Eye on Retail: Bed Bath & Beyond moves

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. has made a series of moves as part of the reinvention of its business under president and CEO Mark Tritton.

The company said it would launch a digital marketplace that will expand its assortment of key products in the home and baby categories from a curated selection of third-party brand partners that will be seamlessly integrated into the Bed Bath & Beyond digital platform. The retailer gave no other details about the marketplace.

In a separate release, Bed Bath & Beyond unveiled an in-store and online pilot with supermarket giant Kroger Co.

The company also announced two new C-suite additions, including the appointment of Anu Gupta to the newly created role of chief growth officer. She previously served as Bed Bath & Beyond’s chief strategy and transformation officer. The new position will focus on internal and external growth opportunities.

“With these sales channel expansions, it is necessary to evolve our organizational structure to align with our ongoing transformation,” Tritton said. “As part of that evolution, we are thrilled to promote Anu Gupta into an expanded role. As an instrumental driver of our new Kroger collaboration, Anu's impressive background and business acumen, visionary ideas, and successful tracking of our transformation management will help lead our team into the future."

Rafeh Masood, the company's current chief digital officer and interim chief brand officer, has been named chief customer officer, a newly created role combining his digital and brand roles

Both appointments are effective immediately and will report to Tritton.

Also, John Hartman, Bed Bath & Beyond's COO and president of buybuy Baby — an executive who previously led True Value Company as CEO — will be responsible for partnership execution, in addition to his leadership across IT and supply chain.

“Rafeh and John have been influential leaders as we have pivoted our business strategically and operationally as an omnichannel retailer,” stated Tritton. “Many of the transformational improvements and capabilities across our digital platforms and supply chain have been a result of both Rafeh's and John's invaluable leadership and their new and expanded roles will lead to greater synergy between our business roadmap and customer approach. I am thrilled to see us structuring and driving our business in bold ways through our talent, strategy and execution.”