Wayfair
Established in 2002, Wayfair has become a major player in the e-commerce field. The home goods retailer went public in 2014 with a valuation of $2.4 billion. Though its shares have climbed in value since then, Wayfair has continued to lose money. The company reported a net loss of $272 million for the third quarter of 2019.
Why Wayfair Isn’t Profitable
Although Wayfair’s sales went up nearly 36% year-over-year from 2018 to 2019, its losses also continued to grow. Despite increases in active customers, number of orders and the average order size, operating expenses have also been on the rise. The company has invested more in marketing, advertising, customer service and tech, Forbes reported.
On an August 2019 investor call, Wayfair CEO Michael Fleisher said he has no plans to change the way the company has been running things: “We expect to stick to this philosophy, and we will not alter our … investments to make any particular quarter more profitable,” he said.
