D: 03/16/2011

LET’S TAKE THIS PRIVATE: LINENS ‘N’

THINGS VERSUS BED BATH & BEYOND
By Priyank Acharya

Executive Summary
Bed, Bath and Beyond (BBBY) and Linen ‘n’ things are the retailers retailing kitchen, bathroom and other
household items.

BBBY, started in 1971, is US’s largest domestics retailer with more than 740 stores in 46 states and
Puerto Rico. BBBY has been growing through opening of new stores. It supplies products to its
consumers directly from manufacturers rather than storing them warehouse. This has helped it keep
agility in the business. It depends on financing through equity and profits from business. It promises
everyday low prices with excellent customer service with extensive breadth and depth of assortment.

Linen ‘n’ Things, started in 1975, is the US’s second largest domestics retailer. It also promises everyday
low prices with no frill shops and excellent customer service. It had grown through investment in
Inventory management. It has centralized operations with 2 distribution centers opened in 1995 and
1999 respectively. It was acquired by Apollo Management LP.

The case analysis involves the metrics that can be helpful to both BBBY and Linen ‘n’ Things. These
metrics need to be the part of their dashboard and monitored on regular basis.

Case Analysis

Bed, Bath and Beyond Linen ‘n’ Things

Strengths  Lean Inventory
 Greater Flexibility
 Top position in U.S.
 Excellent customer service
 Pan-America presence
Weaknesses  Heavy dependence of store
managers for inventory control
 No significant differentiation from
competitors
Opportunities  Potential demand amongst “echo
boomers” nearing marriage
 Expansion into tabletop products
 Greater control
 Second best domestics retailer in U.S.
 Excellent customer service
 Pan-America presence
 Huge inventory investment
 No significant differentiation from
competitors
 Potential demand amongst “echo
boomers” nearing marriage
 Revival of the business by new
 management

Threats  Difficult to change the structure  Less agility as compared to BBBY

due to publicly traded company

Proposed Metrics
Metrics Category BBBY Linen ‘n’ Things Type of dashboard
element
STORE MANAGEMENT Average Sales Volume Average Sales Volume Bar Chart
per store per store
Average Sales Volume Average Sales Volume Bar Chart
per region per region
Highest grossing store Highest grossing store
Highest grossing store Highest grossing store Bar Chart
per region per region
INVENTORY Monthly inventory Line Chart
MANAGEMENT volume per store
Inventory turnover per Inventory turnover per Speedometer
store store
Average delivery time Speedometer
per supplier
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT Average number of Average number of Bar Chart
products purchased per products purchased
customer per customer
Product wise volume Best Selling product
per store per store
Product wise volume Best Selling product
per region per region