{"id":3025,"date":"2015-12-08T15:27:49","date_gmt":"2015-12-08T20:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/how-wayfair-quietly-became-a-1-billion-plus-online-retailer\/"},"modified":"2015-12-08T15:31:02","modified_gmt":"2015-12-08T20:31:02","slug":"wayfair-growing-with-little-inventory","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/wayfair-growing-with-little-inventory\/","title":{"rendered":"Wayfair \u2013 Growing with little inventory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Company Introduction and Business Model<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wayfair is an e-commerce retailer that sells a variety of mid-range furnishings and home d\u00e9cor products through a family of brands. It currently has 4 million active customers and offers 7 million products across different styles and price points. Recognizing the highly fragmented nature of the brick-and-mortar market for home goods as well as consumers\u2019 dissatisfaction with the buying experience (e.g. the need to shop multiple stores spread across multiple locations in order to compare prices and styles or to mix and match furniture), Wayfair created a one-stop online shopping experience with a wide assortment of products for the mass market.<\/p>\n

Alignment with Operating Model<\/strong><\/p>\n

At a quick glance, Wayfair may seem like a loser. It is currently operating at a loss and does not actually make anything. In fact, it barely owns anything (except for servers), and it doesn\u2019t design anything. \u00a0However, Wayfair\u2019s topline is growing at 44% and its share price has risen 60% since its IPO in October 2014. It has a 24% gross profit margin and its operating loss results from its decision to invest 22% of sales in marketing.\u00a0 What Wayfair does is it acts as a curator for other products manufactured by mom and pop operations. Its competitive advantage derives from its drop shipping operating model which aligns very well with its business model of a frictionless shopping experience with more choices. Unlike traditional furniture stores such as Crate and Barrel that face challenges of high inventory carrying costs and showrooms \/ storage space in order to hold a vast selection of products, Wayfair has little inventory and overhead as its suppliers ship 90% of the company\u2019s orders directly to a customer.\u00a0 This model further supports Wayfair\u2019s value proposition to host a large selection of products as it is able to pay its suppliers after it receives money from its customers. Not only do these unique capabilities give Wayfair a sustainable competitive advantage versus physical retailers but also compared to other e-commerce players such as Amazon, which owns its goods and ships them out of its own warehouses.<\/p>\n

Wayfair\u2019s operational platform requires that it maintain an extensive supplier network. Wayfair creates value for its suppliers by offering real time demand and inventory data, a technology and logistics platform to help sell their products, and its 4 million customer base (most of its suppliers are family run operations without easy retail access to customers). \u00a0It incentivizes suppliers to deliver on volume by providing them with rebates upon the shipment of goods. How does the site work?\u00a0 Suppliers upload or email data about their current stock to Wayfair. \u00a0An algorithm then manages the 7,000 suppliers and fulfils customer orders, checking to see whether an item is available, where it is located, and how long shipping will take. Once an order is placed, the system notifies the supplier and decides on the shipping partner and packaging options.<\/p>\n

Wayfair\u2019s business model which stresses merchandising and a customer discovery experience also relies on its technology skills for its customer acquisition and retention strategy. \u00a0Tracking customers\u2019 preferences allows for a personalized search and recommendation engine that helps users sort through the more than 5,000 brands.\u00a0 Although this is not novel for e-commerce players, traditional competitors such as Target do not offer merchandising, and since the internet is a young distribution channel for home goods (compared to electronics, for example), most of Wayfair\u2019s competitors are still brick-and-mortar.<\/p>\n

Points of Improvement<\/strong><\/p>\n

One drawback of Wayfair\u2019s fulfillment model is that furniture can take days or weeks for customers to receive.\u00a0 For this reason, Wayfair has a few of its own warehouses to store certain items that customers demand arrive within a day or two. These items, however, make up a small fraction of Wayfair\u2019s portfolio.\u00a0 Aside from slow shipping, the other main challenge is that Wayfair does not currently control the shipping process; yet, when customers receive a broken lamp, Wayfair is the first to blame. \u00a0To address this, Wayfair is moving to dedicated delivery operations where the operator (whether Wayfair or a partner) is committed to Wayfair orders only and thus follows its service level rules.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wayfair\u2019s unique model has allowed it to grow into a billion dollar plus e-commerce business, not a small feat in a post-Amazon world.\u00a0 While competitors may try to catch up, Wayfair\u2019s first mover advantage positions it well to benefit from the consumer behavioral shift towards ordering furniture online.<\/p>\n

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Sources<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n