Beyond Inc.’s New Chairman Reveals ‘Bigger and Better’ Plans for the Business

In his first earnings season as Executive Chairman, Marcus Lemonis shared detailed plans for the future of Beyond Inc., which now encompasses the Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock and Zulily brands.

Given the fact that two of the company’s three banners were bought out of bankruptcy, it’s not surprising that the past year has been a tad bumpy for the newly minted conglomerate, but Lemonis told analysts on the company’s Q1 2024 earnings call May 7 that he sees “green shoots everywhere.”

Following a major executive overhaul in February that included Lemonis’s installation as Executive Chairman, the company has quickly rejiggered its plans and even undone some of its previous work (namely the shuttering of Overstock).

During Q1, Beyond also sold off the textile brand Wamsutta, which it acquired as part of the Bed Bath & Beyond acquisition, for $10.25 million, recovering nearly half of what it paid for the BB&B IP. Lemonis also shared that the company has entered a “wide-scoping” relationship with Salesforce that centers on cleaning and better leveraging all the customer data Beyond now has from its combined brands.

Now, Lemonis has laid out the specifics of how the business will move forward, including:

• A more thoughtful and strategic interplay between the offerings of Bed Bath & Beyond and Overstock (now that the latter brand has been revived);
• A winnowing down of the Bed Bath & Beyond assortment while at the same time pursuing opportunities for that brand’s international expansion;
• Where Zulily will fit into this mix when it is relaunched in Q3; and
• How becoming a more strategic partner for its vendors could be the key to driving future growth.

But First, Let’s Recap…

When Bed Bath & Beyond finally went belly up in April 2023 it came as a surprise to no one. The business’ failure had been forecast for months, years even, and was made all the more foreseeable following the similar failings of retailers that preceded it, such as JCPenney, Toys ‘R’ Us and Sears — all once-indispensable, beloved chains that spread across the country until they were spread too thin.  

Like some of its chain-brand predecessors, Bed Bath & Beyond’s IP and digital assets (but not its hefty brick-and-mortar holdings) were bought, in this case by Overstock for $21.5 million in June 2023. But that’s where the similarity from other retail IP purchases ends, and the twist and turns begin.

After winning out over a number of other bidders for the Bed Bath & Beyond IP, Overstock proceeded to:

• Almost immediately relaunch the Bed Bath & Beyond website in Canada and announce its plans to have the brand take over Overstock.com;
• By August 2023, BedBathandBeyond.com was back, its swift return facilitated by taking over and doing away with the Overstock.com domain;
• In October 2023, Overstock filed with the SEC to officially change its corporate name to Beyond Inc.;
• Just a month later in November, CEO Jonathan Johnson, who spearheaded the BB&B acquisition and subsequent Overstock rebranding, stepped down and was replaced on an interim basis by long-time Overstock executive Dave Nielson;
• In February 2024, Nielson was officially named CEO of Overstock with Chandra Holt joining the company as CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond. Lemonis — who had served on the Beyond board since October 2023 and is also CEO of Camping World — was also named Executive Chairman;
• On March 7, just a month after these appointments, Beyond Inc. spent $4.5 million for the IP, domain and customer database of defunct flash sale site Zulily, which had gone out of business at the end of 2023; and
• By March 29, Overstock.com was back online, six months earlier than originally planned, after Lemonis called the previous leadership’s decision to shut down the brand a “fatal mistake.”

Now, with Overstock Revived, the Larger Strategy has Begun to Crystalize

Yes, Overstock is back, but at nowhere near the level it was when it was usurped by BB&B. As Lemonis shared on the earnings call, nearly 100% of the 2.2 million transactions Beyond recorded in Q1 were made through the BB&B website. Average order size in the quarter was $173, higher than BB&B’s historical average but lower than Overstock’s. This can be explained by the larger ticket size of items historically sold by Overstock; much of that inventory was shifted to the new BB&B site (accounting for the higher-than-normal average order size on BB&B), but it wasn’t moving at the levels it used to via Overstock, which is what “propelled” the company to relaunch Overstock.com so much faster than originally planned.

Now, the Bed Bath & Beyond assortment will return “to its historical categories but be enhanced with room-specific furniture sold as an understandable adjacency,” said Lemonis, while Overstock will return to selling items that aren’t endemic to the BB&B brand with a focus on furniture so that “both brands can thrive separately while complementing each other.”

The full revival of Overstock.com is expected to be a gradual process. The brand’s new website had to be built from the ground up since the old one had been requisitioned…