In this article:
- A supermarket and specialty store come together to attract more crossover sales.
- Using customer data properly can make or break this collab.
Just throw that set of dishes into the shopping cart next to the flour.
In a kind of turnaround, Bed Bath & Beyond, which had been showcasing other brands in its stores will itself be hosted both in-person and online under the banner of the supermarket brand, Kroger. The partnership is to kick in at the beginning of 2022.
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According to the announcement from Krorger, in a few months, some items from Bed Bath & Beyond will be available on Kroger’s website for delivery. The e-commerce venture will be enabled by Kroger’s Ship Later in 2022, some of them will appear in what is described as “a small-scale physical store pilot” at select Kroger stores.”
“This strategic online collaboration and in-store pilot will provide Kroger shoppers easy access to essential home and baby products alongside their favorite grocery staples – continuing to fulfill our commitment of providing our customers with anything, anytime, anywhere,” noted Rodney McMullen, Kroger’s chairman and CEO.
I do buy that, given that people who shop for groceries for their families likely will also be in the market for a variety of home goods and baby needs, included in the collaboration. It’s a tiny bit of a stretch, though, to think that while shopping for a meal people will also shop for new dishes to serve them on. Yet Stuart Aitken, Kroger’s senior vice president and Chief Merchant & Marketing Office, insists that is what will make this collaboration work.
Pointing out how much of “life’s special moments revolve around a meal,” he contends, “Now, when visiting a family member’s new home, loved ones can surprise them with a meal and a new set of dishes to serve it on in one convenient shopping experience.”
Well, we’ll see.
The ingredients for meals tend to be purchased much more closely to the event. The only dishes that are bought in the same way are the disposable variety. Dishes one intends to keep are rarely bought on impulse and take much deliberation over style, material, number of settings, and cost.
But, maybe it’s just me. When I’m shopping for dishes, serveware, glassware, etc. that will be kept — either by me or the recipient of a gift, I look for those things specifically. They are never an afterthought to be picked up to complement the turkey I’d be serving.
And so, at least from here, it looks like we’ve seen more natural brand collabs.
From the perspective of Bed Bath and Beyond, there is the possibility of attracting the customers who come to shop at Kroger for their groceries week after week to buy something for their homes and babies that catches their eye while they are in buying mode.
Either way, if both brands really want to give this POC-ish of a collab a chance to turn in real value – they must have the data infrastructure in place beforehand. Using both brands’ existing customer data can help them create more accurate product recommendations from the get-go, let alone once the collab launches. Will they? Remains to be seen.