Wayfair.co.uk, the UK division of US online home furnishings
retailer Wayfair.com, experienced strong sales in its first year
after securing $165 million venture capital funding in 2011 to
fuel its global rebranding and expansion initiatives in the UK,
Germany and Australia.
Wayfair had previously operated 200 different ecommerce sites,
including FurnitureByCSN.co.uk, TVStands.co.uk and
LightingByCSN.co.uk in the UK. In 2011, it announced the UK would
rebrand all the sites under the Wayfair brand, a decision which
has paid off, delivering UK sales of £20 million ($31.8
million) and doubling last year’s turnover, confirms UK director
Joel Stevenson.
Since the launch of the Wayfair brand, the company has weathered
the economic downturn and continues to grow its UK-based teams.
In 2012, Wayfair expanded its UK and Ireland head count by 57
percent, bringing the total global employee figure to over 1,100.
Stevenson adds that there are plans for further investments in
people throughout 2013, including appointments in the buying and
marketing departments.
Wayfair is today the United States’ largest online retailer of
home furnishings. It offers over 5,000 top brands and over 5
million products to customers. In the UK, Wayfair has a small
warehouse, but predominantly operates a direct despatch model,
says Stevenson. Currently it has 1,600 suppliers but Stevenson
expects to have “well over 2,000” by the end of 2013.
While certain categories, such as furniture and lighting are
quite mature, Stevenson sees potential to build on Wayfair’s
textiles, home accents, and bathroom furniture offering.
Another focus for 2013, says Stevenson, is raising brand
awareness. Up until now, Wayfair.co.uk relied on online
advertising such as PPC. “We concentrated on getting the
product in place before marketing the business,” he says,
adding that a “much more aggressive” advertising
campaign is being planned for the new year. He concluded,
“I believe there’s room for another big
player.”
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