Dive Brief:
- Beyond on Monday announced BuyBuy Baby will relaunch online on May 8.
- To coincide with the relaunch, the retailer is hosting a “Baby Days” sales event, featuring baby essentials, registry picks and daily giveaways, according to a company press release.
- Beyond also announced that in May it is launching a crowdfunding offering of a tokenized digital security on fintech company tZero’s brokerage platform that’s linked to BuyBuy Baby intellectual property.
Dive Insight:
Nearly two months after BuyBuy Baby entered into a $5M purchase agreement that put it back with its former owner Bed Bath & Beyond, the baby retailer is staging a comeback.
Last month, the company said it believed BuyBuy Baby has a future both online and in physical stores through a previously announced strategic partnership with Kirkland’s.
“I have been focused on returning BuyBuy Baby to its original growth partner — Bed Bath & Beyond,” Marcus Lemonis, Beyond executive chairman and principal executive officer, said in a statement.
A majority of BuyBuy Baby’s footprint shuttered during Bed Bath & Beyond’s 2023 bankruptcy. Dream on Me, a former vendor of the baby retailer, in July 2023 acquired the company’s IP and 11 store leases. But less than a year after reopening those stores, Dream on Me shuttered all of BuyBuy Baby’s stores as it announced an operating shift to a digital-only brand.
The relaunch of BuyBuy Baby also plays into Beyond’s tokenization efforts. When the company announced its deal with BuyBuy Baby last month, it said it was exploring options to offer digital dividends to current holders of Beyond, as well as a separate offering to new investors that want to own a share of its IP.
“The rebirth of this brand and digital security issuance mark a new beginning for an iconic American retailer,” Lemonis said. “The tokenization of ‘Baby’ offers an exciting opportunity to monetize the intellectual property and share in future success and growth of the retail business.”
Separately on Monday, the company announced the launch of its Overstock Anniversary “O” Event from April 24 to April 28. The sales event will include discounts on items like rugs, patio furniture, home decor, mattresses and jewelry. The company is similarly offering a tokenized digital security linked to Overstock’s IP on April 24 on tZero’s platform.
The announcements come about a month after Beyond reported fourth-quarter revenue plunged more than 20% year over year to $303 million, while full-year revenues fell 10.6%
