Bed Bath & Beyond CEO Steven Temares has touted personalization as a key objective to increase brand loyalty for quite some time.
In late November, Bed Bath & Beyond took a major step along its personalization path after it acquired PersonalizationMall.com (PMall.com), an industry-leading online retailer of personalized products, for $190 million in cash.
Over the past 18 years, PMall.com has developed a fully-integrated, proprietary technology platform that drives quality, speed, and efficiency throughout the process of personalizing a breadth of products to each customer's unique preference. PMall.com is a highly successful innovator of personalized products and currently offers an extensive assortment of products that can be customized through a variety of different personalization processes including sublimation, embroidery, digital printing, engraving, and sandblasting. PMall.com’s vertically integrated e-commerce platform includes an automated personalization process and rapid order fulfillment, resulting in a differentiated customer experience.
“As we have said previously, we view personalization as a significant opportunity for us to create additional differentiation and enable us to do more for and with our customers,” Temares said after the acquisition. “We look forward to supporting PersonalizationMall.com as they continue to improve the customer experience by enhancing their product mix, upgrading their e-commerce website, and driving optimization of their marketing initiatives. At the same time, we are excited by the opportunity to leverage their advanced personalization and production capabilities to create additional omnichannel offerings across all of our concepts.”
Carrie McIlveen, U.S. director of marketing, Metia, told Loyalty360 that Bed Bath & Beyond is headed in the right direction.
“As sales continue to shift from stores to websites, this is a great opportunity for Bed Bath & Beyond to expand and optimize in the digital world,” McIlveen explained. “It’s no secret that today’s shoppers have come to expect personalization for online shopping. The purchase of PMall will now allow Bed Bath & Beyond to do more throughout its customers’ life stages and help to deliver more meaningful experiences that resonate with their clients.”
Stellar Loyalty CMO Narina Sippy weighed in on Bed Bath & Beyond’s move toward greater personalization initiatives.
“Bed, Bath & Beyond’s acquisition of PersonalizationMall.com represents a bold move for the retailer who, up until now, has shied away from any 1:1 customer marketing,” Sippy told Loyalty360. “In the short term, the acquisition brings new product mix and differentiation for Bed, Bath & Beyond. The more impactful win for the brand and its customers will be a corporate-wide investment in PersonalizationMall.com’s advanced technology platform to deliver in-the-moment, personalized omni-channel customer experiences.”
Chirpify CEO Chris Teso told Loyalty360 that PersonalizationMall puts the power of personalization in the hands of customers.
“The onus, however, sits with the customer,” Teso explained. “While personalization is important to deepening the customer relationship and building loyalty, it should be more than just allowing the customer to personalize products. Bed, Bath & Beyond would do well to pursue personalization across customer touch points and tailor marketing, not just sales, to their customers’ wants and needs. This will translate into an exchange in which customers feel more understood and valued, achieving both goals – putting more power into customers’ hands while providing tailored offers and communications that match their specific interests.”