A Day Late, But Not A Dollar Short: Insights from NRF's 2025 Big Show

Well...my Tuesday edition is on a Wednesday during this bi-weekly interval, but there is good reason. I had the opportunity to attend the 2025 National Retail Federation Big Show and wanted to use this edition to discuss my observations.

1. This Year's Show was 90% Technology and 10% Retail

While this may not be a huge surprise to anyone, #RetailTechnology dominated the show floor, the presentations and the majority of the content. At many booths, it seems like it was more of the same passed of as new innovations by adding the infamous abbreviation #AI.

Although there was some interesting new technology and innovation, it will be really interesting to see if many of the vendors can deliver on some lofty promises.

2. The Separation Gap is Widening Between the Big & the Small

亚马逊 , 沃尔玛 , 塔吉特百货 , Etc. seem to be separating from the pack even further. Much of the innovation is being developed internally as these large retailers move away from reliance on 3rd party solutions and towards creating these solutions in-house. That doesn't remove the challenges or the technology issues, but it does give the retailers control over the solutions and the ability to innovate at their speed and adapt to best fit their needs.

In addition, many of these retailers are starting to make their innovative technology available to others. Thus retail technology is starting to become owned by retailers!

3. Personalization and Harmonized Retail are Catching Fire ??????

This is nothing new but there is a definitive shift in the retail sector to making sure consumers feel special with personalization options of "all shapes and sizes" as well as being everywhere the consumer wants to transact (harmonization of retail). I attended a great session with panelists from Hibbett , The Vitamin Shoppe and ABC Fine Wine & Spirits and they are going to great lengths to achieve success in both of these areas.

IN THE NEWS

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Retail Returns Hit $685 Billion in 2024, Marking 13.2% of Total?Sales (subscription access)

"New research from Appriss Retail revealed that total merchandise returns for 2024 totaled $685 billion, which represents a whopping 13.2 percent of total retail sales — which is pegged to come in at $5.19 trillion. The good news is that the rate of returns is down from 14.5 percent in 2023."

How Barnes and Noble made a comeback by revitalizing its philosophy [VIDEO]

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How Real Estate Developers Are Adjusting to Shifting Consumer Spending?Patterns (subscription access)

"Department store attrition and changes in lifestyles have compelled landlords to diversify their properties with housing, different experiences and new services."

CRE CLO Distress Rate Reaches Record High of 13.2% (subscription access)

"After giving back 97 basis points in our November report, the December CRED iQ distress report reversed that progress by reaching a record high of 13.23 percent...The CRED iQ distress rate includes any loan reported 30 days delinquent or worse."

NOSTALGIC RETAILER SPOTLIGHT: BED BATH & BEYOND

I created a whole series on nostalgic retail in previous LinkedIn posts. Want to see the entire series, or any you missed? Click HERE.

Founded in 1971 as Bed ‘n Bath by Warren Eisenberg and Leonard Feinstein, the retailer grew to 18 stores over the next 14 years.?

Adopting the superstore concept in 1985 to stay competitive (mainly with Linens ‘n Things) the company changed its name to Bed Bath & Beyond in 1987.

Growth ensued. By 1996, the chain had 100 stores, growing to 200 units by 1999, reaching the $1 billion sales milestone that same year.

In 2007, after a decade of significant growth, Bed Bath & Beyond acquired Buy Buy Baby, a chain founded by Leonard Feinstein’s sons. The acquisition spree continued in 2012 of Cost Plus World Market for $495 million, in 2016 with One Kings Lane and in 2017 of the online interior design company, Decorist.

In March of 2019, activist investors went after the current CEO and the board of directors with accusations of nepotism and other issues leading to poor business decisions. This led to many leadership changes throughout that year.

“To combat declining profitability, Bed Bath & Beyond, which had for decades used coupon mailers and other promotional discounting tactics to attract consumers, announced in April 2019 that it would reduce its use of promotional coupons and tighten restrictions on their use. The chain also announced the development of new private label brands and concept stores.” [Wikipedia] This was not received well by customers and caused significant backlash.

Throughout 2020, after growing to over 1,000 Bed Bath & Beyond stores, the retailer sold many of its previous acquisitions, including One Kings Lane, Christmas Tree Shops and Cost Plus Market.

More executive changes and financial strain (some from COVID and a lot from operational and financial decisions) over the next few years, leading the company to issue a warning to investors in 2023 that it might not survive the year.

“On April 23, 2023, after failing to pay off stock, declining sales, high debt, and years of struggling, Bed Bath & Beyond, Buy Buy Baby, and 73 affiliated debtors and entities officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection “ [Wikipedia]

Unable to sell stock, competitors marketing the fact that they would now accept Bed Bath & Beyond coupons that the retailer had stopped accepting and other failed measures caused all stores to close by July of 2023.

That same month, Overstock acquired the brand’s intellectual property for $21.5 million with the intention to rebrand itself (which it did in August of 2023.?

Today the brand lives on through what was Overstock.com.

As a side note and having put two kids through college, I always thought the Bed Bath & Beyond college program where you could order at your local store and have it ready in your destination of choice for move-in was best in class and a niche that they mastered.