Wayfair saw a successful first quarter with online sales up 48% year-over-year and total net revenue up 46% or about $450 million.
Niraj Shah, CEO of Wayfair, told analysts in an earnings call that the company was booming here and abroad, with direct retail revenue up 42% or about $350 million domestically and nearly doubled internationally to $100 million.
“These strong results in Q1 follow the $460 million of direct retail revenue we added year-over-year in Q4,” Shah said.
Wayfair’s international business in Canada, the UK and Germany continues to grow at a robust pace, with Q1 revenue of $203 million almost double that of the previous year.
“We are very excited with the investments we’re making internationally and the engagement we’re seeing from customers in Canada, the UK and Germany,” said Shah. “Our continued strong growth in these markets and improvements in our international core KPIs give us increasing confidence in continuing the long-term investment cycle we’re making there in the customer experience, advertising dollars and in our teams.”
Speaking of Wayfair’s inaugural Way Day event on April 25, Shah said it was an opportunity to bring customers a compelling promotional event at a time of the year when indoor and outdoor refurbishment and projects are top of mind for both home improvement and preparation for property sales.
He said the company ran a large number of incentives to drive awareness, including television ads, direct mail and PR. Customers in the U.S. and Canada were given “Black Friday-level prices” across tens of thousands of products with free shipping on everything.
“Our teams have been able to test and learn with promotional approaches and site features during the ‘cyber five’ period and other sales events, enabling the business to give shoppers an overall experience that we think was highly engaging and brought them the best of Wayfair,” said Shah. “Way Day performed extremely well for us, resulting in the biggest revenue day in our history and we expect that the event will grow further for us in future years.”