Wayfair readies public offering

Online home and housewares retailer Wayfair.com is prepared to go public and has some of the biggest names on Wall Street lined up to sell its shares.



Wayfair.com, one of world’s largest online destinations for home furnishings and décor items, has grown sales rapidly in recently years, but true to form with other aspiring online retailers, its losses have increased as its spends more on marketing.



In 2013, Wayfair’s sales increased 52% to $916 million from $601 million in 2012 and the company did lose less money year over year, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Wayfair said it lost $15.5 million in 2013 compared to $21 million the prior year.



During the first six months of 2014, Wayfair’s sales have continued their upward trajectory, increasing 49.8% to $547 million from $383 million. However, sales and marketing costs which nearly doubled during the first half of the year to drive that growth, caused the company to report a net loss of $51.4 million during the first six months of 2014 compared to a loss of $8.3 million during the first six months of 2013.



Other details disclosed in the filing show that Wayfair.com in 2013 delivered 3.3 million orders to 2.1 million customers. During the first six months of this year, the company has delivered 2.2 million orders to 2.6 million customers.



Handing the IPO process for Wayfair.com are Goldman, Sachs & Co., Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Allen & Company, Pacific Crest Securities, Piper Jaffray & Co., Wells Fargo Securities, Canaccord Genuity, Cowen and Company and Raymond James & Associates.