Selling on Wayfair
Since its launch in 2012, many companies have opted to sell on the Wayfair Marketplace platform.
Specializing in furniture and household goods, Wayfair attracts nearly 19 million users annually.
Transactions on the platform reach US$8 billion, a figure that continues to grow every year.
This represents an excellent opportunity for companies wishing to join this platform.
How does selling products on Wayfair work?
As a leading player in the online sale of furniture and home decor, the Wayfair platform offers a multitude of significant advantages to its business partners.
However, its business model and operations differ markedly from those of other online sales platforms such as Etsy or Ma Zone Québec, to which companies may be accustomed.
In particular, Wayfair’s platform is characterized by three major differences that define it and influence the way partners interact with it.
Seller status on Wayfair
When a company decides to start selling on Wayfair, it doesn’t adopt the seller status as one might initially assume.
In fact, unlike other more traditional e-commerce models, companies that join Wayfair instead become partners of the platform.
In practice, this means that they act as suppliers to Wayfair.
In this way, companies do not sell directly to end consumers.
Instead, they sell their products to the Wayfair platform, which then handles all subsequent operations, including sales to end customers.
The Wayfair sales process
The sales process on Wayfair is more akin to a B2B model than a traditional B2C one.
When a seller posts a product on the platform, they are actually selling it directly to Wayfair, usually at a wholesale price.
It’s then the platform’s responsibility to handle the sale to the end consumer, ensuring the product’s visibility and availability.
However, Wayfair does not store its sellers’ inventory in its own warehouses.
When a consumer places an order for a product on the platform, Wayfair immediately informs the original seller.
As a result, Wayfair pays the company slightly less than the consumer paid for the item, enabling Wayfair to maintain its profit margin.
As far as logistics are concerned, the seller is responsible for preparing and shipping the order.
This shipment must be made via Wayfair’s delivery partners, and it is the platform that assumes the shipping costs, not the seller.
This model is commonly referred to as “drop shipping or direct delivery, where the seller sends the product directly to the consumer without going through an intermediary warehouse.
“Wayfair excels in the sale of furniture and home decoration items. I’ve been marketing my products on this platform for over four years. To take full advantage of Wayfair, it’s crucial to master its strategy and understand its features, which helps optimize monthly sales. Wayfair is particularly effective thanks to its excellent presence on Google Shopping, targeting mainly the US B2C market. I’ve also discovered quality furniture at competitive prices.”
What you can sell on Wayfair
Wayfair is a platform specializing in everything to do with home interior and exterior decoration.
It features a wide range of products, from textiles and decorative accessories to furniture and items designed to enhance outdoor spaces.
Why sell on Wayfair
Selling on Wayfair offers several notable advantages for a business.
Firstly, the platform offers a relatively straightforward process for sellers.
Indeed, it’s possible to put several products online quickly, and to keep the inventory up to date by integrating Wayfair into one’s own online store.
Sellers can also optimize their product listings to improve their ranking in user searches.
Companies that choose to sell their products on Wayfair also benefit from access to an ever-expanding international market, offering them a steady flow of new customers without having to directly manage the logistics of delivery, a burden that falls to Wayfair.
In addition to handling a significant proportion of marketing for its sellers, Wayfair invests heavily in promoting the platform and its products.
Of the approximately $1.5 billion in profits generated, more than a third has been allocated to these promotional efforts.
What’s more, Wayfair doesn’t charge its sellers any direct fees, but makes its profits by reselling their products at a premium price, after buying them at wholesale.
This model enables sellers to benefit from increased visibility without the direct financial constraints of advertising or delivery costs.
Litchi Marketing, an asset for selling on Wayfair
With an ever-growing customer base and a particularly advantageous business model for its suppliers, selling on Wayfair is becoming increasingly attractive for companies.
To maximize their success on the platform, it’s essential to design well-optimized product pages.
It’s in this context that the intervention of an optimization expert proves invaluable.
There are many options for optimizing a product page, including the choice of visuals, the writing of attractive descriptions and the application of effective SEO strategies.
These elements play a crucial role in product SEO and, by extension, in increasing company sales.
The Litchi Marketing team, with its deep expertise in digital marketing, is ideally placed to support you in this process.
Our seasoned experts can guide you through all aspects of marketing on online platforms such as Wayfair.
From design to SEO optimization of your product sheets, you can rely on our team to significantly improve your online sales performance.