Wayfair Lost Five Million Customers in 2022, Revenue Declined 11%
New York, NY, February 24, 2023-"Wayfair Inc. lost five million customers in 2022, shrinking the online furniture retailer’s shopper count to near its size before the Covid-19 pandemic triggered a consumer-spending surge,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
“Revenue at the Boston-based company slid 4.6% in the final three months of last year from a year earlier to $3.1 billion, for a net loss of $351 million.
“Wayfair is trying to stem significant losses as consumers spend more on food and services and turn away from electronics and household goods.
“Executives said the company ended the year with 22.1 million active customers, defined as someone who placed an order within the past 12 months. That was a decline of 19% compared with the prior year and just above the 21.1 million Wayfair customers at the end of March 2020.
“Wayfair in January laid off about 1,750 workers, or 10% of its global workforce. The layoffs followed about 870 job cuts in August. Both rounds of layoffs were part of a broader program to find $1.4 billion of annualized cost savings.
“The company’s co-founders, Niraj Shah and Steve Conine, said in a letter to investors Thursday that they want to ‘return to our roots as a thrifty organization.’
“Wayfair’s sales surged early in the Covid-19 pandemic as people splurged on home furnishings, helping the company achieve profitability in 2020.
“Sales slid in 2021 and through 2022. The company’s full-year revenue last year of $12.2 billion was down almost 11% over the prior year for a net loss of $1.3 billion.”