By Joann S. Lublin / Photography by Emma Rose Milligan for WSJ

Bath & Body Works hopes to earn more dollars and cents from selling better scents -- assisted by thousands of influencers.

It's part of Chief Executive Daniel Heaf's drive to make the struggling brand cool among Gen Z and millennial shoppers. The executive aims to modernize the Columbus, Ohio-based retailer of fragrances, scented candles, body creams and decorative soaps through an expanded digital presence, refreshed product mix and more-creative marketing.

For years, he says, "we weren't visible in places where young people go to discover brands."

Digital sales represent only 20% of the company's annual sales, a smaller share than rivals. It recently began selling on Amazon.com -- though with a limited assortment of nearly 100 items, or about 7% of its in-store offerings.

Long a mall fixture whose fragrant storefronts often attracted teens, Bath & Body Works now operates about 60% of its 1,923 U.S. and Canadian stores in off-mall locations. It has forecast sales may drop as much as 4.5% in the fiscal year ending next Jan. 30.

"I'm here to help restore this company's relevance," says the 48-year-old Heaf, who became CEO in May 2025 and previously held senior positions at Nike and Burberry.

In an interview, Heaf outlined his strategy. Edited excerpts follow:

Too many promotions

WSJ: What went wrong with the brand before you became CEO?

DANIEL HEAF: The business was wildly successful for many years, and then it wasn't. Among other things, we focused on products outside our core categories -- like shampoo, conditioner, laundry detergent and dryer sheets. When various strategies weren't bringing in new consumers, the company leaned harder into promotions. Overreliance on promotions can train consumers to wait. The business also became complicated, too slow and not good at decision-making.

The brand's problems are fixable, although not easily. My plan involves new products, wider distribution and better marketing that together will inflect the growth.

WSJ: In this overcrowded market for self-care products, it's tough for an older brand to excite younger shoppers. How do you reach them?

HEAF: It involves modernizing storytelling for younger consumers. Among other things, that means having social-media influencers amplify our story.

Our traditional retail launch model didn't build a successful website or drive discovery through social media. It's about us doing what everybody else has done successfully.

In the U.S., the fine-fragrance business has grown over 40% over the last four years. Young people are having a bigger impact on that industry's sales. My 17-year-old son and 21-year-old daughter use fragrance differently than when I grew up. They have a scent wardrobe of 10 or 12 fragrances that they rotate, matching seasons, moods and occasions.

WSJ: In particular, how will you keep fragrance body mists top of mind among teenage girls beyond now selling mists and other goods in more than 1,000 campus bookstores?

HEAF: Starting in July, mists will come in different forms such as roller balls, multiple sizes and carrying a higher fragrance load. Fragrance with a higher load lasts longer. Young people get more value.

WSJ: What other obstacles do you face?

HEAF: Another reason we haven't been as successful as we should have been over the last few years is that we haven't been updating our product at the pace of the consumer. Our packaging looks old because it is. Some haven't been updated in over a decade. Younger consumers want modernized packaging that looks differentiated, efficacious body care and transparent, cleaner ingredients.

WSJ: What does modern packaging look like, and what's a new and old example of yours?

HEAF: Our modernized packaging looks sleeker. We're going to soon offer a flat-pack hand sanitizer, which is more compact than the current version. It can go into your pocket. We also will give consumers more choices. We will start having many different types of bottles for fine fragrance mists. They're now all in the same vessel.

Thinking digitally

WSJ: What is the most critical major step you've taken to revitalize your brand?

HEAF: One is Amazon. We launched that digital storefront Feb. 20 despite internal skepticism about working with a competitor. It's bringing new consumers, younger than those in our stores or on our platforms. They're paying a higher price point, too. This is a truly incremental business. But we're not declaring victory yet.

WSJ: How can you revive digital sales beyond increasing your Amazon assortment?

HEAF: Digital commerce is growing for everybody else, but not for us. We must build digital into the brand's front door, such as our website. There's much opportunity to improve our website purchase experience so more people move from browsing to buying. Still, we've a long way to go before online consumers get an amazing experience. Our checkout process should be shorter, for instance.

WSJ: You have expressed equally high hopes that your influencers will ignite social buzz. How soon might your network of influencers increase and affect companywide sales?

HEAF: We're working with hundreds of influencers and plan to get to thousands by summer. We expect they will have a noticeable impact on companywide sales in the back half of the year. Influencers help us understand how people describe fragrance. What feels now, what feels dated. And how our products are used in real life.

WSJ: What are some fragrance designs the company recently developed from trends seen on TikTok, such as perhaps your tomato-driven fragrance?

HEAF: That one did come from social-media listening and other sources. Bananas also are trending on TikTok, and so we just introduced two more banana-based scents.

WSJ: When will overall sales growth resume and digital commerce reach 25% of total sales?

HEAF: It's going to take time before the company's full revenue is growing. Getting 25% of sales from digital commerce will happen during my tenure. I hope to spend the rest of my career in this job.

The store experience

WSJ: How will you attract more shoppers to your mall locations?

HEAF: It isn't a mall question. Stores still matter, and what's important is their changing role. People used to walk into our mall stores because of the scent. Today, they come to malls already knowing what stores they'll visit because they saw their products on social media and discussed them with friends on TikTok.

However, new customers tell us our stores can be overwhelming and hard to navigate due to too much product and a layout that isn't intuitive. We must make them much easier to shop. Reducing our assortments is one change we'll make this summer.

Shelf-level education in all stores by this summer will also help. Every shelf sign will describe a product's fragrance and ingredients.

Another store innovation involves offering consumers personal, curated fragrance experiences rather than just selling through price. Consumers are experimenting more with fragrance and want to create their own scent wardrobes. Our 50,000 store associates recently have been trained to take customers on a fragrance journey. They offer more personalized recommendations for new and existing products based on asking you questions like "What kind of fragrance experience have you worn before?" And "do you like scents that are fruitier or fresher?"

WSJ : You spend many weekends talking with shoppers at your stores and competitors'. What have those chats taught you about the best tactics for fixing Bath & Body Works?

HEAF: I run down the street and ask consumers exiting our stores why they left without buying something. I ask younger consumers visiting our competitors' stores why they love that brand. They'll often cite a certain influencer and say, "My friend sent me that on TikTok."

I always find out something useful. The inspiration for all the changes that we're going to be making in our stores this summer comes from me spending time in other people's stores.

You can't run a consumer company like Bath & Body Works from your desk. Popular culture doesn't live in PowerPoint presentations. Culture lives on the street.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 12, 2026 14:00 ET (18:00 GMT)

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