<
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/29/business/bed-bath-beyond-toys-r-us-category-killer-retail/>
"The stores’ powerhouse business model was aimed at giving shoppers access to
every different size, style and color of a product imaginable – all in one
place and at reduced prices.
Category killers, which began to dominate entire merchandise categories, opened
stores typically under 50,000 square feet – bigger than independent shops but
smaller than Walmart superstores – in strip mall centers all over the suburbs.
Shoppers embraced these overstuffed emporiums.
Staples is “a classic ‘category killer,’ like Toys R Us,” Mitt Romney, then
Bain & Co.’s managing general partner, said in 1989.
These companies, along with RadioShack, Blockbuster, Barnes & Noble and others,
spread into the 2010s, remaking how Americans shopped and steamrolling right
over mom-and-pop stores.
But the category killer’s time has passed.
Toys “R” Us, Blockbuster and RadioShack are gone. Staples and Barnes & Noble
are still around, but they have struggled and closed hundreds of stores.
Another category killer fell this week, when Bed Bath & Beyond filed for
bankruptcy.
Once the go-to stop for everything in customers’ homes, Bed Bath & Beyond was
brought down by shopping changes, competition and its own missteps. But it was
also a retail concept designed for a bygone era.
“That model was exciting and novel. If you liked that category, it was like a
kid walking into the candy store,” said Z. John Zhang, a professor of marketing
at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. “The concept has
become passé.”"
Via Frederick Wilson II.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
