Is Bed Bath & Beyond Really Killing Off Its Coupons?

(This story is from November 2015. Be sure to read this October 2016 update: “Bed Bath & Beyond Coupons May Cost You $29 Now“).

What would shopping at Bed Bath & Beyond be like without those ubiquitous 20% off coupons? Many shoppers are afraid they’re about to find out.

Speculation has reached a fever pitch that the home goods retailer is about to drastically scale back or even eliminate its popular coupons that seem to show up in your mailbox on a regular basis.

But take a breath – despite a number of reports declaring the death of Bed Bath & Beyond coupons, there’s actually little to no evidence that they’re going anywhere at all.

“Bed Bath & Beyond Making Changes to Coupons,” one news report declared earlier this week, warning readers that “those coupons may soon be a thing of the past.” A slew of similar reports cited a recent Business Insider video, which claimed that the company “promised investors that they’re going to scale back on these promotions.” And all of these reports trace back to a Washington Post article published two months ago, reporting the not surprising story that coupons are cutting into the company’s profits.

The only thing is, that story has been told many times before – including right here on Coupons in the News more than three years ago. And it wasn’t even a totally original idea back then.

The only thing Bed Bath & Beyond has said to spark these recent rumors, was during its most recent quarterly call with investors in September. Gross profits, management said, were down primarily due to “an increase in coupon expense resulting from an increase in the number of redemptions and a slight increase in the average coupon amount.”

Alarming? Panic-inducing? Not really.

That’s because, in June, the company told investors that profits were down because of “an increase in coupon expense due to an increase in redemptions.” In April, profits were down because of “an increase in coupon expense due to an increase in redemptions.” In January, profits were down because of “an increase in coupon expense resulting from an increase in redemptions.”

In fact, store management used variations of that very same statement, in the past 15 quarterly earnings conference calls in a row. The last time Bed Bath & Beyond said anything different was back in December 2011, after a profitable quarter, when it told investors that “the increase in the gross profit margin was primarily due to a reduction in markdowns and coupons as a percentage of net sales.”

If everyone was going to panic that Bed Bath & Beyond planned to reduce or eliminate coupons in order to boost profits, they probably ought to have panicked four years ago – not after 15 quarters of a broken-record statement about coupons that the company clearly remains committed to. One might speculate that the company could return to profitability if it cut back on coupons like it did back in 2011, but the company has given no clear indication that it plans to do so – and certainly no indication that it plans to eliminate them altogether.

So what does Bed Bath & Beyond have to say about all the rumors, then?

Nothing, really.

Spokespeople for the retailer declined to respond to several emails and voice mails requesting comment. When finally reached by phone earlier this week, a spokesperson promised to “look into it.”

And she’s apparently still looking.

The only thing the company is saying publicly is coming from its customer service representatives, who are professing ignorance and telling concerned couponing customers that “we are not aware of any changes being made to our coupon policy at this time.”

It’s almost enough to make you wonder whether something is up after all. Without any confirmation or comment from the company then, this story – designed to dispel the apparently unfounded rumors – instead may merely end up fueling them.

Considering how well they’ve done with communicating and controlling the message – it seems coupons might not be Bed Bath & Beyond’s only problem.