Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. forged a partnership to sell its products on the website for the 34-state grocery chain Kroger, and in a handful of brick-and-mortar Kroger stores, starting in 2022.
The collaboration will include items such as bedding, storage and baby furniture, and will include Bed Bath’s exclusive owned brands and its name brand partners.
The retailer is also launching a new digital marketplace to expand its selection of third-party brand partners, to be seamlessly integrated into the Bed Bath & Beyond digital platform.
“On my second anniversary as CEO, I am excited and inspired by the change and momentum we have created in this business as we continue to fortify our competitive positioning and customer acquisition strategy. Marketplace is yet another example of how we continue to redefine our business model,” President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Tritton said. “We are developing new avenues of long-term profitable growth to allow us to organically build on our existing authority in the Home and Baby categories. We will continue to leverage our market position to drive both customer acquisition and retention.”
Mark Tritton, CEO, Bed Bath and Beyond. – BED BATH & BEYOND
In a shift in roles, Anu Gupta has been named chief growth officer, a new position in which she will focus on internal and external growth opportunities and work cross-functionally to continue managing the company’s business transformation. Chief strategy and transformation officer since September 2020, Gupta will be responsible for driving growth through the development and incubation of strategic partnerships and management of an expanding revenue ecosystem, while helping maintain the core business.
“With these sales channel expansions, it is necessary to evolve our organizational structure to align with our ongoing transformation. As part of that evolution, we are thrilled to promote Anu Gupta into an expanded role,” Tritton said. “As an instrumental driver of our new Kroger collaboration, Anu’s impressive background and business acumen, visionary ideas, and successful tracking of our transformation management will help lead our team into the future.”
Rafeh Masood, the company’s current chief digital officer and interim chief brand officer, has been named chief customer officer, also a new position combining his digital and brand roles.
Both appointments are effective immediately and the two executives will report Tritton. John Hartmann, Bed Bath & Beyond’s chief operating officer and president of buybuy Baby will be responsible for executing the partnership, in addition to his leadership across IT and the supply chain.
“Rafeh and John have been influential leaders as we have pivoted our business strategically and operationally as an omnichannel retailer. Many of the transformational improvements and capabilities across our digital platforms and supply chain have been a result of both Rafeh’s and John’s invaluable leadership and their new and expanded roles will lead to greater synergy between our business roadmap and customer approach. I am thrilled to see us structuring and driving our business in bold ways through our talent, strategy and execution,” Tritton said.
