Mark Tritton, Bed Bath & Beyond President & CEO.

Amazon is a goliath in the retail space. Its unchecked expansion and market share have only been truly matched by the equally titanic Walmart. These two companies cast a long shadow, but there is a startling competitor that stands tall between the two. Target Corporation has been steadily gaining ground in the retail sector and this is in large part due to the work of former Chief Marketing Officer Mark Tritton. Tritton has been the mastermind behind Target’s new private label program since 2016 and it has paid undeniable dividends. He broke into the retail industry with stints at Timberland and Nike, but acquired his retail acumen during his tenure at Nordstrom.

Target used to pull most of its Women’s ready-to-wear revenue from a few key brands. Shoppers became all too familiar with the Mossimo red and black labels and the pink Xhilaration label fashioned on the same tired and uninspired in-store displays. Tritton wanted to bring the shine back to Target and more importantly he wanted shoppers to be proud of their brands. He began by terminating the mainstay Mossimo brand and repositioning the Merona and Xhilaration brands for a younger audience. He proceeded to reinvest in private labeling and was responsible creating over 30 new Target brands. This variety allowed the company to create versatile clothes for new demographics. Tritton enhanced these new offerings by re-imagining in-store displays. He sectioned off entire sections of floor space to advertise the new concepts. Clothes were paired together to match colors, seasons, and styles. Tritton’s design was to make each display feel like a different store and customers responded with elation and a desire to see what would come next. This only drove Target to create more private labels and just a few months ago the company brought them all together for a limited time to celebrate the success. Tritton had hit his mark.

Tritton is now the newly minted CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond and he has been tapped to save the struggling retailer from the oblivion of bankruptcy. It will undoubtedly be the most gargantuan task of his career, but he has felled difficult challenges before. Bed Bath & Beyond has suffered from many of the same ills as Target before Tritton arrived. Their stores are often criticized as being overcrowded and confusing, and their brands due for a refresh. All of these problems fall within Tritton’s skillset, but his new company is further behind than Target ever was. He is also bearing the added pressure of the CEO position, meaning he will not be able to focus exclusively on merchandising and private-label. Most of Bed Bath & Beyond’s merchandise will likely change and their supplier contracts will be re-written. The results of this will hinge on Tritton’s new strategy of pairing down stores and creating seamless transitions between in-store and online shopping. Manufactures will be waiting in line to get a contract with Bed Bath & Beyond and take advantage of the new shelf space that will be available. Chains Store Guide provides its clients with a complete list of Bed Bath & Beyond buyer contacts to profit from this opportunity.