Wayfair peaked at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, reporting its first annual net income since going public and expanding its active customers by 46 percent in 2020.
However, those halcyon days are gone, and Wayfair is back to experiencing net loss, with active customers declining 12.5 percent. It all begs the question: Is Wayfair going out of business? If you’d like to find out, keep reading!
Is Wayfair Going Out of Business in [currentyear]?
Wayfair isn’t going out of business, despite major losses to its bottom line between the years 2020 and [currentyear]. In fact, the company’s latest Q4 reported net revenue, while falling 11.4 percent compared to the previous year, was still an increase of 28.4 percent over 2019. However, Wayfair has enough financing for the time being.
To learn more about whether Wayfair is losing money, why it’s not as profitable as it was in 2020, why Wayfair’s stock is falling, and even who competes with Wayfair in the home goods sector, keep going!
Is Wayfair Losing Money?
Wayfair is losing money to the tune of half a billion dollars between Q1 in 2021 and Q1 in 2022.
In fact, Wayfair reported its first net profit in Q1 2021, of $18 million, but reversed that in only a year to a loss of $319 million.
The total number of active customers for Q1 2022 was down 23.4 percent and the number of orders from repeat customers was down 26 percent.
While it’s true other home goods companies aren’t faring much better, the category as a whole is slowing down.
Still, the company’s CEO, Niraj Shah, showed spirit when he addressed investors.
He mentioned that the company’s latest Way Day was the company’s “most successful ever” and “included two of the four largest days in Wayfair’s entire history.”
There is also the fact that, barring general merchandisers like Amazon and Walmart, who sell a variety of goods, Wayfair is the largest seller of home goods in the U.S.
In fact, Wayfair nets 16.7 percent of all home goods sales, compared to Bed Bath & Beyond, which accounts for just 8.5 percent.
Why Isn’t Wayfair Profitable?
Since going public in 2014, Wayfair has operated at a net loss.
However, that changed in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted everyone’s lives, forcing people to stay inside and out of stores.
Instead, people turned to online ordering more than ever, and in particular, people started home improvement projects, including redecorating.
This paved the way for Wayfair to report its first-ever annual net profit of $18 million.
However, since then, with stores opening back up and people largely resuming their normal daily lives, Wayfair has gone back into the red.
It’s not that Wayfair isn’t profitable; the company reported $13.7 billion in revenue in 2021.
Rather, it’s that the company spends more than it makes.
More specifically, RetailDive.com believes that Wayfair is spending a lot on advertising in order to acquire new customers.
How Much Is Wayfair in Debt?
According to MacroTrends.net, Wayfair is currently operating with $3.052 billion of debt, as of 2021.
The company has never operated at a net gain, save for a blip in 2020, which has since corrected itself.
Why Is Wayfair Stock Dropping?
Since 2020, when Wayfair reported its first-ever net gain since going public in 2014, Wayfair stock has been in trouble.
As of May 2022, when BusinessofHome.com reported that Wayfair’s stock was “plummeting,” investors and shareholders were looking closely at Wayfair’s numbers.
Sales were lower, at about half a billion dollars; the $18 million profit reported the year before had vanished, being replaced by a loss of $319 million.
The total number of active customers was down, orders per customer were down, and orders from repeat customers dropped 26 percent.
All this led to the valuation of Wayfair’s stock at $74 a share, and it has only gone down from there, dipping into the 40s.
What Is Wayfair’s Annual Revenue?
In 2022, Wayfair released its Q4 2021 financial information, reporting total net revenue of $3.3 billion, and a U.S. net revenue of $2.7 billion.
That is down in both categories, 11.4 percent, and 8.8 percent, respectively.
The company’s international net revenue was also down by $517 million, a loss of 23 percent.
For the total year, revenue was down 3.1 percent, to $13.7 billion, while U.S. net revenue of $11.2 billion was down 5.5 percent.
However, the one place where Wayfair showed growth was in international net revenue for the entire year, which was up 9.6 percent to $2.5 billion.
Who Is Wayfair’s Competitor?
While Wayfair currently holds the top market share in home goods, it’s not without rivals.
Major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Target are all competitive, while Bed Bath & Beyond and HomeGoods hold the two and three spots in the home goods category respectively.
To know more, you can also read our posts on whether or not Wayfair has Afterpay, is Wayfair safe, and is Wayfair legitimate.
Conclusion
Wayfair isn’t going out of business any time soon, but the company needs to show growth after an abysmal 2021.
While Niraj Shah, the CEO, and co-founder, remains optimistic about Wayfair’s future, investors and shareholders are going to be keeping a close eye on the numbers in the year to come.
