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For two decades, Wayfair has thrived by offering customers an abundance of trendy, inexpensive furniturearound 30 million options, specifically. But as an e-commerce company, Wayfair’s employees didn’t actually touch or feel any of the pieces on the site. Our goal was to find suppliers of furniture and make them easily available online to our customers, Michael McCorry, director of curation strategy and operations, tells me. We only learned about the products later, through customer reviews and feedback. If a product got bad reviews, it would sink lower in the rankings. For the customer, shopping at Wayfair presented something of a risk. With such an enormous selection, they would very likely find a piece of furniture that perfectly fit their desired aesthetic. But unless it had many reviews, there was no telling whether it was well-made or would fall apart after a few weeks. Wayfair has heard this criticism loud and clear. Today, it unveils a new program called Verified that involves merchants painstakingly examining a selection of furniture on Wayfair’s site. The company has selected a small fraction50,000 pieces by the end of the yearthat will be verified for quality, durability, and value. The brand will highlight Verified furniture with a new purple check, and these pieces will surface higher in search results. This curation process is designed to make the shopping process easier for customers, but it also streamlines operations for the company. Wayfair expects that these verified pieces will become bestsellers. McCorry says that in the soft launch of the verified program, the 10,000 pieces that were verified already made up 15% of Wayfair’s total revenue. When 50,000 pieces are verified, it could make up a much more significant chunk of the company’s earnings. This new dynamic allows the company to ensure that the most popular products are in-stock and ready to ship quickly. But it could also make life more complicated for suppliers, who are likely to see an instant decrease in sales of non-verified items. [Photo: Wayfair] Inexpensive Furniture For Every Taste Wayfair emerged in the early days of the e-commerce revolution. While Amazon offered a very wide array of product categories, Wayfair wanted to be a destination exclusively for homewares. Wayfair doesn’t actually manufacture any products; instead, it sources furniture from factories around the world, styling the pieces in attractive ways, so that customers could easily find pieces that matched their aesthetic. (Many other retailers, including Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel, also source products from third-party factories.) Merchants go through each item, categorizing pieces by stylelike mid-century modern or traditionalto help make it easier for customer to find what they are looking for. Our role was to source these products and make it easier to find the pieces that would go perfectly with their style, says McCorry. But over time, it became clear that customers were struggling to figure out what pieces were high quality and what pieces were not. This is also an issue of value, says Liza Lefkowski, VP, curation, brands, and stores. Customers want to know that the quality of the items corresponds to the price they’re paying for it. But in some cases, it was hard for them to tell. For decades, with the rise of fast fashion and fast furniture, consumers were looking for products that were affordable and trendy. But after bad experiences with poor quality, many customers are now looking for well-made, durable products at fair prices. [Photo: Wayfair] Verifying 700 Pieces of Furniture a Week McCorry says that part of the idea of the Verified program emerged when Wayfair began opening stores last year. For the first time, Wayfair employees were getting to see furniture in person, and recommending pieces to customers. We began to think we should do this with our online selection as well, he says. There was no way that Wayfair would be able to individually verify all 30 million pieces of furniture it sells. So, the company has developed a way to pluck out pieces to verify. Madeleine Gauthier, merchant manager, says the company’s team of merchants is at the frontline of this process. They’re familiar with the selection of products in their narrow category, such as outdoor furniture sets or bar stools. The goal is to verify several pieces of furniture across categories, styles, and price points. So, for instance, Wayfair will try to verify several brown leather sofas that cost around $1,200 price point, and several modern wooden vanities that cost around $300. Merchants send products to Wayfair’s Boston headquarters for testing. They choose these pieces based on whether they have good reviews and how popular they are. Then, they spend about half an hour on each item. We start with the unboxing experience, to make sure everything is packaged well, says Gauthier. Then we check that the assembly process is not unreasonably difficult. Next, they actually use the furniture, as a customer might. For an outdoor dining set, they will check if the pieces seem heavy enough that they wouldn’t blow away in a storm. They will sit in the chair and see whether it is the right height for eating a meal at the table. They will then compare the product to others they have tested. In the end, they will identify and promote the top products We want to have enough variety so that if you’re looking for something very specific, like a metal outdoor bar stool, you will be able to find a verified one, Gauthier says. Wayfair creates a little video of each product, with a merchant talking about its selling points. At this pace, the company can review about 700 products a week. Today, at the launch, there are 10,000 products that are verified. But the brand expects to get to a total of 50,000 over time. [Photo: Wayfair] Winners and Losers McCorry believes that many customers will gravitate towards the verified products. It makes the shopping process so much easier for them, which was the whole point, he says. They don’t need to go through all the reviews, because they know we have tested it and recommend it. Some suppliers are likely to experience an immediate windfall as a result of this program. Sales of their Wayfair-verified sofas or side tables are likely to spike. But other products are likely to go down in sales. Lefkowski admits that this has caused some concern among vendors. In response, Wayfair is trying to be as fair about the process as possible. We gave them a lot of warning about this program and we are very transparent about what we are looking for, she says. If their product didn’t pass the test, we give them feedback about what went wrong so they can correct it. And McCorry says that once Wayfair has verified all 50,000 products, its merchants will keep reassessing what is in the Verified program. If a supplier has an interesting new product that consumers seem to like, Wayfair might test and verify this product, displacing a similar verified product. Long term, our hope is that this encourages all suppliers to focus on quality and workmanship, says McCorry.
Category:
E-Commerce
The plight of the middle manager has taken a turn for the worse since the pandemic, leaving many in the role prone to burnout as they juggle competing expectations with limited support from their employers. Managers were already tasked with addressing low morale and absorbing additional work as companies have been hit with layoffs in recent yearsbut now a number of employers are more pointedly culling their ranks, too. A dwindling force Amazon is reportedly cutting thousands of middle managers by the end of this month, following in the footsteps of other tech companies like Meta and Google that have sought to flatten their workforces. Additionally, Gartner analysts estimate that as employers rely more heavily on artificial intelligence, 20% of companies are likely to cut more than half their middle manager roles. Yet the latest edition of Deloittes annual Human Capital Trends Report finds that managers remain a crucial element of the workforce, even as many of them are struggling to manage their workloads. According to the reportwhich polled nearly 10,000 leaders and compiled input from manager-specific surveysmanagers spend almost 40% of their time on administrative tasks or putting out fires on a day-to-day basis. Just 15% of their time is spent on long-term strategic thinking, and another 13% on developing their direct reports. More than a third of managers reported feeling like they were not sufficiently prepared to handle the people management and leadership aspect of their jobs, and that their company had not given them the tools they needed to perform. The future of middle managers As meQuilibrium CEO Jan Bruce recently wrote in Fast Company, this could be the year we see a manager crashand companies may not be equipped to deal with the fallout. The Deloitte report noted that 40% of bosses surveyed said their mental health suffered after they took on managerial duties. Whats more, younger employees may not be ready to step up as managers burn out or step away from their roles; in surveys, Gen Z workers have expressed little desire to become managers themselves. Companies seem aware of the challenges facing middle managers, not to mention the fact that their jobs may need to evolve accordingly. But that doesnt mean theyre taking appropriate action to better support these employees or reevaluate what their function should be in todays workforce. Per Deloittes report, nearly three-quarters of employers said they understood the importance of revamping the role of managers, but only 7% claimed to be making meaningful progress to address the issue. The impact on team morale While cutting middle managers may seem like an efficient move during times of belt-tightening, taking that approach can leave their reports feeling adrift and may even reduce their autonomy by enabling senior leadership to wield more decision-making power. The Deloitte report posits that one of the most important facets of a managers job is to coach and develop the employees who report to them: In fact, 67% of employees claimed that their manager knows best how to motivate them at work.
Category:
E-Commerce
Restaurant diners can be a sticky-fingered bunch. Who hasnt been tempted to slip a particularly nice cocktail glass or a tiny saltshaker into their bag after lunch? But as dining out gets more expensive, more people seem determined to get their moneys worth, swiping everything from cups and plates to steak knives and even cheese graters. And not only are they getting away with it, theyre proudly flaunting their loot online. In a viral video with more than 900,000 views, one creator boldly holds up a stolen cheese grater and asks, “What’s the best thing you’ve ever stolen from a restaurant?” @sovilay And i use it all the time #fyp #foryourpage #whatsthebestthing #pasta #cheese original sound – sov. Rather than backlash, the comments section reads like a confessional. Spoons. little baby spoons. from every restaurant. every time. I can’t stop, wrote one user. I need to step up my game. I just have little sauce containers, added another. For some, the habit has turned into a full-blown collection. In another video, a TikToker proudly displays a stash of stolen bowls, cutlery, jugs, and glasses. I really enjoy these – it’s why I have so many, she says of her small black soy sauce bowls. That’s my collection, she concludes cheerfully. I am going to be getting more soon. @clairetalking lmk what i should get next #steal #restaurant #fyp original sound – claire Some restaurants are leaning in to the joke. Upscale London restaurant Sexy Fish stamps the bottom of its chopstick holders with a label that reads: “Stolen from Sexy Fish.” Another London eatery, the Ivy Asia, marks its fish-shaped table ornaments with a similar disclaimer: “Stolen from The Ivy Asia.” But not everyone is laughing. Creator YoungKaren called out the trend as a clear case of “normalized theft,” saying that even otherwise normal people seem to pocket items without considering the impactespecially on smaller businesses. “If I was sitting with you and you stole something, I would tell the waiter on you,” she warned. “Even if you’re my friend, I still would.” @youngkaren_official I would 100% tattletale #youngkaren #dailyrant #storytime original sound – youngkaren_official Anyone whos worked in or run a small business knows how fast those harmless thefts add up. Replacing stolen dishes, cutlery, and glassware isnt just annoyingits expensive. And ultimately, those costs are passed on to other diners. So while that copper mug might look great in your home bar, just remember: Someone else is paying for it.
Category:
E-Commerce
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