Bed Bath and Beyond Tries to Move Beyond the Coupon

Bed Bath and Beyond stops mailing the famous "$5 or 20% off" coupons. In an effort to better compete with Amazon, Bed Bath and Beyond will now offer an annual membership for $29 that offers 20% off every purchase and free shipping on all purchases. Analysts from Wedbush Securities Inc. state that after the 20% discount, Bed Bath and Beyond items will be 13% cheaper than those from Amazon. This membership still falls short because Amazon offers free two day shipping while Bed Bath and Beyond will still take 3-7 days to deliver the packages. Chief Executive, Steven Temares, hopes that with this membership model Bed Bath and Beyond's marketing will become more personalized. 

Moving customers away from coupons will not be easy because Bed Bath and Beyond is known for honoring various coupons in one purchase and even honoring coupons that have expired. Also, many of Bed Bad and Beyond customers have been hoarding these coupons for over a decade and now these coupons will no longer be accepted. This will upset many customers. 

This marketing strategy, is recognizing the coupons as a strength and a weakness, Bed Bath and Beyond clearly saw this as bigger weakness than a strength and chose to wean off the coupons. 
Bed Bath and Beyond's membership program is being driven by its competitors and customers.  

http://www.wsj.com/articles/bed-bath-tries-to-move-beyond-the-coupon-1475746974