Bed Bath same-store sales fall as coupons lose ground

(Reuters) – Furniture retailer Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY.O) recorded a surprise drop in same-store quarterly sales Wednesday, penalized by declining repayments of its previously popular coupons, due to stiff competition from online and non-price rivals.

Shares of the New Jersey-based retailer, which fell more than 8% this year, lost up to 9% in the aftermarket.

The owner of the brand & # 39; Buy Buy Baby & # 39; tried to boost sales and fend off rivals like Amazon (AMZN.O), Wayfair (W.N) and big competitors like Home Depot (HD.N) and Walmart (WMT.N) by reorganizing its website and working on dynamic prices.

These efforts, however, did not yield results and the company announced a 0.6% decline in same-store sales. Analysts were expecting an increase of 0.06%, according to Thomson Reuters I / B / E / S.

Chief Financial Officer, Robyn D & Elia, said during a conference call that, despite the rise in the average value of his coupons, repayments have dropped.

Like its competitor Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (PIR.N), Bed Bath & Beyond is struggling to adapt to a market where consumers are buying more and more goods online in recent years.

"This is a trend that has been putting in place for Bed Bath for quite some time now … the margin investment needed to keep them from falling further is decreasing profitability and profits," Gregory said. Melich, badyst of MoffettNathanson.

"They're going to have to keep fighting, they'll probably try to restructure more."

Elia said comparable sales for the quarter decreased 60 basis points mainly because of a decline in the number of transactions in stores.

Net income fell to $ 43.58 million, or 32 cents per share, in the first quarter ended June 2, from $ 75.28 million, or 53 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding certain items, the company announced earnings per share of 33 cents, exceeding the average badyst estimate of 2 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I / B / E / S.

Net sales increased slightly to $ 2.75 billion during the quarter.

Shares of the company were down 5.8% to $ 19.