Pier 1 Launches E-Commerce Comeback

Need to Know

• After closing all of its physical stores in February, Pier 1 is relaunching as an e-commerce-only brand.
• The relaunch comes from Retail Ecommerce Ventures LLC (REV), which purchased the intellectual property and digital assets of Pier 1 for $31-million in July 2020.
• The home furnishing store’s website is now live.

Analysis

Eight months after declaring bankruptcy and shuttering its physical stores, home furnishings chain Pier 1 is making a comeback as an online-only retailer.

Pier1.com, which is now live, features hundreds of SKUs in familiar categories such as decor, furniture, and seasonal items. The relaunch comes after Pier 1’s intellectual property, digital assets, and data were purchased by Retail Ecommerce Venture LLC (REV) in July of this year. REV brought on roughly 15 of Pier 1’s buying, marketing, and customer support staff for the relaunch, including Brian Thompson, Pier 1’s former director of global sourcing, who now serves as the company’s chief merchandising & supply chain officer.

“At REV, we transform beloved brands like Pier 1 into internet-first companies positioned for robust growth,” Tai Lopez, co-founder of REV, said in a statement. “Central to our playbook is retaining the brand’s strengths. It’s why we retained veteran buyers from Pier 1 to re-engage with vendors and bring back the merchandise our customers know and love.”

REV has relaunched several well-known consumer brands as online-only properties, including Dressbarn and Linens n’ Things.

In addition to the new site design, Pier 1 will be getting a renewed mobile presence in early 2021.

Pier 1 is not the first brand to attempt an online-only comeback following the bankruptcy. In August, Payless Shoesource made a digital comeback, dropping the “Shoesource” from its name and relaunching its website with a modernized, revamped look and feel. And Forever 21, the clothing retailer that filed for bankruptcy in late 2019, relaunched its e-commerce platform in January of this year.