Editorial Recommendations at Wayfair

Editorial Recommendations are becoming an increasingly important part of business in the world of eCommerce. This is why we’ve chosen to analyze how various eCommerce sites use Editorial Recommendations – or choosing not to use them as the case may be. With these articles proving to be such a successful marketing tool, and a good way to bring in business, it is always surprising when they are left out of an eCommerce site’s marketing plan. This is the case with Wayfair. The site has made waves over the past few years with the way it has done business, but though it has quickly grown to become a giant, it has still failed to develop an Editorial Recommendations program. Here, we’ll look at the failure of the company to develop a program, its current business model, and what it could stand to gain by launching Editorial Recommendations. 

Wayfair is More Retailer than Platform

Wayfair is notable for many reasons, among these being, that it contracts with all the suppliers it mentions on its website. One of the notable things about this is the possibility it could allow the suppliers it contracts with to bid for ad space within its search results. This would be a unique opportunity and enable Wayfair to position itself to place more unique content in its search engine results page than just the organic search results it currently hosts. Additionally, Wayfair could begin to prominently display Editorial Recommendations from third parties on its search engine results page. 

At present, Wayfair shows products with a “Wayfair’s Choice” badge – imagine if it also showed products with a “Recommended by X” badge and these products were recommended by a third party! One of the great benefits here is the authority this would bring, as people would not see this as advertorial content and would be even more enticed to click on the product and potentially make a purchase. Wayfair itself is a retailer, but with a third party making Editorial Recommendations, people would not see this as an advertisement but a true endorsement of the product instead. 

Wayfair Has the Range to Support Onsite Editorials

Among the many things to note is Wayfair brands are typically not available elsewhere. Additionally, there are so many options available for any given search term the site could easily support an onsite Editorial Recommendations program. All the site would need to get started would be a range of reputable publishers writing reviews for each of their categories and refreshing them quarterly. This would do much to help customers narrow down their choices, considering the vast pool of products on Wayfair’s website. It would be easy to get started as well; Wayfair could begin by working with publishers already writing affiliate content mentioning some of their products. 

Wayfair Has Room to Grow

Wayfair undoubtedly has room to continue expanding. Its drop ship model requires no warehouse space, and with the brand already encompassing everything from couches to coffee machines, it easily has the ability to move into new categories. Adding Editorial Recommendations to their business model would help them with that expansion, as it would allow them to introduce customers to new products in their lineup. Beginning with adjacent categories such as foods or even craft kits, Wayfair could start building its authority by selling these products, gaining a stamp of approval with Editorial Recommendations written by publishers who have an authoritative voice readers feel they can trust. 

While the product may be new to the site and may be slightly different from what Wayfair has sold in the past, introducing it via Editorial Recommendations, people may feel more comfortable purchasing those items. Likewise, it would be a way to get more people to purchase some of the items from Wayfair that aren’t necessarily big brand names. Editorial Recommendations have authority and do not feel like advertisements, which would be the single biggest factor in driving clicks and getting people to make purchases.

In Conclusion

Wayfair has much to gain from adding Editorial Recommendations to its business model, both in its current state and in the future with its plans for expansion. Right now, it could benefit from Editorial Recommendations greatly as these articles would be a terrific way to get more clicks for items and would be far more powerful than its own “Wayfair’s Choice” badge for showcasing items to customers. Meanwhile, in terms of expansion, Editorial Recommendations would be tremendously powerful to help showcase new products and new categories of items as they roll into the site in the future. If Wayfair wants to continue driving sales and rolling out new products, it should strongly consider adding some form of Editorial Recommendations program to its site.