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Explaining the Wayfair Business Model

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Oyelabs Technologies
Explaining the Wayfair Business Model

The Wayfair App: A Brief Overview


The online store Wayfair sells furniture, appliances, and other home goods.

Customers can really pick from dozens of home-related categories, including supplies for pets and children as well as building tools.


Numerous brands, including Three Posts, Bosch, Kohler, Samsung, and many more, are partners with the business.

Other lifestyle brands owned and operated by Wayfair include Birch Lane, Perigold, Joss & Main, and AllModern. Not to mention, the business provides exclusive Wayfair-branded goods.


Business Model Canvas for Wayfair


  • The Wayfair Customer Segments


Wayfair has two different customer groups, similar to the majority of multisided platforms:


  1. Buyers looking for household goods
  2. Suppliers of household items


  • Wayfair's Value Propositions

Wayfair primarily provides the following value propositions with its business model:


  1. Offer a wide choice of goods in various designs and price points;
  2. Allowing you to find the ideal item at the ideal price;
  3. Enabling suppliers to deliver the full range of their products to a range of customers


  • Wayfair offers channels

Wayfair's primary channels are its mobile apps and websites that have been optimized for mobile devices. Additionally, its effectively run of Social Media platforms and Gift Cards is noteworthy.


  • Wayfair's customer relationships

Given Wayfair only operates online, their customer interactions are actually centered on providing customers with an amazing online shopping experience. Utilizing a user-friendly website based largely on exploring and purchasing trends and behaviors, it focuses on giving a personalized experience.


  • The Income Streams of Wayfair

The sources of Wayfair's product sales, advertising, and income (as explored above). But it's important to remember that around 30 million orders per year, or 86% of total income, come from the United States.


  • Important Resources on Wayfair

The three most crucial resources for Wayfair are without a doubt its digital platform, 11,000 suppliers, and 16,000 employees. Additionally, there are the following:


  1. Its five brands
  2. Contracts and agreements it has with its suppliers
  3. The company's algorithm and method for monitoring client habits and behavior
  4. Automated payment and logistical processes


  • Principal Purposes of Wayfair

Expanding its selection of furniture and home goods as well as developing and maintaining its versatile platform, which connects customers and suppliers through a pleasant experience, are among Wayfair's key priorities.


  • The Wayfair Cost Structure

Wayfair's automated and drop-shipping business model aims to streamline and lower its cost structure. Because the company transfers its items straight from suppliers to clients and does not hold an inventory, labor, promotion, and marketing costs are the biggest cost drivers for the business. The costs of research and development are in addition to operational, administrative, legal, technological, and other general costs.


How does Wayfair generate revenue?


The sale of products, installation services, platform advertising, interchange fees, and interest costs are all ways that Wayfair makes money.

The company initially primarily employed a dropshipping business model. Since then, it has changed to a business model where it purchases products in large quantities and then resells them for a profit.

Let's look more closely at each of Wayfair's revenue streams in the section that follows.


  • Sales of goods

Simply put, the majority of Wayfair's revenue comes from the items it sells on its online platforms.

In more detail, the business profits whenever a product is sold at a profit by buying in bulk from thousands of brands.

However, Wayfair still works on a drop ship basis with some of its partners. After Wayfair forwards the customer's order to the brand or store, it is up to them to ship the product to the customer.


It's interesting to note that Wayfair will cover all delivery expenses. Additionally, Wayfair does not charge for those orders. Comparatively, Amazon levies 10 to 15 percent in fees from its dropshipping partners (plus other associated costs).


  • Services for Installation

Furniture assembly services are offered by Wayfair and Handy for those who struggle with physical dexterity.

The cost of the service is determined by the assembled product. Customers can opt in or out of participating at the point of purchase.


While Wayfair is likely to receive a share of the payment for referring new customers, Handy would presumably receive the majority of the assembly fees. The exact percentage portion is kept secret. partners for drop-shipping. After Wayfair forwards the customer's order to the brand or store, it is up to them to ship the product to the customer.


  • Advertising

Wayfair allows its supply-side businesses (in this case, furniture vendors) to buy sponsored positions on the website, similar to any other modern online marketplace.


These sponsored advertisements increase the visibility of brands. With more than 33 million customers, Wayfair has the ability to drastically increase revenue by advertising on its site.

There are numerous options to advertise on the site itself. Products may be given priority placement within category pages or search results.


  • Transfer Fees

An interchange fee is levied each time you make a purchase using your credit card. Exchange charges, which are often less than 1%, are the responsibility of the merchant. In this case, Mastercard would be responsible for collecting the fee (since the Wayfair-branded card can not be used outside of its store).


After that, in exchange for marketing the card among its users, Wayfair would receive a portion of the payment. The exact percentage share is not disclosed to the general public.


  • Interest

When cardholders use their available credit to make purchases, Wayfair also charges interest (often referred to as the Annual Percentage Rate, or APR).

Interest is not charged until the order has been fully paid for.


A Conclusion

When shopping at a store like Wayfair, customers may use the camera to rapidly examine the exact room at the store, choose a product, and then put it up in the space to evaluate how it looks or fits. Users can move and swiftly flip between products to try out various angles and arrangements. In other words, the app serves as a timeless example of how technology may be applied to improve the user experience.


Make touch with a business that specializes in creating augmented reality eCommerce apps. Oyelabs is an experienced provider of eCommerce app development services and can assist you in effectively building your ideal application.

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