Wayfair brings digital expertise to an old-fashioned channel

Online retailer Wayfair Inc. is putting a digital spin on that most traditional of selling vehicles: the paper catalog.



The home furnishings giant is launching a 92-page catalog featuring some 775 items, which represents just a tiny percentage of the full selection available on its website. Wayfair said it applied the same internally-developed quantitative and algorithm based insights to designing the catalog as it does to creating digital promotions. The catalog’s offerings were selected by a team of buyers and editors based on proprietary analytics developed by the company’s 450 engineers and data scientist.



“Technology enables us to serve our customers better than anyone else in the industry,” said Niraj Shah, chairman, CEO and cofounder of Wayfair. “We are using our proprietary data and insights to make the shopping experience more tangible while not limiting our customers' access to selection and great prices. Our focus on technology is expansive to new formats that deliver a positive and immersive retail experience to our customers in the home. We will continue to raise the bar on what is possible in home retail.”



Wayfair is not going to extent of other digital retailers that are offering pop-up shops, physical pickup locations or full-fledged brick-and-mortar stores — at least not yet. However, by integrating print into what was formerly a digital promotional strategy, Wayfair is recognizing that modern omnichannel consumers are still very interested in tangible, physical experiences.