Bed Bath & Beyond adds off-hour pickups and speedier fulfillment to its ‘omni-always’ suite
Bed Bath & Beyond announced yesterday that it is rolling out a new buy online and curbside pickup program that will allow customers the option of getting their orders one-hour before its stores open to the public. Ideally, what percentage of online orders should most retailers fulfill from stores?
Bed Bath & Beyond announced yesterday that it is rolling out a new buy online and curbside pickup program that will allow customers the option of getting their orders one-hour before its stores open to the public.
The retailer said the new service will be available at its namesake chain and its buybuy BABY stores with the idea of giving early risers or busy customers who commute to work the option of placing orders the night before for grabbing their purchases as early as 8:00 a.m.
Bed Bath & Beyond also announced that it is reducing the time before all other in-store or curbside orders are ready for pickup from its previous two-hour window to one.
The company said it has nearly doubled the number of zip codes to 16,000 where it makes same-day deliveries. Bed Bath & Beyond and buybuyBABY added Roadie, a crowdsourced delivery platform with more than 200,000 drivers across the country, to get packages to customers quickly. In addition to the new service partner, DoorDash and Shipt also make same-day deliveries for the retailer.
Rafeh Masood, chief digital officer of Bed Bath & Beyond said the added services are part of the retailer’s reinvention under its digital-first, omni-always strategy to serve consumers looking for shopping and fulfillment options that best meet their individual needs.
“The country is getting ‘back to normal’ and we want to give consumers expanded flexibility on how to get online orders, within hours,” said Mr. Masood in a statement. “Whether that means placing a last-minute same-day delivery order to better entertain this summer or picking up an online order on the way to work, we are finding new innovative ways to meet the evolving needs of today’s digital customers.”
The retailer reports that 31 percent of online orders it received in the first quarter were fulfilled from its stores. The company, like many other retailers, understands that store pickup transactions provide it with a means to increase sales and reduce last-mile expenses at the same time.
More than half of Bed Bath & Beyond’s customers now shop in stores and online with the retailer, and digital accounts for 38 percent of its total sales. The retailer’s mobile app was downloaded more than 500,000 times in the first quarter and is up by more than three million over the past year.