Wayfair
Wayfair Inc. is an American e-commerce company based in Boston, Massachusetts[6] that sells furniture and home goods online. Formerly known as CSN Stores, it was founded in 2002, and currently offers 14 million items from more than 11,000 global suppliers.[3] It has offices and warehouses throughout the United States and in Canada, Germany, Ireland, China and the United Kingdom.[7]
Formerly
CSN Stores (2002–2011)
NYSE: W (Class A)
Russell 1000 Component
August 2002
4 Copley Place
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Niraj Shah (co-chairman, president & CEO)
Steve Conine (co-chairman)
US$13.71 billion (2021)
US$ −94 million (2021)
US$ −131 million (2021)
US$ 4.57 billion (2021)
US$ −1.62 billion (2021)
16,681 (2021)
History[edit]
2002 to 2006[edit]
Entrepreneurs Niraj Shah and Steve Conine founded Wayfair in August 2002 as a two-person company with a makeshift headquarters in Conine's nursery in Boston, Massachusetts.[13] Both Shah and Conine hold a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University, and had run two previous companies: Simplify Mobile, and iXL, a global consulting firm.[14]
As of December 2018, Shah is the chief executive officer, and Shah and Conine share the chairman position.
Originally known as CSN Stores (derived from a combination of Shah and Conine's initials), the company began with the website racksandstands.com, selling media stands and storage furniture.
In 2003, it added patio and garden goods suppliers, three online stores, and more than a dozen employees, and moved its headquarters to an office on Newbury Street in Boston.
Over the next two years, it expanded its catalog 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, it had $100 million in sales.[15]
2007 to 2010[edit]
The company expanded in the United States and into international markets.
In 2008, CSN Stores began shipping to Canada and selling in the United Kingdom, and opened a London office. The Boston Business Journal ranked it the #1 fastest-growing private e-commerce company in Massachusetts, and the #4 fastest-growing private company overall.
In 2009, it expanded to Germany. In 2010, it relocated its headquarters to 177 Huntington Avenue, where they occupied 10 floors. At the end of that year, it launched Joss & Main, a members-only online store.
2011 to 2019[edit]
By 2011, CSN Stores owned over 200 online shops—largely niche shops for specific products, like cookware.com, everyatomicclock.com, and strollers.com. In an effort to scale, direct traffic to a single site, and unify the company aesthetic, Shah and Conine rebranded CSN Stores as Wayfair (a name chosen by a branding firm, with no other meaning).[2]
To market its new brand and continue its expansion, in June 2011 the company raised $165 million in funding from the investment firms Battery Ventures, Great Hill Partners, HarbourVest Partners and Spark Capital.[16]
Wayfair.com launched on September 1, 2011.[17] As of July 2012, it had consolidated all of its niche websites, with the exception of Joss & Main and AllModern, into Wayfair.com. In August 2012, it launched Wayfair Supply, a single destination for Wayfair's business, government and institutional customers. In August 2013, it acquired DwellStudio, a New York City-based design house and retailer focused on modern home and family furnishings.[18]
Operations and infrastructure[edit]
Wayfair has over 12 million square feet of warehouse space in Europe and North America with a dozen fulfillment centers. As of 2019, the company offers 14 million products from 11,000 global suppliers. Wayfair employs over 2,300 engineers and data scientists and 3,000 customer service representatives in Boston; Berlin; Ireland; and other cities in the United States. The company expected to spend more than $1 billion in marketing and advertising in 2019.[2]
