyond has been tinkering with in its newer stores is a “deep value” strategy, particularly in consumables. The company also has adopted a “treasure hunt” merchandising strategy in furnishings, décor and seasonal areas. “We know that deep value product and the treasure hunt experience are driving foot traffic in-store, encouraging browsing and increased purchases and promoting frequent visits,” Temares says. “We know this from our own performance across several of our categories within our concepts as well as from seeing the traffic and results of other retailers.”