MIDVALE, Utah – Three months ago, Beyond Inc. executive chairman Marcus Lemonis boldly proclaimed that Beyond Inc. planned to boost sales by $440 million this year. He has now revised his outlook.

“I early on – myself , nobody else – on Feb. 2 felt like $2 billion annualization revenue goal was possible,” Lemonis told investors during this week’s first quarter review.

After digging into the business further, however, he decided the cost of hitting that top-line metric this year would undermine the larger goal of restoring profitability. “We do not want to be the company that gets to two or three billion[dollars in annual sales] by taking on billions of dollars in debt. We’re debt-free, other on the mortgage on our building,” he explained.

Which doesn’t mean Lemonis isn’t setting ambitious goals for Beyond Inc.’s businesses.

Each of the company’s individual e-commerce brands – Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock.com and Zulily – has the potential to become a $1 billion business, he said yesterday.

Crafting the retail portfolio

Beyond Inc., which generated $1.56 billion in revenues last year, is carving out distinct missions for each brand.

• Everything home: Bed Bath & Beyond is in the process of developing a highly curated, branded assortment for the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and outdoor spaces. It will jettison much of the furniture it had been offering in favor of product-adjacent goods such as mattresses, bed frames, lighting and other goods.
• Bargain shopping: Overstock.com, which began its relaunch on March 28, is slowly building out its customer file and building up its roster of excess merchandise and factory-direct liquidations. While furniture dominates the early assortment, the brand is also adding  rugs, patio, apparel, footwear, jewelry and a variety of vendor-supplied special buys.
• Off-price apparel and accessories: Zulily, which Beyond Inc. acquired on March 7, will target working moms with value-priced beauty, fashion and accessories. Slated for a soft launch in Q3, Zulily is being positioned to address what Lemonis views as the achilles heel the off-price retail word: the fact that most off-pricers don’t have e-commerce operations.

Spending money to make money

In recent weeks, Beyond Inc. has been striking an array of deals to improve its internal operations and monetizes its brands.

• The Bed Bath & Beyond brand will test 4 stores in the UAE in a deal with what Lemonis described as one of the largest retailers in the region.
• The company is also forging an agreement to license the Bed Bath & Beyond brand in Mexico as an omni-channel business.
• The company last week engaged CRM firm Salesforce to unify customer data across its multiple brands and data systems. Beyond Inc. wants to better understand who those customers are, how they act, and how they engage across brands.
• In late March, the company forged a strategic partnership with X (formerly known as Twitter) to deliver customized short and long form content, develop customer acquisition and retention strategies and to spotlight Beyond Inc.’s brands on key tent-pole events and holidays.

Lemonis told investors this week that while he has reined in his earlier $2 billion goal for 2024, he still believes the total company business could eventually grow to $3 billion to $4 billion.

“And quite frankly, that’s the only reason I’m here working for free,” he added. “I have my time and my reputation on the line. And I only make money when this company hits a certain level of performance.”

See also:

• Furniture in focus as Beyond Inc. redefines its role across key retail platforms
• Beyond Inc. nudges Q1 revenue into positive territory, loss widens significantly

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