Bed Bath & Beyond is back from the dead, with a little help from a rebranded Overstock.com.
On Tuesday, customers wanting to visit Overstock.com were redirected to BedBathAndBeyond.com as part of the new duo's official relaunch.
Overstock announced it'd be renamed as its newly acquired Bed Bath & Beyond in June after purchasing the now defunct retailer's intellectual property assets for $21.5 million. The acquisition came two months after Bed Bath & Beyond declared bankruptcy.
Even with the new website, Bed Bath & Beyond still doesn't exist as a company, but the sale of its intellectual property allows Overstock to still represent the brand's model and merchandise, though inventory was excluded from the deal.
One reason for Overstock's rebrand, CEO Jonathan Johnson said, was because of confusion surrounding its name.
Although Overstock started in 1999 as an online liquidator, the website been selling a wide variety of merchandise for nearly two decades, focusing on furniture and home decor two years ago. But some customers still align the site with liquidation, according to Johnson.
Corporate bankruptcies this year hit highest level since 2010
Party City, Bed Bath & Beyond, and mattress seller Serta Simmons are just some of the nearly 300 corporations that have filed for bankruptcy so far.
"Overstock has a great business model with a name that does not reflect its focus on home. Bed Bath & Beyond is a much-loved and well-known consumer brand, which had an outdated business model that needed modernizing," Johnson said. "Through this rebranding, we're breathing new life into Bed Bath & Beyond, positioning it as an asset-light, ecommerce retailer with an expanded home furnishings and furniture assortment. Think of it as Bed Bath & a much bigger, better Beyond."
Brick-and-mortar stores will likely stay in the past for the brand, but customers can now buy most of the same things on the new website, plus more than 600,000 new bed and bath items.
The new website also has similar deals and promotions as Bed Bath & Beyond once did. And even with those big blue coupons once synonymous with the brand becoming extinct, former Bed Bath & Beyond loyalty program members can use their same account with reinstated loyalty points and exclusive coupons.
