Wayfair Offers Black Friday Pricing During 24-Hour ‘Way Day’ Event
On Wednesday, online home furnishings retailer Wayfair held its first annual "Way Day," a 24-hour flash-sale extravaganza. While Wayfair is known for its reasonable pricing, the one-day sales event featured prices that rivaled what the online retailer offers on Black Friday. “We're looking to put a new retail holiday on the map that celebrates home," said Steve Oblak, chief merchandising officer, Wayfair, in a company press release. "Spring is the season when our customers are especially focused on sprucing up and furnishing outdoor spaces in anticipation of warm weather and summer entertaining.” According to Curbed, there were over 70,000 discounted items available during Way Day.
Total Retail's Take: Look out Prime Day! For the most part, retail-created holidays have been hit or miss with consumers. Amazon.com launched Prime Day in July 2015 (July historically had been a slow sales month for the online giant) to help boost sales, and other retailers have followed suit. While I've found some of the Prime Day deals to be less than stellar, they have accomplished two very important things for Amazon: one, boost sales in an otherwise slow period and, two, and perhaps more importantly, gotten customers to sign up for its paid loyalty program. In addition to Prime Day, Alibaba's Singles Day, which has its roots in Black Friday, has now become the largest global retail holiday. Wayfair is counting on Way Day to help deliver an increase in customer loyalty as well as generate a sales boost during one of its busier times of the year.
