It seems like everything is always on sale somewhere these days.
However, holiday sales and other shopping events scattered throughout the year still reign supreme. Holiday sales just ended and it’s already time to start prepping for retailer shopping holidays that are coming up this summer. Amazon’s Prime Day has been the biggest so far, but 2018 saw the arrival of Wayfair’s Way Day— the biggest and best discounts of the year on everything home.
For those who missed Way Day last year, it’s Wayfair’s one day shopping holiday and their biggest day of sales for the year. They want Way Day 2019 to be their biggest sales day of the year, and it can be your biggest sales day of the year as well!
This year’s Way Day will take place
Wednesday, April 10th
It starts at noon EST and runs 36 hours.
You can preview the deals on their site now.
1. Define Assortment Early
There’s a limit to the number of promotions Wayfair can run in each category, so once the submissions open up it’s important to get your offers in early. Getting an assortment ready now also helps you work towards assuring your items will be better qualified for the promotion. These types of promotions have requirements for items in terms of inventory availability, ratings/reviews, and historical sales performance.
2. Merchandise, Merchandise, Merchandise
Now that have an assortment, it’s time to look at each item individually. You can offer the best discount of the year, but if your content doesn’t sway potential customers or doesn’t answer the questions they have, they will just move on to someone else…
Copy
Wayfair likes their copy to make the customer see feel how this item would fit in their home. Look at their private label items to understand what their merchandising team likes. Hint: they like adjectives, decor styles, and exclamation points!
“This beautiful end table features a large, safety-tempered round glass top that gives it its sophisticated look. This spacious top surface provides you with ample room to store and display an array of different items like an accent lamp and the TV remote to indoor plants and an ice-cold beverage. You can find a place for all your things! Its metal construction includes four sturdy legs that are connected by and detailed with a round metal band. This trendy side table is finished on all sides for versatile placement throughout any room in your home – cozied up next to the couch in the living room, beside your bed as a nightstand or standing alone as a stunning accent piece. Finished in Black or Gold, this round side table is the perfect addition for your home.”
– Mercury Row Casanova End Table
Enhanced Content
Wayfair’s enhanced content program is called WayMore Content. Similar to Amazon A+ pages or WebCollage, WayMore allows you to add images, infographics, and videos that dive into the features of the product in more depth than what you can provide in a long description or bullets. Wayfair has different enhanced content modules that you can utilize.
Their layout can be a little off putting, and existing content may not be easily transferable in. How To’s are great for this area too if your item doesn’t have many features to call out.
Images
The standard 3–5 high-resolution images are the bare minimum. Lots of lifestyle images help the consumer get a feel of how the item will look in their home with their decor. If you’re on a budget, now is your time to schedule a photoshoot and get a bunch of lifestyle imagery done at once.
Attributes
Wayfair offers far more attributes than most other online retailers. But understandable since they’re a specialty ecommerce site with a focus on home. If a consumer visits a PDP on Wayfair, they should come away with all their questions answered.
3. Improve Sales History
Wayfair wants Way Day to be their biggest sales day of the year, so they’re going to pick the items they feel will sell the most. Sales history will play into their selection as well as placement on site the day of. Again, by planning early, you can increase your sales history now to improve your chances of getting prime merchandising spots on Way Day. This can take weeks to months for a noticeable impact, so now is the perfect time to start.
Advertising
By running advertising now, while your items are at full price and you can afford to lose some margin, you will get some upward trajectory going into the event. Be careful though, Way Day promotions have to be the best price of the year, so don’t go too low.
Reviews
Do you subscribe to review syndication platforms like BazaarVoice or PowerReviews? Make sure you’re connected to Wayfair if that is an option (their partners can and do change over time). Run a sampling program through your review platform to help generate more reviews of your product. Generally, 30 reviews is the tipping point.
It’s Never Too Late
I hope these tips help you get a head start on preparing for a nice boost in sales. Even if your products aren’t listed in promotions, the extra traffic to their site that day shouldn’t be neglected. Make sure your products look great by using the Shop Your Catalog tool in the Wayfair Partners Portal and benefit from the free traffic you’ll get on Way Day 2019.