Do you refuse to buy anything at Bed Bath & Beyond without a coupon? So does everyone else, apparently. While the company is making plenty of sales, they aren’t as profitable as they used to be… something that experts attribute to the chain’s training its customers to always come in clutching a coupon.

A discount of 20% on the wall sconce of your dreams might not seem like a killer deal, but it adds up if you bring a coupon every time you visit, and use a 20% coupon on every item that you purchase. (Yes, if you collect enough coupons, you can use more than one in a single shopping trip.) “These are expected now by most shoppers,” one investment analyst observed to the Washington Post while pondering 20% off coupons.

Once shoppers are trained to not walk in the store unless they have a coupon, how do you bring them in without mailing them more coupons? That is the company’s marketing dilemma. Their sales are actually up, but profitability is down.

The big-box store has also adapted slowly to the “omnichannel” environment, since the items it sells are bulky and difficult to ship. Home goods competitors like Wayfair have popped up online instead, stealing business that once belonged to Bed Bath & Beyond.

Except for Abbi of “Broad City.” They’ll always have her business.

The trouble with those 20 percent off coupons from Bed Bath & Beyond [Washington Post]

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