Bed Bath & Beyond’s New Loyalty Program Targets Online Sales

I won’t deny that I got a couple things from Bed Bath & Beyond for Christmas. New deodorizers for the car—it currently smells like teak in there, which is better than “wet carpet” by a long shot—and a few for the house. My living room now smells like salted caramel.

For those who take it a lot farther than I do, though, Bed Bath & Beyond now has a big new loyalty program, one that’s going to push the boundaries by doing some very unusual things.

The new loyalty program, called Beyond Plus, offers free shipping on all orders as well as 20 percent off everything purchased. So for those who spend a lot of money there, this is definitely an attractive offer. Shoppers had better spend more than $150 a year, though, because a Beyond Plus membership will cost shoppers $29 a year.

This follows Bed Bath & Beyond’s plans to drop its iconic 20 percent off coupons, a move that has left some shoppers displeased. Bed Bath & Beyond launched the program earlier this year, back in the third quarter, and was limited to “a small cross-section of our customer base,” according to CEO Steven Temares.

Given that the coupons were reportedly hurting the company’s bottom line fairly substantially—the last 15 quarters have seen drops in total revenue—something needed to be done. The idea is that customers who pay for a discount will actually use it, but customers who just get one handed to them won’t come back without that discount in play.

I can actually attest to that personally; a local video store offers a discount rental program, and I’ve been known to use it occasionally. I can space out my rentals, commonly, until I have the discount in place, and I don’t go in much without the discount. When I have the discount in place, though, I’ll rent a whole lot more than I ever do without, because psychologically, I consider it a bargain to take advantage of.

The psychology behind Beyond Plus should work reasonably well, though time will tell if Bed Bath & Beyond customers feel the same way I do at a video store.