Bed Bath & Beyond buys retailer PersonalizationMall.com

PersonalizationMall.com sells personalized products, including flasks, pillows and mugs

Updated with comment from Bed Bath & Beyond

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Not only has this year just flown by, but it also means that it's about to the start gift-buying season. As much as I enjoy giving people gifts that make them happy, the actual act of searching for and buying them makes me crazy. 

Bed Bath & Beyond seems to want to make gift buying from its stores a little easier this year, as it just acquired PersonalizationMall.com, an online retailer of personalized products. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

PersonalizationMall.com will remain an independent brand under the Bed Bath & Beyond umbrella. There are no plans at this time to have any of the PersonalizationMall.com's workers working at Bed Bath & Beyond.

"PersonalizationMall.com is an industry-leading online retailer of personalized products with a fully integrated, proprietary technology platform that drives quality, speed and efficiency throughout the process of personalizing a breadth of products to each customer’s unique direction," a Bed Bath & Beyond spokesperson told me.

"Bed Bath & Beyond plans to support PersonalizationMall.com as they continue to improve the customer experience by enhancing the product mix, upgrading their e-commerce website and driving optimization of their marketing initiatives."

Founded in 1998, PMall.com's platform can personalize a slew of products to each customer's unique preference. Products include Christmas stockings and ornaments, mugs, blankets, cutting boards, coasters, doormats, pillows, jewelery boxes, blankets, backpacks and much more. For example, if you go to buy a child's wallet, you're able to pick from four designs: sports, automobiles, robots or dinosaurs. Their first name will also be printed across the front.

Items can be customized through a variety of different personalization processes including sublimation, embroidery, digital printing, engraving, and sandblasting.

"Our goal is to serve our customers by making personalized gift buying quick and easy. Our revolutionary preview technology takes the guess work out of personalization, by allowing you to see what your gift will look like, personalized with your details, before you buy it!" the company says on its website (emphasis theirs)

For Bed Bath & Beyond, the acquisition expands its existing assortment in the personalization category. The company plans to leverage Personalizationmall.com's technology platform to drive additional offerings across all of its products. 

"As we have said previously, we view personalization as a significant opportunity for us to create additional differentiation and enable us to do more for and with our customers," Steven H. Temares, Chief Executive Officer at Bed Bath & Beyond, said in a statement. 

"At the same time, we are excited by the opportunity to leverage their advanced personalization and production capabilities to create additional omnichannel offerings across all of our concepts."

For PersonalizationMall.com, it gets to expand its scope with Bed Bath & Beyond's resources now behind it. 

"We are excited to be given the opportunity to realize the full potential of the PersonalizationMall.com brand in working together with Bed Bath & Beyond. Additionally, it is a great opportunity for our PMall Team to become part of such an admired company that is as committed to great customer service as we are," Dan Randolph, Founder and President, PersonalizationMall.com, said in a statement. 

This is the second technology acquisition for Bed Bath & Beyond this year. In June, it acquired flash sales website One Kings Lane for an undisclosed amount. One Kings Lane remains an independent brand under the Bed Bath & Beyond umbrella and continues to operate its own retail strategy. 

Financial advisor to Bed Bath & Beyond on this transaction was Goldman, Sachs & Co. William Blair advised PersonalizationMall.com.

(Image source: dyo.personalizationmall.com)