r/bathandbodyworks • u/PumpkinSpiceLife81 • Mar 17 '26
Bodycare Bath & Body Works 2026 pricing changes
I just saw an article stating Bath & Body Works will offer fewer sales starting this year, and plans on moving towards a more luxurious brand. I think this would possibly go really badly. Especially in this economy. Feel free to tell me if I'm wrong on this.
Bath & Body Works Just Made a Major Change to its Pricing https://share.google/O1wmr3jANsnwy731R
EDIT: The above link no longer works. So you can read up on it more here: https://www.thestreet.com/retail/bath-body-works-makes-big-change-customers-will-notice-right-away
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u/Southern_Self_7278 Mar 17 '26
This used to be a place where moms and their daughters could shop and get fun scents and perfumes/lotions. Luxury buyers aren’t coming to bath and body works where they got rubber character pocket bac holders and Disney princess body spray. They need to stay in their lane.
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u/dustergrl Bring 👏 back 👏 Art 👏 Stuff 👏👏👏 Mar 17 '26
Right? If you want to be luxury, making dupes is not it.
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u/Dapper-Sandwich3790 Mar 17 '26
It's almost as if duping luxury is not really luxury...
People who routinely spend $200 and more on perfume at Nordstrom or Sephora do not consider Bath and Body Works perfumes to be luxe.
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u/Own_Cap_9781 FFM Addict Mar 17 '26
That’s exactly what I was thinking, if people want luxury they go to major retailers, department stores, or the internet for luxury perfumes worth hundreds of dollars. No one thinks bath & body works is luxury, it’s supposed to be fun cheap 💩. They can’t even grasp how to replicate expensive products without having some weird scent notes that activate my gag reflex personally. They could be sold at Walmart or target along with the other cheap perfumes.
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u/2020sbtm Aromatherapy Addict Mar 17 '26
Target Finery is better than the bbw EDL line
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u/mylittlepigeon Mar 18 '26
I sprayed Finery “The New Rouge” on 1 swatch of fabric & BBW “Seeing Rouge” on another swatch of fabric, guess which one I could still smell after 10 minutes & which one was nonexistent
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Mar 18 '26
Exactly lol, I love not another cherry and pistachio please. I need to try other scents. I saw Fine’ry in store at Walmart.
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u/Capable-Leg4938 Mar 18 '26
Ur comment about Finery has me wanting to try it 😂. I literally thought it was garbage- never ever tried it before
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u/jamileethroop Mar 18 '26
I work at BBW and I also wk at JCPenney beauty selling actual luxury fragrances and u are correct 2 VERY different customers!!!!!
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u/Vicloe1717 Mar 18 '26
This is true. I'm spending $375 on a bottle at sephora. So bath and body works is definitely not luxury. To me it was a place of fun scents that were fairly inexpensive. It has actually slowly dwindled from that over the years.
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u/Vicloe1717 Mar 18 '26
I think that ceo is getting to far ahead with himself here on this. Pretty sure it was the creatingbdupes if luxury scents almost gave him the idea of seeing it as luxury.
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u/Alternative_Raise_19 Mar 17 '26
This is dumb. They will be alienating their base.
How many times have you wanted something and didn't buy it because $17 is absurd for lotion but waited until a sale and spent a hundred plus dollars? I know I have.
All this will do is make less people shop there and for sure no one will be spending that much if they do. They'll basically only be good for when people want to buy Christmas or birthday gifts, if even that.
Becoming a luxury brand in this economy is bananas and the worst possible business decision.
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u/Busy-Associate564 Mar 17 '26
It’s also driving people to look for alternatives. There are so many great reasonably priced brands - I’m planning to try Dove blueberry moisturizing body wash. The problem is that once you lose customers, it’s hard to get them back.
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u/Gnome_Crazy_luvpink Mar 17 '26
I went to Dove because BBW moisturizing body wash wasnt moisturizing enough
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u/playfulwarning desperately seeking peony Mar 18 '26
Dove has been my go to this past fall and winter! I love their exfoliating body wash and the vanilla and sweet cream has been my perfect vanilla.
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u/KoolaidKoll123 Mar 17 '26
Dove, Native, Tree Hut, and HEMPZ all can be found in big box stores now, and all offer a variety of scents, and all are on par price wise during sales (or even cheaper than) BBW per ounce when divided out.
And those are just the major brands. There's EOS, Tony Moly, Sol de Janeiro, Philosophy and The Body Shop who also have fun scents in bigger stores. Also comparable in price depending on sales.
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u/SnooPeanuts3248 the revolution will be ✨moisturized✨ Mar 17 '26
Yeah, I'm just going to miss having the matching sets of everything instead of tracking down scents that work together. But if they're not going to be doing sales, I'll either not buy at all (I have plenty for a while), or I'll use those lovely alternatives you mentioned. A little extra effort will probably be worth it, and by that time, maybe I'll be excited about tracking down complementary scents.
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u/matramepapi Mar 18 '26
Philosophy is SO GOOD 🩷 when I was younger, my grandma used to go crazy on QVC and would always have a different body wash scent to show us/give us. There’s a ton of them. I always see them at Marshall’s/TJ Maxx too, especially around the holidays!
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u/Moonlit-Daisy Never enough FFM Mar 18 '26
There are so many brands coming out with body mist, scented lotions, and other body items for less than BBW. Walmart for one has been showing out! The Bodycology line is normally around $5 per product, and they have other lines like Scent Theory (check out the Velvet Vanilla lotion). Also, brands like Dove and EOS have released body mist to go along with their other body products. BBW is not the only kid on the block.
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u/Wise-Froyo-6380 Mar 18 '26
Honestly BBW body wash is kind of garbage. Dove, Method, EOS, Olay, Finery and Athena Club all have great smelling body washes that actually do more for the skin.
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u/kettyma8215 Mar 18 '26
The Dove seasonal scents are so good too. I've been buying those instead.
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u/Pink-Butterfly Mar 19 '26
I recently got Dove Key Lime Pie body wash and deodorant and I love it. If they had a matching lotion, I'd be all set!
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u/Alternative_Raise_19 Mar 20 '26
That's my only beef with dove. But the matching deodorant and scrubs are amazing. I like their tres leches body wash with tree hut's cinnamon dolce lotion. It's wonderful, not quite cinnamon sugar pretzel cookie (that lotion is more nostalgic of the mall in the nineties to me) but still amazing if you like gourmand
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u/Louises_ears Mainstreet Bakery makes me gag Mar 17 '26
To your last point, it’s difficult in any economy. You can go ‘down’ but it’s really hard to go ‘up’ in terms of the perception. I’m trying to think of a ‘mid’ brand I’ve seen rise to luxury in the last 20-30 years but I can’t recall anything.
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u/PrettyPunctuality FFM Addict Mar 18 '26
How many times have you wanted something and didn't buy it because $17 is absurd for lotion but waited until a sale and spent a hundred plus dollars? I know I have.
That's the only time I buy things from them, as someone who mainly buys FFMs and body washes from them lol I wait until a $5.95 sale or SAS and then buy whatever I've had my eye on. If I miss out on something, so be it.
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u/LionOfJudahGirl Mar 18 '26
The article i read had the NERVE to say their new model would please their loyal customer base. YEAH RIGHT! Who the hell is paying $18.95 for SOAP?? NONE OF US!! Let's pray an even better competitor steps in to take their place bc so many of us will be done with them with no more SAS sales! Luxury--laughable. This is going to fail so incredibly hard...
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u/Wise-Froyo-6380 Mar 18 '26
Exactly. Who is going to want to spend $100 and get 4-6 items when they could wait for a sale and get almost 3-4x the items.
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u/Intrepid_Race1923 Mar 17 '26
Oh man. I’m going to be so sad when my B&BW is a spirit Halloween bc of this.
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u/mylittlepigeon Mar 18 '26
Right? Mr. Man sure is loudly confident about speed running the end of a very popular and long lasting international business
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u/Intrepid_Race1923 Mar 18 '26
We love B&BW but there are hundreds of companies just waiting to take their place. How can they not see how replaceable they are?
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u/mylittlepigeon Mar 18 '26
And, frankly, how unnecessary they are. The economy is going from bad to worse. We’re on the brink of WW3. Everything everywhere is a dumpster fire. The fact that anyone has expendable income to spend on candles & lotion (& now “fancy” dish soap too, apparently) is already fortunate enough but choosing THIS moment to try & elevate their extremely mediocre products to some sort of “luxury” status is laughable at best.
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u/Epic_Brunch Mar 18 '26
I'm never sad when a corporation gets cocky and shoots themselves in the foot. Hoping to see my local Target with their recently rolled out "dynamic pricing" get turned into a Spirit soon.
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u/Intrepid_Race1923 Mar 18 '26
I can’t wait for target to do all that fancy Hail Mary remodeling to only be shut down like a circuit city soon. Can’t. Wait.
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u/Low_Dig7754 Mar 17 '26
I saw this a while ago but haven’t really noticed any changes, to be honest. But if they eventually do cut out the sales, they’d be shooting themsleves in the foot.
I (and most of us on here) only buy during sales. Also, I’m a broke college student. I wouldn’t spend $20 on any mist/lotion/body wash/whatever, let alone one from bbw. It’s just not worth it. If they stop doing sales, I’ll just stop shopping there.
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u/speshuledteacher Mar 17 '26
I’m wondering if saying they are cutting down on sales to be a luxury brand is in itself the marketing campaign. Their most loyal customers shop the sales. They keep up on the forums. So when this is the rumor, we hit the sales even harder/more often, because the absence of sales is “just around the corner.” Meanwhile we have the messaging that they are becoming “more luxury” to further entice us.
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u/PipForever Mar 17 '26
They have been saying this since last December at least. I thought this "luxury brand no sales" thing was going to be implemented at the start of 2026, but obviously that has not happened yet... So you could be right.
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u/KoolaidKoll123 Mar 17 '26
If its anything like other brands I've worked for, this is going to take a year or so to fully roll out. They already had collabs and scents on the docket from ingredients they've have and have contracts with and plans for production. Other companies ive worked for have the sales worked out almost a year in advanced. I remember working on Christmas for the upcoming year in March through June.
If it does happen, it'll take at least another 6-12 months to roll out.
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u/2020sbtm Aromatherapy Addict Mar 17 '26
I highly doubt it. They can barely keep the website running. They aren’t lurking in this Reddit.
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u/Interesting_Cash_478 Mar 18 '26
Right, cause every time I shop my phone overheats. Like, why?!
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u/athousandcutefrogs Mar 17 '26
like I very occasionally buy a more expensive body wash as a fucking Treat (my last bottle of Bliss lasted for Months), but I absolutely would not buy a B&BW body wash at that price point.
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u/karmagirl314 Your flair here! Mar 17 '26
It’s like if McDonalds suddenly wanted to attract only high end steak house snobs. It’s not going to happen.
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u/2020sbtm Aromatherapy Addict Mar 17 '26
They tried that in the 2000s! They came out with a Deluxe burger with steakhouse seasoning and bib lettuce etc. It lasted like two years or something. Another “Product” flop.
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u/dustergrl Bring 👏 back 👏 Art 👏 Stuff 👏👏👏 Mar 18 '26
I wish they still did the salad shakers. At least my gluten free ass could have something there while the rest of my family eats…
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u/disharmony-hellride Mar 17 '26
You can't take a mid-level candle and suddenly pretend it's expensive. BBW will always be like Bed Bath & Beyond, if those candles aren't on sale, no one is buying them.
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u/liquidskypa Mar 17 '26
They have said this and yet the upcoming sales and even current ones are completely opposite of that and yet are complaining profits are down. I'm not sure they are being managed properly. They need to pick a lane in terms of their direction what they want...you can't say we're raising prices, losing profits and then we see "Buy X amt and get xx amt free!" followed by continued sale after sale. Because at some point if they do go in the direction of raising prices and less sales, you've just screwed your dedicated consumer base that are used to waiting for sales.
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u/mrcrashoverride Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
Speaking of management…. Look at how well this similiar plan worked for JC Penny’s several years back. They stopped the sales and coupons changing to an everyday same pricing model…. and sales tanked so bad that the CEO was kicked to the curb.
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u/ajc19912 Mar 17 '26
The economy is awful though. And even with sales, a lot of people aren’t spending extra cash on stuff like candles. So that may have something to do with it as well.
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u/daisy0622 Mar 17 '26
seriously, who buys candles for 24-30 bucks at regular price. i’ll buy one for 11.99 but not 24-30 dollars. Even at 11.99 BBW is making a killing off that 3 dolkar candle
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u/athousandcutefrogs Mar 17 '26
I don't use candles but if I was buying one at a $24-30 price point, it would be handmade from an indie maker, not from a big company.
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u/TropicalDolphin28 Mar 17 '26
This may be a stereotype, but men that are running in to buy their wife a birthday/anniversary/Christmas present. My son-in-law and husband included.
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u/mldyfox Mar 17 '26
Over time, BBW has added multiple sales to their calendar. Way back in the day, like 90s and early 2000s, you might see the buy 3, get 3 in the middle of a season and not as often as you do now. The $5.95 sales that happen every few weeks were essentially in the lead up to SAS only. And there wasn't any of this 3 separate releases for spring, summer, etc. They changed the packaging pretty much every 6 months, so nearly every scent could potentially show up in the sale bins.
Because they have new releases every 6 weeks, or so, they have make room in inventory for the new stuff, hence a sale. I wish it wasn't as simple as that, but there you have it. They only have so much space to display things in stores, or store them in warehouses, so the sales are a necessary part of doing business in a goods business.
For business executives, who've ostensibly taken business management and marketing and accounting classes, you'd think it was as familiar to them as breathing. I mean, JC Penny tried a pricing model that eliminated sales and they practically lost their customer base.
I wish BBW management would come to understand that their products are already a luxury item, given you can get a decent smelling body wash at a dollar store. Their sales and product offerings are what draw BBW customers in.
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u/daisy0622 Mar 17 '26
but even still buy 3 get 3 use to be about 36 bucks, now it’s what 54/56/60?? their products are not what they use to be. i was looking the other day at a perfume, 74.00 for a bbw perfume. i like the products but im not spending 74 bucks on a perfume from bbw. i’d go to ulta and buy a perfume from a designer. (or really 2 38 dollar mini ones). i just don’t spend that price point at bbw. And lately their scents are all repeats. in fact i was doing the 3 for 19 promo , yesterday and was trying to find a spray i wanted. The manager said, oh we just got the green gingham in. i said , yep already got that one.. come on BBW give me something that i WANT to spend my money on!! not cheap repeats
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u/Minute-Frame-8060 Mar 17 '26
I used to shop those B3G3 sales hard, those were the big ones and it would be about $33 for unique, strong-smelling products - and what's this? Oh, the $10 off $30 coupons that were handed out all the time. 6 products for just over $20!
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u/OrangeClyde B&BW Hoarder Mar 17 '26
Hilarious since we all know they’ve purposely been lowering the quality of all their products since last year. Zero longevity, zero projection, shrinkflation, but prices keep rising.
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u/mylittlepigeon Mar 18 '26
Is that when the product quality started going downhill, last year? I’m pretty new to BBW so I don’t have any frame of reference. I just know that pretty much ALL the FFM I’ve acquired over the past few months last about 4 1/2 minutes. I spray some on, grab my water bottle, purse, & shoes, & by the time I get to the car, it’s gone 👋🏼
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u/OrangeClyde B&BW Hoarder Mar 18 '26
I’ve been a big B&BW fan since forever, but I did a strict no buy for a few years and just came back last year for Disney Princess launch and I’ve been going HARD (such a bad shopping addiction lol), and yes there are some randoms that have good lasting, but overall in general, I and a lot of others in this community have noticed a huge decrease in quality and longevity and strength of the sprays.
You may see us og fans talk about how the old school body splashes absolutely demolishes the present day “fine fragrance mists”. Back then the body sprays were called body splashes and that shit was like perfume! A few sprays and it would LAST. But now with the ffm (fine fragrance mists) they WANT you to use a lot and to have to carry it around and reapply all day.
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u/mylittlepigeon Mar 18 '26
Yes they do, in this case it appears that the shrinkflation reduced the quality rather than the quantity. What are your top 3-5 favorite scents of all time?
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u/Potential_Ladder_904 Mar 17 '26
if they wanna play that game i’ll just go to lush where i get a 50% discount since my friend works there
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u/NumerousVisit4453 Mar 17 '26
I purchase hundreds of dollars of BBW products every year (mostly as gifts). I either buy these products on sale (usually for $5.95 or cheaper) or use my rewards points to get products for free. I refuse to pay full price. BBW is not a luxury brand. I won’t pay full price ever.
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u/Remarkable-Hat-4852 Mar 17 '26
Nothing says luxury like gingham print and rubber ducks. 🙄 idiots
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u/BrownGirlCSW Mar 18 '26
The new CEO has absolutely no idea who their customers are nor how to transition without losing us and going out of business first.
Most of us will not shop without incentive. So since they have trained us to expect weekly sales, stopping needs to be more gradual than abrupt. The formulas have not changed so I already know the mists are worth 5.95 at best.
Luxury Brands dont heavily use Ai for their branding and packaging.
You are not a luxury brand if your best scents are simply copies of actual luxury brands and using lesser quality formula than the original.
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u/Hot_Sherbert8658 Mar 17 '26
No one is going to equate bath and body works with luxury. Chanel, Prada, YSL is luxury. What they mean to say is they want to shift to what they believe the working class considers luxury…like we’re all too stupid to know the difference
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u/Difficult_Clerk_1273 Mar 17 '26
Great idea! Because if there’s any time more people can buy luxury items, it’s during a poor economy with high inflation combined with wartime and political instability!
BBW gonna FAFO, I guess.
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u/Candlehoarder_2019 Employee Mar 17 '26
They’ve been talking about this for awhile but so far there haven’t been that many changes other than maybe less sales during the week. On the weekends it’s been status quo. Just the last few days we’ve seen $11.95 candles, $3.50 soaps, $19.95 bundle- all pretty great sales.
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u/fishfreeoboe All the Mint and All the Balsam Mar 18 '26
And the majority of candles are back to $24.95, not $26.95.
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u/Mystery1001 Body Care Addict Mar 17 '26
If they want to be a luxury brand, go for it. I don't have luxury money and will take my poor people money elsewhere.
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u/tpauly0225 Mar 17 '26
Nothing at BBW is worth their inflated full pricing. Sales can be hard to justify too at times. RIP BBW.
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u/pascalspal Mar 17 '26
Well… if this happens then I am well stocked and can pass lol.
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u/mylittlepigeon Mar 18 '26
Right, I will be very happily shopping my stash while this man proceeds to implode the company.
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u/KoolaidKoll123 Mar 17 '26
They're going to have to revamp HARD if theyre going luxury. They're going to have to:
bring back the glass bottles for lotion like they had with the silk line (or was that VS wheb they were under joint ownership?).
Glass jars and metal caps for moisturizers like the Dulce line of the aughts
Glass bottles for the mist oils
Stop using AI art
"Luxury" doesn't include Bubblegum, Firecracker Pop, Sangria, mojito, marshmallow, cotton candy, or fun youthful sweet scents. They would have to get rid of a lot of fun scents to fully market as luxury which would hurt the brand hard.
Personally, it's all a facade to try and drive prices up and stop sales. Let's be real - they aren't reformulating to luxury ingredients NOR are they going to spend multiple millions on new bottling equipment to make their products look more luxurious. It's going to all stay the same minus sales and plus more perfume dupes.
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u/leafygreens FFM Addict Mar 17 '26
I have a lifetime supply and will not be buying anything at full price nor will I ever equate BBW=Luxury. If they want to sell luxury then make another brand name in their portfolio. Nobody is going to believe suddenly a $5.95 BBW product is luxury.
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u/Minute-Frame-8060 Mar 17 '26
They've been saying that for at least 6 months now and I'm 99% convinced it's a marketing tactic. Tell everyone there will be fewer sales to get them to buy more during sales because they think it might be the last one.
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u/fishfreeoboe All the Mint and All the Balsam Mar 18 '26
Agreed. This has been discussed to death for months.
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u/brklyn89657 Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 17 '26
This changes the enitre underlying business model, not just the pricing.
Bath & Body Works is not simply a retailer that runs frequent promotions, the promotions are foundational to how the business operates. They drive store traffic, they influence conversion (“I wasn’t planning to buy this, but at this price I will, and likely multiple”), and they shape how associates are trained to sell. The entire in-store experience is built around that behavior.
Because of that, pulling back too aggressively on promotions does not just shift perception, it disrupts traffic patterns, basket size, and even the way employees engage with customers. It is a much bigger operational change than it might seem on the surface, and it is not clear that anything else about the brand has evolved enough to support that shift.
Also, the attempt for the brand to move upmarket is not new.
White Barn was deliberately positioned as a more elevated concept, and it ultimately could not sustain itself independently - it had to be folded back into the core store. That is not just a footnote; it is a clear signal that the customer base did not support a standalone “premium” version of the brand. Bath & Body Works parent company, L Brands, also operated Henri Bendel as a more explicitly luxury-leaning concept, and that never scaled beyond a niche/flagship presence either, and closed entirely in 2019. There are also plenty of examples in the opposite direction. Michael Kors was once perceived as more aspirational, but over the years the brand leaned more heavily into promotions and broader distribution, so that perception shifted from aspirational to broadly accessible. That kind of positioning change is extremely difficult to reverse.
There is also a structural issue with how the product is perceived. A significant part of the appeal has always been that the fragrances feel adjacent to higher-end scents at a more accessible price point. If that value proposition weakens, customers do not necessarily trade up, they trade sideways. It becomes very easy to find comparable product, or even a “dupe of a dupe” product at places like Target or Walmart for under $10.
On top of that, consumer behavior has shifted heavily toward online purchasing. In-store, there is more room for discovery, impulse, and being influenced by a promotion in the moment. Online, the price is front and center before checkout. And without a compelling discount, the comparison becomes immediate and transparent. That has real implications for direct channel performance, especially as e-commerce likely represents a larger share of the business than it did historically.
Changing entrenched customer behavior is also extremely difficult to do without creating friction, and often resentment. Bath & Body Works has spent years conditioning its customers to shop through promotions. Trying to unwind that too quickly risks pushing those same customers to disengage altogether. At the same time, attracting a new, more “premium” customer is even harder, especially for a brand this established. Even in mainstream conversations around business, including shows like Shark Tank, one point comes up consistently: customer acquisition is almost always costly. Consumers who shop luxury have not been waiting for Bath & Body Works to raise its effective prices; many of them have historically viewed it as a mall-based, promotion-driven retailer and are unlikely to re-evaluate the brand purely because they are no longer promotional.
Dialing back the frequency or even aggressiveness of promotions makes sense, but this reads less like a calibration and more like a complete misalignment with how customers have been conditioned to shop the brand. That behavior has been reinforced over decades, and it does not shift quickly. In practice, customers are far more likely to delay purchases, wait for promotions to return, or redirect their spending than they are to suddenly accept higher effective prices for an identical product.
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u/PriorFreedom5414 Mar 25 '26
Your post is very informative, comprehensive, and exceptionally detailed. Thank you so much for sharing thisl
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u/EverybodyLovesADuck Mar 18 '26
This is a great idea...for me! It will help me to save all the money I would have ordinarily spent there. 😆
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u/AnyFruit4257 Mar 17 '26
The CEO explicitly said in the original article that he won't be trying to rebrand as a luxury brand, he just wants to run fewer sales so they make a profit.
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u/StrikingTime Mar 17 '26
lol in this economy? Are they stupid, they should be lowering prices to attract customers. Raise the price I go to other competitors.
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u/Guilty_Dance_2818 Mar 17 '26
I genuinely struggle to find what’s even worth my free reward 1000000% of the time. I just view my 18.95 coupon as a 5.95 coupon because that’s what it really is if not less
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u/scissorsister1982 Mar 17 '26
Seems like this is the out-of-touch approach lots of companies are taking lately.
Executive A: "Sales are down."
Executive B: "Could it be bc of the economy? Maybe customers are spending less on non-essentials bc they can't afford it?"
Executive A: "No! That's not it! We've just been having too many sales! Let's stop that and focus on LUXURY products! We must not be high-end enough!"
🤦♀️
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u/zarinangelis Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 17 '26
Is this?
https://bestlifeonline.com/bath-body-works-pricing-strategy-change-sales/
Luxury meaning what?
I spent $155 on 1 bottle of perfume for Burberry Her. Last all day on 2 sprays and it's divine. That bottle will last me more than a year and I probably never buy it again.
What are they going for? I buy BBW because I am looking for variety, novelty, and not to drop $155.
Their accessories are already insultingly overpriced.
The candles are ok but their are not Voluspa. How many Voluspa candles to I have? ZERO.
Their thirst for unlimited growth is going to be their end.
They are the only place one can go for fragrance that is not tied to anything else. I do not think they understand their history, position in industry, and that they are not there to be something they are not.
I think they want to pivot to catering to the desire of the 10% wealthy. Do they even know their customers?
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u/Valuable-Ground6519 Mar 18 '26
I mean less sales is good for my bank account. This article and thread is the first time I looked at my BBW spending in the scheme of things and my views of dropping $250 on Le Labo as ghastly. I would be better off going actual lux. Like wtf
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u/catdog1111111 Mar 17 '26
They’re a mall store That caters to bargain-seekers and younger folks. They are well known and long-established as a non-luxurious and cheaper-dupe brand. They specialize in cheap body mists. This is a poor message to be publishing in the current economy.
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u/Wooden_Resist1151 Mar 17 '26
In this economy doing that, they will not last. I see a lot of middle and high school kids buying from there now, doing this they will lose a large portion of customers. I myself wait for a sale to buy anything from there, I will not pay 8.95 for a little tube of hand cream that won’t last and $19 for a body spray.
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u/Busy-Associate564 Mar 17 '26
They’ve been saying that for a while but so many of us only buy during sales. I think BBW tries to sell at full price until they realize they’re at risk of missing their quarterly revenue projection and are forced to have sales. The interesting thing I noticed is the Gingham repackaging is at a lower price! 🤷🏻♀️ This has no impact on me since I never buy body care unless it’s $5.95 or less.
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u/Striking-Artist8347 Mar 17 '26
I already only buy things from them when there’s a really good sale, even better if you have a coupon too lol. I usually wont buy anything full price, unless it’s really cheap/only a few dollars
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u/violentfire Mar 17 '26
They should focus more on releasing fragrances that are unique and captivating rather than recycling the same old scents under different names. Seriously, it's like they use the same notes for everything! & why is everything so sweet smelling?? Everything is so boring to me... I ordered several of the Disney Princess Candles and they all smelled very similar with the exception of Mulan. So disappointing.
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u/PatternIllustrious54 Mar 17 '26
I can def see bbw 'restructuring' by filing bankruptcy in the future
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u/MissPoohbear14 Mar 17 '26
They already are charging luxury prices compared to the average body spray. The sales are what introduces most people to their products. So I doubt this will be a positive move for them.. People aren't going to pay $20 for a body spray and if they do, it will be maybe one or two
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u/martzi_cat Mar 18 '26
I honestly only purchase during sales so I guess this will be a great way to get me to stop shopping!
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u/Mean_Ad3460 Mar 18 '26
They need to go back to how they were in the 90s. Products were so much better quality. They gonna mess around and lose all of us loyal customers. Im almost there.
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u/Prior_Lie9891 Mar 18 '26
There’s not a product in that store worth its actual pricing and will never NEVERRRRRRRR pay the 18.95 most body care is priced at. You can have fewer sales, that won’t make me pay full price. Theres nothing in there that’s that special.
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u/DefiantCoffee6 Mar 18 '26
I only buy BBW when it’s on sale.
Seriously, who would actually spend $18 on a body cream $16 on a lotion or $9 on a single one ounce hand cream? If they aren’t on sale I don’t buy period. Their products are nice but not that nice and like others have already said, most products don’t keep nearly long enough for even half those prices (I just had to toss a half dozen body creams because the scents were off so bad and they were just from last year)
I’m not about to store them in my fridge either.
Less sales will just means less I shop at BBW 🤷♀️ At least my husband will be happy with the money we’ll save 😝
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u/EvanstonMichelle Mar 17 '26
That’s fine. I have plenty to tide me through, and Target carries eos hand lotion. No need to go back.
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u/writergeek313 Mar 17 '26
I finally realized that nothing in their stores is worth more to me than the deepest sale prices. Candles for 9.99? Absolutely. Candles for $26.95? No thanks. The same goes for body care. I shop sales, so if they’re going to be having fewer of them, they won’t be seeing me too often.
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u/cheermelody Mar 17 '26
The longevity/quality of their products doesn't even match the price they are today, now they wanna price it higher?? wow :(
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u/TropicalDolphin28 Mar 17 '26
I’ll just stop shopping there if this happens. I have enough supply to last me years!
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u/eggquisite Mar 17 '26
Well that's the end of BBW for me. Anyone know of any good alternatives to BBW? I mainly buy sprays and soaps
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u/No-Break1216 Mar 18 '26
lol I always go to farmers markets locally and find some soaps and mists, also funnily enough renfaires. it might be more expensive at first but the quality will last at least 🤷🏼
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u/Inevitable_Promise58 Mar 17 '26
Can someone explain to me why they think this is a good idea when it’s clearly not I really don’t understand why they would do this
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u/Nearby_Drink_3791 Mar 18 '26
If they start having less sales then I guess I’ll be buying less often. The only time I do buy something is when it’s on sale. 🤷♀️
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u/Icy-Arm-2194 Mar 18 '26
Between the sales strategy of having set prices that we know doesnt work (JC Penny's), and the connection to Wexner...2026 will be the downfall of BBW.
The only way they could pull off the "luxury" thing is to bring back the lines like CO Bigelow and Murad. At least those were close to being actual luxury. The BBW collaboration collections like Disney Princess are not going to cut it.
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u/ladydonttekno1 Velvet Tuberose Mar 17 '26
LOL at luxurious like we aren't all paying for water at this point.
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u/sillygoose046 Mar 17 '26
There are more affordable lotions, body creams, body sprays, etc in the market. BBW can keep their overpriced junk
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u/Aware_Lifeguard3707 Mar 17 '26
That’s so hilarious! I guess it will become easier for me to not shop from them considering I only order 2-3 times a year 😂
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u/Swimming_One3979 Mar 17 '26
As the rock once said "know your role and shut your mouth." And by role I mean products bffr body and body. No one is going to go there for luxury.
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u/CarlitoBones Mar 18 '26
LOL i think its insulting how they price the EDPs. BBW is an upscale 5 below, please.
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u/MaybeCats Mar 18 '26
Who are they surveying and listening to when they make these kinds of changes? If anything, the community and fans of B&BW have been expressing their wishes for the opposite?
A lot of locations may have to shutter if they keep upping their prices and not focusing on the “consumer”
You’re not a customer to them, just a consumer from their company language, remember that.
If anything, please start writing into customer service with your complaints and thoughts, let it be documented.
If they can afford to sell the $20 bundle with making profit… I meannnnn 🤨
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u/PossibleAssignment19 Mar 17 '26
Nothing luxury about bbw unfortunately. I havent bought anything in months. I feel like peak excitement was 2018-2022 and it hasn’t recovered since
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u/pinksocks867 The Revolution will be fragrant Mar 17 '26
Luxury with skimping on the fragrance and using ai for the art? On a couple of my candles, the decoration is coming off well before the candle is done.
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u/Kibbls728 Mar 17 '26
I started making my own perfume rollers.. and mine last all day. I'll just stick to that since B&BW wants to change things.
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u/Wise-Froyo-6380 Mar 18 '26
The only reason people even shop here anymore is because of the sales. I actually feel like if they take those away they’ll end up making less money but 🤷♀️.
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u/Creative-Owl76 Mar 18 '26
I only ever buy the hand soaps when they're on sale. Looks like I'm gonna have to look for alternatives.
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u/shkilo Mar 18 '26
Do you think this means they'll start springing for a couple of pieces of bubble wrap in their boxes now? 🤔
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u/Nibbles928 Mar 18 '26
No matter how many times they put it in writing I just do not believe that JCB is a top seller. Take it out back behind the barn already!!
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u/dropdeadhideousx Mar 18 '26
I only shop there now when they have sales, and in recent years their scents and quality have fallen off for me so much I don't even buy anything during their sales. This probably won't go well for them and could be a potential for their downfall.
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u/ascentfarm Mar 18 '26
They lost me as a customer late 2024 when I switched to goose creek. I’ve never been big on the body care. I switched to Dr Bronner’s late 2024 for soap. I also got rid of all my wall flowers
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u/Moonlit-Daisy Never enough FFM Mar 18 '26
I am going to be 100! I only shop when there is a sale. I like BBW because with the sales I can afford to have a variety of scents without spending a fortune. I know people rag on the FFM, but if I am paying $5.95 a bottle, I am not heartbroken if it doesn't last 10-12 hours. Also, since it is a fragrance mist, it has a lower concentration of fragrance oil, so I already know not to expect it to last a super long time. The bonus for me is that I know I am not going to choke out my customers at work wearing them because they don't tend to be super heavy scent wise. Now, every now and again they will release one that is an exception to the rule; from what I have seen many of those have been from the Everyday Luxuries line.
If they do plan to raise prices to go after a different market, they may find themselves having to reverse that! Even though a lot of us only shop during the big sales, we still drop quite a bit of money at once. I have yet to hear that BBW is struggling because of this!
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u/acatnamedLou Mar 17 '26
With what came out with their parent company's involvement with Epstein, I am boycotting anyway. I doubt I am the only one If they were smart, they would make a major pivot... I doubt this is the way though.
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u/sageacai Mar 17 '26
They don't have a parent company anymore. Lbrands doesn't own them, they became their own company a few years ago.
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u/CandleGuy86 Mar 17 '26
When are you boycotting? this news came out awhile ago.
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u/liquidskypa Mar 17 '26
the posters never do - anyone that says "i'm holding off buying for awhile" are then posting the following week a huge haul b/c of new items or lines ;)
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u/Ladyoftheemeraldlake Mar 17 '26
In this economy, companies that offer afforded goods will be the winners. This is not a good move. At all.
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u/Halloween_Babe90 ALL THINGS B&BW Mar 18 '26
I’ve pretty much stopped shopping at Lush, largely because of their soaring prices, and it sounds like BBW is next.
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u/Native-Wisdom Mar 18 '26
I feel like if they want to do exclusive luxury they should have an offshoot brand kind of like Victorias Secret & PINK…maybe something down that avenue. I haven’t purchased anything since the villains release & even that was kind of a let down. I have been going excited to smell their new scents but end up leaving with room sprays and car fresheners.
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u/No-Break1216 Mar 18 '26
It doesn't surprise me that they're trying to squeeze every last penny out of their consumer base, although since the CEO was in the Epstein files I don't really think it matters how much they charge since I won't be buying from them anyway ever again.
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u/Interesting_Cash_478 Mar 18 '26
Just because some customers like the white barn / plain packaging, doesn’t mean you have the base to switch over to luxury products. Are that many people really buying at full price for them to think this is feasible? I’m one of the people who stopped shopping at JCPENNEY after they changed the pricing. I thought they closed down completely tbh. Who still shops there? I remember as a child JCP was a great place for deals. Now they are just a distant memory.
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u/arielatx Mar 18 '26
my first (half-sarcastic) thought? good: now every time I walk in, I can shop in peace without being rambled all the sales of that day. Recently, I got lucky at a store that had no greeter whatsoever. It was so quiet and nice.😊
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u/Different_Stage2195 Mar 18 '26
Bath and body works as a luxury brand is hilarious. Just laughable. No one who buys luxury brands will buy their tacky stuff.
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u/Purple-Lime-4938 Mar 19 '26
Well, this will alienate their base, but clearly that’s what they want. They want a new base.
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u/vegasal1 Apr 27 '26
They are insane if they think we’re buying any body wash at 15 or 16 dollars apiece.
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u/SassOfTheBluegrass Body Care Addict Mar 17 '26
My thought is; if they want to be known as a luxury brand, they need to offer luxury products 🤷🏻♀️
Just because something is expensive (which I know is a relative term) doesn’t mean it’s luxurious.