Talkwalker Market Pulse - What broke Bed Bath & Beyond?
Want to forward this newsletter to a friend or colleague? Anyone can sign up for this weekly newsletter, including on LinkedIn. To learn how social listening can help recession-proof your brand, check out our latest blog.
Bed Bath and Begone?
This week, Bed Bath & Beyond announced its Chapter 11 bankruptcy and that it would be winding down its operations. For over 50 years, the brand has sold home textiles and housewares, but it now seems like the business will be no more.
Sadly, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. The business announced it was facing financial difficulties at the start of 2023, and sentiment around the brand never recovered. Much of this negativity was around how the brand has handled its financial woes, with some blaming the business' downfall on it turning 'woke.'
What went wrong?
At first glance, there would appear to be a reasonable amount of conversations around the brand, which would lead you to think consumers are talking about it and its products, which would naturally lead to sales.
However, of the 339,000 mentions of the company from the last 12 months, over 67% of those mentions were around their shares and financial situation. It’s hard to find consumers discussing the brand’s products, or showing buying signs.
领英推荐
One quick example of this is to look at how many consumers mentioned “I bought” in conversations around a brand. Bed Bath & Beyond only had 556 mentions, 0.16% of the overall brand mentions. Compare that to the likes of Costco (68,700 “I bought” conversations, 1.37% of the overall brand mentions) or Walmart (100,200 “I bought” conversations, 0.64% of overall brand mentions).
This is an oversimplification, but it’s clear that fewer people were talking about their Bed Bath & Beyond purchases, which shows a disconnect between the brand and the consumer.
It’s Bed Bath & Beyond me
Even if the company doesn't survive, it could still leave a mark on society. Over the last 13 months, there was an increase in people using the phrases “Bed Bath & Beyond me” or “I am Bed Bath & Beyond done.”
Gimmicky, but engaging. Influencer Tia Mowry used the phrase in a recent TikTok which was viewed 7.1 million times, with 758,000 likes. If the company does survive, there’s real potential for engaging consumers with these phrases.?
We’re Bed Bath & Beyond done for this week. If you'd like to learn more about monitoring your brand mentions, check out this blog.?
Next Trend Realty LLC./wwwHar.com/Chester-Swanson/agent_cbswan
1 年Well said.
Product Marketing Manager | Consumer Insights Researcher | MBA | Driving growth through data-driven strategies
1 年That's a great way to leverage consumer conversations. Had this been a "KPI" for the brand, they could have perhaps done something to pivot conversations and drive consumers to the stores.
Interesting Data on what broke Bed bath & Beyond.