“CSC launched our home furnishings and home improvement platform with the intent to really build a multi-brand Wayfair,” he said.
One thing Yoshimura insists isn’t changing is the company’s digital focus. She’s now senior vice president of merchandising and creative for Z Gallerie. Mary Harrington was with Williams-Sonoma for 21 years, most recently as vice president and division merchandise manager for Williams-Sonoma Home. Most recently he was vice president of product management there, according to his LinkedIn profile, but he also was senior vice president of merchandise planning for Pottery Barn Brands. John Trifoso, who was named senior vice president of operations, was with Williams-Sonoma for 12 years. In the fourth quarter, it brought on two former veterans of Williams-Sonoma. There are some sellers more motivated than Overstock.”ĭirectBuy has been prepping for this surge in growth in part by hiring seasoned industry talent. “We think there is lower hanging fruit than Overstock. “We’re tracking about 25 companies in the category for possible acquisition,” he said. When asked about a different company earlier, Yoshimura did confirm the acquisition coming is not, a home furnishings e-tailer that better fits his description and was once actively on the block, “but I think someday we might end up buying them,” he added. When Furniture Today asked Yoshimura if Pier 1 was the acquisition target in the works, he declined to comment. Pier 1 just announced plans to cut its store count by up to 450 stores (see story on page 30), or nearly half the total, and national business news outlets have said its prepping for a bankruptcy reorganization filing, citing unnamed sources. The theoretical acquisition targets Pier 1 Imports and Kirkland’s noted on the timeline are long-struggling publicly held retailers. Chinese private-equity firm China Science and Merchants Capital Management, which was the primary investor in CSC when it acquired DirectBuy, has largely been recapitalized out of the business and is now minority partner, Yoshimura said. Riley Financial.Īlong the way, CSC also has raised capital to fuel its plans from Panasonic and Altos Ventures. In 2018, a CSC subsidiary acquired the intellectual property of The Bon-Ton, “with the thesis of acquiring ShopKo,” according to the timeline, and then the Z Gallerie acquisition followed in 2019 via a joint venture deal among DirectBuy, investment firm KKR and B. It notes the acquisition of DirectBuy in 2017 “to build its home goods platform with the thesis of acquiring Z Gallerie, Pier 1 and Kirkland’s.” 46 on Furniture Today’s most recent Top 100 with estimated 2018 furniture, bedding and accessory sales of $175 million at its then 76 stores.Ī timeline on CSC’s homepage suggests its plan all along was to grow the home business via other brands such as Z Gallerie, not necessarily through DirectBuy banners alone. (Furniture, bedding and accessories accounted for a little less than $100 million of the total, he estimated.) Z Gallerie accounted for the majority of furniture sales, and even there, most of it was booked online, he added. Yoshimura wouldn’t give the breakdown, but he said the majority of that roughly $250 million in sales last year was generated online. The banner at the top of its website reads, “Saving Retail by leveraging our proprietary tech and operating expertise,” then goes on to note that since its 2016 founding, CSC has “kept several historic brands from liquidating, saving over 800 jobs in the process.” Yoshimura said to think of it along the lines of how Berkshire Hathaway was once a struggling textile manufacturing company that eventually was acquired by Warren Buffett and became the umbrella for Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire’s wide assortment of businesses and investments.Īrguably, CSC Generation is positioned as a force for the kind of digital-first change the home furnishing industry has been slow to adopt. DirectBuy, which also sells appliances, kitchen cabinets and other goods and services to paying members, has become an umbrella for retail home brands - Z Gallerie being the first, but with others to follow.
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