Wayfair

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Wayfair LLC
Type Private
Industry E-tail
Founded 2002
Headquarters Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Key people Niraj Shah, CEO & Co-Founder
Steve Conine, Chairman & Co-Founder
Website www.wayfair.com

Wayfair LLC is a U.S.-based multinational e-commerce company. The company—formerly known as CSN Stores—began selling furniture online in 2002,[1] and now sells many other home furnishings, luggage, toys, and pet items from over 11,000 brands. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts,[2] Wayfair also has warehouse and corporate locations elsewhere in the United States, and in Australia, Germany, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.[3]

History

2002 to 2006:

Entrepreneurs Niraj Shah and Steve Conine founded Wayfair in August 2002 – then as just a two-person company with a makeshift headquarters in Conine’s nursery in Boston, Massachusetts.[4] Both Shah and Conine hold bachelors of science degrees from Cornell University. The pair had run two previous companies—Simplify Mobile and iXL, a global consulting firm—before starting Wayfair.[5]

As of February 2013, Shah is the Chief Executive Officer of the company, and Conine is the Chairman and Chief Technology Officer.

Originally known as CSN Stores (the name deriving from a mix of Shah and Conine’s initials), the company began with a single website, racksandstands.com, which sold media stands and storage furniture.

In 2003, the company added patio and garden goods suppliers along with three online stores and over a dozen employees and relocated the headquarters out of Conine’s house and into an office on Newbury Street, in Boston.

Over the next two years, the company expanded its catalogue to include home décor, office, institutional, and kitchen and dining furniture and materials, home improvement goods, bed and bath materials, luggage, and lighting. In 2006, the company earned $100 million in sales for the first time.[6]

2007 to 2010:

For the next four years, the company expanded aggressively and exponentially both in the U.S. and in international markets.

In 2008, CSN Stores began shipping to Canada and selling in the United Kingdom, and opened an office in London. In the same year, the Boston Business Journal ranked the company the #1 fastest growing private ecommerce company in Massachusetts, and the #4 fastest growing private company overall.

In 2009, the company expanded to Australia and Germany.

In 2010, the company relocated to its current headquarters, occupying 10 floors of 177 Huntington Avenue. At the end of that year, the company launched Joss & Main, a members’ only private sales online store.

2011 to present:

By 2011, CSN Stores owned over 200 online shops, largely niche shops for specific products, like cookware.com, strollers.com, and everyatomicclock.com, etc. In an effort to scale, to direct traffic to a single site, and to unify the aesthetic of the company, Shah and Conine decided to rebrand CSN Stores as Wayfair.

To market the new brand and to increase its expansion, the company raised US$165 million funding from four investment firms: Battery Ventures, Great Hill Partners, HarbourVest Partners, and Spark Capital in June 2011.[7]

Wayfair.com launched on September 1, 2011.[8] As of July 2012, Wayfair had consolidated all of its niche websites, with the exception of Joss & Main and AllModern, into Wayfair.com. In August 2012, Wayfair launched Wayfair Supply, a single destination for Wayfair's business, government and institutional customers.

Today, Wayfair is the largest online retailer for home in the United States, and the 52nd largest online retailer in the United States. The company earned $380 million in revenue in 2010, over $500 million in 2011, over $600M in 2012 and is on track to surpass $1 billion in sales in 2013.

Current stores and services

Wayfair

Wayfair sells the entire catalogue of all former niche sites of CSN stores. This includes furniture, home décor, kitchen and dining products, bed and bath products, patio and garden goods, home improvement products, recreational goods, and baby and children’s toys and furniture.

AllModern

AllModern sells modern furniture and modern home goods, which opened in 2007. Products sold at AllModern are from many top designer companies, including Missoni, Herman Miller, Knoll, Philippe Starck, Vitra, and Steelcase. Many of AllModern’s products are also available at Wayfair.

Joss & Main

Launched in 2010, Joss & Main offers limited-time sales on a variety of products. Shoppers must be members of Joss & Main in order to view events and make purchases. Sales are released, typically from three brands a day, at 11 a.m. ET each day, and usually last for 72 hours.[9]

Wayfair Supply

Wayfair Supply caters to businesses, governments and schools, selling commercial-grade furniture, office supplies and other related goods. The site allows customers to shop by industry or product type.

Dwell Studio

DwellStudio is known for groundbreaking design and impeccable quality in modern home furnishings. Known for its modern sensibility, iconic textiles and forward colors, the company’s products can be found in more than 800 high-end specialty retail stores and design oriented online retailers across the United States, Canada and throughout 40 international territories.

Locations

As of today, Wayfair has seven locations across the globe.

1. Global Headquarters: 177 Huntington Ave., Boston, Massachusetts. Over 850 employees, about 65% of the entire company, works in the headquarters. The founders, human resources, marketing, engineering, finance, customer service, and other departments primarily work there.

2. Warehouse and Customer Service Center: Ogden, Utah. Acquired in 2011, this location manages shipping to the western part of the United States. The Ogden location is transitioning to also become Wayfair’s primary customer service center.

3. Warehouse: Hebron, Kentucky. Also acquired in 2011, this location manages orders across the contiguous United States.

4. European Operations Centre: Galway, Ireland.

5. United Kingdom Office: London, England.

6. German Office: Berlin, Germany. The Berlin office manages buying, merchandising, and logistics for German business.

7. Australian Headquarters: Sydney, Australia. In September 2011, Wayfair purchased the Australian home goods retailer, buyster, and converted it to Wayfair.com.au in July 2012.[10]

6. Dwell Studio Showroom: 77 Wooster St., SoHo

Culture

Wayfair has adopted a largely informal culture. All twelve floors of its headquarters have an open floor plan, a deliberate choice of Conine and Shah to encourage collaboration and to foster employee openness. Not even Shah or Conine has his own office; they have desks in the midst of all other employees. [11] The company also issues a very loose dress code, with employees dressing in everything from business casual to flip-flops. Shah and Conine advocate a strong “work-life balance” in their employees. In December 2011, Wayfair was ranked the 19th best place to work in the United States by Glassdoor,[12] and in August 2012, the same publication ranked Wayfair #18 for work-life balance.[13]

The company encourages growth and exploration by its employees, and offers many classes through learn@work – an internal program that includes a variety of classes like career planning, software tutorials, and yoga.

The company's Engineering team maintains a blog.[14][15]

Awards & Accolades

2013

  • Forbes Magazine - America’s Most Promising Companies (Ranked #16 out of 100)
  • BBJ - Pacesetters/Fastest Growing Private Companies (Ranked #32 out of 70)
  • Internet Retailer - Top 500 List (Ranked #52, #2 in housewares)
  • BBJ - Best Places to Work (Ranked as #15 out of 25 Large Companies - 80 companies across four categories)
  • BBJ - Nick Malone won CFO of the Year - Large Company
  • ConnectEDU - Best Places to Work for Recent Grads
  • New England Venture Capital Association - NEVY Award for Hottest Startup
  • Internet Retailer - Hot 100 - Hot E-tailer for Content Creation
  • Inc. Magazine - 500I5000
  • Niraj Shah, CEO, was named to Fortune Magazine’s 40 Under 40 List

2012

  • Ranked No. 19 on Glassdoor.com's 50 Best Places to Work Employee's Choice Awards.[16]
  • Ranked No. 50 of 500 on the Internet Retailer 500 by Internet Retailer magazine[17]
  • Ranked No. 18 on Glassdoor.com's 25 Best Places for Work-Life Balance.[18]

2011

  • Named "Private Company of the Year" by Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council.[19]
  • Ranked No. 51 of 500 on the Internet Retailer 500 by Internet Retailer magazine[20]
  • Named to Boston Business Journal's Pacesetters list of the fastest-growing private companies in Massachusetts[21]

2010

  • Ranked No. 61 of 500 on the Internet Retailer 500 by Internet Retailer magazine

2009

  • Ranked No. 63 of 500 on the Internet Retailer 500 by Internet Retailer magazine

2008

  • Named to the 2009 Hot 100 by Internet Retailer magazine
  • Ranked No. 492 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies in the United States by Inc. magazine
  • Ranked No. 69 of 500 on the Internet Retailer 500 by Internet Retailer magazine
  • Ranked No. 4 in Top 60 Pacesetters for the fastest-growing private companies in Massachusetts by the Boston Business Journal

2007

  • Ranked No. 147 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies in the United States by Inc. magazine
  • Ranked No. 107 of 500 on the Internet Retailer 500 by Internet Retailer magazine

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ "Wayfair About Us". 
  2. ↑ "Wayfair.com 'mega-site' is new home for CSN Stores' 200 shopping sites". Home Accents Today. 
  3. ↑ "CSN Relaunches as Wayfair.com". Furniture Today. 
  4. ↑ "Back Bay Company Wayfair To Merge 200 Online Storefronts". CBS Boston. 
  5. ↑ "Wayfair Team Bios". 
  6. ↑ "Wayfair Timeline". 
  7. ↑ "CSN Stores Raises $165 Million First Round to Expedite Expansion and Bolster Branding". PRNewswire. 
  8. ↑ "Wayfair Launches as Online Shopping Megasite with Largest Selection of Home Products Anywhere". PRNewswire. 
  9. ↑ https://www.jossandmain.com/help.php
  10. ↑ http://newsblaze.com/story/2011092005230200001.pnw/topstory.html
  11. ↑ Williams, Grace L. (December 3, 2009). "How We...Avoid Corporate Culture". The Wall Street Journal. 
  12. ↑ http://www.glassdoor.com/Best-Places-to-Work-LST_KQ0,19.htm
  13. ↑ http://www.glassdoor.com/Top-Companies-for-Work-Life-Balance-LST_KQ0,35.htm
  14. ↑ http://engineering.wayfair.com/
  15. ↑ Bertolucci, Jeff (September 24, 2012). "Online Retailer Uses DNA Research To Connect With Customers". InformationWeek. 
  16. ↑ "Glassdoor.com's 2012 50 Best Places to Work". 
  17. ↑ http://www.internetretailer.com/top500/list/
  18. ↑ "Glassdoor.com's 2012 Top 25 Companies for Work-Life Balance". 
  19. ↑ "2011 Mass Technology Leadership Award Winners". 
  20. ↑ http://www.internetretailer.com/top500/list/
  21. ↑ "Boston Business Journal unveils 2011 Pacesetters — fastest-growing private companies". March 4, 2011. 
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