Case Study Analysis :”Linens N Things” versus “Bed Bath & Beyond”

A brief history about Linens N Things:

 Linens ‘n’ Things is a houseware goods company founded in 1975 by Eugene Kalkin.
 It focussed on producing high-quality houseware with a value for money.
 Since it’s inception LNT created a loyal customer base by adding attractive services like
electronic bridal registries and online shopping.

Marketing 4 P’s Analysis for LNT

 High-quality housewares, bedding, towels, and other home accessories

Product  Low-priced and brand-named merchandise selling with different labels like
Braun, Krups etc.
 Specialized store only catering houseware and linens.

Price  Affordable price with no-frills

 Newspaper circulars and mailing which were cost-effective

Promotion  Tough competition from a variety of other low-end to high-end retailers
who promoted aggressively over the web.

 LNT stores were located as standalone buildings or in off-price malls

 LNT invested hugely in infrastructure and inventory and opened new
Place distribution centres.
 It has around 560 superstores spanning 47 states and 6 Canadian provinces.

What did not go well for LNT

 Houseware as an industry was not doing particularly impressive with sales growth at 4.8%
and demand for housewares is either stable or declining.
 There are many players both generic and specific in the market which created a tough and
competitive environment
 Tech-savvy merchants opted for web-based sales which saved a lot of time for the
customers and hence attractive.
 WTO lifted the import quoted which opened up the US Markets for international suppliers.

Why is BBBY more successful than LNT

Case Study Analysis :”Linens N Things” versus “Bed Bath & Beyond”

 Good customer centricity

 Having a wider range of merchandise choose from which is slightly better than LNT.
 BBBY managers and staff were flexible and open to change.
 Aggressive expansion.

What could have been done better by LNT

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How does the acquisition of LNT by Apollo help

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