Bed Bath & Beyond, continuing its busy month after debuting its reformatted and re-merchandised New York City flagship, has struck a deal with Ryder System to begin modernizing and reinventing its supply chain.
As part of a strategic partnership designed to improve merchandise replenishment, the retailer announced Ryder will develop and operate two regional distribution centers that will reduce Bed Bath & Beyond and buybuy BABYstore product replenishment times to less than 10 days from the current 35 days, the retailer stated. Bed Bath & Beyond in October 2020 announced plans to allocate $250 million in capital investments to reinvent replenishment and related operations over the next several years.
Bed Bath & Beyond selected Ryder, which offers logistics and supply chain solutions among other services, including transportation, from a competitive request-for-roposal process. The first regional distribution center operating under the deal, opening in Frackville, PA, this fall, will be a one-million-square-foot modern facility, with the potential for expansion. It will provide merchandise to stores throughout the northeastern United States for instore and web-based shopping services such as buy online pickup in store or curbside, same day delivery, and ship from store. Ryder will open a similar facility next year in Southern California, Bed Bath & Beyond noted.
The Ryder selection as a third-party logistics provider continues Bed Bath & Beyond’s initiative to modernize operations as part of a company-wide transformation strategy, the retailer asserted. In addition, earlier this year, the retailer selected Oracle as the company’s enterprise resource planning technology provider. Also, it picked RELEX Solutions, a retail-focused omni-channel visibility tool, to provide a real-time view into the supply chain. The technology adds will allow Bed Bath & Beyond to track merchandise and products stored and distributed by the new regional distribution centers, the retailer pointed out, enabling greater efficiencies and capabilities to plan and forecast product replenishment, improve in-stock positions and speed to market.
“The modernization of our supply chain is one of our core operational transformation initiatives to create greater efficiencies and reduce out-of-stock occurrences for our customers,” said John Hartmann, Bed Bath & Beyond COO and president of buybuy BABY. “As we provide our customers with an omni-always shopping environment, it is imperative for our growth to invest in our supply chain to ensure that we are meeting the needs of the business and our valued customers. Ryder is a clear leader in logistics, and we look forward to leaning on their expertise and capabilities to help modernize our supply chain and distribution network operations.”
