Wayfair has been an enthusiastic participant in The Inspired Home Show, and the company’s merchandising team once again is ready to use the opportunity provided by the show to build its business beyond the core furniture assortment.
“The Inspired Home Show gives us the opportunity to see many of our major supplier partners in one space over the span of a few days,” said Paige Kelly, Wayfair’s Head of Housewares and More. “We look forward to seeing new product introductions, networking and seeing our supplier partners at the Housewares Charity Foundation Gala.”
Paige Kelly, Head of Housewares and More, Wayfair
The opportunity to connect with suppliers at the show is something Wayfair embraces as it looks to develop a housewares presentation that makes the retailer a multi-dimensional source for consumers who want to outfit and update homes.
“At Wayfair, we’re focused on offering our customers a wide assortment of housewares products at competitive prices that arrive quickly,’ Kelly said. “We value our partnerships with top housewares brands and as we continue to expand upon our offering, we remain committed to helping our partners build awareness among our millions of customers and grow their businesses on the Wayfair platform.”
As such, meetings with suppliers at The Inspired Home Show are a chance to build relationships and work to advance Wayfair’s initiatives in key housewares categories.
“Each meeting has a different agenda, but everything is rooted in making sure we have a wide assortment that is competitively priced and ships cleanly and quickly,” Kelly said. “We want to have something for every customer, regardless of their budget. It’s important to us to have a full product offering for the brands we sell, so we are also excited to learn about new introductions to ensure that we have access to a full assortment that we can offer our customers.”
As part of its larger strategy, Wayfair has established itself in home furnishings categories that are of most concern to its established customers, but the company is eager to further develop non-core business and, in doing so, it wants to tap the expertise vendor partners have developed.
“We work closely with our brand partners to offer the best products and deals for our customers as well as fast, seamless delivery,” Kelly says. “We are in the categories we think are important for us to be in as a key part of the home, and we are focused on growing our current product categories through strong partnerships with our suppliers. We look forward to building upon these partnerships as we work together to create the best possible shopping experience for the home.”
As it has placed more emphasis on housewares over the past several years, Wayfair has considered its customers’ critical needs.
“We are currently in the categories we think are important to offer our customers to complete their homes, and we’re focused on ensuring we have the best offering within those categories,” she said.
Kelly added Wayfair constantly evaluates what it sells. The Inspired Home Show is a unique opportunity to evaluate what the market offers and, from that, what would best suit the Wayfair customer. Although furniture is the category with which the is most closely associated, a basic approach to the market runs through the operation, Kelly said, to create the best possible shopping experience for consumers purchasing products for their homes.
“This includes growing awareness for the categories that we sell and making sure that our customers know we have everything they need,” Kelly said.
Key housewares categories Wayfair features include organization, kitchenware and appliances, which have a place right at the top of its home page along with furniture and furnishings headings. Wayfair is intent on approaching its assortment in ways that are relevant to the customer base and that are consistent with the idea of curation and organizing products so shoppers can easily navigate its store based on their own particular priorities.
Candice Luter Art + Interiors
Wayfair wants to build its vendor base in ways that are relevant to its evolving business strategy. As an example, Kelly noted, Wayfair has launched a new program, Celebrate Black Makers, for which the retailer has expanded its offering of home products from Black-owned businesses.
Wayfair describes Celebrate Black Makers as an initiative that follows on its commitment to recognize, uplift and celebrate Black-owned businesses and their products. As it rolled out, Celebrate Black Makers expanded its selection and helped consumers shop for products that are part of the initiative through a dedicated landing page, a Black-Owned or Designed search filter and an identifiable badge on applicable product pages. Housewares featured under Celebrate Black Makers include a wide range of Ayesha Curry cookware and bakeware. Wayfair also partnered with Black-owned suppliers to establish Supplier Diversity @ Wayfair, a program supporting traditionally underrepresented suppliers through dedicated resources tailored to their business needs.
As it moves to advance the housewares element of the operation, Wayfair has been growing its housewares business in tune with the larger strategy, including enhancing the shopping experience online. At the same time, the company wants to provide tools for housewares supplies that put their products in the best light.
“Our focus is on helping our customers find just the right products that meet their needs,” Kelly said. “To that end, we are focused on making it easy for our suppliers to utilize on-site features that allow them to create a rich media experience that brings their brands and products to life. We have seen consistent growth within the housewares category as well as a growing awareness with our customers.”
Wayfair has been updating its approach to the customer and curation so shoppers can more readily find products based on what matters to them. In doing so, Wayfair recently revisited its Shop Sustainably initiative to make it easier for shoppers to connect with eco-friendly products.
AllModern store in Lynnfield, MA
Even though it has been reconfiguring priorities to regain financial momentum in a tough market environment, Wayfair also has been exploring and testing physical retail as another means of reaching shoppers who want to check out what the company has to offer in a physical setting.
In that way, the company is connecting with consumers in new ways especially as regards providing them with shopping options while familiarizing those who aren’t yet really familiar with Wayfair, Kelly said. Already, the company has opened stores based on its specialty websites with additional variations on the brick-and-mortar theme to come including a planned Wayfair store.
“We remain focused on expanding our omnichannel presence with the opening of physical retail locations across our brands,” Kelly said. “We are excited about the opportunity that physical retail presents for our housewares categories. We opened three physical stores for two of our specialty retail brands — AllModern and Joss & Main — in the greater Boston area.”
The first Wayfair banner brick-and-mortar retail store, slated to open in 2024, is under development in Wilmette, IL, near Chicago.
