How To Sell On Wayfair: A Step-by-Step Guide (2021 Updated)

Are you an aspiring online store owner who is knowledgeable in and passionate about furniture?

Are you looking for an eCommerce platform to expand your business?

Start selling on Wayfair right now! 

In this article, we will dive deeper into why Wayfair is the perfect website for your store, as well as the brass tacks of running a Wayfair store and how to sell on the site.

I. But why Wayfair?

In essence, Wayfair is an eCommerce platform just like Amazon, but with an interesting specialization – furniture and home goods. If your products were made to beautify houses, this is the perfect place for you. The site may not be as popular as Craigslist or eBay, but it is the 9th ranking in US companies with leading eCommerce sales in 2020, totaling in 9.42 billion USD.

Still not convinced? Let’s dissect the platform and see why it will be the best thing to ever happen to your business.

01. Target customers

As mentioned before, Wayfair is the best place for consumers to find home goods that will make their residences a paradise on Earth. Anyone who wants to add a bit of zing to their house will fit perfectly in the audience base.

That said, there is one demographic that Wayfair specifically targets. In 2020, Wayfair elected Kelly Clarkson to be the brand ambassador, and they have also integrated part of their “Home: You got this” campaign into NBCUniversal’s “The Kelly Clarkson Show”. The reason for this was that Kelly Clarkson is projected to align with and appeal to the target audience – 45 to 55-year-old women.

02. Niches

Their product listing targets every room there is in a typical house: bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, living rooms, and so on.

As a customer, you can find beds, baths and showers, sofas and pillows, lighting, furniture for babies and kids and even for pets. As long as your store contains anything that can be put in a house, Wayfair is a top-notch choice.

Although Wayfair ranks at number 9 on the top companies with leading eCommerce sales list, it is number one in its niche. In 2019, Wayfair accounted for 33.4% of the online furniture market share, surpassing even Amazon at 29.7%.

Read more: Trending Products To Sell (Monthly Updated)

03. User statistics

As of 2019, there were over 11,000 suppliers on the site. Because Wayfair is so far dominating the online market, that number will continue to grow. But don’t you worry, because there will be many, many more customers waiting for you.

In 2020 alone, there were 31.19 million active consumers on Wayfair, growing by more than 50% compared to 2019. In the same year, the massive audience base has put down more than 55 million orders. Imagine if this exponential growth keeps up. What’s a better occasion to start with Wayfair than right now?

II. Costs and Fees

To be a Wayfair “partner”, you need to pay absolutely nothing.

Most eCommerce platforms will take a percentage out of your order as a transaction fee, but Wayfair doesn’t. Wayfair operates on the wholesale cost model, meaning they will set a higher retail price on their site, and pay you the wholesale price of your products. They make a profit on the margin.

Moreover, Wayfair is also a dropshipping platform, so they will send the customer order to your warehouse or supplier and ship the product. They will arrange and pay for 100% of the shipping fee. All you need to do is pack and have the product ready to ship.

Partnering with Wayfair can be considered a zero-risk investment for your business. This arrangement makes way for a sustainable financial relationship between the site and its sellers. In other words, Wayfair is all pros and no cons.

Read morE:

III. 03 Simple Steps to Sell on Wayfair

Step 1: Sign up

The first step to selling on any platform is registering your business. Wayfair has made it easier for you to start by giving you an online application form you can fill in with ease. All you need to do is fill in a very short form containing 3 main parts: contact information, business information, and logical/shipping information.

You will need to send them links to your online catalogs (if your store is selling online already). We highly recommend you send them the direct link to your website if you have one. This will increase your brand’s authenticity and will guarantee a higher chance of being accepted.

The Wayfair customer support team will contact you after merely 3-5 business days, so you won’t have to wait very long.

Step 2: Upload products and list inventories

After getting accepted to be a Wayfair partner, you will need to upload your products onto the site in bulk. The site will now begin to price your products and create lists for you. If you are on another eCommerce platform that allows integration with Wayfair, especially Shopify (which we will get to later), your job will be much easier.

On the other hand, if you don’t have an online store yet, or your eCommerce platform of choice doesn’t feature integration, you will need to do things a bit manually. Remember to upload high-quality photos and write detailed and enticing descriptions for your products. Wayfair will help you with the overall presentation as well as categorization.

Bonus tip: if your products come in different options, don’t forget to fully customize your orders for the best shopping experience for your audience.

Step 3: Manage your orders

The last step to selling furniture on Wayfair is as simple as it sounds. All you need to do is accurately and punctually manage your order collecting, shipping, and delivering. By guaranteeing the best buyer’s experience, you can guarantee more positive reviews, customer advocacy, and income growth.

IV. The Best of Both Worlds: Building Your Own eCommerce Brand

Sure, you are making profits thanks to Wayfair’s wonderful automated algorithm. But why limit yourself? What if you can sell on Wayfair while building your own eCommerce brand at the same time?

If you’re interested, the answer is really simple. Shopify.

01. So what is Shopify?

In short, Shopify is a subscription-based platform that allows users to set up an online store and sell their products. To put it in simpler terms: Shopify is a store builder and manager. It offers you a fast way to launch your online business and access potential customers, wherever they are.

If you have a brick-and-mortar store, Shopify can help you as well with Shopify POS. This eCommerce platform has features for everyone from beginners to even experts.

With Wayfair, you are essentially listing your products on the site and manage your orders while it will take care of all the other steps. You have no control over how to customize your store, no blogging, no promotion, no pop-ups. But with Shopify, you have control over everything.

02. Why Sell On Shopify?

• Advanced functionality: Shopify provides you with a plethora of add-ons and applications that you can download and use to customize your store. There are 4000 different plug-ins for you to choose from, 1500 of which are completely free. With such a wide variety, the possibilities are endless: you can manage your inventory easily, do accounting, enhance sales, promote on social media, and so on.
• Built-in marketing tools: Aside from the numerous add-ons you get, Shopify offers built-in marketing tools that can help kickstart your business significantly. They will make SEO easier than ever before, and allow you to integrate your store into the most popular social media platforms that will help you reach millions of consumers.  As an admin of your store, you can even watch a real-time report of your website visitors to determine what stage of the funnel they’re in.
• A plan for everyone: It can be hard to raise capital in the first stages of starting an online business, but Shopify has it all covered. They offer a wide array of pricing plans for everyone, even for the tightest budget. It can be as cheap as $9 a month.
• Abundant support: Shopify offers 24/7 customer support and comprehensive documentation. You will never be standing still on this site because their team will guide you through every problem you might run into.

V. Selling on Wayfair with Shopify

01. Setting Up Your Shopify store

If you have decided to expand your business, it is time to create your own online store with Shopify. Unfortunately, there is too much to talk about when it comes to how to open and set up your Shopify store, so we will have to deliver this in the form of a video. So here is an official guide to setting up your own Shopify store, from the brand itself.

02. Integrating Wayfair

Remember the abundant add-ons Shopify offers? We present you the MultiChannel Sales Manager from Shopify. This powerful integration tool allows you to:

• Connect your Shopify store with many marketplaces like Wayfair, Amazon, Etsy, etc.
• Automatically update your listing on different platforms
• Enrich listings with extra data not sourced from Spotify
• Manage your orders effortlessly
• And many more amazing perks

After setting up both your Shopify store and Wayfair listing, all you have to do is click on the link above, and click “Add app”.

When you have installed the plug-in, Shopify will help you with the onboarding process. It will assess your requirements, provide a solution demo and review your marketplace data. After that, you can sync your products and start to sell on Wayfair in the blink of an eye.

In a nutshell

You have finished our general guide to selling on Wayfair, and now you can confidently give your business an online presence. And we have also provided you with an alternative to expand your online store even more with Shopify.

So what are you waiting for? Wayfair and Shopify are waiting for you! Start selling today