Beyond buys Bye bye Baby for $5 million according to retail dive.
Speaker ABeyond Inc.
Speaker AHas entered an asset purchase agreement to acquire the global rights to buy By Baby.
Speaker AThe Buy by baby brand for $5 million, which reunites the brand with the former with its former corporate parent Bed Bath and Beyond.
Speaker ABeyond is attempting to grow the Baby in apparel and accessories brand with a three part strategy.
Speaker AWait for this folks.
Speaker AThe first prong relies on Beyond's October partnership with Kirkland's which allowed for the opening and operation of up to five small format Bed Bath and Beyond stores.
Speaker AThe second and third parts entail two offerings beyond is exploring with fintech company Tzero which holds a special purpose broker dealer license, including the tokenization of some of Best of Bye Bye Baby's intellectual property.
Speaker AWhoa.
Speaker AOkay, pay attention here folks, because then it now it starts.
Speaker AIf you weren't complicated, if it wasn't complicated already, it's going to get even more complicated.
Speaker AReally.
Speaker ABut it's important.
Speaker ABeyond wants to offer digital dividends to current holders of beyond and make an offering of new investors who want to want a share of the Bye Bye Baby ip.
Speaker AThe goal is for the token to provide a revenue share on the brand's omnichannel revenue along with loyalty benefits across Beyond's platform.
Speaker AAdditionally, T0's blockchain technology could enable Bye Bye Baby to create a digital wallet that holds both financial assets and personal records like birth certificates, medical records and life milestones.
Speaker AHoly cow.
Speaker AAnd are you excited that Bye Bye Baby is getting what is now a third life and in the way it's being described?
Speaker BBen, I think we need your accent here to do the correct Monty Python.
Speaker BIt's not dead yet.
Speaker BI'm not dead yet.
Speaker AThat's exactly what I thought of when I wrote that.
Speaker BI don't know, Chris.
Speaker BLike, I just, I've tried with the Buy Bye Baby concept as, you know, with babies rust.
Speaker BLike I'm trying to really dig deep and find something that a reason for being for these companies and I'm just really struggling to, to do that.
Speaker BI just don't know that there's a reason for Bye Bye Baby anymore.
Speaker BI feel like, especially in another superstore format, I just, I think that we've all just without having a consistent retailer in the space for the last couple of years, I think that the traffic's just moved to other mass retailers where they can get some of these things and then back down to specialty retailers.
Speaker BLike if you really want that unique buy, try before you buy experience.
Speaker BI think we've just we're just seeing this happen so much better in some of the specialty retail stores.
Speaker BAnd lastly this whole blockchain thing with the birth certificates thing.
Speaker BLike I just, I'm not an expert on that stuff but I just don't see myself as a parent going to buy my baby to store birth certificates and financial information like that is just a bridge too far.
Speaker BBut, but I could be alone on this island.
Speaker BI don't know where you two fall.
Speaker AWell, well, Ben, let's find out.
Speaker AWhat are you thinking?
Speaker AI'm curious what you think of the deal too, like if you got any thoughts on that.
Speaker CAnd I think that's where I've been spending a bit of time.
Speaker CSo Chris, I'll let you talk about some of the merchandising elements because there's, there's that you, there's a whole right to play question.
Speaker CYeah, I'm not sure and I completely agree.
Speaker CThe competitive landscape has completely changed and it's only got harder.
Speaker CSo what's the reason?
Speaker CSo it's really, really easy to be very, very cell, cell baby on this.
Speaker CThe thing that I'm looking at is what does it mean for beyond?
Speaker CSo I kind of, yeah, went back to the figures, listen to the Q3 statement.
Speaker CYou know, beyond as a vehicle is not really working at the moment.
Speaker CSo revenue is down 20 odd percent.
Speaker CIt's still a billion dollar retailer.
Speaker CBut EBITDA is negative, traffic's down, average order frequency is down, average order value is down.
Speaker CSo this creation isn't delivering.
Speaker CIf you're a billion dollar retailer and all your indices are running in the wrong direction, 5 million is a pretty low risk gamble to make.
Speaker CAnd if that adds a whole another category into your store, another reason to visit, another opportunity to have a bit of footfall, I can't quite see why not.
Speaker CBut I mean it's a pretty negative place to be from to do it.
Speaker CBut I kind of feel it's worth a go.
Speaker CAnd even when you look at in the details of the transaction, one of the things that they're also buying is the data and a database.
Speaker CSo is there, there might be $5 million worth of customer and transactional data in there alone.
Speaker CSo look it, I think, I think it's worth a go.
Speaker CEven, even at a top line doesn't excite.
Speaker AYeah, I think those, I think, I think those are great points.
Speaker AI 100% agree with you.
Speaker AI mean in a lot of ways it feels like a steal.
Speaker A$5 million is just super cheap at the end of the day and you're Right, Ben?
Speaker ABecause there's the online portion and then there's the store portion.
Speaker AAnd the online baby business is a, is a, is a big business.
Speaker ALike a lot of people buy their products online, they register online, you get that data.
Speaker AAnd so bringing that into the fold and even the SEO value of Buy Bye Baby as a destination to shop has to be incremental to beyond.
Speaker AAnd I have to think that alone is worth $5 million.
Speaker AThen you get the option value of potentially going into stores through Kirkland or through standalone stores should they want to in key markets too, where they know the concept could still work.
Speaker ABecause I, because I imagine they know how to run this better than the previous acquirers knew how to run a retail store as well.
Speaker ABecause, you know, their CEO has a lot of experience.
Speaker AI mean, I think he owns Camping World or did at least at one time as well.
Speaker ASo he knows the retail business.
Speaker ASo I think if anything too.
Speaker ALast point I make, I think when I, when I hear you talk about it, Ben, I feel like it's kind of an indictment that why weren't more people in this bidding race, you know, like why, why didn't more people want to take on some element of this for $5 million, like if I'm, if I'm Target or Walmart, I would just buy it to protect.
Speaker BWell, those two make sense, I think.
Speaker BBut just because it's cheap, does it mean that you should buy it and then it should especially.
Speaker BI mean, I can get it on board with the, with the online bit that you're talking about, Chris, but I really have a hard time with.
Speaker BIt doesn't even make sense to put into a Kirkland store.
Speaker BLike, it just seems like a very disjointed experience to me to like have baby pop up in there.
Speaker BAnd does that further degrade your Kirkland's home business when you're starting to throw random stuff in the back of it?
Speaker BI don't know, but.
Speaker AWell, I don't know that.
Speaker AThat depends on the execution.
Speaker ARight, But I think like you said, that's the option value, the, the online value, you know, the online non term.
Speaker AI got to think the online long term value of this business is more than $5 million in cash flow, but I don't know.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAll right, Ben.
Speaker CI guess the other thing, and I completely agree about the juxtaposition that it could be about putting into the wrong place and that's, that's kind of where the merchandising.
Speaker CRight.
Speaker CRight to play is.
Speaker CBut I think what I am mindful of is, you know, Dave.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CThey've brought back the Overstock brand name so that they have the Overstock platform.
Speaker CThey bought Zulily again for, for kind of short term deals.
Speaker CThey've got the Bed Bed Bath brand as well.
Speaker CWhat that gives is a number of outlets to be able to move inventory around.
Speaker CSo they've got, they've got the routes to be able to sell inventory in case it's not working, or to be able to move some and to be able to add extra categories across Overstock and into Zulily.
Speaker CI kind of.
Speaker CThat.
Speaker CI can see that.
Speaker CI think if, if we're talking $25 million, I think it'd be very different, but for 5 million, it's worth a go.
Speaker BYeah, fair.
Speaker AIt's worth a go.
Speaker BIt's worth a go.
Speaker BIt's worth a go.