Wayfair focuses on ‘nailing the basics’ of customer experience

Wayfair, the online home furnishings company, is focusing on ‘nailing the basics’ of customer experience, which it sees as essential to retaining customer loyalty in a challenging economic period. 

“This means showcasing products that interest the customer, providing a great experience on the site and delivering perfect orders that arrive quickly,” said Niraj Shah, co-founder and CEO, during a Q3 earnings call. 

“Key to these commitments are elements such as assortment, availability and speed of delivery,” he added.

Why it matters 

Direct-to-consumer e-commerce businesses are struggling to maintain the growth trajectory they enjoyed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Focusing on customer experience, supply chain resilience, and variety are essential to keeping customers. 

Wayfair is orienting its growth strategy around three key principles:

• driving cost efficiency 
• nailing the basics 
• earning customer and supplier loyalty every day

Doubling down on the customer journey

In today's environment, Shah believes it is more important than ever to remain focused on exceptional customer service, and ensuring employees can deliver it.

“One of the biggest factors in driving customer loyalty is having a great experience at all stages of the shopping journey, even after the order has been delivered. To do this, we have made an effort to equip our service professionals with an even wider toolkit of solutions to make things right for our shoppers,” he explained. 

“These enhancements are generating a very strong response. In fact, over the last handful of months, we've seen repeat rates among customers who report an issue actually match repeat rates of customers who do not.”