Quarterlytics / Consumer Cyclical / Specialty Retail / Wayfair / FY2020 Annual Report

Wayfair
Annual Report 2020

W · NYSE Consumer Cyclical
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Ticker W
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Industry Specialty Retail
Employees 10,000+
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FY2020 Annual Report · Wayfair
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2020 Annual Report

13

February 2021 

To our shareholders: 

Thank you for your continued interest in Wayfair.  

“What a year” may be an understatement to describe 2020. The pandemic and its wide-ranging toll, 

rising social tensions, and a contentious political atmosphere are challenges that stressed us all and 

tested the fibers of our unity. But even as we all continue to contend with these forces, we believe in 

our collective resilience and our capacity to bring about change. We believe we will see a better 

tomorrow and are committed to contributing to that change in ways large and small at Wayfair.  

As we look back, above all else, we are proud of Wayfair’s people. Our employees navigated through 

the countless pivots 2020 threw at us with agility. They stepped up for our customers, our communities, 

and each other. These tireless efforts bore fruit. Some of this is certainly reflected in our operating 

performance, but far more important were the intangible achievements. Our products brought comfort 

to our customers’ homes at a time when the home became more important than ever. Collectively, we 

developed innovative ways for Wayfair to provide physical and financial COVID-19 relief throughout the 

year, and we stood up countless support resources for our colleagues and their families. The team 

made record individual donations to further the causes of social justice, COVID-19 recovery, and the 

right to vote, all of which Wayfair enthusiastically supported with matching funds. Together, we donated 

over $12 million in direct support and innumerable hours of our time through volunteer efforts. There is 

much more work to be done. We are confident that we have the right team to be part of the solution and 

to navigate Wayfair through any environment. 

Over the course of the last 12 months, every business was tested like never before. Wayfair is no 

exception. Building a lasting company requires a long-term mindset, ambitious plans, and the discipline 

to stick to them. This is something we have long believed and practiced at Wayfair. This past year 

proved the durability we are building into our business model. While Wayfair was fortunate in many 

respects and learned some lessons in others, our long-term orientation was validated in real time. 

Years of investments in technology, logistics, supplier relationships, and talent enabled us to move 

quickly and nearly seamlessly to meet the wall of demand that came our way in every geography – and 

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begin to build meaningful connections with 10+ million new active customers on our platform. Truly 

durable businesses cannot be built overnight, but when done right, the returns compound for years and 

generations. We saw some of that begin to play out in 2020, but there is much more to come. 

In this letter last year, we talked about two validating events that would be important for you, our fellow 

shareholders: an approaching profitability inflection, and leverage in the continued scaling of our 

proprietary logistics network. The subsequent quarters demonstrated the power of our model, but as we 

also tend to say in these letters: We are just getting started! We are at the early stages of proving out 

just how large the gains embedded in Wayfair’s business model will be, and we expect them to 

compound for a very long time.   

At only $14 billion in net revenue, we have captured less than 2% of our $800+ billion (and growing) 

total addressable market. The opportunity in front of us is immense. There are many reasons why the 

winner in our market will have a disproportionately large share, and the Wayfair team is as ambitious 

and aggressive as ever as we orient around 

future growth and profitability.   
both 
​

Our Ambition 

We are building the preeminent platform for home. We are neither solely a retailer nor solely a 

marketplace. Instead we take on the harder but more valuable challenge to combine the best of both. 

We are a platform. 

Wayfair aspires to connect every customer across North America and Europe to the full spectrum of 

available products and related services, so that they may find the option that is just right for them. Our 

infrastructure, technology, and services power and deepen these connections. The end result is loyalty 

as customers walk away with a very positive experience and return to Wayfair for inspiration and other 

home-related purchases. As we do this again and again, we reinforce our brand and relationship with 

tens of millions of customers and tens of thousands of supplier partners. 

To bring unparalleled product selection and an intuitive, fast, and enjoyable experience for all who 

access our platform, we build tailored solutions to suit the specific needs of the complicated home 

category. All of our offerings – whether customer service or end-to-end logistics, marketing capability or 

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visual merchandising innovation, financing or service experiences, or the customer- and supplier-facing 

technology that underpins it all – are differentiated, and they will remain so in the future. Everything we 

create recognizes the deeply personal and emotional process of making one’s space a home and 

makes it easier to do so. 

What we are building is unique. Our platform is a hybrid of the best attributes found in both traditional 

merchant-led, customer-oriented retailers and innovative technology-based, two-sided marketplaces. In 

practice, this means that we are the customer-facing brand. This first-party approach to our customer 

sets the standard for their experience by optimizing both the pre-order and post-order processes in a 

largely unbranded category. As we earn our customers’ trust, they keep returning to the platform. From 

a supplier-facing standpoint, we are a true partner in a third-party construct. We build the tools, 

services, and technology they need to successfully reach our customers. It is their product designs, 

quality control, and inventory that are on display for the customer. Our priority is to collaborate closely 

with each supplier, but to ultimately give them as much control as possible to chart the course of their 

business and growth with us. If we do our job right, we help our customers win by delivering the best 

possible shopping journey, and we help our suppliers win by delivering solutions that they can then 

leverage to steer their businesses to new heights.   

What’s to Come 

We are well on our way to realizing our vision, but the market is vast and underserved. There is much 

work to be done, and Wayfair is uniquely positioned to continue to innovate and seize the opportunity 

ahead.  We back up our ambitious vision with aggressive but achievable plans. Some of the most 

impactful of our priorities today fall along the following dimensions:   

-

: After an initial period of investment to stand up many 
Scaling newer categories and services
​

new subcategories and services, we have demonstrated our ability to compete and win. Now, scaling 

each becomes the next priority. Scaling does not only mean better economics, though we expect those 

too. In this next stage, we will elevate each offering through bespoke technology and features that 

make the shopping journey easier and more productive for the customer. A few examples to 

demonstrate what we mean:  

3 

 
 
 
 
 
- Our Wayfair Professional (B2B) business in North America is approaching $1.5B in net 

revenue (in a $100+ billion market). Now that we have a solid foundation, we will refine our 

pre- and post-order offerings for each of the six B2B vertical market segments against which 

we are organized.  

- After entering Large Appliances only a couple of years ago, several major brands are on the 

Wayfair platform today (in 2020, Samsung sponsored Way Day and GE Appliances 

sponsored our Cyber 5 events). The next steps are welcoming the small balance of 

manufacturers still outstanding, and continuing to enhance our merchandising and product 

discovery features to facilitate more brand building and technical differentiation for these 

products. These elements will help our customers find the products best suited to their 

unique needs versus a more commonplace, commoditized view of appliances.  

-

Last year, in services, we significantly upgraded our consumer financing solutions in 

partnership with Citi. The offerings, including a store credit card and a co-branded 

Mastercard, offer very meaningful consumer benefits, thus amplifying the Wayfair loyalty 

cycle. We are now rapidly growing our cardmember base.  

This is not an exhaustive list – rather an illustration of the power of building on and scaling what we 

have already started in many instances across the platform. As the way we merchandise and service 

these newer initiatives becomes increasingly nuanced, we will unlock an even higher-quality experience 

for our customers and further strengthen our partnership with our suppliers.  

-

: With 31 million+ active customers over the last 12 months, 
Expanding our customer reach
​

Wayfair’s brand appeal already extends well beyond the typical vision of a “core customer.” Our brand 

stands for all things home, and we are helping everyone capture that special feeling of home. We are 

focused on reinforcing that identity with every type of customer and building their awareness of the 

breadth of our platform. We will continue our outreach through an ROI-oriented lens, meeting our 

customers anywhere they interact with the category – whether that is on the phone or via email or chat, 

through emerging digital channels, or innovative new approaches in traditional channels like direct mail 

or physical retail. Consistent with our evergreen practice, we approach each channel through iteration, 

testing, and then scaling, with the intent to be a leader across all while making sure to generate a 

strong ROI.  

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-

: We have redefined what it means to shop online for the 
Redefining the supplier experience
​

home through our customer web and app interfaces. As a platform, our supplier experience should be 

equally as rich, intuitive, and powerful. We are bringing more data, more transparency, and more 

control to our suppliers in real time via our Partner Home portal, which should in turn translate to better 

outcomes for all of our supplier partners on Wayfair no matter their size. We will retain the high-touch 

elements that make working with Wayfair exceptional while introducing more self-service tools and 

real-time information to enable quicker, more strategic decision-making for all.   

-

: 
Reinforcing a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusiveness
​

We are proud of the culture we 

have built at Wayfair, but also recognize that there is more we must do to foster an even more inclusive 

environment. Wayfair is data-driven, fast-moving, and collaborative. The caliber of talent we have and 

are attracting is self-reinforcing: We make the best hires because they want to work with the best 

people. Part of what makes us a great team is that 

we embrace each individual for what they bring and 

how they show up; 

we value differing viewpoints and are willing to pivot when presented with 

compelling logic. Diverse teams make better decisions, and we are committed to ensuring equity for 

underrepresented groups and creating pathways for their advancement into all levels of Wayfair. As 

part of that push, we recently committed to a $15 minimum wage for all Wayfairians. We also 

announced our role as founding partner of Boston While Black, the first membership network for 

Boston-based, Black professionals, entrepreneurs, and graduate students who are seeking connection, 

mentorship, and community. These are just a couple of examples to demonstrate how we are 

mobilizing to help drive change and make the world the one we want it to be. As one of the largest 

employers in Boston and in many other locations where we operate, Wayfair is focused on reinforcing a 

culture of inclusivity and diversity within our walls and in our communities. We look forward to leading 

other impactful changes on these fronts in the future.  

-

Gaining advantage through differentiated technology:
​

As we scale, we are embracing 

technology that keeps us innovative, responsive, and agile. We are a technology company first and 

foremost, with more than 3,000 engineers and data scientists among our ranks. As we grow, we are 

becoming a larger investor in bespoke technology. Many of our inherent advantages today come from 

years of technology investment. Take, for instance, pricing models that take into account complex 

demand-response dynamics based on huddles of competitive items, our industry-leading position in 

low-cost photorealistic environmental imagery based on proprietary technology for building 3D models 

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​
​
​
 
 
​
and rendering images, or Wayfair’s whole proprietary stack of marketing technology including 

advertising attribution data science models and advanced bidding systems that allow us to 

cost-effectively identify and attract new customers across a large and growing list of channels. These 

are just three examples; there are dozens more. Today we have efforts underway to do things we 

would not have thought possible just a few years ago.  

As you can tell, the future is ripe with opportunity and we are by no means slowing down as we go after 

it. If anything, we are moving faster as consumer behavior changes accelerate. The Wayfair platform is 

unique and our long-term-oriented operating philosophy is paying off. At today’s scale, we are 

privileged to be able to grow quickly and profitably while continuing to invest in high-ROI initiatives that 

will deliver more breakthroughs and facilitate greater share capture over time. Macro events have 

challenged all of us over the last year, and they are testing us still. Wayfair and its brand and team are 

emerging even stronger, and we will continue to build on that strength both operationally and financially 

in the years and decades to come. 2020 was eventful; our plan is to make 2021 just as 

transformational. Our intent is to be able to say this same thing each year as our gains compound on 

top of the foundation of all of our past work. 

We thank you for your support.  

Niraj Shah

Steven Conine 

Co-Founder, Co-Chairman & CEO

Co-Founder & Co-Chairman

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements: This letter contains forward-looking statements 

within the meaning of federal and state securities laws. All statements other than statements of 

historical fact contained in this letter, including statements regarding statements regarding our 

investment plans and anticipated returns on those investments, the strength of our customer offering, 

our future customer growth, our future results of operations and financial position, our business strategy 

and our plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. You 

are cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations 

6 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
of future events. For important information about the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual 

results to vary materially from the assumptions, expectations, and projections expressed in any 

forward-looking statements, please review the “Forward-Looking Statements” section of the Wayfair 

earnings release issued on February 25, 2021 as well as the most recently filed Wayfair Reports on 

Forms 10-K and 10-Q. Wayfair does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement as a result 

of new information or future events or developments. 

7 

 
 
 
[This page intentionally left blank] 

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-K 

☒	ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT 

OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 
OR

☐	TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT 

OF 1934

For the transition period from                to     
Commission File Number: 001-36666 

Wayfair Inc. 
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware

(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)

4 Copley Place

 Boston, MA

(Address of principal executive offices)

36-4791999

(I.R.S. Employer
Identification Number)

02116

(Zip Code)

(617) 532-6100 
(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of each class
Class A Common Stock, $0.001 par value

Trading symbol(s)
W

Name of each exchange on which registered
The New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
None.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒     No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐	No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange 
Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject 
to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒    No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to 

Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). 
Yes ☒    No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting 

company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer", "smaller reporting company" and "emerging growth company" in 
Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act:

Large Accelerated Filer
Non-accelerated filer

 ☒ Accelerated filer
☐ Smaller reporting company
Emerging growth company

☐
☐

☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying 

with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. o 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its 

internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm 
that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐    No ☒

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates as of June 30, 2020 computed by reference to 

the closing sale price of $197.61 per share as reported on the New York Stock Exchange on that date was $13.1 billion. 

Class

Outstanding at February 15, 2021

Class A Common Stock, $0.001 par value per share 

Class B Common Stock, $0.001 par value per share

77,016,878

26,564,197

1
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

 
 
Certain sections of the registrant's definitive Proxy Statement for the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed with the Securities and 

Exchange Commission pursuant to Rule 14A not later than 120 days after end of this fiscal year covered by this Form 10-K are incorporated by 
reference into Part III of this Form 10-K.

2

Wayfair Inc.
Annual Report on Form 10-K
For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2020 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Business
Risk Factors
Unresolved Staff Comments
Properties
Legal Proceedings
Mine Safety Disclosures

PART I
Item 1.
Item 1A.
Item 1B.
Item 2.
Item 3.
Item 4.
PART II
Item 5.

Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity 
Securities
Selected Consolidated Financial Data
Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
Controls and Procedures
Other Information

Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
Executive Compensation
Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters
Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
Principal Accounting Fees and Services

Item 6.
Item 7.
Item 7A.
Item 8.
Item 9.
Item 9A.
Item 9B.
PART III
Item 10.
Item 11.
Item 12.
Item 13.
Item 14.
PART IV
ITEM 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules
EXHIBIT INDEX
SIGNATURES

PAGE

4
10
32
32
33
33

34

34
34
48
50
85
86
88

88
88
88
88
88

88
89
94

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SUMMARY OF THE MATERIAL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH OUR BUSINESS

Our business is subject to a number of risks that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. 
These risks are discussed more fully below and include, but are not limited to, risks related to:

Risks Related to the novel coronavirus ("COVID-19") Outbreak

•

The recent and ongoing global outbreak and spread of the COVID-19 outbreak, and any future outbreak or other public 
health emergency, could materially affect our operations, liquidity, financial condition and operating results.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Our recent growth rates may not be sustainable or indicative of our future growth.

If we fail to manage our growth effectively, our business, financial condition and operating results could be harmed.

If we fail to acquire new customers or retain existing customers, or fail to do so in a cost-effective manner, we may not 
be able to sustain our recent profitability.

Our success depends in part on our ability to increase our net revenue per active customer. If our efforts to increase 
customer loyalty and repeat purchasing as well as maintain high levels of customer engagement are not successful, our 
growth prospects and net revenue will be materially adversely affected.

Our business depends on our ability to build and maintain strong brands. We may not be able to maintain and enhance 
our brands if we receive unfavorable customer complaints, negative publicity or otherwise fail to live up to consumers' 
expectations, which could materially adversely affect our business, operating results and growth prospects.

Our efforts to expand our business into new brands, products, services, technologies, and geographic regions will subject 
us to additional business, legal, financial and competitive risks and may not be successful.

Expansion of our international operations will require management attention and resources, involves additional risks and 
may be unsuccessful, which could harm our future business development and existing domestic operations.

Until fiscal 2020, we had a history of losses and we may be unable to sustain our recent profitability and positive cash 
flow in the future as we continue to expand our business.

• We depend on our relationships with third parties, and changes in our relationships with these parties could adversely 

impact our net revenue and profits.

•

•

Our failure or the failure of third-party service providers to protect our sites, networks and systems, confidential 
information and assets against security breaches or loss could damage our reputation and brand and substantially harm 
our business and operating results.

Purchasers of home goods may not choose to shop online, which would prevent us from growing our business.

• We may be subject to product liability and other similar claims if people or property are harmed by the products we sell.

•

Risks associated with the suppliers from whom our products are sourced could materially adversely affect our financial 
performance as well as our reputation and brand.

• We may be unable to source new suppliers or strengthen our relationships with current suppliers.

•

•

Seasonal trends in our business create variability in our financial and operating results and place increased strain on our 
operations. 

Uncertainties in global economic conditions and their impact on consumer spending patterns, particularly in the home 
goods market, could adversely impact our operating results.

2

Risks Related to Laws and Regulations

•

•

Government regulation of the Internet and e-commerce is evolving and unfavorable changes or failure by us to comply 
with these regulations could substantially harm our business and operating results.

Expansion into new global markets may subject us to additional laws and regulations, requiring additional investment to 
comply, which could adversely affect our operating results, or subject us to fines and penalties. 

Risks Related to Our Indebtedness

•

Our outstanding indebtedness, or additional indebtedness that we may incur, could limit our operating flexibility and 
adversely affect our financial condition.

Risks Related to Ownership of our Class A Common Stock

•

•

The dual class structure of our common stock has the effect of concentrating voting control with our co-founders, which 
will limit your ability to influence corporate matters.

Our stock price may be volatile or may decline regardless of our operating performance.

3

Item 1.    Business 

Overview

PART I

Wayfair is one of the world's largest online destinations for the home. Its co-founders are lifetime tech innovators who have 

worked together in the commercial Internet sector since 1995. As engineers themselves, they have created a company culture 
deeply rooted in technology and data, and their significant equity ownership in Wayfair has informed their leadership and allowed 
them to take a long-term view when building the company. Unless the context indicates otherwise, "Wayfair," "the company," 
"we," "us," "our" and similar terms refer to Wayfair Inc. and its subsidiaries.

Through our e-commerce platform, we offer customers visually inspired browsing, compelling merchandising, easy product 

discovery and attractive prices for over twenty-two million products from over 16,000 suppliers. We are focused on bringing our 
customers an experience that is at the forefront of shopping for the home online. Wayfair customers span a wide range of 
demographics, with annual household income ranging from $25,000 to $250,000, and also include business professionals. 
Because each of our customers has a different taste, style, purchasing goal and budget when shopping for her home, we have built 
one of the largest online selections of furniture, décor, housewares and home improvement products. We are able to offer this vast 
selection of products because we hold minimal inventory. We specialize in the home category and this has enabled us to build a 
shopping experience and logistics infrastructure that is tailored to the unique characteristics of our market.

The delivery experience and overall customer service we offer our shoppers are central to our business. The majority of our 

products are shipped to customers directly from our suppliers with an increasing proportion flowing through our own logistics 
network. We have invested considerably in our logistics network and leverage these capabilities to improve the experience for 
both customers and suppliers. This network consists of CastleGate and the Wayfair Delivery Network ("WDN"). We also offer 
inbound services via International Supply Chain ("ISC") solutions. Our CastleGate facilities enable suppliers to forward-position 
their inventory in our warehouses, allowing us to offer faster delivery. Through WDN, we can directly manage large parcel 
deliveries via consolidation centers, cross docks and last mile delivery facilities, which, alongside CastleGate, enables us to speed 
up deliveries, decrease our reliance on third parties and undertake efforts to reduce damage. ISC services allow our suppliers to 
unlock efficiencies on inbound logistics, including through Asia-based product consolidation and port-to-door freight forwarding 
solutions. We believe these investments in logistics capabilities result in an enhanced experience for our customers and suppliers. 
In addition to logistics, we offer a range of supplemental media and merchandising services in support of a seamless selling 
experience for suppliers. We also believe providing superior customer service is key to delighting our customers. Our customer 
service locations are staffed with over 4,100 highly-trained sales and service employees located in the United States ("U.S.") and 
Europe.

Segments 

Our operating and reportable segments are the U.S. and International, which includes our businesses in Canada, the United 
Kingdom and Germany. See Note 13 to the consolidated financial statements, Segment and Geographic Information, included in 
Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Net revenue of the U.S. 
segment represented 84% of consolidated net revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Our Industry

The home goods market is large and characterized by specific consumer trends, structural challenges and market dynamics 

that are shaping the future of our industry.

Addressable Market Size and Growth

We estimate today the annual U.S. market for home goods is approximately $450 billion, of which approximately 20% is 

sold online by our estimates. According to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau, there are approximately 99 million 
households in the U.S. with annual incomes between $25,000 and $250,000. Moreover, we believe there are approximately 193 
million individuals between the ages of 20 and 64 in the U.S., many of whom are accustomed to purchasing goods online. As 
younger generations age, start new families and move into new homes, we expect online sales of home goods to increase. In 
addition, we believe the online home goods market will further grow as older generations of consumers become increasingly 
comfortable purchasing online. Including our presence in Canada and Western Europe, we believe we have more than doubled the 
size of our total addressable market. 

4

Why Home is Different

Home is shopped differently than other retail verticals. Homes are personal expressions of self and identity, which is why 

many consumers seek uniqueness, crave originality and enjoy the feeling created by home design, furniture and décor. Consumers 
shopping for home goods often cannot articulate exactly what they are looking for and they rarely know the names of the 
manufacturer brands they like, as the category is largely unbranded. We believe search-based websites have difficulty serving 
customers shopping for home products in this more emotional, visual and inspirational manner.

When shopping for the home, consumers desire uniqueness, which requires vast selection. In the market for home goods, 

consumers with different tastes, styles, purchasing goals and budgets require a broad selection of products and choices. Brick and 
mortar home goods retailers must balance scale of selection with the challenges of high inventory carrying costs and limited 
showroom and storage space - as a result, to browse a vast selection of products, consumers must shop multiple stores. Other e-
commerce retailers that sell home goods typically focus their shopping experiences around keyword search, instead of a browse-
oriented journey that encourages discovery. We believe the lack of an easy-to-browse, one-stop shopping experience with massive 
selection has led to dissatisfaction with home goods shopping both online and off. 

Logistics, fulfillment and customer service for home goods products are challenging given the variety of categories and 

price points and the mix of heavy and bulky items. Home goods often have a low dollar value to weight ratio compared to other 
categories of retail, therefore requiring a logistics network that is optimized for items with those characteristics. Many consumers 
also seek first-rate customer service so they are not burdened with managing delivery, shipping and return logistics on their own. 
However, we believe big box retailers that serve the mass market for home goods are often unable or unwilling to provide this 
level of service. 

Our Solution - Key Benefits for Our Customers

We offer broad selection and choice. We have one of the largest online selections of furniture, décor, housewares and home 
improvement products, with over twenty-two million products from over 16,000 suppliers. We have built a portfolio of over 100 
house brands, which offer a curated brand experience, making it easier for customers to discover styles, products and price points 
that appeal to them.

Convenience and value are central to our offering. We are a one-stop shop for consumers in the home goods category, with 

competitive pricing reflecting the many supplier participants on our platform and a differentiated and robust merchandising 
experience. For items shipped from our CastleGate warehouses, we are able to deliver many products to a majority of the U.S. 
population in two days or less.

We give customers inspirational content and an engaging shopping journey. To inspire customers, we produce beautiful 
imagery and highly-tailored editorial content both in house and through third parties. We use personalization to create a more 
engaging consumer experience and we allow customers to create looks they love with tools such as our Idea Boards. More than 
half of the traffic coming to Wayfair.com is from mobile devices and our investment in mobile allows us to deliver value, 
convenience and inspiration to consumers anytime and anywhere. Our mobile app also offers customers a powerful way to shop 
for their home from their home using our "View in Room 3D" augmented reality tool. 

We support our customers' shopping journey from start to finish through everything from financing solutions to customer 

support. Our private label and co-branded credit cards build loyalty and encourage repeat shopping with cash back rewards. 
Superior customer service is a core part of the experience we offer shoppers. Our customer service organization has over 4,100 
employees who help consumers navigate our sites, answer questions and complete orders, as well as specialists focused on 
specific product classes. This team helps us build trust with consumers, build our brand awareness, enhance our reputation and 
drive sales.

Our Solution - Key Benefits for Our Suppliers

We give suppliers cost-effective access to our large customer base. We sell products from over 16,000 suppliers, many of 

which are small, family-run operations without well-known product brands and without easy retail access to a large customer 
base. We provide our suppliers with access to our large customer base, with 31.2 million active customers over the last twelve 
months, enabling them to increase their sales and access the growing e-commerce market.

Suppliers can leverage our technological expertise to enhance their success on our platform. Our technology platform is 

designed to allow suppliers to easily provide us with their full product selection and to highlight selected products for customers 
on our sites. We offer our suppliers a view of our demand and inventory needs via powerful data and analytics. Suppliers are also 
able to enhance their media and merchandising by using additional services provided by Wayfair, including through sponsored 

5

content and 3D image creation. Through our technology platform, we believe many of our suppliers have increased their sales, 
which has strengthened their loyalty to us. 

Our logistics infrastructure allows us to ship directly to our customers from our suppliers or from our CastleGate 
warehouses. This fulfillment network is a key component of our custom-built and seamlessly integrated technology and 
operational platform.

Sites and Brands 

Each of our customers has a different taste, style, purchasing goal and budget when shopping for her home. To help her find 

the right products for her home, we offer a family of sites, each with a unique brand identity that offers a tailored shopping 
experience and rich product selection to a different target audience.

Wayfair - Everything home for every budget. 

Joss & Main - Stylish designs to discover daily.

AllModern - The best of modern, priced for real life.

Birch Lane - Classic home. Comfortable cost.

Perigold - The widest-ever selection of luxury home furnishings.

Wayfair represents a significant majority of our net revenue and is the only one of our sites that also operates 

internationally, operating as Wayfair.ca in Canada, Wayfair.co.uk in the United Kingdom and Wayfair.de in Germany.

On our sites, we also feature certain products under our house brands, such as Three Posts® and Mercury Row®. Through 

these house brands, which feature curated selections refined by style and price point, we help our customers navigate our vast 
product assortment to find items that uniquely match their needs. 

"Direct Retail" sales include net revenue from customers generated through the family of sites described above. 

Technology

We have custom-built our proprietary technology and operational platform to deliver the best experience for both our 

customers and suppliers. Our success has been built on a culture of data-driven decision-making, operational discipline and an 
unwavering focus on the customer. We believe that control of our technology systems, which gives us the ability to update them 
often, is a competitive advantage. 

Our team of over 3,000 engineers and data scientists has built a full set of technology solutions specific to the home goods 
market. Our storefront consists of a large set of tools and systems with which our customers directly interact, that are specifically 
tuned for shopping the home goods category by mixing lifestyle imagery with easy-to-use navigation tools and personalization 
features designed to increase customer conversion. We have designed operations software to deliver the reliable and consistent 
experience consumers desire, with proprietary software enhancing our performance in areas such as integration with our suppliers, 
our warehouse and logistics network and our customer service operation. Much of our advertising technology was internally 
developed, including campaign management and bidding algorithms for online advertising. This allows us to leverage our internal 
data and target customers efficiently across various channels. We also partner selectively with marketing partners where we find 
solutions that meet our marketing objectives and deliver a strong return on investment. 

Much of the underlying infrastructure for storefront, operations and advertising technology is common across all of our sites 

and countries. We rely on a hybrid data infrastructure that integrates a physical data center network with a cloud-based solution 
for data storage and processing. Our physical data centers are highly secure, with wide geographic distribution and engineering 
resources to support high availability. These systems are monitored 24x7 by our network operations center for performance and 
security.

Marketing

Our marketing efforts bring new and repeat customers to our sites and help us acquire their email addresses through various 
paid and non-paid advertising methods. Our paid advertising efforts consist primarily of online channels, including search engine 
marketing, display advertising and paid social media, and to a lesser extent direct mail and television advertisements. Our non-
paid advertising efforts include search engine optimization, non-paid social media, mobile "push" notifications and email. Upon 
acquiring a customer or a potential customer's email address, we seek to increase their engagement with our sites and drive repeat 

6

purchases. This effort to increase engagement and repeat purchasing is driven by all of our marketing tools, including 
personalized email marketing efforts and customer retargeting. We rigorously manage our paid marketing efforts towards the goal 
that each new spending initiative is cost-effective with a measurable return on investment within a designated period of time.

Logistics

Our logistics network was built specifically for the home category, where items can be bulky, heavy and prone to damage. 

Historically, our primary method of fulfillment was a drop-ship network where integration into our suppliers' back-end 
technology infrastructure allowed us to process an order and send it directly to a supplier's warehouse. We would then arrange for 
shipment from the loading dock of the supplier's warehouse to the customer's home. Depending on the size of the package, the 
delivery would be made either through carriers such as FedEx, UPS, DHL, the U.S. Postal Service or third-party line haul 
trucking companies and third-party last mile home delivery agents. Today, an increasing proportion of customer orders is being 
shipped from our CastleGate warehouses. This is facilitated by our ISC services, offering inbound freight, drayage and ocean 
services for suppliers sending products from Asia with direct delivery to CastleGate locations. The majority of large parcel items 
are delivered to the customer through our WDN, which includes consolidation centers, cross docks and last mile delivery 
facilities. For smaller items, we partner with carriers to handle the delivery to the customer. We believe that our proprietary 
logistics network will help drive incremental sales by delighting our customers with faster delivery times and a better home 
delivery experience. Over time we believe this network will also lower our costs per order by reducing damage rates and 
leveraging economies of scale in transportation.

Customer Service

Our customer service team consists of approximately 4,100 highly-trained sales and service employees located across the 

U.S. and Europe who are available to help our customers with sales and service via phone, email or online chat. Because we view 
superior customer service as one of our key values, our sales and service employees receive extensive training as well as 
competitive compensation and benefit packages. The team consists of generalists as well as specialists who have deeper expertise 
and training in select areas of our catalog, such as lighting, flooring and upholstery.

Our Growth Strategy

Our goal is to further improve our leadership in the home goods market by pursuing the following key strategies:

continue building our brands by delighting our customers; 

acquire new customers and increase repeat purchases from existing customers;

invest in technology to further improve our customer and supplier experiences;

grow certain categories where we under-index the broader home goods market today;

increase delivery speed and improve the delivery experience for our customers through the continued build-out of 
our proprietary logistics network;

continue to expand internationally; and

opportunistically pursue strategic acquisitions.

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Competition

The market for online home goods and furniture is highly competitive, fragmented and rapidly changing. While we are 
primarily focused on the mass market, we compete across all segments of the home goods market. Our competition includes 
furniture stores, big box retailers, department stores, specialty retailers and online retailers and marketplaces in the U.S., Canada, 
the United Kingdom and Germany, including:

•

•

•

Furniture Stores: American Freight, Ashley Furniture, Bob's Discount Furniture, Havertys, Raymour & Flanigan 
and Rooms To Go;

Big Box Retailers: Bed Bath & Beyond, Home Depot, IKEA, Lowe's, Target and Walmart;

Department Stores: JCPenney, Macy's and Neiman Marcus;

7

•

•

•

Specialty Retailers: Arhaus, At Home, Container Store, Crate and Barrel, Design Within Reach, Ethan Allen, Floor 
& Decor, LL Flooring, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, Restoration Hardware, Room & Board, TJX Companies and 
Williams Sonoma;

Online Retailers and Marketplaces: Amazon, Build.com, Houzz, eBay and Overstock

International: Argos, Canadian Tire, Home24, John Lewis, Leon's, Made, Otto and Westwing, in addition to 
several of the companies listed above who also compete with us internationally.

We believe that the primary competitive factors in the mass market are vast selection, visually inspiring browsing, 
compelling merchandising, ease of product discovery, price, convenience, reliability, speed of fulfillment and customer service. 
We believe our technological and operational expertise allows us to provide our customers with a vast selection of goods, 
attractive price points, reliable and timely fulfillment, plus superior customer service and that the combination of these capabilities 
is what provides us with a sustainable competitive advantage.

Human Capital

At Wayfair, we believe strongly in our people and want to ensure each and every employee is empowered and positioned to 

bring their authentic self to work every day.

Wayfair has a dedicated Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team that serves as our internal compass in promoting a global 
community, ensuring an inclusive culture and growing market penetration through innovation that only a sense of belonging 
across a diverse workforce can provide. We use qualitative and quantitative data to identify levers to create equitable outcomes 
for not only our people, but for our customers, our suppliers and our partners.

As we look to the future of our business and the ever changing landscape of our diverse population, we believe that focusing 
on leadership commitment and collaboration, awareness and education, building infrastructure to support a diverse population and 
growing our employee resource groups is imperative to building a workplace that feels like home.

We believe we have a good relationship with our employees, which include 16,122 full-time equivalent employees as of 
December 31, 2020. Additionally, we rely on independent contractors and temporary personnel to supplement our workforce, 
primarily in our logistics network. None of our employees are represented by a labor union or covered by a collective bargaining 
agreement.

COVID-19 Outbreak

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak to be a global pandemic. The global health 
crisis caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, including any resurgences, has and will continue to negatively impact global economic 
activity. During this time, our focus remains on promoting the health, safety and financial security of our employees and serving 
our customers. As a result, we have taken a number of precautionary measures, including implementing social distancing, 
enhanced cleaning measures and COVID-19 testing in our facilities, suspending all non-essential travel, transitioning a large 
portion of our employees to working-from-home, reimbursing certain employee technology purchases, establishing employee 
welfare programs, providing emergency paid time off and targeted hourly pay increases and developing no-contact delivery 
methods.

While the COVID-19 outbreak has not had a material adverse impact on our operations to date and we believe the long-term 

opportunity that we see for shopping for the home online remains unchanged, it is difficult to predict all of the positive or negative 
impacts the COVID-19 outbreak will have on our business over the short- and long-term.

Additional information regarding the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on our business is set forth within this Part I, Item 
1A, Risk Factors and Part II, Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Seasonality 

Our business is affected by seasonality, which historically has resulted in higher sales volume during our fourth quarter, 
which ends December 31. However, during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, typical seasonality was disrupted by the 
COVID-19 outbreak. Beginning in March 2020, authorities across the U.S. and the globe implemented varying degrees of 
restriction on social and commercial activity to promote social distancing in an effort to slow the spread of the illness, including 

8

travel bans, stay-at-home orders and shutdowns of certain businesses. These factors contributed to higher sales volume during our 
second and third quarters of fiscal 2020. 

Intellectual Property

We believe our intellectual property, including any trademarks, service marks, copyrights, domain names, patents, trade 

dress, trade secrets and proprietary technologies, is an important part of our business. We seek to protect our intellectual property 
by relying on federal, state and common law rights in the United States and other countries, as well as contractual restrictions. We 
generally enter into confidentiality and assignment of invention assignment agreements with employees and certain contractors 
and confidentiality agreements with other third parties, such as suppliers, in order to limit access to, and disclosure and use of, our 
confidential information and proprietary technology. In addition to these contractual arrangements, we also rely on a combination 
of trademarks, trade dress, domain names, copyrights, trade secrets and patents to help protect our other intellectual property.

Company Information

We began operating as Smart Tech Toys, Inc., a Massachusetts corporation, in May 2002 and changed our name to CSN 

Stores, Inc. in February 2003. From 2002 through 2011, the company was bootstrapped by our co-founders and operated as 
hundreds of niche websites, such as bedroomfurniture.com and allbarstools.com. In March 2008, we formed, and contributed all 
of the assets and liabilities of CSN Stores, Inc. to a subsidiary, CSN Stores LLC, and we continued operating our business through 
this Delaware limited liability company. In late 2011, we made the strategic decision to close and permanently redirect over 240 
of our niche websites into Wayfair.com. As part of that shift, we changed the name of CSN Stores, Inc. to SK Retail, Inc. and 
changed our name from CSN Stores LLC to Wayfair LLC. In connection with our initial public offering, we completed a 
corporate reorganization, as a result of which Wayfair Inc. was formed to be a holding company with no material assets other than 
100% of the equity interests in Wayfair LLC and SK Retail, Inc.

Available Information

We encourage investors to use our investor relations website, investor.wayfair.com, to find information about us. We 
promptly make available on this website, free of charge, the reports that we file or furnish with the Securities and Exchange 
Commission ("SEC"), as well as corporate governance information (including our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics). We file 
annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy and information statements 
and amendments to reports filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a), 14 and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as 
amended (the "Exchange Act"). The SEC maintains a website at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information 
statements and other information regarding Wayfair and other issuers that file electronically with the SEC. Our telephone number 
is (617) 532-6100 and our website address is www.wayfair.com. The information contained in our website or connected thereto is 
not a part of, or incorporated into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Further, our references to website URLs are intended to be 
inactive textual references only.

9

Item 1A.    Risk Factors

Our operations and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described below. We 
caution you that the following important factors, among others, could cause our actual results to differ materially from those 
expressed in forward-looking statements made by us or on our behalf in filings with the SEC, press releases, communications with 
investors and oral statements. Any or all of our forward-looking statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and in any other 
public statements we make may turn out to be wrong. They can be affected by inaccurate assumptions we might make or by known 
or unknown risks and uncertainties. Many factors mentioned in the discussion below will be important in determining future 
results. Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Actual future results may differ materially from those 
anticipated in forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a 
result of new information, future events or otherwise. You are advised, however, to consult any further disclosure we make in our 
reports filed with the SEC.

Risks Related to the COVID-19 Outbreak 

The recent and ongoing global outbreak and spread of the COVID-19 outbreak, and any future outbreak or other public 

health emergency, could materially affect our business, liquidity, financial condition and operating results.

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak to be a global pandemic. In response to 

this declaration and the rapid spread of COVID-19 globally, authorities across the U.S. and the globe have and continue to 
implement varying degrees of restriction on social and commercial activity to promote social distancing in an effort to slow the 
spread of the illness, some of which have been subsequently rescinded or modified, such as travel bans, stay-at-home orders and 
shutdowns of certain businesses. These measures have impacted and may continue to impact all or portions of our workforce, 
operations, suppliers and customers and demand for our products and services. For example, the COVID-19 outbreak has 
disrupted the global supply chain, including many of our suppliers, as factory closures and reduced manufacturing output 
impacted inventory levels, potentially exacerbated by surging demand for products. During the COVID-19 outbreak, however, we 
have seen increased sales and order activity and, at times, lower advertising costs in the market.

The virus also impacted our workforce, moving a large portion of our employees to working-from-home and adding 

administrative complexity to our everyday human resources and employee technology functions. Disruption caused by business 
responses to the COVID-19 outbreak, including working-from-home arrangements, may create increased vulnerability to 
cybersecurity incidents, including breaches of information systems security, which could damage our reputation and commercial 
relationships, disrupt operations, increase costs and/or decrease net revenues and expose us to claims from customers, suppliers, 
financial institutions, regulators, payment card associations, employees and others, any of which could have a material adverse 
effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

The spread of COVID-19, and any future pandemic, epidemic or similar outbreak, may disrupt our third-party business 

partners’ ability to meet their obligations to us, which may negatively affect our operations. These third parties include our 
suppliers and logistics providers, such as FedEx, UPS, DHL, the U.S. Postal Service and other third-party delivery agents, as their 
workers may be prohibited or otherwise unable to report to work and transporting products within regions or countries may be 
limited due to extended holidays, factory closures, port closures and increased border controls and closures, among other things. 
We may also incur higher shipping costs due to various surcharges by third-party delivery agents on retailers related to the 
increased shipping demand resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak. These higher costs affected us in the fourth quarter of 2020 as 
a result of peak surcharges during the holiday season and may continue to affect us in future quarters.

Further, our efforts to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 through social distancing measures, enhanced cleaning 

measures, the increased use of personal protective equipment and COVID-19 testing at our warehouses and other facilities, as 
well as other steps taken to protect the health, safety and financial security of our employees, may result in other negative impacts 
on our operations, including increased costs, reduced efficiency levels or labor disputes resulting in a strike or other work 
stoppage or interruption.

The COVID-19 outbreak has also significantly increased economic uncertainty and has led to disruption and volatility in 

the global capital markets, which could increase the cost of and accessibility to capital. If we need to access the capital markets, 
there can be no assurance that financing may be available on attractive terms, if at all. The COVID-19 outbreak has caused a 
significant economic slowdown, which could be of an unknown duration, could lead to increased unemployment, reduced 
discretionary consumer spending and a corresponding reduction in demand for our products and could result in a material adverse 
effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

10

Governments around the world have implemented fiscal stimulus measures to counteract the effects of the COVID-19 

outbreak, however, the magnitude and overall effectiveness of these actions remain uncertain. Further, the full extent of the 
impact of COVID-19, including the extent of its impact on our business and financial condition, will depend on numerous 
evolving factors that we may not be able to accurately predict, including, but not limited to: the length of time that the outbreak 
continues; the availability and distribution of an effective vaccine; its effect on our suppliers, logistics providers and the demand 
for our products; the effect of governmental regulations imposed in response to the outbreak; the effect on our customers, their 
communities and customer demand and ability to pay for our products and services, which may be affected by prolonged high 
unemployment, increased consumer debt levels, changes in net worth due to market conditions and other factors that impact 
consumer confidence; disruptions or restrictions on our employees’ ability to work and travel, as well as uncertainty regarding all 
of the foregoing. We cannot at this time predict the full impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, but it could have a larger material 
adverse effect on our business, liquidity, financial condition and operating results beyond what is discussed within this report. We 
will continue to actively monitor the COVID-19 situation and may take further actions that alter our business operations as may 
be required by federal, state, local or foreign authorities, or that we determine are in the best interests of our customers, 
employees, suppliers, partners, stockholders and communities. We cannot predict with any certainty whether and to what degree 
the disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak and reactions thereto will continue, and we expect to face difficulty in 
accurately forecasting our financial condition and operational results.

As noted above, however, in the short term we have continued to see increased sales and order activity since the 
COVID-19 outbreak. These results, as well as those of other metrics such as net revenues, gross margins and other financial and 
operating data, may not be indicative of results for future periods. Some of the increased demand is likely due to customers being 
required or encouraged to stay at home, school closures and employers requiring employees to work remotely. Some is also likely 
attributable to the timing of tax refunds and COVID-related stimulus payments. Such increased demand may increase beyond 
manageable levels, may fluctuate significantly, or may not continue, including the possibility that demand may decrease from 
historical levels. Much is unknown, including the duration and severity of the COVID-19 outbreak, the amount of time it will take 
for normal economic activity to resume, and future government actions that may be taken, and accordingly the situation remains 
dynamic and subject to rapid and possibly material change, including but not limited to changes that may materially affect the 
operations of our suppliers, logistics providers and customers, which ultimately could result in material adverse effects on our 
business, financial condition and operating results.

Additionally, to the extent the COVID-19 outbreak adversely affects our business, results of operations or financial 

condition, it may heighten other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section below.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

Our recent growth rates may not be sustainable or indicative of our future growth.

Our historical growth rates may not be sustainable or indicative of future growth. We believe that our continued revenue 

growth will depend upon, among other factors, our ability to:

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

build our brands and launch new brands;

acquire new customers and increase repeat purchases from existing customers;

develop new features to enhance the consumer experience on our sites, mobile-optimized sites and mobile 
applications;

increase the frequency with which new and repeat customers purchase products on our sites through merchandising, 
data, analytics and technology;

add new suppliers and deepen our relationships with our existing suppliers;

grow certain categories where we under index the broader home goods market today;

enhance the systems our consumers use to interact with our sites and invest in our infrastructure platform;

increase delivery speed and improve the delivery experience for our customers through the continued build-out of 
our proprietary logistics network;

continue to expand internationally; and

opportunistically pursue strategic acquisitions.

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We cannot assure you we will be able to achieve any of the foregoing. Our customer base may not continue to grow or may 
decline as a result of increased competition and the maturation of our business. Failure to continue our revenue growth rates could 
have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results. You should not rely on our historical rate of 
revenue growth as an indication of our future performance.

If we fail to manage our growth effectively, our business, financial condition and operating results could be harmed.

To manage our growth effectively, we must continue to implement our operational plans and strategies, improve and 
expand our infrastructure of people and information systems and expand, train and manage our employee base. We have rapidly 
increased employee headcount since our inception to support the growth in our business. To support continued growth, we must 
effectively integrate, develop and motivate a large number of new employees. If our new hires perform poorly, if we are 
unsuccessful in hiring, training, managing and integrating these new employees and staff, or if we are not successful in retaining 
our existing employees and staff, our business may be harmed. Moreover, in February 2020 we implemented reductions in force 
and may in the future implement other reductions in force. Any reduction in force may yield unintended consequences and costs, 
such as attrition beyond the intended reduction in force, the distraction of employees, reduced employee morale and adverse 
effects to our reputation as an employer, which could make it more difficult for us to hire new employees in the future, and the 
risk that we may not achieve the anticipated benefits from the reduction in force. Properly managing our growth will require us to 
establish consistent policies across regions and functions, and a failure to do so could likewise harm our business. We also face 
significant competition for personnel, particularly in the Boston, Massachusetts and Berlin, Germany areas where our largest 
corporate offices are located. Failure to manage our hiring needs effectively or successfully integrate our new hires may have a 
material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

Additionally, the growth of our business places significant demands on our operations, as well as our management and 

other employees. For example, we typically launch hundreds of promotional events across thousands of products each month on 
our sites via emails, "push" notifications and personalized displays. These events require us to produce updates of our sites and 
emails to our customers on a daily basis with different products, photos and text. Any surge in online traffic and orders associated 
with such promotional activities places increased strain on our operations, including our logistics network, and may cause or 
exacerbate slowdowns or interruptions. The growth of our business may require significant additional resources to meet these 
daily requirements, which may not scale in a cost-effective manner or may negatively affect the quality of our sites and customer 
experience. We are also required to manage relationships with a growing number of suppliers, customers and other third parties. 
Our information technology systems and our internal controls and procedures may not be adequate to support future growth of our 
supplier and employee base. If we are unable to manage the growth of our organization effectively, our business, financial 
condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected.

If we fail to acquire new customers or retain existing customers, or fail to do so in a cost-effective manner, we may not be 

able to sustain our recent profitability.

Our success depends on our ability to acquire and retain customers in a cost-effective manner. In order to expand our 
customer base, we must appeal to and acquire customers who have historically used other means of commerce to purchase home 
goods and may prefer alternatives to our offerings, such as traditional brick and mortar retailers, the websites of our competitors 
or our suppliers' own websites. We have made significant investments related to customer acquisition and expect to continue to 
spend significant amounts to acquire additional customers. Our paid advertising efforts consist primarily of online channels, 
including display advertising, paid search advertising, social media advertising, search engine optimization, comparison shopping 
engine advertising, television advertising, direct mail, catalog and print advertising. These efforts are expensive and may not 
result in the cost-effective acquisition of customers. We cannot assure you that the net profit from new customers we acquire will 
ultimately exceed the cost of acquiring those customers. Additionally, actions by third parties to block or impose restrictions on 
the delivery of certain advertisements could also adversely impact our business. If we fail to deliver a quality shopping 
experience, or if consumers do not perceive the products we offer to be of high value and quality, we may not be able to acquire 
new customers or retain existing customers. If we are unable to acquire new customers who purchase products in numbers 
sufficient to grow our business, we may not be able to generate the scale necessary to drive beneficial network effects with our 
suppliers or efficiencies in our logistics network, our net revenue may decrease, and our business, financial condition and 
operating results may be materially adversely affected.

We believe that many of our new customers originate from word-of-mouth and other non-paid referrals from existing 
customers. Therefore, we must ensure that our existing customers remain loyal to us in order to continue receiving those referrals. 
If our efforts to satisfy our existing customers are not successful, we may not be able to acquire new customers in sufficient 
numbers to continue to grow our business, or we may be required to incur significantly higher marketing expenses in order to 
acquire new customers.

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We also utilize non-paid advertising. Our non-paid advertising efforts include search engine optimization, non-paid social 
media, mobile "push" notifications and email. We obtain a significant amount of traffic via search engines and, therefore, rely on 
search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo!. Search engines frequently update and change the logic that determines the 
placement and display of results of a user's search, such that the purchased or algorithmic placement of links to our sites can be 
negatively affected. Moreover, a search engine could, for competitive or other purposes, alter its search algorithms or results, 
causing our sites to place lower in search query results. A major search engine could change its algorithms in a manner that 
negatively affects our paid or non-paid search ranking, and competitive dynamics could impact the effectiveness of search engine 
marketing or search engine optimization. We also obtain a significant amount of traffic via social networking websites or other 
channels used by our current and prospective customers. As e-commerce and social networking continue to rapidly evolve, we 
must continue to establish relationships with these channels and may be unable to develop or maintain these relationships on 
acceptable terms. If we are unable to cost-effectively drive traffic to our sites, our ability to acquire new customers or retain our 
existing customers and our financial condition would suffer.

Our success depends in part on our ability to increase our net revenue per active customer. If our efforts to increase 
customer loyalty and repeat purchasing as well as maintain high levels of customer engagement are not successful, our growth 
prospects and net revenue will be materially adversely affected.

Our ability to grow our business depends on our ability to retain our existing customer base and generate increased net 
revenue and repeat purchases from this customer base and maintain high levels of customer engagement. To do this, we must 
continue to provide our customers and potential customers with a unified, convenient, efficient and differentiated shopping 
experience by:

•

providing imagery, tools and technology that attract customers who historically would have bought elsewhere;

• maintaining a high-quality and diverse portfolio of products and services;

•

delivering products on time and without damage; and

• maintaining and further developing our mobile platforms.

If we fail to increase net revenue per active customer, generate repeat purchases or maintain high levels of customer 

engagement, our growth prospects, operating results and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

Our business depends on our ability to build and maintain strong brands. We may not be able to maintain and enhance 

our brands if we receive unfavorable customer complaints, negative publicity or otherwise fail to live up to consumers' 
expectations, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and growth prospects.

Maintaining and enhancing our brands is critical to expanding our base of customers and suppliers. Our ability to maintain 

and enhance our brand depends largely on our ability to maintain customer confidence in our product and service offerings, 
including by delivering products on time and without damage. If customers do not have a satisfactory shopping experience, they 
may seek out alternative offerings from our competitors and may not return to our sites as often in the future, or at all. In addition, 
unfavorable publicity regarding, for example, our practices relating to privacy and data protection, product quality, delivery 
problems, competitive pressures, litigation or regulatory activity, could seriously harm our reputation. Such negative publicity 
also could have an adverse effect on the size, engagement and loyalty of our customer base and result in decreased net revenue, 
which could adversely affect our business and financial results. A significant portion of our customers' brand experience also 
depends on third parties outside our control, including suppliers, assembly and installation service providers and logistics 
providers such as FedEx, UPS, DHL, the U.S. Postal Service and other third-party delivery agents. If these third parties do not 
meet our or our customers' expectations, our brands may suffer irreparable damage. 

In addition, maintaining and enhancing these brands may require us to make substantial investments, and these investments 

may not be successful. If we fail to promote and maintain our brands, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our 
business, operating results and financial condition may be materially adversely affected. We anticipate that, as our market 
becomes increasingly competitive, maintaining and enhancing our brands may become increasingly difficult and expensive. 
Maintaining and enhancing our brands will depend largely on our ability to provide high quality products to our customers and a 
reliable, trustworthy and profitable sales channel to our suppliers, which we may not be able to do successfully.

Customer complaints or negative publicity about our sites, products, delivery times, company practices, employees, 
customer data handling and security practices or customer support, especially on blogs, social media websites and our sites, could 
rapidly and severely diminish consumer use of our sites and consumer and supplier confidence in us and result in harm to our 
brands.

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Our efforts to expand our business into new brands, products, services, technologies and geographic regions will subject 

us to additional business, legal, financial and competitive risks and may not be successful.

Our business success depends to some extent on our ability to expand our customer offerings by launching new brands and 

services and by expanding our existing offerings into new geographies. For example, we recently launched the Kelly Clarkson 
Home Collection and Hykkon, a European Union flagship brand, and in 2016 we launched Wayfair.ca in Canada. Launching new 
brands and services or expanding internationally requires significant upfront investments, including investments in marketing, 
information technology and additional personnel. Expanding our brands internationally is particularly challenging because it 
requires us to gain country-specific knowledge about consumers, regional competitors and local laws, construct catalogs specific 
to the country, build local logistics capabilities and customize portions of our technology for local markets. We may not be able to 
generate satisfactory net revenue from these efforts to offset these costs. Any lack of market acceptance of our efforts to launch 
new brands and services or to expand our existing offerings could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, 
financial condition and operating results. Further, as we continue to expand our fulfillment capability or add new businesses with 
different requirements, our logistics networks become increasingly complex and operating them becomes more challenging. There 
can be no assurance that we will be able to operate our networks effectively.

We have also entered and may continue to enter new markets in which we have limited or no experience, which may not be 

successful or appealing to our customers. These activities may present new and difficult technological and logistical challenges, 
and resulting service disruptions, failures or other quality issues may cause customer dissatisfaction and harm our reputation and 
brand. Further, our current and potential competitors in new market segments may have greater brand recognition, financial 
resources, longer operating histories and larger customer bases than we do in these areas. As a result, we may not be successful 
enough in these newer areas to recoup our investments in them. If this occurs, our business, financial condition and operating 
results may be materially adversely affected.

Expansion of our international operations will require management attention and resources, involves additional risks, 

and may be unsuccessful, which could harm our future business development and existing domestic operations.

We believe international expansion represents a significant growth opportunity for us. We currently deliver products to 
customers in a number of countries, and plan to expand into other international markets in order to grow our business, which will 
require significant management attention and resources. For example, we have made and will continue to make significant 
investments in information technology, logistics, supplier relationships, merchandising and marketing in the foreign jurisdictions 
in which we operate or plan to operate. We have limited experience in selling our products to conform to different local cultures, 
standards and regulations, and the products we offer may not appeal to customers in the same manner, if at all, in other 
geographies. We may have to compete with local companies who understand the local market better than we do and/or may have 
greater brand recognition than we do. In addition, to deliver satisfactory performance for customers in international locations, it 
may be necessary to locate physical facilities, such as consolidation centers and warehouses, in foreign markets, and we may have 
to invest in these facilities before we can determine whether or not our foreign operations are successful. We have limited 
experience establishing such facilities internationally and therefore may decide not to continue with the expansion of international 
operations. We may not be successful in expanding into additional international markets or in generating net revenue from foreign 
operations. Furthermore, different privacy, censorship, liability, intellectual property and other laws and regulations in foreign 
countries may cause our business, financial condition and operating results to be materially adversely affected.

Our future results could be materially adversely affected by a number of factors inherent in international operations, 

including:

•

•

•

•

•

•

localization of our product offerings, including translation into foreign languages and adaptation for local practices, 
standards and regulations;

the need to vary our practices in ways with which we have limited or no experience or which are less profitable or 
carry more risk to us;

new and different sources of competition;

unexpected changes in regulatory requirements, taxes, trade laws, tariffs, export quotas, custom duties or other trade 
restrictions;

differing labor regulations where labor laws may be more advantageous to employees as compared to the U.S.;

different or more stringent regulations relating to data protection, privacy, encryption and security, including the use 
of commercial and personal information, particularly in the European Union;

14

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

different laws or regulations regarding restrictions on pricing or discounts;

changes in a specific country's or region's political or economic conditions, including the United Kingdom's exit 
from the European Union, commonly referred to as "Brexit";

the rising cost of labor in the foreign countries in which our suppliers operate, resulting in increases in our costs of 
doing business internationally;

challenges inherent in efficiently managing an increased number of employees over large geographic distances, 
including the need to implement appropriate systems, policies, benefits and compliance programs and maintain our 
corporate culture across geographies;

risks resulting from changes in currency exchange rates;

limitations on our ability to reinvest earnings from operations in one country to fund the capital needs of our 
operations in other countries;

different or lesser intellectual property protection;

exposure to liabilities under anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt 
Practices Act and similar laws and regulations in other jurisdictions;

business licensing or certification requirements, such as for imports, exports and international operations;

differing payment processing systems as well as consumer use and acceptance of electronic payment methods, such 
as payment cards; and

differing fulfillment, distribution, logistics and systems infrastructure.

Operating internationally requires significant management attention and financial resources. We cannot be certain that the 
investment and additional resources required to establish and expand our international operations will produce desired levels of 
net revenue or profitability. If we invest substantial time and resources to establish and expand our international operations and 
are unable to do so successfully and in a timely manner, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially 
adversely affected.

Fluctuations in currency exchange rates could adversely affect our financial performance and our reported results of 

operations.

Because we generate net revenue in the local currencies of our international business, our financial results are impacted 

by fluctuations in currency exchange rates. The results of operations of our international business are exposed to currency 
exchange rate fluctuations as the financial results of the applicable subsidiaries are translated from the local currency to U.S. 
dollars for financial reporting purposes. Our consolidated financial statements are denominated in U.S. dollars and as a result 
fluctuations in currency exchange rates may adversely affect our results of operations or financial results. If the U.S. dollar 
weakens against foreign currencies, the translation of these foreign currency denominated net revenues or expenses will result in 
increased U.S. dollar denominated net revenues and expenses. Similarly, if the U.S. dollar strengthens against foreign currencies, 
particularly the euro, the British pound, or the Canadian dollar, our translation of foreign currency denominated net revenues or 
expenses will result in lower U.S. dollar denominated net revenues and expenses. To date, we have not entered into any currency 
hedging contracts. As a result, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates could significantly impact our financial results.

Brexit may continue to have a significant impact on currency exchange rates and the global and European economy 

generally. The outcome of the referendum caused volatility in global stock markets and foreign currency exchange rate 
fluctuations, including the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against the British pound and the euro, which may continue or worsen 
as the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union is finalized.

Until fiscal 2020, we had a history of losses and we may be unable to sustain our recent profitability and positive cash 

flow in the future as we continue to expand our business.

Prior to fiscal 2020, we had a history of losses and negative cash flow and a resulting accumulated deficit of $1.9 billion as 

of December 31, 2020. Although we achieved profitability and positive cash flow in fiscal 2020, we can provide no assurance that 
we will be profitable in future quarters or achieve our goal of sustained profitability. Because the market for purchasing home 
goods online is rapidly evolving and has not yet reached widespread adoption, it is difficult for us to predict our future operating 

15

 
 
results. As a result, we may incur future losses that may be larger than anticipated, and we may not sustain our recent profitability. 
Also, we expect our operating expenses to increase over the next several years as we expand internationally, continue to grow our 
proprietary logistics network, hire more employees and continue to develop new brands, features and services. Furthermore, if our 
future growth and operating performance fail to meet investor or analyst expectations, or if we have future negative cash flow or 
losses resulting from our investment in acquiring new customers, our financial condition and stock price could be materially 
adversely affected.

System interruptions that impair customer access to our sites or other performance failures or incidents involving our 
logistics network, our technology infrastructure or our critical technology partners could damage our business, reputation and 
brand and substantially harm our business and results of operations.

The satisfactory performance, reliability and availability of our sites, transaction processing systems, logistics network and 

technology infrastructure are critical to our reputation and our ability to acquire and retain customers, as well as maintain 
adequate customer service levels.

For example, if one of our data centers fails or suffers an interruption or degradation of services, we could lose customer 
data and miss order fulfillment deadlines, which could harm our business. Our systems and operations, including our ability to 
fulfill customer orders through our logistics network, are also vulnerable to damage or interruption from inclement weather, fire, 
flood, power loss, telecommunications failure, terrorist attacks, labor disputes, cyber-attacks, data loss, acts of war, break-ins, 
other physical security threats, earthquake and similar events. In the event of a data center failure, the failover to a back-up could 
take substantial time, during which time our sites could be completely shut down. Further, our back-up services may not 
effectively process spikes in demand, may process transactions more slowly and may not support all of our sites' functionality.

We use complex proprietary software in our technology infrastructure, which we seek to continually update and improve. 
We may not always be successful in executing these upgrades and improvements, and the operation of our systems may be subject 
to failure. In particular, we have in the past and may in the future experience slowdowns or interruptions in some or all of our sites 
when we are updating them, and new technologies or infrastructures may not be fully integrated with existing systems on a timely 
basis, or at all. Additionally, we have expanded our use of third-party services, including third-party "cloud" computing services, 
and as a result our technology infrastructure may be subject to slowdowns or interruptions as a result of integration with such 
services and/or failures by such third-parties, which are out of our control. Our net revenue depends on the number of visitors who 
shop on our sites and the volume of orders we can handle. Unavailability of our sites or reduced order fulfillment performance 
would reduce the volume of goods sold and could also materially adversely affect consumer perception of our brand. 

We may experience periodic system interruptions from time to time. In addition, continued growth in our transaction 
volume, as well as surges in online traffic and orders associated with promotional activities, seasonal trends in our business or the 
COVID-19 outbreak, place additional demands on our technology platform and could cause or exacerbate slowdowns or 
interruptions. If there is a substantial increase in the volume of traffic on our sites or the number of orders placed by customers, 
we may be required to further expand and upgrade our technology, logistics network, transaction processing systems and network 
infrastructure. There can be no assurance that we will be able to accurately project the rate or timing of increases, if any, in the use 
of our sites or expand and upgrade our systems and infrastructure to accommodate such increases on a timely basis. In order to 
remain competitive, we must continue to enhance and improve the responsiveness, functionality and features of our sites, which is 
particularly challenging given the rapid rate at which new technologies, customer preferences and expectations, and industry 
standards and practices are evolving in the e-commerce industry. Accordingly, we redesign and enhance various functions on our 
sites on a regular basis, and we may experience instability and performance issues as a result of these changes.

Any slowdown, interruption or performance failure of our sites and the underlying technology and logistics infrastructure 
could harm our business, reputation and our ability to acquire, retain and serve our customers, which could materially adversely 
affect our results of operations. Our disaster recovery plan may be inadequate, and our business interruption insurance may not be 
sufficient to compensate us for the losses that could occur.

We rely upon Google Cloud to operate certain aspects of our service and any disruption of or interference with our use of 

the Google Cloud services would impact our operations and our business would be adversely impacted.

Google Cloud provides a distributed computing infrastructure platform for business operations, or what is commonly 

referred to as a "cloud" computing service. We have architected certain of our software and computer systems so as to also utilize 
data processing, storage capabilities and other services provided by Google Cloud. Given this, along with our inability to rapidly 
switch our Google Cloud operations to another cloud provider, any disruption of or interference with our use of Google Cloud or 
any disruption in Google Cloud itself would impact our operations and our business would be adversely impacted.

16

 
Our failure or the failure of third-party service providers to protect our sites, networks, systems, confidential information 
and assets against security breaches or loss could damage our reputation and brand and substantially harm our business and 
operating results.

We collect, maintain, transmit and store data about our customers, employees, contractors, suppliers, vendors and others, 

including credit card information and personally identifiable information, as well as other confidential and proprietary 
information. We also employ third-party service providers that store, process and transmit certain proprietary, personal and 
confidential information on our behalf. We rely on encryption and authentication technology licensed from third parties in an 
effort to secure our systems and assets and securely transmit, encrypt, anonymize or pseudonymize certain confidential and 
sensitive information, including credit card numbers. Advances in computer capabilities, new technological discoveries or other 
developments may result in the whole or partial failure of this technology to protect our assets, our transaction and personal data 
or other confidential and sensitive information from being breached, compromised or lost. Despite all of our efforts to protect 
these assets, our security measures and those of our third-party service providers, may not be effective in preventing a failure of 
our systems, a loss of assets or a failure of our platforms to operate effectively and be available to us. This may be as a result of 
deliberate attempts to infiltrate our systems by state-sponsored attackers or cybercriminals, denial-of-service attacks, viruses, 
malicious software, break-ins, phishing attacks, social engineering, security breaches or other attacks, or incidents due to 
employee error or malfeasance. Failures may also be caused by various other factors, including, disruptions during the process of 
upgrading or replacing computer software or hardware, power outages, computer viruses, hardware and software errors by the 
vendors we rely upon, telecommunication or utility failures or natural disasters or other catastrophic events or other disruptions 
that may jeopardize the security of our assets or information stored in or transmitted by our sites, networks and systems or that we 
or our third-party service providers otherwise maintain, process or transmit including payment card systems and human resources 
management platforms. We and our service providers may not anticipate or prevent all types of attacks until after they have 
already been launched, and techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to or sabotage systems change frequently and may not 
be known until launched against us or our third-party service providers. In addition, security breaches or data and asset leaks can 
also occur as a result of non-technical issues, including intentional or inadvertent actions by our employees or by persons with 
whom we have commercial relationships.

Cyber security incidents, data or asset losses or breaches of our security measures or those of our third-party service 
providers could result in unauthorized access to our sites, networks and systems; unauthorized access to and misappropriation of 
personal information, including consumers' and employees' personally identifiable information, or other confidential or 
proprietary information of ours or our third parties; limited or terminated access to certain payment methods or fines or higher 
transaction fees to use such methods; viruses, worms, spyware or other malware being served from our sites, networks or systems; 
deletion or modification of content or the display of unauthorized content on our sites; interruption, disruption or malfunction of 
operations; costs relating to breach remediation, deployment or training of additional personnel and protection technologies, 
responses to governmental investigations and media inquiries and coverage; engagement of third party experts and consultants; 
litigation, regulatory action and other potential liabilities. If any of these breaches of security or other incidents occur, our 
reputation and brand could be damaged, our business may suffer, we could be required to expend significant capital and other 
resources to alleviate problems caused by such incidents, such as investigative and remediation costs, the costs of providing 
individuals and/or data owners with notice of the breach, legal fees, the costs of any additional fraud detection activities, or the 
costs of prolonged system disruptions or shutdowns, and we could be exposed to a risk of loss, litigation or regulatory action and 
possible liability. In addition, any party who is able to illicitly obtain a customer's password could access that customer's 
transaction data or personal information. Any compromise or breach of our security measures, or those of our third-party service 
providers, could violate applicable privacy, data security and other laws and regulations, and cause significant legal and financial 
exposure, adverse publicity and a loss of confidence in our security measures, which could have a material adverse effect on our 
business, financial condition and operating results. Although we maintain privacy, data breach and network security liability 
insurance, we cannot be certain that our coverage will be adequate for liabilities actually incurred or that insurance will continue 
to be available to us on economically reasonable terms, or at all. We may need to devote significant resources to protect against 
security breaches or to address problems caused by breaches, diverting resources from the growth and expansion of our business.

Our business is highly competitive. Competition presents an ongoing threat to the success of our business.

Our business is rapidly evolving and intensely competitive, and we have many competitors in different industries. Our 
competition includes furniture stores, big box retailers, department stores, specialty retailers and online retailers and marketplaces 
in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany, including those listed in Part I, Item 1, Business.

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We expect competition in e-commerce generally to continue to increase. We believe that our ability to compete successfully 

depends upon many factors both within and beyond our control, including:

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•

•

•

•

•

•

the size and composition of our customer base;

the number of suppliers and products we feature on our sites;

our selling and marketing efforts;

the quality, price and reliability of products we offer;

the convenience of the shopping experience that we provide;

our ability to distribute our products and manage our operations; and

our reputation and brand strength.

Many of our current competitors have, and potential competitors may have, longer operating histories, greater brand 
recognition, larger fulfillment infrastructures, greater technical capabilities, faster and less costly shipping, significantly greater 
financial, marketing and other resources and larger customer bases than we do. These factors may allow our competitors to derive 
greater net revenue and profits from their existing customer base, acquire customers at lower costs or respond more quickly than 
we can to new or emerging technologies and changes in consumer habits. These competitors may engage in more extensive 
research and development efforts, undertake more far-reaching marketing campaigns and adopt more aggressive pricing policies, 
which may allow them to build larger customer bases or generate net revenue from their customer bases more effectively than we 
do.

Purchasers of home goods may not choose to shop online, which would prevent us from growing our business.

We believe the online market for home goods is less developed than the online market for apparel, consumer electronics and 

other consumer products and, we believe, only accounts for a small portion of the market as a whole. If the online market for 
home goods does not gain acceptance, our business may suffer. Our success will depend, in part, on our ability to attract 
consumers who have historically purchased home goods through traditional retailers. Furthermore, we may have to incur 
significantly higher and more sustained advertising and promotional expenditures in order to attract additional online consumers 
to our sites and convert them into purchasing customers. Specific factors that could impact consumers' willingness to purchase 
home goods from us include:

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•

•

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concerns about buying products, and in particular larger products, without a physical storefront, face-to-face 
interaction with sales personnel and the ability to physically examine products;

delivery time associated with online orders;

actual or perceived lack of security of online transactions and concerns regarding the privacy or protection of 
personal information;

delayed shipments or shipments of incorrect or damaged products;

inconvenience associated with returning or exchanging items purchased online; and

usability, functionality and features of our sites.

If the shopping experience we provide does not appeal to consumers or meet the expectations of existing customers, we may 

not acquire new customers at rates consistent with historical periods, acquired customers may not become repeat customers and 
existing customers' buying patterns and levels may be less than historical rates.

We may be subject to product liability and other similar claims if people or property are harmed by the products we sell.

Some of the products we sell may expose us to product liability and other claims and litigation (including class actions) or 

regulatory action relating to safety, personal injury, death or environmental or property damage. Some of our agreements with 
members of our supply chain may not indemnify us from product liability for a particular product, and some members of our 
supply chain may not have sufficient resources or insurance to satisfy their indemnity and defense obligations. Although we 
maintain liability insurance, we cannot be certain that our coverage will be adequate for liabilities actually incurred or that 
insurance will continue to be available to us on economically reasonable terms, or at all.

18

Risks associated with the suppliers from whom our products are sourced could materially adversely affect our financial 

performance as well as our reputation and brand.

We depend on our ability to provide our customers with a wide range of products from qualified suppliers in a timely and 

efficient manner. Political and economic instability, global or regional adverse conditions, such as pandemics or other disease 
outbreaks or natural disasters, the financial stability of suppliers, suppliers' ability to meet our standards, labor problems 
experienced by suppliers, the availability or cost of raw materials, merchandise quality issues, currency exchange rates, trade tariff 
developments, transport availability and cost, including import-related taxes, transport security, inflation and other factors relating 
to our suppliers are beyond our control. As an example, the COVID-19 outbreak has and may continue to adversely impact 
supplier facilities and operations due to extended holidays, factory closures and risks of labor shortages, among other things, 
which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our agreements with most of our suppliers do not provide for the long-term availability of merchandise or the continuation 

of particular pricing practices, nor do they usually restrict such suppliers from selling products to other buyers. There can be no 
assurance that our current suppliers will continue to seek to sell us products on current terms or that we will be able to establish 
new or otherwise extend current supply relationships to ensure product acquisitions in a timely and efficient manner and on 
acceptable commercial terms. Our ability to develop and maintain relationships with reputable suppliers and offer high quality 
merchandise to our customers is critical to our success. If we are unable to develop and maintain relationships with suppliers that 
would allow us to offer a sufficient amount and variety of quality merchandise on acceptable commercial terms, our ability to 
satisfy our customers' needs, and therefore our long-term growth prospects, would be materially adversely affected.

Further, we rely on our suppliers’ representations of product quality, safety and compliance with applicable laws and 
standards. If our suppliers or other vendors violate our agreements, applicable laws or regulations, or implement practices 
regarded as unethical, unsafe, or hazardous to the environment, it could damage our reputation and negatively affect our operating 
results. Further, concerns regarding the safety and quality of products provided by our suppliers could cause our customers to 
avoid purchasing those products from us, or avoid purchasing products from us altogether, even if the basis for the concern is 
outside our control. As such, any issue, or perceived issue, regarding the quality and safety of any items we sell, regardless of the 
cause, could adversely affect our brand, reputation, operations and financial results. 

We also are unable to predict whether any of the countries in which our suppliers' products are currently manufactured or 

may be manufactured in the future will be subject to new, different, or additional trade restrictions imposed by the U.S. or foreign 
governments or the likelihood, type or effect of any such restrictions. Any event causing a disruption or delay of imports from 
suppliers with international manufacturing operations, including the imposition of additional import restrictions, restrictions on 
the transfer of funds or increased tariffs or quotas, could increase the cost or reduce the supply of merchandise available to our 
customers and materially adversely affect our financial performance as well as our reputation and brand. Furthermore, some or all 
of our suppliers' foreign operations may be adversely affected by political and financial instability, resulting in the disruption of 
trade from exporting countries, restrictions on the transfer of funds or other trade disruptions.

In addition, our business with foreign suppliers, particularly with respect to our international sites, may be affected by 
changes in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to other foreign currencies. For example, any movement by any other foreign 
currency against the U.S. dollar may result in higher costs to us for those goods. Declines in foreign currencies and currency 
exchange rates might negatively affect the profitability and business prospects of one or more of our foreign suppliers. This, in 
turn, might cause such foreign suppliers to demand higher prices for merchandise in their effort to offset any lost profits 
associated with any currency devaluation, delay merchandise shipments, or discontinue selling to us altogether, any of which 
could ultimately reduce our sales or increase our costs.

We may be unable to source new suppliers or strengthen our relationships with current suppliers.

We have relationships with over 16,000 suppliers. Our agreements with suppliers are generally terminable at will by either 
party upon short notice. If we do not maintain our existing relationships or build new relationships with suppliers on acceptable 
commercial terms, we may not be able to maintain a broad selection of merchandise, and our business and prospects would suffer 
severely.

In order to attract quality suppliers to our platform, we must:

•

•

•

demonstrate our ability to help our suppliers increase their sales;

offer suppliers a high quality, cost-effective fulfillment process; and

continue to provide suppliers with a dynamic and real-time view of our demand and inventory needs.

19

If we are unable to provide our suppliers with a compelling return on investment and an ability to increase their sales, we 

may be unable to maintain and/or expand our supplier network, which would negatively impact our business.

We depend on our suppliers to perform certain services regarding the products that we offer.

As part of offering our suppliers' products for sale on our sites, suppliers are often responsible for conducting a number of 
traditional retail operations with respect to their respective products, including maintaining inventory and preparing merchandise 
for shipment to our customers. In these instances, we may be unable to ensure that suppliers will perform these services to our or 
our customers' satisfaction in a manner that provides our customer with a unified brand experience or on commercially reasonable 
terms. If our customers become dissatisfied with the services provided by our suppliers, our business, reputation and brands could 
suffer.

We depend on our relationships with third parties, and changes in our relationships with these parties could adversely 

impact our net revenue and profits.

We rely on third parties to operate certain elements of our business. For example, carriers such as FedEx, UPS, DHL and the 

U.S. Postal Service deliver many of our small parcel products, and third party national, regional and local transportation 
companies deliver a portion of our large parcel products, including through our WDN. As a result, we may be subject to shipping 
delays or disruptions caused by inclement weather, natural disasters, system interruptions and technology failures, labor activism, 
health epidemics (including the COVID-19 outbreak) or bioterrorism. We are also subject to risks of breakage or other damage 
during delivery by any of these third parties. We also use and rely on other services from third parties, such as cloud computing 
services, telecommunications services, customs, consolidation and shipping services, as well as warranty, installation, assembly 
and design services. We may be unable to maintain these relationships, and these services may also be subject to outages and 
interruptions that are not within our control. For example, failures by our telecommunications providers have in the past and may 
in the future interrupt our ability to provide phone support to our customers. Third parties may in the future determine they no 
longer wish to do business with us or may decide to take other actions that could harm our business. We may also determine that 
we no longer want to do business with them. If products are not delivered in a timely fashion or are damaged during the delivery 
process, or if we are not able to provide adequate customer support or other services or offerings, our customers could become 
dissatisfied and cease buying products through our sites, which would adversely affect our operating results.

If our internal control over financial reporting or our disclosure controls and procedures are not effective, we may not be 

able to accurately report our financial results, prevent fraud or file our periodic reports in a timely manner, which may cause 
investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information and may lead to a decline in our stock price.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires that we maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and disclosure 

controls and procedures. In particular, we must perform system and process evaluation, document our controls and perform 
testing of our key control over financial reporting to allow management and our independent public accounting firm to report on 
the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Our 
testing, or the subsequent testing by our independent public accounting firm, may reveal deficiencies in our internal control over 
financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses. If we are not able to comply with the requirements of Section 404 
in a timely manner, or if we or our accounting firm identify deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are 
deemed to be material weaknesses, the market price of our stock would likely decline and we could be subject to lawsuits, 
sanctions or investigations by regulatory authorities, including SEC enforcement actions, and we could be required to restate our 
financial results, any of which would require additional financial and management resources.

We continue to invest in more robust technology and resources to manage those reporting requirements. Implementing the 

appropriate changes to our internal controls may distract our officers and employees, result in substantial costs and require 
significant time to complete. Any difficulties or delays in implementing these controls could impact our ability to timely report 
our financial results. For these reasons, we may encounter difficulties in the timely and accurate reporting of our financial results, 
which would impact our ability to provide our investors with information in a timely manner. As a result, our investors could lose 
confidence in our reported financial information, and our stock price could decline.

In addition, any such changes do not guarantee that we will be effective in maintaining the adequacy of our internal 

controls, and any failure to maintain that adequacy could prevent us from accurately reporting our financial results.

Further, we have not experienced any material impact to our internal controls over financial reporting despite the fact that 

most of our employees continue to work remotely due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but we may experience a material impact in the 
future. As the majority of our employees are expected to work from home, new processes, procedures and controls could be 

20

required to respond to changes in our business environment, and should any key employees become ill from COVID-19 and 
unable to work, our ability to operate our internal controls may be adversely affected.

We may be unable to accurately forecast our financial and operating results and appropriately plan our expenses in the 

future.

Our financial and operating results are inherently uncertain and difficult to forecast because they generally depend on the 

volume, timing and type of orders we receive, all of which are uncertain. In particular, we cannot be sure that our historical 
growth rates, trends and other key performance metrics are meaningful predictors of future growth. In addition, our mix of 
product offerings is highly variable from day-to-day and quarter-to-quarter. This variability makes it difficult to predict sales and 
could result in significant fluctuations in our net revenue from period-to-period. Our business is also affected by general economic 
and business conditions globally. As a result, forecasted financial and operating results may differ materially from actual results, 
which could materially adversely affect our financial condition and stock price. For example, if certain of our assumptions or 
estimates prove to be wrong, we may spend more than we anticipate acquiring and retaining customers or may generate less net 
revenue per active customer than anticipated, which could cause us to miss our earnings guidance or negatively impact the results 
we report, either of which could negatively impact our stock price. 

Seasonal trends in our business create variability in our financial and operating results and place increased strain on 

our operations. 

Historically, we have experienced surges in online traffic and orders associated with promotional activities and seasonal 

trends. This activity may place additional demands on our technology systems and logistics network and could cause or 
exacerbate slowdowns or interruptions. Any such system, site or service interruptions could prevent us from efficiently receiving 
or fulfilling orders, which may reduce the volume or quality of goods or services we sell and may cause customer dissatisfaction 
and harm our reputation and brand. 

During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, typical seasonality was disrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak, which 

resulted in increased sales volume during our second and third quarters of fiscal 2020. 

Our ability to raise capital in the future may be limited, and our failure to raise capital when needed could prevent us 

from growing.

In the future, we could be required to or may decide to raise capital through public or private financing or other 

arrangements. Such financing may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all, and our failure to raise capital when needed or 
desired could harm our business. Our ability to raise additional capital, if and when required, will depend on, among other factors, 
investor demand, our operating performance, our credit rating and the condition of the capital markets. We may sell Class A 
common stock, convertible securities and other equity securities in one or more transactions at prices and in a manner as we may 
determine from time to time. Our convertible notes are and any future issuance of equity or equity-linked securities would be 
dilutive to holders of our Class A common stock. New investors in such subsequent transactions could gain rights, preferences 
and privileges senior to those of holders of our Class A common stock or our convertible notes. Debt financing, if available, may 
involve restrictive covenants and could reduce our operational flexibility or profitability. If we cannot raise funds on acceptable 
terms, we may not be able to grow our business or respond to competitive pressures.

Our business may be adversely affected if we are unable to provide our customers a cost-effective shopping platform that 

is able to respond and adapt to rapid changes in technology.

The number of people who access the Internet through devices other than personal computers, including mobile phones, 

smartphones, smartwatches, handheld computers such as notebooks and tablets, video game consoles and television set-top 
devices, has increased dramatically in the past few years. We continually upgrade existing technologies and business applications 
to keep pace with these rapidly changing and continuously evolving technologies, and we may be required to implement new 
technologies or business applications in the future. The implementation of these upgrades and changes requires significant 
investments and as new devices, operating systems and platforms are released, it is difficult to predict requirements or the 
problems we may encounter in developing applications for these alternative devices, operating systems and platforms. 
Additionally, we may need to devote significant resources to the support and maintenance of such applications once created. Our 
results of operations may be affected by the timing, effectiveness and costs associated with the successful implementation of any 
upgrades or changes to our systems and infrastructure to accommodate such alternative devices, operating systems and platforms. 
Further, in the event that it is more difficult or less compelling for our customers to buy products from us on their mobile or other 
devices, or if our customers choose not to buy products from us on such devices or to use mobile or other products that do not 

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offer access to our sites or limit the effectiveness of our marketing or other offerings, our customer growth could be harmed and 
our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected.

Significant merchandise returns could harm our business.

We allow our customers to return products, subject to our return policy. If merchandise returns are significant, our business, 

prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed. Further, we modify our policies relating to returns from 
time to time, which may result in customer dissatisfaction or an increase in the number of product returns. Many of our products 
are large and require special handling and delivery. From time to time our products are damaged in transit, which can increase 
return rates and harm our brand.

Uncertainties in global economic conditions and their impact on consumer spending patterns, particularly in the home 

goods market, could adversely impact our operating results.

Consumers may view a substantial portion of the products we offer as discretionary items rather than necessities. As a 
result, our operating results are sensitive to changes in macro-economic conditions that impact consumer spending, including 
discretionary spending. Some of the factors adversely affecting consumer spending include levels of unemployment; consumer 
debt levels; changes in net worth based on market changes and uncertainty; home foreclosures and changes in home values or the 
overall housing, residential construction or home improvement markets; fluctuating interest rates; credit availability, including 
mortgages, home equity loans and consumer credit; government actions; fluctuating fuel and other energy costs; fluctuating 
commodity prices and general uncertainty regarding the overall future economic environment. Adverse economic changes in any 
of the regions in which we sell our products could reduce consumer confidence and could negatively affect net revenue and have a 
material adverse effect on our operating results.

Our business relies heavily on email and other messaging services, and any restrictions on the sending of emails or 
messages or an inability to timely deliver such communications could materially adversely affect our net revenue and business.

Our business is highly dependent upon email and other messaging services for promoting our sites and products. Daily 
promotions offered through emails and other messages sent by us, or on our behalf by our vendors, generate a significant portion 
of our net revenue. We provide daily emails and "push" communications to customers and other visitors informing them of what 
is available for purchase on our sites that day, and we believe these messages are an important part of our customer experience 
and help generate a substantial portion of our net revenue. If we are unable to successfully deliver emails or other messages to our 
subscribers, or if subscribers decline to open our emails or other messages, our net revenue and profitability would be materially 
adversely affected. Changes in how webmail applications organize and prioritize email may also reduce the number of subscribers 
opening our emails. For example, Google's Gmail service has a feature that organizes incoming emails into categories and such 
categorization or similar inbox organizational features may result in our emails being delivered in a less prominent location in a 
subscriber's inbox or viewed as "spam" by our subscribers and may reduce the likelihood of that subscriber opening our emails. 
Actions by third parties to block, impose restrictions on or charge for the delivery of emails or other messages could also 
adversely impact our business. From time to time, Internet service providers or other third parties may block bulk email 
transmissions or otherwise experience technical difficulties that result in our inability to successfully deliver emails or other 
messages to third parties. Changes in the laws or regulations that limit our ability to send such communications or impose 
additional requirements upon us in connection with sending such communications would also materially adversely impact our 
business. Our use of email and other messaging services to send communications about our sites or other matters may also result 
in legal claims against us, which may cause us increased expenses, and if successful might result in fines and orders with costly 
reporting and compliance obligations or might limit or prohibit our ability to send emails or other messages. We also rely on 
social networking messaging services to send communications and to encourage customers to send communications. Changes to 
the terms of these social networking services to limit promotional communications, any restrictions that would limit our ability or 
our customers' ability to send communications through their services, disruptions or downtime experienced by these social 
networking services or decline in the use of or engagement with social networking services by customers and potential customers 
could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

We are subject to risks related to online transactions and payment methods.

We accept payments using a variety of methods, including credit card, debit card, PayPal, credit accounts (including 
promotional financing), gift cards and customer invoicing. We rely on third parties to provide many of these payment methods 
and payment processing services, including certain Wayfair-branded programs and promotional financing. As we offer new 
payment options to consumers, we may be subject to additional regulations, compliance requirements and fraud. For certain 
payment methods, including credit and debit cards, we pay interchange and other fees, which may increase over time and raise our 
operating costs and lower profitability. We also offer private label and/or co-branded credit card programs, which could adversely 

22

affect our operating results if terminated. We are also subject to payment card association operating rules and certification 
requirements, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and rules governing electronic funds transfers, which 
could change or be reinterpreted to make it difficult or impossible for us to comply. As our business changes, we may also be 
subject to different rules under existing standards, which may require new assessments that involve costs above what we currently 
pay for compliance. If we fail to comply with the rules or requirements of any provider of a payment method we accept, if the 
volume of fraud in our transactions limits or terminates our rights to use payment methods we currently accept, or if a data breach 
occurs relating to our payment systems, we may, among other things, be subject to fines or higher transaction fees and may lose, 
or face restrictions placed upon, our ability to accept credit card and debit card payments from consumers or to facilitate other 
types of online payments. If any of these events were to occur, our business, financial condition and operating results could be 
materially adversely affected.

We occasionally receive orders placed with fraudulent credit card data. We may suffer losses as a result of orders placed 
with fraudulent credit card data even if the associated financial institution approved payment of the orders. Under current credit 
card practices, we may be liable for fraudulent credit card transactions. We may also suffer losses from other online transaction 
fraud, including fraudulent returns. If we are unable to detect or control credit card or transaction fraud, our liability for these 
transactions could harm our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our business could suffer if we are unsuccessful in making, integrating and maintaining acquisitions and investments.

As part of our business strategy, we may acquire other companies, businesses or assets. However, we may not be able to 
find suitable acquisition candidates, and we may not be able to complete acquisitions on favorable terms, if at all. Acquisitions 
involve numerous risks, any of which could harm our business, including: difficulties in integrating the technologies, operations, 
existing contracts and personnel of an acquired company; difficulties in supporting and transitioning customers and suppliers, if 
any, of an acquired company; diversion of financial and management resources from existing operations or alternative acquisition 
opportunities; failure to realize the anticipated benefits or synergies of a transaction; failure to identify all of the problems, 
liabilities or other shortcomings or challenges of an acquired company or technology, including issues related to intellectual 
property, regulatory compliance practices, liabilities related to data security and privacy of customer data, the acquired company's 
internal controls over financial reporting, including revenue recognition or other accounting practices; employee or customer 
issues; risks of entering new markets in which we have limited or no experience; potential loss of senior management or other key 
employees, customers and suppliers from either our current business or an acquired company's business; inability to generate 
sufficient net revenue to offset acquisition costs; additional costs or equity dilution associated with funding the acquisition; and 
possible write-offs or impairment charges relating to acquired businesses, and these liabilities may be greater than the warranty 
and indemnity limitations we negotiate.

In addition, our investments in properties may not be fully realized. We continually review our operations and facilities in 
an effort to reduce costs and increase efficiencies. For strategic or other operational reasons, we may decide to consolidate or co-
locate certain aspects of our business operations or dispose of one or more of our properties. If we decide to fully or partially 
vacate a leased property, we may incur significant costs, including facility closing costs, employee separation and retention 
expenses, lease termination fees, rent expense in excess of sublease income, impairment charges for right-of-use ("ROU") assets 
and leasehold improvements and accelerated depreciation of assets. Any of these events may materially adversely affect our 
business, financial condition and operating results.

We rely on the performance of members of management and highly skilled personnel, and if we are unable to attract, 

develop, motivate and retain well-qualified employees, our business could be harmed.

We believe our success has depended, and continues to depend, on the efforts and talents of Niraj Shah, one of our co-
founders, co-chairman of the board of directors (the "Board") and our Chief Executive Officer, Steven Conine, one of our co-
founders and co-chairman of the Board and the other members of our senior management team. The loss of any of our senior 
management or other key employees could materially harm our business. Our future success also depends on our continuing 
ability to attract, develop, motivate and retain highly qualified and skilled employees, particularly mid-level managers, engineers 
and merchandising and technology personnel. The market for such positions in the Boston area and other cities in which we 
operate is competitive. Qualified individuals are in high demand, and we may incur significant costs to attract them. Our inability 
to recruit and develop mid-level managers could materially adversely affect our ability to execute our business plan, and we may 
not be able to find adequate replacements. All of our officers and other U.S. employees are at-will employees, meaning that they 
may terminate their employment relationship with us at any time, and their knowledge of our business and industry would be 
extremely difficult to replace. If we do not succeed in attracting well-qualified employees or retaining and motivating existing 
employees, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected.

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We may not be able to adequately protect our intellectual property rights.

We regard our customer lists, trademarks, domain names, copyrights, patents, trade dress, trade secrets, proprietary 
technology and similar intellectual property as critical to our success, and we rely on trademark, copyright and patent law, trade 
secret protection, agreements and other methods with our employees and others to protect our proprietary rights. We might not be 
able to obtain broad protection in the U.S. or internationally for all of our intellectual property, and we might not be able to obtain 
effective intellectual property protection in every country in which we sell products or perform services. For example, we are the 
registrant of marks for our brands in numerous jurisdictions and of the Internet domain name for the websites of Wayfair.com, 
Wayfair.ca, Wayfair.co.uk, Wayfair.de and our other sites, as well as various related domain names. However, we have not 
registered our marks or domain names in all major international jurisdictions and may not be able to register or use such domain 
names in all of the countries in which we currently or intend to conduct business. Further, we might not be able to prevent third 
parties from registering, using or retaining domain names that interfere with our consumer communications or infringe or 
otherwise decrease the value of our marks, domain names and other proprietary rights.

The protection of our intellectual property rights may require the expenditure of significant financial, managerial and 

operational resources. We may initiate claims or litigation against others for infringement, misappropriation or violation of our 
intellectual property rights or proprietary rights or to establish the validity of such rights. Any litigation, whether or not it is 
resolved in our favor, could result in significant expense to us and divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel, 
which may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. Moreover, the steps we take to 
protect our intellectual property may not adequately protect our rights or prevent third parties from infringing or misappropriating 
our proprietary rights, and we may not be able to broadly enforce all of our trademarks or patents. Any of our patents, marks or 
other intellectual property rights may be challenged by others or invalidated through administrative process or litigation. Our 
patent and trademark applications may never be granted. Additionally, the process of obtaining intellectual property protections is 
expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to pursue all necessary or desirable actions at a reasonable cost or in a 
timely manner. Even if issued, there can be no assurance that these protections will adequately safeguard our intellectual property, 
as the legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of patent and other intellectual property rights 
are uncertain. We also cannot be certain that others will not independently develop or otherwise acquire equivalent or superior 
technology or intellectual property rights. We may also be exposed to claims from third parties claiming infringement of their 
intellectual property rights, demanding the release or license of open source software or derivative works that we developed using 
such software (which could include our proprietary code) or otherwise seeking to enforce the terms of the applicable open source 
license. These claims could result in litigation and could require us to purchase a costly license, publicly release the affected 
portions of our source code, be limited in or cease using the implicated software unless and until we can re-engineer such software 
to avoid infringement or change the use of the implicated open source software.

We have been, and may again be, accused of infringing intellectual property rights of third parties.

The e-commerce industry is characterized by vigorous protection and pursuit of intellectual property rights, which has 
resulted in protracted and expensive litigation for many companies. We are subject to claims and litigation by third parties that we 
infringe their intellectual property rights, and we expect additional claims and litigation with respect to infringement to occur in 
the future. The costs of supporting such litigation and disputes are considerable, and there can be no assurances that favorable 
outcomes will be obtained. As our business expands and the number of competitors in our market increases and overlaps occur, 
we expect that infringement claims may increase in number and significance. Any claims or proceedings against us, whether 
meritorious or not, could be time-consuming, result in considerable litigation costs, require significant amounts of management 
time or result in the diversion of significant operational resources, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, 
financial condition and operating results.

Legal claims regarding intellectual property rights are subject to inherent uncertainties due to the oftentimes complex issues 
involved, and we cannot be certain that we will be successful in defending ourselves against such claims. In addition, some of our 
larger competitors have extensive portfolios of issued patents. Many potential litigants, including patent holding companies, have 
the ability to dedicate substantially greater resources to enforce their intellectual property rights and to defend claims that may be 
brought against them. Furthermore, a successful claimant could secure a judgment that requires us to pay substantial damages or 
prevents us from conducting our business as we have historically done or may desire to do in the future. We might also be 
required to seek a license and pay royalties for the use of such intellectual property, which may not be available on commercially 
acceptable terms, or at all. Alternatively, we may be required to develop non-infringing technology or intellectual property, which 
could require significant effort and expense and may ultimately not be successful.

We have received in the past, and we may receive in the future, communications alleging that certain items posted on or 

sold through our sites violate third-party copyrights, designs, marks and trade names or other intellectual property rights or other 

24

proprietary rights. Brand and content owners and other proprietary rights owners have actively asserted their purported rights 
against online companies, including Wayfair. In addition to litigation from rights owners, we may be subject to regulatory, civil or 
criminal proceedings and penalties if governmental authorities believe we have aided and abetted in the sale of counterfeit or 
infringing products.

Such claims, whether or not meritorious, may result in the expenditure of significant financial, managerial and operational 
resources, injunctions against us or the payment of damages by us. We may need to obtain licenses from third parties who allege 
that we have violated their rights, but such licenses may not be available on terms acceptable to us, or at all. These risks have been 
amplified by the increase in third parties whose sole or primary business is to assert such claims.

We are engaged in legal proceedings that could cause us to incur unforeseen expenses and could occupy a significant 

amount of our management's time and attention.

From time to time, we are subject to litigation or claims that could negatively affect our business operations and financial 

position. As we have grown, we have seen a rise in the number of litigation matters against us. These matters have included 
intellectual property claims, employment related litigation, as well as consumer and securities class actions, each of which are 
typically expensive to defend. Litigation disputes could cause us to incur unforeseen expenses, result in site unavailability, service 
disruptions and otherwise occupy a significant amount of our management's time and attention, any of which could negatively 
affect our business operations and financial position. We also from time to time receive inquiries and subpoenas and other types 
of information requests from government authorities and we may become subject to related claims and other actions related to our 
business activities. While the ultimate outcome of investigations, inquiries, information requests and related legal proceedings is 
difficult to predict, such matters can be expensive, time-consuming and distracting, and adverse resolutions or settlements of those 
matters may result in, among other things, modification of our business practices, reputational harm or costs and significant 
payments, any of which could negatively affect our business operations and financial position. 

We cannot guarantee that our stock repurchase program will be fully consummated or that it will enhance long-term 
shareholder value. Stock repurchases could also increase the volatility of the trading price of our stock and could diminish our 
cash reserves.

In August 2020, the Board authorized a stock repurchase program of up to $700 million of our Class A common stock (the 
“2020 Repurchase Program”), which does not have an expiration date and replaced our previous $200 million stock repurchase 
authorization approved by the Board in 2018, which was terminated simultaneously. Although the Board has authorized the 2020 
Repurchase Program, the program does not obligate us to repurchase any specific dollar amount or to acquire any specific number 
of shares. We cannot guarantee that the 2020 Repurchase Program will be fully consummated or that it will enhance long-term 
stockholder value. The program could affect the trading price of our Class A common stock and increase volatility, and any 
announcement of a termination of this program may result in a decrease in the trading price of our Class A common stock. In 
addition, this program could diminish our cash reserves.

Risks Related to Laws and Regulations

Government regulation of the Internet and e-commerce is evolving, and unfavorable changes or failure by us to 

comply with these regulations could substantially harm our business and operating results.

We are subject to general business regulations and laws as well as regulations and laws specifically governing the Internet 

and e-commerce. Existing and future regulations and laws could impede the growth of the Internet, e-commerce or mobile 
commerce. These regulations and laws may involve taxes, tariffs, privacy and data security, anti-spam, content protection, 
electronic contracts and communications, consumer protection, Internet neutrality and gift cards. It is not clear how existing laws 
governing issues such as property ownership, sales and other taxes and consumer privacy apply to the Internet as the vast majority 
of these laws were adopted prior to the advent of the Internet and do not contemplate or address the unique issues raised by the 
Internet or e-commerce. It is possible that general business regulations and laws, or those specifically governing the Internet or e-
commerce, may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with 
other rules or our practices. We cannot be sure that our practices have complied, comply or will comply fully with all such laws 
and regulations. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with any of these laws or regulations could result in damage to 
our reputation, a loss in business and proceedings or actions against us by governmental entities or others. Any such proceeding or 
action could hurt our reputation, force us to spend significant amounts in defense of these proceedings, distract our management, 
increase our costs of doing business, decrease the use of our sites by consumers and suppliers and may result in the imposition of 
monetary liability. We may also be contractually liable to indemnify and hold harmless third parties from the costs or 
consequences of non-compliance with any such laws or regulations. In addition, it is possible that governments of one or more 
countries may seek to censor content available on our sites or may even attempt to completely block access to our sites. Adverse 

25

legal or regulatory developments could substantially harm our business. In particular, in the event that we are restricted, in whole 
or in part, from operating in one or more countries, our ability to retain or increase our customer base may be adversely affected, 
and we may not be able to maintain or grow our net revenue and expand our business as anticipated. Further, as we enter new 
market segments or geographical areas and expand the products and services we offer, we may be subject to additional laws and 
regulatory requirements or prohibited from conducting our business, or certain aspects of it, in certain jurisdictions. We will incur 
additional costs complying with these additional obligations and any failure or perceived failure to comply would adversely affect 
our business and reputation.

Failure to comply with federal, state and international laws and regulations relating to privacy, data protection and 

consumer protection, or the expansion of current, or the enactment of new, laws or regulations relating to privacy, data 
protection and consumer protection, could adversely affect our business and our financial condition.

A variety of federal, state and international laws and regulations govern the collection, use, retention, sharing, export and 
security of personal information. Laws and regulations relating to privacy, data protection and consumer protection are complex 
and rapidly evolving and subject to potentially differing interpretations. These requirements may be interpreted and applied in a 
manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another or may conflict with other rules or our practices. As a result, our 
practices may not comply, or may not comply in the future, with all such laws, regulations, requirements and obligations. Any 
failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with our posted privacy policies or with any federal, state or international privacy or 
consumer protection-related laws, regulations, industry self-regulatory principles, industry standards or codes of conduct, 
regulatory guidance, orders to which we may be subject or other legal obligations relating to privacy or consumer protection could 
adversely affect our reputation, brand and business, and may result in claims, proceedings or actions against us by governmental 
entities or others or other liabilities or require us to change our operations and/or cease using certain data sets. Any such claim, 
proceeding or action could hurt our reputation, brand and business, force us to incur significant expenses in defense of such 
proceedings, distract our management, increase our costs of doing business, result in a loss of customers and suppliers and may 
result in the imposition of monetary penalties and otherwise adversely affect our financial condition and operating results. We 
may also be contractually required to indemnify and hold harmless third parties from the costs or consequences of non-
compliance with any laws, regulations or other legal obligations relating to privacy or consumer protection or any inadvertent or 
unauthorized use or disclosure of data that we store or handle as part of operating our business.

Foreign data protection, privacy and other laws and regulations have historically been more restrictive than those in the U.S. 
The European Union (the "EU"), for example, traditionally has imposed stricter obligations under its laws and regulations relating 
to privacy, data protection and consumer protection than the U.S. In May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (the 
"GDPR") governing data practices and privacy in the EU became effective and replaced the data protection laws of the individual 
member states. The GDPR imposes several requirements on companies that process personal data, including requirements relating 
to the processing of health and other sensitive data, the consent of the individuals to whom the personal data relates, the 
information provided to the individuals regarding data processing activities, the notification of data processing obligations to the 
competent national data protection authorities and certain measures to be taken when engaging third-party processors. The GDPR 
also imposes strict rules on the transfer of personal data out of the European Economic Area (the “EEA”), including to the U.S. 
Failure to comply with the requirements of the GDPR, and the related national data protection laws of the EU member states, may 
result in fines and other administrative penalties, including potential fines of up to 20 million euros or 4% of annual global 
revenues, whichever is greater. The GDPR also confers a private right of action on data subjects and consumer associations to 
lodge complaints with supervisory authorities, seek judicial remedies, and obtain compensation for damages resulting from 
violations of the GDPR. The GDPR regulations may impose additional responsibility and liability in relation to personal data that 
we process, and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms ensuring compliance with the new data protection 
rules, including as implemented by individual countries. This may be onerous and adversely affect our business, financial 
condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, further to the United Kingdom's (the “UK”) exit from the EU on 
January 31, 2020, the GDPR ceased to apply in the UK at the end of the transition period on December 31, 2020. However, as of 
January 1, 2021, the UK’s European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 incorporated the GDPR (as it existed on December 31, 2020 
but subject to certain UK specific amendments) into UK law (the “UK GDPR”). The UK GDPR and the UK Data Protection Act 
2018 set out the UK’s data protection regime, which is independent from but aligned to the EU’s data protection regime. Non-
compliance with the UK GDPR may result in monetary penalties of up to £17.5 million or 4% of worldwide revenue, whichever 
is higher. The UK, however, is now regarded as a third country under the GDPR which means that transfers of personal data from 
the EEA to the UK will be restricted unless an appropriate safeguard, as recognized by the GDPR, has been put in place. 
Although, under the EU-UK Trade Cooperation Agreement it is lawful to transfer personal data between the UK and the EEA for 
a 6 month period following the end of the transition period, with a view to achieving an adequacy decision from the European 
Commission during that period. Like the GDPR, the UK GDPR restricts personal data transfers outside the UK to countries not 
regarded by the UK as providing adequate protection (this means that personal data transfers from the UK to the EEA remain free 

26

flowing). Compliance with the GDPR and the UK GDPR is a rigorous and time-intensive process that may increase our cost of 
doing business or require us to change our business practices, and despite those efforts, there is a risk that we may be subject to 
fines and penalties, litigation, and reputational harm in connection with any future EU or UK activities. Brexit has created 
uncertainty in data protection issues involving the UK, and could also lead to further legislative and regulatory changes. It remains 
unclear how the UK data protection laws or regulations will develop in the longer term and how data transfer to and from the UK 
will be regulated notwithstanding Brexit. The full effects of Brexit are uncertain and will remain so until the UK and EU reach a 
definitive resolution with regards to outstanding trade and legal matters. Given these possibilities and others we may not 
anticipate, as well as the lack of comparable precedent, the full extent to which our business, results of operations, and financial 
condition could be adversely affected by Brexit is uncertain. Outside the EU, there are many countries with data protection laws, 
and new countries are adopting data protection legislation with increasing frequency. Many of these laws may require consent 
from consumers for the use of data for various purposes, including marketing, which may reduce our ability to market our 
products. There is no harmonized approach to these laws and regulations. Consequently, we increase our risk of non-compliance 
with applicable foreign data protection laws and regulations as we continue our international expansion. We may need to change 
and limit the way we use personal information in operating our business and may have difficulty maintaining a single operating 
model that is compliant. Compliance with such laws and regulations will result in additional costs and may necessitate changes to 
our business practices and divergent operating models, which may adversely affect our business and financial condition.

In addition, various U.S. and foreign federal, state, and local legislative and regulatory bodies, or self-regulatory 

organizations, may expand current laws or regulations, enact new laws or regulations or issue revised rules or guidance regarding 
privacy, data protection and consumer protection. Any such changes may force us to incur substantial costs or require us to 
change our business practices. This could compromise our ability to pursue our growth strategy effectively and may adversely 
affect our ability to acquire customers or otherwise harm our business, financial condition and operating results. For 
example, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which became effective on January 1, 2020, and the 
and the California electorate recently approved the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (“CPRA”), which expands upon the 
CCPA and is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2023 (with a lookback to January 1, 2022). The potential effects of the CCPA 
and the CPRA are far-reaching and may require us to further modify our data processing practices and policies and incur 
additional costs and expenses in an effort to comply. 

If the use of “cookie” tracking technologies is further restricted, regulated, or blocked, or if changes in technology cause 

cookies to become less reliable or acceptable as a means of tracking consumer behavior, the amount or accuracy of Internet 
user information we collect would decrease, which could harm our business and operating results.

Federal, state and international governmental authorities continue to evaluate the privacy implications inherent in the use of 
proprietary or third-party "cookies" and other methods of online tracking for behavioral advertising and other purposes. U.S. and 
foreign governments have enacted, have considered or are considering legislation or regulations that could significantly restrict 
the ability of companies and individuals to engage in these activities, such as by regulating the level of consumer notice and 
consent required before a company can employ cookies or other electronic tracking tools or the use of data gathered with such 
tools. Additionally, some providers of consumer devices and web browsers have implemented, or announced plans to implement, 
means to make it easier for Internet users to prevent the placement of cookies, to block other tracking technologies or to require 
new permissions from users for certain activities, which could if widely adopted significantly reduce the effectiveness of such 
practices and technologies. We may have to develop alternative systems to determine our customers’ behavior, customize their 
online experience, or efficiently market to them if customers block cookies or regulations introduce additional barriers to 
collecting cookie data. The regulation of the use of cookies and other current online tracking and advertising practices or a loss in 
our ability to make effective use of services that employ such technologies could increase our costs of operations and limit our 
ability to acquire new customers on cost-effective terms and consequently, materially adversely affect our business, financial 
condition and operating results.

Changes in tax treatment of companies engaged in e-commerce may adversely affect the commercial use of our sites and 

our financial results.

Due to the global nature of the Internet, it is possible that various states or foreign countries might attempt to impose 
additional or new regulation on our business or levy additional or new sales, income or other taxes relating to our activities. Tax 
authorities at the international, federal, state and local levels are currently reviewing the appropriate treatment of companies 
engaged in e-commerce and digital services. New or revised international, federal, state or local tax regulations or court decisions 
may subject us or our customers to additional sales, income and other taxes. For example, on June 21, 2018, the U.S. Supreme 
Court rendered a 5-4 majority decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc., 17-494 where the Court held, among other things, that a 
state may require an out-of-state seller with no physical presence in the state to collect and remit sales taxes on goods the seller 

27

ships to consumers in the state, overturning existing court precedent. Other new or revised taxes and, in particular, digital taxes, 
sales taxes, VAT and similar taxes could increase the cost of doing business online and decrease the attractiveness of selling 
products over the Internet. New taxes and rulings could also create significant increases in internal costs necessary to capture data 
and collect and remit taxes. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and 
operating results.

Risks Related to our Indebtedness

Our outstanding indebtedness, or additional indebtedness that we may incur, could limit our operating flexibility and 

adversely affect our financial condition.

As of December 31, 2020, we had $3.3 billion of indebtedness outstanding. Our indebtedness included unsecured 0.375% 
Convertible Senior Notes due 2022 that mature on September 1, 2022 (the "2022 Notes"), unsecured 1.125% Convertible Senior 
Notes due 2024 that mature on November 1, 2024 (the "2024 Notes"), unsecured 1.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2026 that 
mature on August 15, 2026 (the "2026 Notes"), unsecured 0.625% Convertible Senior Notes due 2025 that mature on October 1, 
2025 (the “2025 Notes”, and together with the 2022 Notes, the 2024 Notes and the 2026 Notes, the "Non-Accreting Notes") and 
unsecured 2.50% Accreting Convertible Senior Notes due 2025 that mature on April 1, 2025 (the “2025 Accreting Notes” and 
together with the Non-Accreting Notes, the “Notes”). At maturity of the Non-Accreting Notes, unless earlier purchased, redeemed 
or converted, we will settle any conversions in cash, shares of Wayfair's Class A common stock or a combination thereof, at our 
election. At maturity of the Accreting Notes, unless earlier purchased, redeemed or converted, we will settle any conversions in 
shares of Wayfair's Class A common stock. If any Notes are not converted at or prior to maturity, we will be required to pay the 
holder thereof the principal amount or, with respect to the 2025 Accreting Notes, the accreted principal amount, in cash. We pay 
interest semiannually in arrears at fixed rates per annum of 0.375% for the 2022 Notes, 1.125% for the 2024 Notes, 0.625% for 
the 2025 Notes and 1.00% for the 2026 Notes. The 2025 Accreting Notes accrue interest at a rate of 2.50% per annum, which 
accretes semiannually to the principal amount. Under certain circumstances, the holders of the Notes may require us to repay all 
or a portion of the principal and interest outstanding under the Notes in cash prior to the maturity date, which could have an 
adverse effect on our liquidity and financial condition.

We have the ability to borrow up to $200 million under our senior secured revolving credit facility (the "Revolver") to 
finance working capital and provide funds for permitted acquisitions, repurchases of equity interests and other general corporate 
purposes. If we draw down on this facility, our interest expense and principal repayment requirements will increase, which could 
have an adverse effect on our financial results and our ability to make payments on the Notes. Further, the agreements governing 
the Revolver contain numerous requirements, including affirmative, negative and financial covenants. Our failure to comply with 
any of these covenants or to meet any payment obligations under the Revolver could result in an event of default which, if not 
cured or waived, would result in any amounts outstanding, including any accrued interest and unpaid fees, becoming immediately 
due and payable. We might not have sufficient working capital or liquidity to satisfy any repayment obligations in the event of an 
acceleration of those obligations. 

Our business may not be able to generate sufficient cash flow from operations, and we can give no assurance that future 

borrowings will be available to us in amounts sufficient to enable us to pay our indebtedness as such indebtedness matures, 
including the Notes, and to fund our other liquidity needs. If this occurs, we will need to refinance all or a portion of our 
indebtedness on or before maturity, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to refinance any of our indebtedness on 
commercially reasonable terms, or at all. We may need to adopt one or more alternatives, such as reducing or delaying planned 
expenses and capital expenditures, selling assets, restructuring debt, or obtaining additional equity or debt financing. These 
alternative strategies may not be implemented on satisfactory terms, if at all. Our ability to refinance our indebtedness or obtain 
additional financing, or to do so on commercially reasonable terms, will depend on, among other things, our financial condition at 
the time, restrictions in agreements governing our indebtedness, and other factors, including the condition of the financial markets 
and the markets in which we compete.

Further, we may from time to time seek to retire, restructure, repurchase or redeem, or otherwise mitigate the equity dilution 
associated with, our outstanding convertible debt, through cash purchases, stock buybacks of some or all of the shares underlying 
convertible notes, and/or exchanges for equity or debt, in open-market purchases, privately negotiated transactions or otherwise. 
Such repurchases, exchanges or liability management exercises, if any, will be upon such terms and at such prices and sizes as we 
may determine, and will depend on prevailing market conditions, our liquidity requirements, contractual restrictions and other 
factors. The amounts involved may be material.

28

If we do not generate sufficient cash flow from operations, and additional borrowings, refinancings or proceeds from asset 
sales are not available to us, we may not have sufficient cash to enable us to meet all of our obligations, including our obligations 
under the Notes.

The conditional conversion feature of any series of the Non-Accreting Notes, if triggered, and conversion of the 2025 

Accreting Notes may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.

If the conditional conversion feature of any series of our Non-Accreting Notes is triggered, holders of such series of Non-
Accreting Notes will be entitled to convert the applicable series of Non-Accreting Notes at any time during specified periods at 
their option. If one or more holders elect to convert their Non-Accreting Notes, unless we elect to satisfy our conversion 
obligation by delivering solely shares of our Class A common stock (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional 
share), we would be required to settle a portion or all of our conversion obligation through the payment of cash, which could 
adversely affect our liquidity. If the holders of the 2025 Accreting Notes convert their 2025 Accreting Notes, we would be 
required to settle all of our conversion obligation by delivering shares of our Class A common stock. During 2020, CBEP 
Investments, LLC ("Charlesbank") converted $253.1 million of accreted principal of the 2025 Accreting Notes and received 
3,490,175 shares of our Class A common stock. In January 2021, GHEP VII Aggregator, L.P ("Great Hill") converted 
$253.1 million of accreted principal of the 2025 Accreting Notes and received 3,490,175 shares of our Class A common stock. To 
the extent we satisfy our conversion obligation of the Non-Accreting Notes by delivering shares of our Class A common stock or 
if the holders of the 2025 Accreting Notes convert their 2025 Accreting Notes, we would be required to deliver a significant 
number of shares, which would cause dilution to our existing stockholders. In addition, even if holders do not elect to convert 
their Notes in such circumstances, we could be required under applicable accounting rules to reclassify all or a portion of the 
outstanding principal of the applicable series of Notes as a current rather than long-term liability, which would result in a material 
reduction of our net working capital.

Risks Related to Ownership of our Class A Common Stock

The dual class structure of our common stock has the effect of concentrating voting control with our co-founders, which 

will limit your ability to influence corporate matters.

Our Class B common stock has ten votes per share, and our Class A common stock, which is the stock that is publicly 
traded, has one vote per share. Following our initial public offering (the "IPO"), our Class B common stock was held primarily by 
our co-founders, other executive officers, directors and their affiliates. Due to optional conversions of Class B common stock into 
Class A common stock following the IPO, our Class B common stock is currently held primarily by our co-founders and their 
affiliates. As of December 31, 2020, our co-founders and their affiliates owned shares representing approximately 28.0% of the 
economic interest and 78.7% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock. This concentrated control limits your ability to 
influence corporate matters for the foreseeable future. For example, these stockholders are able to control elections of directors, 
amendments of our certificate of incorporation or bylaws, increases to the number of shares available for issuance under our 
equity incentive plans or adoption of new equity incentive plans and approval of any merger or sale of assets for the foreseeable 
future. This control may materially adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock. Additionally, holders of our 
Class B common stock may cause us to make strategic decisions or pursue acquisitions that could involve risks to you or may not 
be aligned with your interests. The holders of our Class B common stock are also entitled to a separate vote if we seek to amend 
our certificate of incorporation to increase or decrease the par value of a class of our common stock or in a manner that alters or 
changes the powers, preferences or special rights of the Class B common stock in a manner that affects its holders adversely.

Future transfers by holders of Class B common stock will generally result in those shares converting on a 1:1 basis to 
Class A common stock, which will have the effect, over time, of increasing the relative voting power of those holders of Class B 
common stock who retain their shares in the long-term, which may include our executive officers.

29

Our stock price may be volatile or may decline regardless of our operating performance.

The market price of our Class A common stock may fluctuate significantly in response to numerous factors, many of which 

are beyond our control, including the risks described elsewhere herein, as well as:

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

actual or anticipated fluctuations in our results of operations;

the financial projections we may provide to the public, any changes in these projections or our failure to meet these 
projections;

failure of securities analysts to initiate or maintain coverage of our company, changes in financial estimates or 
ratings by any securities analysts who follow our company or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations 
of investors;

announcements by us or our competitors of new businesses, services or products, significant technical innovations, 
acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures, operating results or capital commitments;

changes in operating performance and stock market valuations of other technology or retail companies generally, or 
those in our industry in particular;

price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market, including as a result of trends in the economy as a whole;

changes in interest rates;

changes in the Board or our management;

sales of large blocks of our Class A common stock, including sales by our executive officers, directors and 
significant stockholders;

lawsuits threatened or filed against us;

changes in laws or regulations applicable to our business;

changes in our capital structure, such as future issuances of debt or equity securities, including in connection with an 
acquisition or upon conversion of some or all of our outstanding Notes;

short sales, hedging and other derivative transactions involving our capital stock;

general economic conditions in the U.S. and abroad; and

other events or factors, including those resulting from war, incidents of terrorism or responses to these events. 

In addition, stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect 

the market prices of equity securities of many technology companies, including e-commerce companies. Stock prices of many 
technology companies, including e-commerce companies, have fluctuated in a manner unrelated or disproportionate to the 
operating performance of those companies. Volatility in our stock price could adversely affect our business and financing 
opportunities and expose us to litigation. Securities litigation can subject us to substantial costs, divert resources and the attention 
of management from our business and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Short selling could increase the volatility of our stock price. 

We believe our Class A common stock has been the subject of significant short selling efforts by certain market 
participants. Short sales are transactions in which a market participant sells a security that it does not own. To complete the 
transaction, the market participant must borrow the security to make delivery to the buyer. The market participant is then 
obligated to replace the security borrowed by purchasing the security at the market price at the time of required replacement. If 
the price at the time of replacement is lower than the price at which the security was originally sold by the market participant, then 
the market participant will realize a gain on the transaction. Thus, it is in the market participant’s interest for the market price of 
the underlying security to decline as much as possible during the period prior to the time of replacement. Short selling may 
negatively affect the value of our stock to the detriment of our stockholders. 

In addition, market participants with disclosed short positions in our stock have published, and may in the future continue to 

publish, negative information regarding us that we believe is inaccurate and misleading. We believe that the publication of this 
negative information may in the future lead to downward pressure on the price of our stock.

30

Substantial sales of shares of our Class A common stock could cause the market price of our Class A common stock to 

decline.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales 
might occur, could depress the market price of our Class A common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the 
sale of additional equity securities. We are unable to predict the effect that such sales may have on the prevailing market price of 
our Class A common stock.

The capped calls expose us to counterparty risk and may affect the value of our common stock.

In connection with the issuance of each series of Non-Accreting Notes, we entered into capped calls with certain financial 

institutions, which we refer to as the option counterparties. The capped calls are expected generally to reduce the potential dilution 
upon conversion of the Notes and/or offset any cash payments we are required to make in excess of the principal amount of 
converted Notes, as the case may be, with such reduction and/or offset subject to a cap. From time to time, the option 
counterparties or their respective affiliates may modify their hedge positions by entering into or unwinding various derivative 
transactions with respect to our Class A common stock and/or purchasing or selling our Class A common stock or other securities 
of ours in secondary market transactions. This activity could cause a decrease in the market price of our Class A common stock.

In addition, the option counterparties are financial institutions, and we will be subject to the risk that one or more of the 
option counterparties may default or otherwise fail to perform, or may exercise certain rights to terminate, their obligations under 
the capped calls. Our exposure to the credit risk of the option counterparties will not be secured by any collateral. If an option 
counterparty becomes subject to insolvency proceedings, we will become an unsecured creditor in those proceedings with a claim 
equal to our exposure at the time under such transaction. Our exposure will depend on many factors but, generally, our exposure 
will increase if the market price or the volatility of our Class A common stock increases. In addition, upon a default or other 
failure to perform, or a termination of obligations, by an option counterparty, we may suffer more dilution than we currently 
anticipate with respect to our Class A common stock. We can provide no assurances as to the financial stability or viability of the 
option counterparties.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or publish negative reports about 

our business, our share price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our Class A common stock depends in part on the research and reports that securities or industry 

analysts publish about us or our business, our market and our competitors. We do not have any control over these analysts. If one 
or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our shares or change their opinion of our shares, our share price would likely 
decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose 
visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our share price or trading volume to decline.

Our management has broad discretion over our existing cash resources and might not use such funds in ways that 

increase the value of your investment.

Our management generally has broad discretion over the use of our cash resources, and you will be relying on the judgment 

of our management regarding the application of these resources. Our management might not apply these resources in ways that 
increase the value of your investment.

31

Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of our company 
more difficult, limit attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management and limit the market price of 
our Class A common stock.

Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control 

or changes in our management. Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws include provisions that:

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

permit the Board to establish the number of directors and fill any vacancies and newly created directorships;

when the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock represent less than 10% of the then outstanding shares of 
Class A common stock and Class B common stock, provide that the Board will be classified into three classes with 
staggered, three year terms and that directors may only be removed for cause;

require super-majority voting to amend some provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws;

authorize the issuance of "blank check" preferred stock that the Board could use to implement a stockholder rights 
plan;

eliminate the ability of our stockholders to call special meetings of stockholders;

when the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock represent less than 10% of the then outstanding shares of 
Class A common stock and Class B common stock, prohibit stockholder action by written consent, which requires 
all stockholder actions to be taken at a meeting of our stockholders;

provide that the Board is expressly authorized to make, alter or repeal our bylaws;

restrict the forum for certain litigation against us to Delaware;

reflect the dual class structure of our common stock, as discussed above; and

establish advance notice requirements for nominations for election to the Board or for proposing matters that can be 
acted upon by stockholders at annual stockholder meetings.

These provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management 

by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of the Board, which is responsible for appointing the members of 
our management. In addition, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the 
Delaware General Corporation Law, which generally prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any of a broad range of 
business combinations with any holder of at least 15% of our capital stock for a period of three years following the date on which 
the stockholder became a 15% stockholder.

Item 1B.    Unresolved Staff Comments 

None.

Item 2.    Properties 

As of December 31, 2020, we operated the following logistics and customer service facilities:

Description of Use:

Logistics

Logistics

Customer service

Customer service

Leased Square 
Footage

Reportable 
Segment

(square footage in thousands)

14,734  United States
3,787 
International
2,258  United States
International

205 

Our corporate headquarters are in Boston where we occupy approximately 1.2 million square feet of office space. In 

addition, we occupy 0.2 million square feet of office space in London and Berlin for our international operations. 

32

 
 
 
 
Item 3.    Legal Proceedings 

Information for this item may be found in Note 7 to the consolidated financial statements in Item 8, which is incorporated 

herein by reference.

Item 4.    Mine Safety Disclosures 

Not applicable.

33

Item 5.    Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity 

Securities

PART II

Certain Information Regarding the Trading of Our Common Stock

Our Class A common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") under the symbol "W". 

Holders of Our Common Stock

As of February 15, 2021, there were 251 holders of record of shares of our Class A common stock and 272 holders of 

record of shares of our Class B common stock. The actual number of stockholders is greater than the number of record holders, 
and includes stockholders who are beneficial owners, whose shares are held of record by banks, brokers and other financial 
institutions.

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

Information regarding our equity compensation plans and securities authorized for issuance thereunder is set forth under 
Part III, Item 12, Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters, of this 
Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Recent Purchases of Equity Securities

On August 21, 2020, the Board authorized the repurchase of up to $700 million of our Class A common stock (the “2020 
Repurchase Program”). The 2020 Repurchase Program does not have an expiration date but may be suspended or terminated by 
the Board at any time. 

The following table presents information related to our repurchases of common stock for the periods indicated:

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Total Number of Shares 
Purchased (1)

Average Price Paid per 
Share

Total Number of Shares 
Purchased as Part of 
Publicly Announced 
Plans or Programs (1)

Approximate Dollar 
Value of Shares that 
May Yet Be Purchased 
Under the Plans or 
Programs (2) 
(in thousands)

Period

October 1-31, 2020

November 1-30, 2020

December 1-31, 2020

Total

—  $ 

412,077  $ 

—  $ 

412,077  $ 

— 

242.65 

— 

242.65 

—  $ 

412,077  $ 

—  $ 

412,077  $ 

— 

462,800 

— 

462,800 

(1) Represents shares repurchased under the 2020 Repurchase Program
(2) Represents the amount remaining under the 2020 Repurchase Program as of the specified period end dates 

Item 6.    Selected Consolidated Financial Data 

Reserved.

Item 7.    Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Forward-Looking Statements

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities 

Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. All statements other than statements of 
historical fact contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including statements regarding our investment plans and anticipated 
returns on those investments, our future customer growth, our future results of operations and financial position, available 
liquidity and access to financing sources, our business strategy, plans and objectives of management for future operations, 

34

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
consumer activity and behaviors, developments in our technology and systems and anticipated results of those developments and 
the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and our response to it, are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify 
forward-looking statements by terms such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "could," "intends," 
"target," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential" or "continue" or the negative of these terms or 
other similar expressions.

Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations of future events. We cannot guarantee that any forward-
looking statement will be accurate, although we believe that we have been reasonable in our expectations and assumptions. 
Investors should realize that if underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or that known or unknown risks or uncertainties 
materialize, actual results could vary materially from Wayfair’s expectations and projections. Investors are therefore cautioned not 
to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this 
Annual Report on Form 10-K and, except as required by applicable law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise 
any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events or otherwise.

Factors that could cause or contribute to differences in our future results include, without limitation, the following:

• our ability to acquire new customers and sustain and/or manage our growth;

• our ability to increase our net revenue per active customer;

• our ability to build and maintain strong brands;

• our ability to manage our global growth and expansion;

• our ability to compete successfully;

• the rate of growth of the Internet and e-commerce;

• economic factors, such as interest rates, the housing market, currency exchange fluctuations and changes in customer 
spending;

• disruptions or inefficiencies in our supply chain or logistics network, including any impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on 
our suppliers and third party carriers and delivery agents;

• potential impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on our business, financial condition and results of operations;

• world events, natural disasters, public health emergencies (such as the COVID-19 outbreak), civil disturbances and 
terrorist attacks; and

• developments in, and the outcome of, legal and regulatory proceedings and investigations to which we are a party or are 
subject, and the liabilities, obligations and expenses, if any, that we may incur in connection therewith.

A further list and description of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause or contribute to differences in our 
future results include the cautionary statements herein and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, 
including those set forth under Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We qualify all of our forward-
looking statements by these cautionary statements.

Overview

Wayfair is one of the world's largest online destinations for the home. Through our e-commerce business model, we offer 
visually inspired browsing, compelling merchandising, easy product discovery and attractive prices for over twenty-two million 
products from over 16,000 suppliers. 

We believe an increasing portion of the dollars spent on home goods will be spent online and that there is an opportunity for 

acquiring more market share. Our business model is designed to grow our net revenue by acquiring new customers as well as 
stimulating repeat purchases from our existing customers. Through increasing brand awareness as well as paid and unpaid 

35

advertising, we attract new and repeat customers to our sites. We turn these customers into recurring shoppers by creating a 
seamless shopping experience across their entire journey — offering best-in-class product discovery, purchasing, fulfillment and 
customer service.

In fiscal year 2020, our business reached an inflection of profitability, benefiting from years of investment developing our 

logistics platform, international footprint and technological capabilities. The sharp acceleration in demand for home products and 
an uptick in purchasing online during 2020, both heightened by COVID-related factors, served to highlight the durability of 
Wayfair's business model as well as the attractive nature of our customer unit economics. As of December 31, 2020, we had 
reached 31.2 million active customers over the last twelve months, and 70% of 2020 orders came from repeat buyers. We 
continued to manage our advertising spend according to a return on investment-oriented approach that carefully tracks and 
monitors the results of advertising campaigns to ensure the appropriate return targets are being met. We also leveraged operating 
costs such as infrastructure expenses and employee salaries, particularly as the pace of hiring slowed and proved substantially 
below revenue growth.

COVID-19 Outbreak

We are continuing to closely monitor the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on our business, results of operations and 
financial results. The situation surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak remains fluid and the full extent of the positive or negative 
impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on our business will depend on certain developments including the length of time that the 
outbreak continues, the impact on consumer activity and behaviors and the effect on our customers, employees, suppliers, partners 
and stockholders, all of which are uncertain and cannot be predicted. See Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors for additional details. Our 
focus remains on promoting the health, safety and financial security of our employees and serving our customers. As a result, we 
have taken a number of precautionary measures, including implementing social distancing, enhanced cleaning measures and 
COVID-19 testing in our facilities, suspending all non-essential travel, transitioning a large portion of our employees to working-
from-home, reimbursing certain employee technology purchases, establishing employee welfare programs, providing emergency 
paid time off and targeted hourly pay increases and developing no-contact delivery methods.

In an effort to contain or slow the COVID-19 outbreak, authorities around the world have implemented various measures, 

some of which have been subsequently rescinded or modified, including travel bans, stay-at-home orders and shutdowns of 
certain businesses. We anticipate that these actions and the global health crisis caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, including any 
resurgences, will continue to negatively impact global economic activity. While the COVID-19 outbreak has not had a material 
adverse impact on our operations to date and we believe the long-term opportunity that we see for shopping for the home online 
remains unchanged, it is difficult to predict all of the positive or negative impacts the COVID-19 outbreak will have on our 
business in the short- and long-term.

In the short term, we have continued to see increased sales and order activity in the market since the COVID-19 outbreak. 

To serve the increased orders, we have hired and are continuing to hire additional frontline and sales and service workers. 
However, much is unknown and accordingly the situation remains dynamic and subject to rapid and possibly material change. We 
will continue to actively monitor the situation and may take further actions that alter our business operations as may be required 
by federal, state, local or foreign authorities, or that we determine are in the best interests of our customers, employees, suppliers, 
partners, stockholders and communities.

Factors Affecting our Performance

We believe that our performance and future success depend on a number of factors that present significant opportunities for 

us but also pose risks and challenges, including those discussed in Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors.

36

Key Financial and Operating Metrics

We measure our business using key financial and operating metrics, as well as Adjusted EBITDA, Free Cash Flow and 

Adjusted Diluted Earnings (Loss) per Share (see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures”). Our Free Cash Flow and Adjusted Diluted 
Earnings (Loss) per Share are measured on a consolidated basis, while our Adjusted EBITDA is measured on a consolidated and 
reportable segment basis. All other key financial and operating metrics are derived and reported from our consolidated net 
revenue.

We use the following metrics to assess the near and longer-term performance of our overall business:

Key Financial Statement Metrics:

Net revenue

Gross profit

Income (loss) from operations

Net income (loss)

Earnings (loss) per share:

Basic

Diluted

Key Operating Metrics:

Active customers (1)

LTM net revenue per active customer (2)

Orders delivered (3)

Average order value (4)

Non-GAAP Financial Measures:

Adjusted EBITDA

Free Cash Flow

Adjusted Diluted Earnings (Loss) per Share

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

2018

(in thousands, except LTM Net Revenue per Active 
Customer, Average Order Value and per share data)

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

14,145,156  $ 

9,127,057  $ 

6,779,174 

4,112,171  $ 

2,147,332  $ 

1,586,723 

360,349  $ 

(929,941)  $ 

(473,279) 

184,996  $ 

(984,584)  $ 

(504,080) 

1.93  $ 

1.86  $ 

(10.68)  $ 

(10.68)  $ 

(5.63) 

(5.63) 

31,194 

20,290 

453  $ 

448  $ 

60,999 

37,641 

232  $ 

241  $ 

15,155 

443 

28,084 

239 

946,888  $ 

(496,544)  $ 

(214,986) 

1,082,297  $ 

(597,698)  $ 

(137,094) 

5.04  $ 

(8.03)  $ 

(4.11) 

(1) The number of active customers represents the total number of individual customers who have purchased at least once 
directly from our sites during the preceding twelve-month period. The change in active customers in a reported period 
captures both the inflow of new customers as well as the outflow of existing customers who have not made a purchase in 
the last twelve months. We view the number of active customers as a key indicator of our growth.

(2) LTM net revenue per active customer represents our total net revenue in the last twelve months divided by our total 

number of active customers for the same preceding twelve-month period. We view LTM net revenue per active customer 
as a key indicator of our customers' purchasing patterns, including their initial and repeat purchase behavior.

(3) Orders delivered represents the total orders delivered in any period, inclusive of orders that may eventually be returned. As 
we ship a large volume of packages through multiple carriers, actual delivery dates may not always be available, and as 
such we estimate delivery dates based on historical data. We recognize net revenue when an order is delivered, and 
therefore orders delivered, together with average order value, is an indicator of the net revenue we expect to recognize in a 
given period. We view orders delivered as a key indicator of our growth.

(4) We define average order value as total net revenue in a given period divided by the orders delivered in that period. We 

view average order value as a key indicator of the mix of products on our sites, the mix of offers and promotions and the 
purchasing behavior of our customers.

37

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Results of Consolidated Operations 

Net revenue

In 2020, net revenue increased by $5.0 billion, or 55.0% compared to 2019, primarily due to growth in our customer base, 
with the number of active customers increasing by 53.7% in 2020 compared to 2019. There was an increase in order frequency, 
with LTM orders per active customer increasing by 5.4% in 2020 compared to 2019. Additionally, we believe our merchandising 
investments encouraged active customers to spend more on average in 2020 than the prior year, with LTM net revenue per active 
customer increasing 1.1% in 2020 compared to 2019. Our U.S. net revenue increased 53.3% in 2020 from 2019, while our 
International net revenue increased 64.8% year over year. International Net Revenue Constant Currency Growth (see “Non-
GAAP Measures” below) was 64.9% in 2020 from 2019. 

U.S. net revenue

International net revenue

Net revenue

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

% Change

(in thousands)

$ 

11,900,658  $ 

7,764,831 

2,244,498 

1,362,226 

$ 

14,145,156  $ 

9,127,057 

 53.3 %

 64.8 %

 55.0 %

For more information on our segments, see Note 13 to the consolidated financial statements, Segment and Geographic 
Information, included in Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Cost of goods sold

Cost of goods sold is sensitive to many factors, including quarter-to-quarter variability in product mix, pricing strategies, 
changes in wholesale, shipping and fulfillment costs and fees earned for supplier services rendered. In 2020, cost of goods sold 
increased by $3.1 billion, or 43.7%, compared to 2019. Of the increase in cost of goods sold, $2.5 billion was due to the increase 
in products sold to our larger customer base. In addition, shipping and fulfillment costs increased $0.6 billion as a result of the 
increase in products delivered during the period. 

The increase in cost of goods sold is primarily driven by an increase in the number of orders delivered, partially offset by 

efficiencies gained in shipping costs from our logistics network. The decrease in cost of goods sold as a percentage of net revenue 
is primarily a result of unlocking incremental margin from merchandising investments and efficiencies generated from our 
logistics network.

Cost of goods sold
As a percentage of net revenue

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

% Change

(in thousands)

$  10,032,985 

$  6,979,725 

 43.7 %

 70.9 %

 76.5 %

38

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Operating expenses

Operating expenses are comprised of customer service and merchant fees, advertising and selling, operations, technology, 

general and administrative expenses. We disclose separately the equity-based compensation and related taxes that are included in 
customer service and merchant fees and selling, operations, technology and general and administrative expenses.

Customer service and merchant fees (1)

Advertising

Selling, operations, technology, general and administrative (1)

Total operating expenses

As a percentage of net revenue:

Customer service and merchant fees (1)

Advertising

Selling, operations, technology, general and administrative (1)

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

% Change

(in thousands)

$ 

509,559 

$ 

356,727 

1,412,173 

1,830,090 

1,095,840 

1,624,706 

$  3,751,822 

$  3,077,273 

 42.8 %

 28.9 %

 12.6 %

 21.9 %

 3.6 %

 10.0 %

 12.9 %

 26.5 %

 3.9 %

 12.0 %

 17.8 %

 33.7 %

(1) Includes equity-based compensation and related taxes as follows:

Customer service and merchant fees

Selling, operations, technology, general and administrative

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

(in thousands)

$ 

$ 

16,072  $ 

9,473 

270,600  $ 

226,129 

Our equity-based compensation and related taxes included in customer service and merchant fees and selling, 
operations, technology, general and administrative increased by $51.1 million in 2020 compared to 2019 as a result 
of increased restricted stock units awarded in 2020 from 2019. 

The following table summarizes operating expenses as a percentage of net revenue, excluding equity-based 

compensation and related taxes:

Customer service and merchant fees

Selling, operations, technology, general and 
administrative

Customer Service and Merchant Fees

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

 3.5 %

 11.0 %

 3.8 %

 15.3 %

Excluding the impact of equity-based compensation and related taxes, our expenses for customer service and merchant fees 

increased by $146.2 million in 2020 compared to 2019, primarily due to the increase in net revenue during 2020. Expenses for 
customer service and merchant fees, both including and excluding equity-based compensation and related taxes, as a percentage 
of net revenues declined in 2020 from 2019, primarily due to order volumes that increased faster than our customer service hiring 
to serve the increased orders.

Advertising

Our advertising expenses increased by $316.3 million in 2020 compared to 2019, primarily as a result of an increase in 
online advertising. Advertising decreased as a percentage of net revenue in 2020 compared to 2019, primarily attributable to 
efficiencies in our advertising spend and partially offset by increased investment to generate future customer growth. 

39

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Selling, operations, technology, general and administrative

Excluding the impact of equity-based compensation and related taxes, our expenses for selling, operations, technology, 
general and administrative activities increased by $160.9 million in 2020 compared to 2019, primarily attributable to increases in 
personnel costs, rent, information technology and depreciation and amortization. As a percentage of net revenue, selling, 
operations, technology, general and administrative expenses decreased to 12.9% in 2020 compared to 17.8% in 2019, primarily 
due to the pace of corporate headcount net hiring relative to the increase in net revenue.

Interest (expense), net

Our interest (expense), net increased by $91.9 million in 2020 compared to 2019, primarily attributable to new issuances of 

convertible notes.

Interest (expense), net

Other (expense) income, net

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

% Change

(in thousands)

$ 

(146,397)  $ 

(54,514) 

 168.5 %

Our other (expense) income, net increased by $11.5 million in 2020 compared to 2019, primarily attributable to the 

$12.8 million loss for the extinguishment of debt for the 2022 Notes.

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

% Change

(in thousands)

Other (expense) income, net

$ 

(8,633)  $ 

2,881 

 (399.7) %

Provision for income taxes, net

Our provision for income taxes, net increased by $17.3 million in 2020 compared to 2019, primarily related to income 
earned in the U.S. and certain foreign jurisdictions and U.S. state income taxes, offset by the recognition of a discrete tax benefit 
related to excess tax benefits on equity awards for U.S. employees.

Provision for income taxes, net

$ 

20,323  $ 

3,010 

 575.2 %

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

% Change

(in thousands)

40

 
 
 
 
 
 
Liquidity and Capital Resources

Sources of Liquidity

At December 31, 2020, our principal source of liquidity was cash and cash equivalents and short- and long-term investments 

totaling $2.6 billion. In addition, we have a $200 million senior secured revolving credit facility that matures on February 21, 
2022 (the “Revolver”). Wayfair had issued letters of credit, primarily as security for certain lease agreements, for approximately 
$57.0 million as of December 31, 2020, which reduces the availability of credit under the Revolver. Excluding liquidity available 
through our Revolver, the following table shows sources of liquidity as of December 31, 2020 and 2019:

Cash and cash equivalents

Short-term investments

Long-term investments

Working capital

December 31,

2020

2019

(in thousands)

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

2,129,440  $ 

461,698  $ 

—  $ 

582,753 

404,252 

155,690 

880,208  $ 

(234,381) 

We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents and investments, cash generated from operations and the borrowing 
availability under our Revolver will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for at least the foreseeable future. However, 
our liquidity assumptions may prove to be incorrect, and we could exhaust our available financial resources sooner than we 
currently expect. In addition, we may elect to raise additional funds at any time through equity, equity-linked or debt financing 
arrangements. Further, we may from time to time seek to retire, restructure, repurchase or redeem, or otherwise mitigate the 
equity dilution associated with, our outstanding convertible debt, through cash purchases, stock buybacks of some or all of the 
shares underlying convertible notes and/or exchanges for equity or debt, in open-market purchases, privately negotiated 
transactions or otherwise. Such repurchases, exchanges or liability management exercises, if any, will be upon such terms and at 
such prices and sizes as we may determine, and will depend on prevailing market conditions, our liquidity requirements, 
contractual restrictions and other factors. The amounts involved may be material.

Our future capital requirements and the adequacy of available funds will depend on many factors, including those described 
herein and in our other filings with the SEC, including those set forth in Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors. In addition, the COVID-19 
outbreak and related measures to contain its impact have caused disruption in the capital markets, which could make obtaining 
financing more difficult and/or expensive. As a consequence, we may not be able to secure additional financing to meet our 
operating requirements on acceptable terms, or at all. If we raise additional funds through the issuance of equity, equity-linked or 
debt financing arrangements, those securities and instruments may have rights, preferences or privileges senior to the rights of our 
common stock, and the holders of our equity securities may experience dilution. We will continue to monitor our liquidity during 
this time of historic disruption and volatility in the global capital markets due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Credit Agreement and Convertible Debt

Under the terms of our Revolver, we may use proceeds to finance working capital and to provide funds for permitted 
acquisitions, repurchases of equity interests and other general corporate purposes. Any amounts outstanding under the Revolver 
are due at maturity.

As of December 31, 2020, we had $3.3 billion of indebtedness outstanding. The conditional conversion features of the 2022 

Notes, 2024 Notes and 2026 Notes were triggered during the fourth quarter of 2020, and the 2022 Notes, 2024 Notes and 2026 
Notes therefore became convertible in the first quarter of 2021 pursuant to the applicable last reported sales price conditions. The 
conditional conversion feature of the 2025 Notes was not triggered during the fourth quarter of 2020, and the 2025 Notes were 
therefore not convertible in the first quarter of 2021 pursuant to the applicable last reported sales price conditions. The 2025 
Accreting Notes are convertible at any time prior to the second business day immediately preceding the maturity date. There have 
been no material conversions to date of the 2024 Notes, 2025 Notes or 2026 Notes. During 2020, Charlesbank converted 
$253.1 million of accreted principal of the 2025 Accreting Notes and received 3,490,175 shares of Wayfair’s Class A common 
stock. In January 2021, Great Hill converted $253.1 million of accreted principal of the 2025 Accreting Notes and received 
3,490,175 shares of Wayfair's Class A common stock.

Whether any of the Non-Accreting Notes will be convertible in future quarters will depend on the satisfaction of the 
applicable last reported sales price condition or another conversion condition in the future. If one or more holders elect to convert 

41

 
 
 
their Non-Accreting Notes at a time when any such Non-Accreting Notes are convertible, unless we elect to satisfy our 
conversion obligation by delivering solely shares of our Class A common stock (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any 
fractional share), we would be required to settle a portion or all of our conversion obligation through the payment of cash, which 
could adversely affect our liquidity.

For information regarding our credit agreement and convertible notes, see Note 6, Debt and Other Financing included in 

Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Stock Repurchase Program

On August 21, 2020, the Board authorized Wayfair to repurchase, from time to time, up to $700 million of our Class A 

common stock in the open market, through privately negotiated transactions, or otherwise, including pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 
plan (the “2020 Repurchase Program”). The 2020 Repurchase Program replaced our previous $200 million stock repurchase 
authorization approved by the Board in 2018 (the “2018 Repurchase Program”). Wayfair repurchased 432,548 shares of Class A 
common stock for approximately $143.0 million under the 2018 Repurchase Program before it was simultaneously terminated and 
replaced by the 2020 Repurchase Program. The 2020 Repurchase Program does not obligate Wayfair to purchase any shares of 
Class A common stock and has no expiration but may be suspended or terminated by the Board at any time. The actual timing, 
number and value of shares repurchased in the future will be determined by Wayfair in its discretion and will depend on a number 
of factors, including market conditions, applicable legal requirements, our capital needs and whether there is a better alternative 
use of capital. As of December 31, 2020, Wayfair has repurchased 823,470 shares of Class A common stock for approximately 
$237.2 million under the 2020 Repurchase Program.

Trends and Historical Cash Flows

Net income (loss)

Net cash from (for) operating activities

Net cash for investing activities

Net cash from financing activities

Operating Activities

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

2018

(in thousands)

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

184,996  $ 

(984,584) 

1,416,731  $ 

(196,818) 

(236,075)  $ 

(854,837) 

352,588  $ 

786,504 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

(504,080) 

84,861 

(260,287) 

467,463 

Cash flows in connection with operating activities consisted of net income (loss) adjusted for certain non-cash items 
including depreciation and amortization, equity-based compensation and certain other non-cash expenses, as well as the effect of 
changes in working capital and other activities. Operating cash flows can be volatile and are sensitive to many factors, including 
changes in working capital and our net income (loss).

Cash from operating activities in 2020 increased by $1.6 billion from 2019 primarily due the increase in net income (loss) of 

$1.2 billion, increase in cash from operating assets and liabilities of $215.4 million, increase in depreciation and amortization 
expense of $93.3 million, increase in amortization of discount and issuance costs related to our convertible notes of $72.2 million, 
increase in equity-based compensation of $48.8 million and increase in other non-cash items of $14.3 million.

Investing Activities

Cash for investing activities in 2020 decreased $618.8 million from 2019 due to the increase in sales and maturities of short- 

and long-term investments of $464.7 million, decrease in purchases of property and equipment of $85.7 million, decrease in 
purchases of short- and long-term investments of $72.2 million and decrease in other investing activities of $15.5 million, 
partially offset by the increase of site and software development costs of $19.3 million. Purchases of property and equipment and 
site and software development costs (collectively, "Capital Expenditures") were 2.4% of net revenue for the year 
ended December 31, 2020 and related primarily to equipment purchases and improvements for leased warehouses within our 
expanding logistics network and ongoing investments in our proprietary technology and operational platform. On an absolute 
dollar basis, we expect Capital Expenditures for the first quarter of 2021 to be within the range of $68.0 million to $78.0 million 
as we continue to build out our technology and logistics network.

42

 
 
Financing Activities

Cash from financing activities in 2020 decreased $433.9 million from 2019 due to the payments to partially extinguish our 
2022 Notes of $1.0 billion, $380.2 million of Class A common stock repurchased through stock repurchase programs, repayment 
of $200.0 million of the outstanding balance under our Revolver, partially offset by the $200.0 million proceeds from the 
borrowing under our Revolver during 2020. The decrease is also attributable to the increase for premiums paid for our 2026 
Capped Calls and 2025 Capped Calls of $109.3 million, partially offset by the increase of $1.1 billion for proceeds from the 
issuance of our 2025 Notes and 2025 Accreting Notes and increase of $3.4 million other investing activities. 

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We do not engage in any off-balance sheet activities. We do not have any off-balance sheet interest in variable interest 

entities, which include special purpose entities and other structured finance entities.

Contractual Obligations

The following table summarizes our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2020:

Long-term debt (1)

Operating leases (2)
Purchase obligations (3)
Other commitments (4)

Total

Less than
1 year

1 - 3
Years

3 - 5
Years

More than
5 Years

Payment Due by Period

(in thousands)

$  3,513,999  $ 

26,765  $ 

68,991  $  2,460,005  $ 

958,238 

$  1,250,722  $ 

149,590  $ 

326,111  $ 

308,007  $ 

467,014 

$ 

$ 

333,270  $ 

97,415  $ 

235,855  $ 

—  $ 

— 

127,879  $ 

2,497  $ 

17,791  $ 

17,972  $ 

89,619 

(1) Represents future interest and principal payments on the Notes. For information regarding our convertible notes, see Note 
6, Debt and Other Financing, in the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8, Financial 
Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. 

(2) Represents the future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable leases. For information regarding our lease 

obligations, see Note 5, Leases, in the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8, Financial 
Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

(3) Represents the future payments for enforceable and legally binding software license commitments. For information 

regarding our purchase obligations, see Note 7 Commitments and Contingencies in the notes to the consolidated financial 
statements included in Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
(4) Represents the future minimum lease payments for additional, non-cancellable operating leases, primarily related to build-

to-suit warehouse leases that have not yet commenced. For more information see Note 5, Leases, in the notes to the 
consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual 
Report on Form 10-K.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Adjusted EBITDA

To provide investors with additional information regarding our financial results, we have disclosed here and elsewhere in 

this Annual Report on Form 10-K Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure that we calculate as net income (loss) 
before depreciation and amortization, equity-based compensation and related taxes, interest (expense), net, other (expense) 
income, net, provision for income taxes, net, non-recurring items and other items not indicative of our ongoing operating 
performance. We have provided a reconciliation below of Adjusted EBITDA to net income (loss), the most directly comparable 
GAAP financial measure. 

We have included Adjusted EBITDA in this Annual Report on Form 10-K because it is a key measure used by our 
management and the Board to evaluate our operating performance, generate future operating plans and make strategic decisions 
regarding the allocation of capital. In particular, the exclusion of certain expenses in calculating Adjusted EBITDA facilitates 
operating performance comparisons on a period-to-period basis as these costs may vary independent of business performance. 

43

 
 
Accordingly, we believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and 
evaluating our operating results in the same manner as our management and the Board.

Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider it in isolation or as a substitute for 

analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. Some of these limitations are: 

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized may have to be 
replaced in the future, and Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect cash capital expenditure requirements for such 
replacements or for new capital expenditure requirements;

Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect equity-based compensation and related taxes;

Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect changes in our working capital;

Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect income tax payments that may represent a reduction in cash available to us;

Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect interest expenses associated with our borrowings;

Adjusted EBITDA does not include other items not indicative of our ongoing performance; and

Other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate Adjusted EBITDA differently, which reduces its 
usefulness as a comparative measure.

Because of these limitations, you should consider Adjusted EBITDA alongside other financial performance measures, 

including various cash flow metrics, net income (loss) and our other GAAP results.

The following table reflects the reconciliation of net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA for each of the periods indicated:

Reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA:

Net income (loss)

Depreciation and amortization

Equity-based compensation and related taxes

Interest expense, net

Other expense (income), net

Provision for income taxes, net

Other (1) 

Adjusted EBITDA

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

2018

(in thousands)

$ 

184,996  $ 

(984,584)  $ 

(504,080) 

285,711 

296,872 

146,397 

8,633 

20,323 

3,956 

192,419 

240,978 

54,514 

(2,881)   

3,010 

— 

123,542 

136,415 

28,560 

204 

2,037 

(1,664) 

$ 

946,888  $ 

(496,544)  $ 

(214,986) 

(1) We recorded a $4.0 million loss related to severance costs associated with February 2020 workforce reductions. The 
values were recorded in selling, operations, technology, general and administrative expenses. In 2018, we terminated 
the lease of a warehouse we had vacated in 2017 and recorded a one-time gain of $1.7 million related to the 
difference in the expected future net lease commitments and the actual costs incurred to terminate the lease. 

Free Cash Flow

To provide investors with additional information regarding our financial results, we have also disclosed here and elsewhere 

in this Annual Report on Form 10-K Free Cash Flow, a non-GAAP financial measure that we calculate as net cash from or for 
operating activities less Capital Expenditures. We have provided a reconciliation below of Free Cash Flow to net cash from or for 
operating activities, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure.

We have included Free Cash Flow in this Annual Report on Form 10-K because it is an important indicator of our business 

performance as it measures the amount of cash we generate. Accordingly, we believe that Free Cash Flow provides useful 
information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as our management.

44

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Free Cash Flow has limitations as an analytical tool because it omits certain components of the cash flow statement and does 
not represent the residual cash flow available for discretionary expenditures. Further, other companies, including companies in our 
industry, may calculate Free Cash Flow differently. Accordingly, you should not consider Free Cash Flow in isolation or as a 
substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. Because of these limitations, you should consider Free Cash Flow 
alongside other financial performance measures, including net cash from or for operating activities, Capital Expenditures, and our 
other GAAP results.

The following table presents a reconciliation of net cash from or for operating activities to Free Cash Flow for each of the 

periods indicated:

Net cash from (for) operating activities

Purchase of property and equipment

Site and software development costs

Free Cash Flow

Net Revenue Constant Currency Growth

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

2018

(in thousands)

$ 

1,416,731  $ 

(196,818)  $ 

84,861 

(186,040)   

(148,394)   

(271,742)   

(129,138)   

(159,205) 

(62,750) 

$ 

1,082,297  $ 

(597,698)  $ 

(137,094) 

To provide investors with additional information regarding our financial results, we have disclosed in this Annual Report on 

Form 10-K Net Revenue Constant Currency Growth, a non-GAAP financial measure that we calculate by translating the current 
period local currency net revenue by the currency exchange rates used to translate our financial statements in the comparable 
prior-year period.

Net Revenue Constant Currency Growth is included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K because it is an important 
indicator of our operating results. Accordingly, we believe that Net Revenue Constant Currency Growth provides useful 
information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating trends in our operating results in the same manner as our 
management.

Net Revenue Constant Currency Growth has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider it in isolation or 

as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. For example, Net Revenue Constant Currency Growth rates, by 
their nature, exclude the impact of foreign exchange, which may have a material impact on net revenue. 

Adjusted Diluted Earnings (Loss) per Share

To provide investors with additional information regarding our financial results, we have disclosed in this Annual Report on 

Form 10-K Adjusted Diluted Earnings (Loss) per Share, a non-GAAP financial measure that we calculate as net income (loss) 
plus equity-based compensation and related taxes, provision for income taxes, net, non-recurring items, other items not indicative 
of our ongoing operating performance, and, if dilutive, interest expense associated with convertible debt instruments under the if-
converted method divided by the weighted-average number of shares of common stock used in the computation of diluted 
earnings (loss) per share. Accordingly, we believe that these adjustments to our adjusted diluted net income (loss) before 
calculating per share amounts for all periods presented provides a more meaningful comparison between our operating results 
from period to period.

Adjusted Diluted Earnings (Loss) per Share has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider it in isolation 
or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. For example, Adjusted Diluted Earnings (Loss) per Share, 
by their nature, excludes equity-based compensation and related taxes, provision for income taxes, net, non-recurring items, other 
items not indicative of our ongoing operating performance, and, if dilutive, interest expense associated with convertible debt 
instruments under the if-converted method.

Because of these limitations, you should consider Adjusted Diluted Earnings (Loss) per Share alongside other financial 

performance measures.

45

 
 
 
 
A reconciliation of the numerator and denominator for diluted earnings (loss) per share, the most directly comparable 
GAAP financial measure, and the numerator and denominator for Adjusted Diluted Earnings (Loss) per Share, is as follows:

Numerator:

Net income (loss)
Effect of dilutive securities:

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

2018

(in thousands, except per share data)

$ 

184,996  $ 

(984,584)  $ 

(504,080) 

Interest expense associated with convertible debt instruments

— 

— 

— 

Numerator for diluted EPS - net income (loss) available to common 
stockholders after the effect of dilutive securities
Adjustments to net income (loss)

Interest expense associated with convertible debt instruments
Equity-based compensation and related taxes
Provision for income taxes, net
Other

Numerator for Adjusted Diluted EPS - Adjusted net income (loss)
Denominator:
Denominator for basic EPS - weighted-average number of shares of 
common stock outstanding
Effect of dilutive securities:

Employee stock options

Restricted stock units

Convertible debt instruments

Dilutive potential common shares
Denominator for diluted EPS - adjusted weighted-average number of 
shares of common stock outstanding after the effect of dilutive securities
Adjustments to effect of dilutive securities:

Employee stock options
Restricted stock units
Convertible debt instruments

184,996 

(984,584)   

(504,080) 

8,790 
296,872 
20,323 
3,956 
514,937  $ 

— 
240,978 
3,010 
— 

(740,596)  $ 

— 
136,415 
2,037 
(1,664) 
(367,292) 

$ 

95,825 

92,200 

89,472 

29 

3,483 

— 

3,512 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

99,337 

92,200 

89,472 

— 
— 
2,913 

— 
— 
— 

— 
— 
— 

Denominator for Adjusted Diluted EPS - adjusted weighted-average 
number of shares of common stock outstanding after the effect of 
dilutive securities
Diluted Earnings (Loss) per Share

Adjusted Diluted Earnings (Loss) per Share

102,250

1.86  $ 

5.04  $ 

$ 

$ 

92,200
(10.68)  $ 

(8.03)  $ 

89,472
(5.63) 

(4.11) 

Critical Accounting Policies

Our financial statements are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. The 
preparation of our financial statements and related disclosures requires us to make estimates, assumptions and judgments that 
affect the reported amount of assets, liabilities, net revenue, costs and expenses and related disclosures. We believe that the 
estimates, assumptions and judgments involved in the accounting policies described below have the greatest potential impact on 
our financial statements and, therefore, we consider these to be our critical accounting policies. Accordingly, we evaluate our 
estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions 
and conditions. See Note 1, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, in the notes to the consolidated financial statements 
included in Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for information 
about these critical accounting policies, as well as a description of our other significant accounting policies.

46

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Revenue Recognition

We generate net revenue through product sales generated primarily through our family of sites.

We recognize revenue using the gross method for product sales generated through our family of sites only when we have 
concluded that Wayfair controls the product before it is transferred to the customer. Wayfair controls products when it is the entity 
responsible for fulfilling the promise to the customer and takes responsibility for the acceptability of the goods, assumes inventory 
risk from shipment through the delivery date, has discretion in establishing prices and selects the suppliers of products sold. We 
recognize net revenue when the product has been delivered to the customer. 

 We ship a large volume of packages through multiple carriers. When delivery dates are not available, we estimate delivery 
dates based on historical data. Net revenue from product sales includes shipping costs charged to the customer and is recorded net 
of taxes collected from customers, which are remitted to governmental authorities. Cash discounts and rebates earned by 
customers at the time of purchase are deducted from gross revenue in determining net revenue. Allowances for sales returns are 
estimated and recorded based on prior returns history, recent trends and projections for returns on sales in the current period.

We recognize gift cards and site credits in the period they are redeemed. Unredeemed gift cards and site credits not subject 

to requirements to remit balances to governmental agencies are recognized as net revenue based on historical redemption patterns, 
which are substantially within twenty-four months of issuance.

We maintain a membership rewards program for purchases made with our private label Wayfair credit card and co-branded 

Mastercard ("Credit Card Program"). Enrolled customers earn points that may be redeemed for future purchases. We defer a 
portion of our revenue associated with rewards that are ultimately expected to be redeemed. 

As part of the Credit Card Program, in exchange for providing intellectual property, we receive payments based on spending 

activity and the profitability of the card. Revenue based on the spending activity of the underlying accounts is recognized as the 
respective card purchases occur and profit share is recognized based on the performance of the underlying portfolio.

Leases

We generally lease office and warehouse facilities under noncancelable agreements. Upon each agreement's commencement 
date, we determine if the agreement is part of an arrangement that is or that contains a lease, determine the lease classification and 
recognize ROU assets and lease liabilities for all leases with the exception of leases with terms of 12 months or less. We have 
arrangements with lease and non-lease components, and we account for lease and non-lease components separately for our 
warehouse and fulfillment center arrangements. For all other lease arrangements, we account for lease and non-lease components 
as a single lease component. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019 we did not have material finance lease arrangements.

Lease liabilities and their corresponding ROU assets are recorded based on the present value of lease payments over the 

expected lease term at the lease commencement date. As most of our leases do not provide an implicit rate, we use an estimated 
incremental borrowing rate (“IBR”) based on the information available at the commencement date to determine the present value 
of future payments. The determination of the IBR requires judgment and is primarily based on publicly-available information for 
companies within the same industry and with similar credit profiles. We adjust the rate for the impact of collateralization, the 
lease term and other specific terms included in each lease arrangement. The IBR is determined at the lease commencement and is 
subsequently reassessed upon a modification to the lease arrangement. The ROU asset also includes any lease payments made 
prior to the commencement date and excludes lease incentives and initial direct costs incurred.

Lease expense for minimum lease payments is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term. Our lease terms may 

include options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that we will exercise that option.

We review ROU assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of 

the ROU asset may not be recoverable. When such events occur, we compare the carrying amount of the ROU asset to the 
undiscounted expected future cash flows related to the ROU asset. If the comparison indicates that an impairment exists, the 
amount of the impairment is calculated as the difference between the excess of the carrying amount over the fair value of the 
ROU asset. If a readily determinable market price does not exist, fair value is estimated using discounted expected cash flows 
attributable to the ROU asset. 

For additional information regarding our lease arrangements, see Note 5, Leases, in the notes to the consolidated financial 

statements included in Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

47

Convertible Debt

Upon the issuance of convertible debt with debt and equity components, we evaluate the different components and features 

of the hybrid instrument and determine whether certain elements are embedded derivative instruments that require bifurcation. 
Components of convertible debt instruments that upon conversion may be settled fully in cash or partly in cash based on a net-
share settlement basis are accounted for separately as long-term debt and equity when the conversion feature of the convertible 
bonds constitute an embedded equity instrument. When an equity instrument is identified, proceeds from issuance are allocated 
between debt and equity by measuring first the liability component and then determining the equity component as the residual 
amount. The liability component is measured as the fair value of a similar nonconvertible debt, which results in the recognition of 
a debt discount. In subsequent periods, we amortize the debt discount to interest (expense), net within the consolidated statements 
of operations, using the interest method based on the expected maturity of the debt. The equity component is reported in 
additional paid-in capital within the consolidated statement of stockholders' deficit and is not remeasured as long as it continues to 
meet the conditions for equity classification.

We allocate transaction costs to issue the convertible debt using the same proportions applied to the proceeds from the 
convertible debt. Transaction costs attributable to the liability component are recorded as a direct deduction from the related debt 
liability in the consolidated balance sheets, and they are amortized to interest (expense), net within the consolidated statements of 
operations over the term of the convertible debt using the effective interest rate method. Transaction costs attributable to the 
equity component are netted within additional paid-in capital within the consolidated statement of stockholders' deficit. 

For additional information regarding our convertible debt, see Note 6, Debt and Other Financing, in the notes to the 

consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Annual 
Report on Form 10-K.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

For information about recent accounting pronouncements, see Note 1, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, in the 
notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this 
Annual Report on Form 10-K. 

Item 7A.    Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure About Market Risk

We have operations both within the U.S. and internationally, and we are exposed to market risks in the ordinary course of 

our business, including the effects of interest rate changes, foreign currency fluctuations and inflation. Information relating to 
quantitative and qualitative disclosures about these market risks is below.

Interest Rate Sensitivity

Cash and cash equivalents and short- and long-term investments were held primarily in cash deposits, certificates of deposit, 

money market funds and investment grade corporate debt. The fair value of our cash, cash equivalents and short- and long-term 
investments will fluctuate with movements of interest rates, increasing in periods of declining rates of interest and declining in 
periods of increasing rates of interest.

Our 2022 Notes, which were issued in September 2017, carry a fixed interest rate of 0.375% per year, our 2024 Notes, 

which were issued in November 2018, carry a fixed interest rate of 1.125% per year, our 2026 Notes, which were issued in 
August 2019, carry a fixed interest rate of 1.00% per year, our 2025 Accreting Notes, which were issued in April 2020, carry a 
fixed interest rate of 2.50% per year and our 2025 Notes, which were issued in August 2020, carry a fixed interest rate of 0.625% 
per year. Since the Notes bear interest at a fixed rate, we have no direct financial statement risk associated with changes in interest 
rates. 

Interest on the revolving line of credit incurred pursuant to the credit agreements described herein would accrue at a floating 

rate based on a formula tied to certain market rates at the time of incurrence; however, we do not expect that any changes in 
prevailing interest rates will have a material impact on our results of operations.

Foreign Currency Risk

Most of our sales are denominated in U.S. dollars, and therefore, our total net revenue is not currently subject to significant 

foreign currency risk. However, as our international business has grown, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates have 
started to have a greater impact. Our operating expenses are denominated in the currencies of the countries in which our 

48

 
operations are located or in which net revenue is generated, and as a result we face exposure to adverse movements in foreign 
currency exchange rates, particularly changes in the British Pound, Euro and Canadian Dollar, as the financial results of our 
international operations are translated from local currency, or functional currency, into U.S. dollars upon consolidation. 
Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates may cause us to recognize transaction gains and losses in our consolidated 
statements of operations. To date, foreign currency transaction gains and losses have not been material to our financial statements, 
and we have not engaged in any foreign currency hedging transactions, but we may do so in the future. The effect of foreign 
currency exchange on our business historically has varied from quarter to quarter and may continue to do so, potentially 
materially. In addition, volatile market conditions arising from the COVID-19 outbreak may result in changes in exchange rates, 
and in particular a weakening of foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar may negatively affect our net revenue as expressed 
in U.S. dollars.

Inflation

We do not believe that inflation has had a material effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. We 

continue to monitor the impact of inflation in order to minimize its effects through pricing strategies, productivity improvements 
and cost reductions. If our costs were to become subject to significant inflationary pressures, we may not be able to fully offset 
such higher costs through price increases. Our inability or failure to do so could harm our business, financial condition and results 
of operations.

49

Item 8.    Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 

WAYFAIR INC.
INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Consolidated Balance Sheets

Consolidated Statements of Operations

Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss)

Consolidated Statement of Stockholders' Deficit

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

51

54

55

56

57

58

59

50

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of Wayfair Inc.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Wayfair Inc. (the Company) as of December 31, 2020 and 
2019, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income (loss), stockholders’ deficit and cash flows for 
each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2020, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated 
financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial 
position of the Company at December 31, 2020 and 2019, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three 
years in the period ended December 31, 2020, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. 

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) 
(PCAOB), the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020, based on criteria established in 
Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission 
(2013 framework) and our report dated February 25, 2021 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

Adoption of New Accounting Standard

As  discussed  in  Note  1  to  the  consolidated  financial  statements,  the  Company  changed  its  method  for  accounting  for  leases  in 
2019. 

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the 
Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are 
required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable 
rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the 
audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error 
or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, 
whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a 
test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the 
accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the 
financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matters

The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial 
statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relate to accounts or 
disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective or complex 
judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial 
statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on 
the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.

51

Description of 
the Matter

Completeness of Sales Return Reserves
As described in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company had product 
revenue of $14.1 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020, which was net of sales return 
reserves of $72.8 million.

How We 
Addressed the 
Matter in Our 
Audit

Description of 
the Matter

Auditing the Company's measurement of sales return reserves on product revenue under its 
contracts with customers was especially challenging because the calculation involves 
subjective management assumptions about products delivered as of the balance sheet date that 
could be subject to return in future periods under the Company's returns policy.
We obtained an understanding, evaluated the design and tested the operating effectiveness of 
internal controls over the Company's sales return reserve process. For example, we tested 
controls over management's assessment of the assumptions about expected returns by segment 
as of the balance sheet date. To test the Company’s reserves for returns on product revenue, 
our audit procedures included, among others, testing the accuracy and completeness of the 
underlying data used in the calculations and evaluating the significant assumptions used by 
management to estimate its reserves. 

To test management’s significant assumptions, we (1) agreed revenues by month for each 
segment in the analysis to the Company’s sales order system (2) examined sales return levels 
in the last month of the year and after year-end for unusual items or trends not consistent with 
the Company’s analysis of product returns and (3) tested the accuracy of the Company’s 
reserves for returns on product revenue recorded in prior periods by comparing the reserve to 
returns actually processed. We also compared the Company’s projections of future sales 
returns as of the balance sheet date with actual returns made subsequent to year end.

Allocation of Convertible Notes Issuances and Settlements to Debt and Equity  
As described in Note 6 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company issued $1.5 
billion in aggregate principal of 0.625% convertible senior notes due 2025 (the “2025 Notes”) 
pursuant to an Indenture dated August 14, 2020. The 2025 Notes include a cash settlement 
feature, which requires the Company to separate the 2025 Notes into liability and equity 
components. Upon issuance, the Company allocated $1.2 billion to the liability component of 
the 2025 Notes and $0.3 billion to the equity component of the 2025 Notes. The Company 
used approximately $1.0 billion of the net proceeds from the offering to repurchase 
approximately $0.3 billion in aggregate principal amounts due under the convertible senior 
notes due 2022 (the “2022 Notes”). Additionally, in 2020, $0.1 billion aggregate principal of 
the 2022 Notes were settled upon conversion by the holders for 670,610 shares of Wayfair’s 
Class A common stock. The accounting for the repurchases and conversions of the 2022 
Notes requires the Company to allocate consideration transferred to the holders to the liability 
and equity components of the 2022 Notes being settled. The Company allocated $0.4 billion 
and $0.8 billion to the liability and equity components of the 2022 Notes from the total 
settlement consideration transferred to the holders. 

Auditing the Company’s determination of the values allocated to the liability and equity 
components in both the issuance of the 2025 Notes and repurchases and conversions of the 
2022 Notes was complex and highly judgmental as a result of the significant estimation 
required to determine the fair value of the liability component in each transaction. The fair 
value of the liability components was measured at the estimated fair value of a similar debt 
instrument without the conversion option. The fair value of similar debt instruments that do 
not have an associated conversion feature was determined using the Company’s estimated 
credit spread. Specifically, the credit spreads underlying the estimated effective interest rates 
for the 2022 and 2025 Notes were estimated using binomial lattice models and observing a 
range of credit spreads of comparable companies with similar credit ratings. In addition, 
management further estimated a credit rating for the Company using a synthetic credit rating 
model based on the Company’s financial performance as of each valuation date. 

52

  
 
How We 
Addressed the 
Matter in Our 
Audit

We obtained an understanding, evaluated the design and tested the operating effectiveness of 
internal controls that address the risks related to the Company’s process for determining the 
fair value of similar debt that does not have an associated conversion feature.

To  test  the  Company’s  measurements  of  the  liability  and  equity  components  of  the  2025 
Notes  issuance  and  2022  Notes  repurchase,  we  (i)  evaluated  whether  the  valuation 
methodology was appropriate in the circumstances, giving consideration to the nature of the 
instruments being valued, the premise of the valuation, the business and environment in which 
the  Company  operates,  and  the  lack  of  observable  market  data,  (ii)  assessed  whether  the 
assumptions  on  which  the  estimates  were  based,  individually  and  taken  as  a  whole,  were 
consistent  with  the  general  economic  environment,  the  economic  environment  of  the 
Company’s business and industry in which it operates, and existing market information, (iii) 
performed  comparative  calculations  and  a  sensitivity  analysis  to  test  the  reasonableness  of 
significant  assumptions  used  in  the  Company’s  valuation  analysis,  and  (iv)  prepared 
independent calculations to corroborate the estimate prepared by management. In performing 
our procedures, we also involved a valuation professional to assist in our evaluations.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2012.

Boston, Massachusetts
February 25, 2021

53

WAYFAIR INC.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

Assets:
Current assets

Cash and cash equivalents

Short-term investments

Accounts receivable, net

Inventories

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

Total current assets

Operating lease right-of-use assets

Property and equipment, net

Long-term investments

Other noncurrent assets

Total assets

Liabilities and Stockholders' Deficit:
Current liabilities

Accounts payable

Other current liabilities

Total current liabilities

Long-term debt

Operating lease liabilities

Other noncurrent liabilities

Total liabilities

Commitments and contingencies (Note 7)

Stockholders’ deficit:

Convertible preferred stock, $0.001 par value per share: 10,000,000 shares authorized 

and none issued at December 31, 2020 and 2019

Class A common stock, par value $0.001 per share, 500,000,000 shares authorized, 

72,980,490 and 66,642,611 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2020 and 
2019

Class B common stock, par value $0.001 per share, 164,000,000 shares authorized, 

26,564,234 and 26,957,815 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2020 and 
2019

Additional paid-in capital

Accumulated deficit

Accumulated other comprehensive loss

Total stockholders' deficit

Total liabilities and stockholders' deficit

See notes to consolidated financial statements.

54

December 31,

2020

2019

(in thousands, except share and per 
share data)

$ 

2,129,440  $ 

461,698 

110,299 

52,152 

292,213 

3,045,802 

808,375 

684,306 

— 

31,446 

582,753 

404,252 

99,720 

61,692 

228,721 

1,377,138 

763,400 

624,544 

155,690 

32,276 

$ 

4,569,929  $ 

2,953,048 

$ 

1,156,624  $ 

1,008,970 

2,165,594 

2,659,243 

869,958 

67,031 

908,097 

703,422 

1,611,519 

1,456,195 

822,602 

6,940 

5,761,826 

3,897,256 

— 

73 

27 

— 

67 

27 

698,482 

1,122,548 

(1,885,950)   

(2,065,423) 

(4,529)   

(1,427) 

(1,191,897)   

(944,208) 

$ 

4,569,929  $ 

2,953,048 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
WAYFAIR INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

Net revenue

Cost of goods sold

Gross profit
Operating expenses:

Customer service and merchant fees

Advertising

Selling, operations, technology, general and administrative

Total operating expenses

Income (loss) from operations

Interest (expense), net

Other (expense) income, net 

Income (loss) before income taxes

Provision for income taxes, net

Net income (loss)
Earnings (loss) per share:

Basic

Diluted

Weighted-average number of shares of common stock outstanding used 
in computing per share amounts:

Basic

Diluted

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

2018

(in thousands, except per share data)

$ 

14,145,156  $ 

9,127,057  $ 

6,779,174 

10,032,985 

4,112,171 

6,979,725 

2,147,332 

5,192,451 

1,586,723 

509,559 

1,412,173 

1,830,090 

3,751,822 

360,349 

356,727 

1,095,840 

1,624,706 

3,077,273 

260,046 

774,189 

1,025,767 

2,060,002 

(929,941)   

(473,279) 

(146,397)   

(54,514)   

(28,560) 

(8,633)   

2,881 

(204) 

205,319 

20,323 

(981,574)   

(502,043) 

3,010 

2,037 

184,996  $ 

(984,584)  $ 

(504,080) 

1.93  $ 

1.86  $ 

(10.68)  $ 

(10.68)  $ 

(5.63) 

(5.63) 

$ 

$ 

$ 

95,825 

99,337 

92,200 

92,200 

89,472 

89,472 

See notes to consolidated financial statements.

55

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
WAYFAIR INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS)

Net income (loss)
Other comprehensive income (loss):

Foreign currency translation adjustments

Net unrealized (loss) gain on available-for-sale investments

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

2018

(in thousands)

$ 

184,996  $ 

(984,584)  $ 

(504,080) 

(3,085) 

(17)

120 

233

553 

30 

Comprehensive income (loss)

$ 

181,894  $ 

(984,231)  $ 

(503,497) 

See notes to consolidated financial statements.

56

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WAYFAIR INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

Cash flows from operating activities:

Net income (loss)

Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash from (for) operating activities

Depreciation and amortization

Equity-based compensation

Amortization of discount and issuance costs on convertible notes

Other non-cash adjustments

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

Accounts receivable, net

Inventories

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

Other assets

Accounts payable and other current liabilities

Other liabilities

Net cash from (for) operating activities

Cash flows from investing activities:

Purchase of short- and long-term investments

Sale and maturities of short-and long-term investments

Purchase of property and equipment

Site and software development costs

Other investing activities, net

Net cash for investing activities

Cash flows from financing activities:

Proceeds from borrowings

Repayment of borrowings

Proceeds from issuance of convertible notes, net of issuance costs

Premiums paid for capped call confirmations

Payments to extinguish convertible debt

Repurchase of common stock

Other financing activities, net

Net cash from financing activities

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents

Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents:

Beginning of year

End of year

Supplemental Cash Flow Information:

Cash paid for interest on long-term debt

Non-cash impact to equity upon conversion of convertible debt, net of taxes

Cash paid for interest on finance lease obligations

Construction costs capitalized under finance lease obligations and other leases

Purchase of property and equipment included in accounts payable and other liabilities

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

2018

(in thousands)

$ 

184,996 

$ 

(984,584)  $ 

(504,080) 

285,711 

276,208 

134,288 

12,638 

(14,726) 

9,947 

(61,259) 

(532) 

531,526 

57,934 

1,416,731 

(481,670) 

580,153 

(186,040) 

(148,394) 

(124) 

(236,075) 

200,000 

(200,000) 

2,027,758 

(255,024) 

(1,040,349) 

(380,237) 

440 

352,588 

13,443 

1,546,687 

192,419 

227,451 

62,111 

(1,691) 

(49,187) 

(15,631) 

(32,590) 

(1,329) 

393,013 

13,200 

(196,818) 

(553,858) 

115,468 

(271,742) 

(129,138) 

(15,567) 

(854,837) 

— 

— 

935,146 

(145,728) 

— 
— 

(2,914) 

786,504 

(1,557) 

(266,708) 

123,542 

127,564 

22,585 

(56) 

(12,792) 

(18,319) 

(65,195) 

(8,157) 

385,647 

34,122 

84,861 

(99,002) 

61,068 

(159,205) 

(62,750) 

(398) 

(260,287) 

— 

— 

562,047 

(93,438) 

— 

— 

(1,146) 

467,463 

(1,536) 

290,501 

582,753 

849,461 

2,129,440 

$ 

582,753 

$ 

558,960 

849,461 

17,407 

306,889 

— 

— 

29,915 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

7,763 

— 

— 

— 

41,181 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

1,554 

— 

9,058 

125,796 

15,383 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

See notes to consolidated financial statements.

58

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

1. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies 

Description of Business and Basis of Presentation

Wayfair Inc. is one of the world's largest online destinations for the home. Through its e-commerce business model, Wayfair 

offers visually inspired browsing, compelling merchandising, easy product discovery and attractive prices for over twenty-two 
million products from over 16,000 suppliers. These financial statements consolidate the operations and accounts of Wayfair Inc. 
and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. Unless the context indicates otherwise, references to “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Wayfair 
Inc. and its subsidiaries. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated. Below is a summary of Wayfair’s 
wholly-owned subsidiaries with operations:

Subsidiary
Wayfair LLC

CastleGate Logistics Inc.

CastleGate Trade Services LLC

SK Retail, Inc. 

Wayfair Maine LLC

Wayfair Transportation LLC

Wayfair Securities Corporation

Wayfair Stores Limited

Wayfair (UK) Limited

Wayfair Deutschland Ltd. & Co. KG

Wayfair Deutschland GP Ltd.

CastleGate Logistics Canada Inc.

CastleGate Logistics Hong Kong Limited 

Wayfair (BVI) Ltd. 

Use of Estimates

Location
U.S.

U.S.

U.S.

U.S.

U.S.

U.S.

U.S.

Republic of Ireland

United Kingdom

Germany

Germany

Canada

Hong Kong

British Virgin Islands

We prepared the consolidated financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United 

States of America ("GAAP"). Any reference in these notes to applicable guidance is meant to refer to the authoritative GAAP as 
found in the Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") and Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") of the Financial Accounting 
Standards Board ("FASB"). The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make 
estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, as well as the disclosure of contingent assets 
and liabilities, at the date of and during the reported period of the consolidated financial statements. Actual results could differ 
from those estimates. Certain prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current period presentation.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

Wayfair considers all highly liquid investments purchased with an original maturity (at the date of purchase) of three months 

or less to be the equivalent of cash. Cash equivalents, which consist primarily of money market accounts, are carried at cost, 
which approximates fair value.

Investments

Investments consist of certificates of deposits and marketable securities with original maturities of greater than three 
months. Short-term investments mature in less than twelve months from the balance sheet date. We determine the cost basis of an 
investment sold using the specific identification method.

To the extent the amortized cost basis of the available-for-sale debt securities exceeds the fair value, management assesses 
the debt securities for credit loss, however management considers the risk of credit loss to be minimized by Wayfair's policy of 
investing in financial instruments issued by highly-rated financial institutions. When assessing the risk of credit loss, management 
considers factors such as the severity and the reason of the decline in value (i.e., any changes to the rating of the security by a 
rating agency or other adverse conditions specifically related to the security) and management's intended holding period and time 

59

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

horizon for selling. During the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, Wayfair did not recognize any credit losses 
related to its available-for-sale debt securities. Further, as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, Wayfair did not record an allowance 
for credit losses related to its available-for-sale debt securities. 

Concentrations of Credit Risk

Financial instruments that subject Wayfair to credit risk consist of cash and cash equivalents, short- and long-term 
investments and accounts receivable. The risk for cash and cash equivalents is minimized by Wayfair's policy to maintain these 
balances with major financial institutions of high-credit quality. At times, cash balances may exceed federally insured limits; 
however, to date, Wayfair has not incurred any losses on these investments. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, Wayfair had 
$281.0 million and $48.2 million in banks located outside of the U.S. The risk for short- and long-term investments is minimized 
by Wayfair's policy of investing in financial instruments issued by highly-rated financial institutions.

Accounts Receivables, Net

Accounts receivable are stated net of the allowance for credit losses, which are recorded based on historical losses as well as 

management's expectation of future collections. Uncollectible amounts are written off against the allowance after all collection 
efforts have been exhausted. Wayfair's exposure to credit loss is minimized through fraud assessments performed prior to 
customer checkout and Wayfair's policy of monitoring the creditworthiness of its customers to which it grants credit terms in the 
normal course of business. Further, management believes credit risk is mitigated since approximately 99% of the net revenue 
recognized for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020 was collected in advance of recognition.

Inventories

Inventories consisting of finished goods are stated at the lower of cost or net realizable value, determined by the first-in, 
first-out (FIFO) method, and consist of product for resale. Inventory costs consist of cost of product and inbound shipping and 
handling costs. Inventory costs also include direct and indirect labor costs, rent and depreciation expense associated with 
Wayfair's fulfillment centers. Inventory valuation requires Wayfair to make judgments, based on currently available information, 
about the likely method of disposition, such as through sales to individual customers, liquidations and expected recoverable values 
of each disposition category.

Deferred Costs In-Transit

Deferred costs in-transit to customers are recorded in prepaid expenses and other current assets.

Property and Equipment

Property and equipment are stated at cost, net of depreciation. Expenditures for maintenance and repairs are charged to 

expense as incurred, whereas betterments are capitalized as additions to property and equipment. Depreciation on property and 
equipment is calculated on the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets as follows:

Class
Furniture and computer equipment
Site and software development costs

Leasehold improvements

Site and Software Development Costs

Range of Life
(In Years)
3 to 7
2

The lesser of useful life or lease term

Wayfair capitalizes certain costs associated with the development of its sites and internal-use software products after the 

preliminary project stage is complete and until the site enhancements or software is ready for its intended use. Wayfair also 
capitalizes implementation costs incurred in cloud computing hosting arrangements. Upgrades and enhancements are capitalized 
if they will result in added functionality. Capitalized costs are amortized over a two-year period. Costs incurred in the preliminary 
stages of development, after the software is ready for its intended use and for maintenance of internal-use software are expensed 
as incurred. 

60

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

Long-Lived Assets

Wayfair reviews long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances, such as service 

discontinuance or technological obsolescence, indicate that the carrying amount of the long-lived asset may not be recoverable. 
When such events occur, Wayfair compares the carrying amount of the asset to the undiscounted expected future cash flows 
related to the asset. If the comparison indicates that an impairment exists, the amount of the impairment is calculated as the 
difference between the excess of the carrying amount over the fair value of the asset. If a readily determinable market price does 
not exist, fair value is estimated using discounted expected cash flows attributable to the asset. 

Leases

Wayfair generally leases office and warehouse facilities under noncancelable agreements. Upon each agreement's 

commencement date, we determine if the agreement is part of an arrangement that is or that contains a lease, determine the lease 
classification and recognize right-of-use ("ROU") assets and lease liabilities for all leases with the exception of leases with terms 
of 12 months or less. We have arrangements with lease and non-lease components, and we account for lease and non-lease 
components separately for our warehouse and fulfillment center arrangements. For all other lease arrangements, we account for 
lease and non-lease components as a single lease component. Operating lease ROU assets are classified in operating lease right-
of-use assets in the consolidated balance sheets. Operating lease liabilities are classified as other current liabilities and operating 
lease liabilities based on when lease payments are due. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019 we did not have material finance lease 
arrangements.

Lease liabilities and their corresponding ROU assets are recorded based on the present value of lease payments over the 

expected lease term at the lease commencement date. As most of our leases do not provide an implicit rate, we use an estimated 
incremental borrowing rate (“IBR”) based on the information available at the commencement date of the respective lease to 
determine the present value of future payments. The determination of the IBR requires judgment and is primarily based on 
publicly available information for companies within the same industry and with similar credit profiles. We adjust the rate for the 
impact of collateralization, the lease term and other specific terms included in each lease arrangement. The IBR is determined at 
the lease commencement and is subsequently reassessed upon a modification to the lease arrangement. The ROU asset also 
includes any lease payments made prior to the commencement date and excludes lease incentives and initial direct costs incurred.

 Lease expense for minimum lease payments is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term. Our lease terms may 

include options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that we will exercise that option.

We review ROU assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of 

the ROU asset may not be recoverable. When such events occur, we compare the carrying amount of the ROU asset to the 
undiscounted expected future cash flows related to the ROU asset. If the comparison indicates that an impairment exists, the 
amount of the impairment is calculated as the difference between the excess of the carrying amount over the fair value of the 
ROU asset. If a readily determinable market price does not exist, fair value is estimated using discounted expected cash flows 
attributable to the ROU asset.

Contingent Liabilities

Wayfair has certain contingent liabilities that arise in the ordinary course of business activities. Wayfair accrues for loss 
contingencies when losses become probable and are reasonably estimable. If the reasonable estimate of the loss is a range and no 
amount within the range is a better estimate, the minimum amount of the range is recorded as a liability. Wayfair does not accrue 
for contingent losses that, in our judgment, we consider to be reasonably possible, but not probable; however, we disclose the 
range of such reasonably possible losses.

61

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

Foreign Currency Translation

The functional currency of Wayfair is the U.S. dollar, while the functional currencies of certain wholly-owned subsidiaries 

outside the U.S. are as follows:        

Subsidiary
Wayfair Stores Limited

Wayfair Deutschland Ltd & Co KG

Wayfair Deutschland GP Ltd.

Wayfair (BVI) Ltd. 

Wayfair (UK) Limited

CastleGate Logistics Canada Inc.

CastleGate Logistics Hong Kong Limited 

Functional Currency

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Pound sterling

Canadian dollar

Hong Kong dollar 

The financial statements of Wayfair are translated to U.S. dollars using year-end exchange rates for assets and liabilities and 

average exchange rates for revenue and expenses. Capital accounts are translated at their historical exchange rates when the 
capital transaction occurred. Translation adjustments arising from the use of differing exchange rates from period to period are 
included in other comprehensive income (loss) below net income (loss) and accumulated other comprehensive loss within total 
stockholders’ deficit. Transaction gains and losses are included in other (expense) income, net, which is reflected in net income 
(loss).

Revenue Recognition

Wayfair primarily generated net revenue through product sales on its family of sites.

Wayfair recognizes net revenue on product sales through Wayfair's family of sites using the gross method when Wayfair has 

concluded it controls the product before it is transferred to the customer. Wayfair controls products when it is the entity 
responsible for fulfilling the promise to the customer and takes responsibility for the acceptability of the goods, assumes inventory 
risk from shipment through the delivery date, has discretion in establishing prices and selects the suppliers of products sold. 
Wayfair recognizes net revenue from sales of its products upon delivery to the customer. As Wayfair ships a large volume of 
packages through multiple carriers, actual delivery dates may not always be available and as such Wayfair estimates delivery 
dates based on historical data.

Net revenue from product sales includes shipping costs charged to the customer and is recorded net of taxes collected from 
customers, which are recorded in other current liabilities and are remitted to governmental authorities. Cash discounts and rebates 
earned by customers at the time of purchase and estimates for sales return allowances are deducted from gross revenue in 
determining net revenue.

Wayfair maintains a membership rewards program for customer purchases made with our private label Wayfair credit card 

and co-branded Mastercard ("Credit Card Program"). In exchange for providing intellectual property as part of the Credit Card 
Program, we record net revenues based on spending activity and the profitability of the card portfolio. Spending activity of the 
underlying accounts represents customer purchases used with their respective cards, and the profitability of the card portfolio is 
based on the financial performance of the underlying credit portfolio.

Net revenue from contracts with customers is disaggregated by geographic region because this manner of disaggregation 

best depicts how the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows are affected by economic factors. Refer to 
Note 13, Segment and Geographic Information, for additional detail.

Wayfair has three types of contractual liabilities: (i) cash collections from its customers prior to delivery of products 
purchased, which are initially recorded in unearned revenue, and are recognized as net revenue when the products are delivered, 
(ii) unredeemed gift cards and site credits, which are initially recorded in unearned revenue, and are recognized in the period they 
are redeemed, and (iii) membership rewards redeemable for future purchases, which are earned by customers on purchases made 
through the Credit Card Program, and are initially recorded in other current liabilities, and recognized as net revenue when 
redeemed. The portion of gift cards and store credits not expected to be redeemed are recognized as net revenue based on a pattern 
of historical redemptions, which are substantially within twenty-four months from the date of issuance.

62

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

Cost of Goods Sold

Costs of Goods sold consists of:

Product Costs: Wayfair capitalizes into inventory costs for the purchase price we pay to suppliers of products sold, direct 
and indirect labor costs, rent, depreciation and inbound shipping and handling costs. Product costs are offset by rebates Wayfair 
earns through allowances and supplier incentive programs. Wayfair earns rebates when goods are shipped, and amounts earned 
and due from suppliers under these rebate programs are included in other current assets and are reflected as a reduction of cost of 
goods sold. Vendor allowances earned on Wayfair owned inventory reduce the carrying cost of inventory and are recognized in 
cost of goods sold when the inventory is sold. Product costs are also offset by media and merchandising offerings provided to our 
suppliers, which are not considered distinct from the purchase of goods from those suppliers. 

Shipping and Fulfillment Costs: Shipping costs include outbound shipping costs. Fulfillment costs include costs incurred to 
operate and staff our fulfillment centers and provide other inbound supply chain services such as ocean freight and drayage. Costs 
to operate and staff the CastleGate and WDN networks include rent and depreciation expenses associated with various facilities, 
costs to receive, inspect, pick, package and prepare customer orders for delivery, and direct and indirect labor costs including 
payroll, payroll-related benefits and equity-based compensation. Shipping and Fulfillment costs are offset by fees earned by 
providing logistic services to suppliers including order fulfillment, warehousing and inbound supply chain services such as ocean 
freight and drayage through Wayfair's CastleGate business. Fulfillment fees are earned upon completion of preparing customer 
orders for shipment, warehousing fees are earned upon completion of each storage date and inbound supply chain services are 
earned on a straight-line basis as the shipments move from origin to destination. Shipping and Fulfillment costs were $2.0 billion, 
$1.4 billion and $1.1 billion, for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018.

Customer Service and Merchant Fees

Customer service and merchant fees consist of labor-related costs, including payroll, payroll-related benefits and equity-
based compensation of our employees involved in customer service activities, merchant processing fees associated with customer 
payments made by credit cards and debit cards and other variable fees. Merchant processing fees totaled $267.7 million, $179.7 
million and $133.4 million in the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018. 

Advertising

Advertising consists of direct response performance marketing costs, such as display advertising, paid search advertising, 

social media advertising, search engine optimization, comparison shopping engine advertising, television advertising, direct 
mail, catalog and print advertising. Costs for advertising are expensed when the advertising begins. Prepayments for advertising 
that has not been incurred are included in prepaid expenses and other current assets, and advertising costs that have been 
incurred but not paid are included in other current liabilities.

Selling, Operations, Technology, General and Administrative

Selling, operations, technology, general and administrative expenses primarily include labor-related costs, including equity-

based compensation, of our operations group, which includes our supply chain and logistics team, our technology team that builds 
and supports our sites, category managers, buyers, site merchandisers, merchants, marketers and the team who executes our 
advertising strategy, and our corporate general and administrative team, which includes human resources, finance and accounting 
personnel. Also included are administrative and professional service fees which include audit and legal fees, insurance, 
depreciation, rent and other corporate expenses.

Equity-Based Compensation

Wayfair recognizes its equity-based payments to employees and non-employees as gross expense over the service period 
based on their grant date fair values with actual forfeitures recognized as they occur. Wayfair has granted stock options, restricted 
common stock and restricted stock units. Restricted stock values are determined based on the quoted market price of our Class A 
common stock on the date of grant.

Income Taxes

Income taxes are accounted for under the asset and liability method. Under the asset and liability method, deferred tax assets 

and liabilities are recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying 
amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. 

63

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in 

which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a 
change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date. Wayfair records valuation allowances 
to reduce deferred income tax assets to the amount that is more likely than not to be realized. As of December 31, 2020, we 
maintained a full valuation allowance against our net worldwide deferred tax asset.

Wayfair determines whether it is more likely than not that a tax position will be sustained upon examination. If it is not more 

likely than not that a position will be sustained, no amount of benefit attributable to the position is recognized. The tax benefit to 
be recognized of any tax position that meets the more likely than not recognition threshold is calculated as the largest amount that 
is more than 50% likely of being realized upon resolution of the contingency.

We evaluate at the end of each reporting period whether some or all of the undistributed earnings of our foreign subsidiaries 

are permanently reinvested. Our position is based upon several factors including management's evaluation of Wayfair and its 
subsidiaries' financial requirements, the short- and long-term operational and fiscal objectives of Wayfair and the tax 
consequences associated with the repatriation of earnings.

Earnings (Loss) Per Share

Wayfair follows the two-class method when computing earnings (loss) per share for its two issued classes of common stock 
- Class A and Class B. Basic earnings (loss) per share is computed using the weighted-average number of shares of common stock 
outstanding during the period. Diluted earnings (loss) per share is computed using the weighted-average number of shares of 
common stock outstanding during the period plus, if dilutive, common stock equivalents outstanding during the period and stock 
issuable upon conversion of our convertible debt instruments. Wayfair's common stock equivalents consist of shares issuable 
upon the release of restricted stock units, and to a lesser extent, the incremental shares of common stock issuable upon the 
exercise of stock options. The dilutive effect of these common stock equivalents is reflected in diluted earnings (loss) per share by 
application of the treasury stock method. The dilutive effect of shares issuable upon conversion of our convertible debt 
instruments are included in the calculation of diluted earnings (loss) per share under the if-converted method.

For periods in which Wayfair has reported net losses, diluted earnings (loss) per share is the same as basic earnings (loss) 

per share, as the effects of common stock equivalents outstanding and shares issuable upon conversion of convertible debt 
instruments are antidilutive and therefore excluded from the calculation of diluted earnings (loss) per share.

Wayfair allocates undistributed earnings between the classes on a one-to-one basis when computing earnings (loss) per 

share. As a result, basic and diluted earnings (loss) per Class A and Class B shares are equivalent.

Adoption of New Accounting Principles

Wayfair adopted ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments–Credit Losses (Topic 326), Measurement of Credit Losses on 
Financial Instruments, as subsequently amended (“ASU 2016-13”) on January 1, 2020, using the modified retrospective transition 
method. This ASU revised how entities account for credit losses for most financial assets and certain other instruments that are 
not measured at fair value through net income. As of January 1, 2020, our adoption of ASU 2016-13 resulted in a $5.5 million 
cumulative adjustment to our accumulated deficit.

Wayfair adopted ASU No. 2016-02, Leases ("ASU 2016-02") on January 1, 2019, using the modified retrospective 
approach. Wayfair also elected the package of practical expedients, which among other things, allowed Wayfair to carry forward 
historical lease classification. The adoption of the standard resulted in (1) the derecognition of building assets and finance lease 
obligations for certain leases that did not pass the sale-leaseback criteria, (2) the derecognition of construction in progress assets 
and other long-term liabilities for certain lease arrangements whereby Wayfair was no longer considered the deemed construction 
owner of the construction projects and (3) the recognition of operating lease ROU assets and lease liabilities for lease 
arrangements with an initial term greater than twelve months.

64

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

New Accounting Pronouncements

In August 2020, the FASB issued ASU No. 2020-06, Debt—Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) 
and Derivatives and Hedging—Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40) (“ASU 2020-06”). This ASU simplifies the 
accounting for convertible instruments by removing the separation models for convertible debt with cash conversion features and 
convertible instruments with a beneficial conversion feature. Under ASU 2020-06, a convertible debt instrument with those 
features will generally be reported as a single liability at its amortized cost with no separate accounting for the embedded 
conversion features. We expect the elimination of these models will reduce reported interest expense for Wayfair’s existing 
convertible instruments currently falling under the scope of those models. ASU 2020-06 requires the application of the if-
converted method when calculating diluted earnings per share, eliminating our ability to use the treasury stock method when 
certain conditions are met. The ASU is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2021, with early 
adoption permitted no earlier than fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020. We are currently evaluating the impact of the 
adoption of this ASU on our consolidated financial statements.

65

2. Supplemental Financial Statement Disclosures 

Accounts Receivable, Net

For the year ended December 31, 2020, we reported accounts receivable of $110.3 million, net of allowance for credit losses 

of $21.4 million. For the year ended December 31, 2019, we reported accounts receivable of $99.7 million, net of allowance for 
credit losses of $22.8 million. Other than the adjustment related to the adoption of ASU 2016-13, changes in the allowance for 
credit losses were not material for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Prepaid Expenses and Other Current Assets

The following table presents the components of prepaid expenses and other current assets as of December 31, 

2020 and 2019:

Prepaid expenses and other current assets:

Deferred costs in transit

Prepaid expenses

Supplier receivables and credits receivable

Other current assets

Total prepaid expenses and other current assets

Other Noncurrent Assets

December 31,

2020

2019

(in thousands)

$ 

156,240  $ 

104,947 

50,205 

62,165 

23,603 

46,177 

48,328 

29,269 

$ 

292,213  $ 

228,721 

The following table presents the components of other noncurrent assets as of December 31, 2020 and 2019:

Other noncurrent assets:

Goodwill and intangible assets, net

Other noncurrent assets

Total other noncurrent assets

December 31,

2020

2019

(in thousands)

$ 

$ 

17,263  $ 

14,183 

31,446  $ 

18,809 

13,467 

32,276 

Amortization expense related to intangible assets was $1.5 million, $0.8 million and $0.9 million for the years ended 
December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018. Goodwill was $0.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019. For the years 
ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, no impairment of goodwill or intangible assets had been recorded.

66

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Other Current Liabilities

The following table presents the components of other current liabilities as of December 31, 2020 and 2019:

Other current liabilities:

Unearned revenue

Employee compensation and related benefits
Short-term lease liability (Note 5)
Advertising

Sales tax payable

Sales return allowance

Other accrued expenses and current liabilities

Total other current liabilities

December 31,

2020

2019

(in thousands)

$ 

292,525  $ 

155,574 
97,286 

90,251 

104,502 

72,835 

195,997 

$ 

1,008,970  $ 

167,641 

141,922 
91,104 

71,597 

62,173 

38,042 

130,943 

703,422 

Contractual liabilities included in unearned revenue and other accrued expenses and current liabilities were $292.5 million 
and $5.6 million, respectively, at December 31, 2020, and $167.6 million and $4.6 million, respectively, at December 31, 2019. 
During the year ended December 31, 2020, Wayfair recognized $142.3 million and $3.4 million of net revenue included in 
unearned revenue and other accrued expenses and current liabilities, which was recorded as of December 31, 2019.

3. Cash and Cash Equivalents, Investments and Fair Value Measurements 

Investments

As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, all of Wayfair’s marketable securities, which primarily consisted of corporate bonds 
and other government obligations that are priced at fair value, were classified as available-for-sale investments. During the year 
ended December 31, 2020, Wayfair collected $161.3 million of proceeds from the sale of long-term investments and recognized a 
realized gain of $0.8 million. During the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, Wayfair did not have any realized gains or 
losses. 

67

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

The following tables present details of Wayfair’s investment securities as of December 31, 2020 and 2019: 

Amortized
Cost

December 31, 2020

Gross
Unrealized
Gains

Gross
Unrealized
Losses

(in thousands)

Estimated
Fair Value

$ 

461,683  $ 

20  $ 

(5)  $ 

461,698 

— 

$ 

461,683  $ 

— 

20  $ 

— 

— 

(5)  $ 

461,698 

Amortized
Cost

December 31, 2019

Gross
Unrealized
Gains

Gross
Unrealized
Losses

(in thousands)

Estimated
Fair Value

$ 

404,294  $ 

20  $ 

(62)  $ 

404,252 

155,616 

$ 

559,910  $ 

92 

112  $ 

(18)   
(80)  $ 

155,690 

559,942 

Short-term:

Investment securities

Long-term:

Investment securities

Total

Short-term:

Investment securities

Long-term:

Investment securities

Total

Fair Value Measurements

Wayfair's financial assets and liabilities are measured at fair value, which is defined as the price that would be received to 

sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date (exit 
price). The three levels of inputs used to measure fair value are as follows:

▪

▪

▪

Level 1—Unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities

Level 2—Unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for similar assets or liabilities, unadjusted quoted prices for 
identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active, or inputs other than quoted prices that are 
observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full-term of the asset or liability

Level 3—Unobservable inputs that are supported by little or no market activity and that are significant to the fair value 
of the asset or liability

This hierarchy requires Wayfair to use observable market data, when available, and to minimize the use of unobservable 

inputs when determining fair value. We classify our cash equivalents and certificate of deposits within Level 1 because we value 
these investments using quoted market prices. The fair value of our Level 1 financial assets is based on quoted market prices of 
the identical underlying security. We classify short- and long-term investments within Level 2 because unadjusted quoted prices 
for identical or similar assets in markets are not active. None of our assets are classified as Level 3.

68

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

The following tables set forth the fair value of Wayfair's financial assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of 

December 31, 2020 and 2019:

Cash and cash equivalents:

Cash

Cash equivalents

Total cash and cash equivalents 

Short-term investments:

Investment securities

Other noncurrent assets:

Certificate of deposit

Long-term:

Investment securities

Total

Cash and cash equivalents:

Cash

Cash equivalents

Total cash and cash equivalents

Short-term investments:

Investment securities

Other noncurrent assets:

Certificate of deposit

Long-term:

Investment securities

Total

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Total

December 31, 2020

(in thousands)

$ 

638,621  $ 

—  $ 

—  $ 

638,621 

1,490,819 

2,129,440 

— 

— 

— 

461,698 

5,200 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

1,490,819 

2,129,440 

461,698 

5,200 

— 

$ 

2,134,640  $ 

461,698  $ 

—  $ 

2,596,338 

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Total

December 31, 2019

(in thousands)

$ 

308,521  $ 

—  $ 

—  $ 

274,232 

582,753 

— 

— 

— 

404,252 

5,076 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

308,521 

274,232 

582,753 

404,252 

5,076 

— 
587,829  $ 

155,690 
559,942  $ 

$ 

— 
—  $ 

155,690 
1,147,771 

69

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

4. Property and Equipment, net 

The following table summarizes property and equipment, net as of December 31, 2020 and 2019:

Furniture and computer equipment

Site and software development costs

Leasehold improvements

Construction in progress

Less: Accumulated depreciation and amortization

Property and equipment, net

December 31,

2020

2019

(in thousands)

$ 

527,777  $ 

431,546 

398,874 

28,806 

509,120 

297,252 

228,514 

45,503 

1,387,003 

1,080,389 

(702,697)   

(455,845) 

$ 

684,306  $ 

624,544 

Depreciation and amortization expense was $284.2 million, $191.6 million and $122.6 million, of which $131.6 million, 

$81.6 million and $51.3 million was attributable to the amortization expense of site and software development costs for the years 
ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018. For the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, no impairment of long-lived 
assets had been recorded. Total costs capitalized of site and software development costs, net of accumulated amortization, totaled 
$157.6 million and $123.5 million as of December 31, 2020 and 2019. 

5. Leases 

Wayfair has lease arrangements for warehouse, Wayfair Delivery Network facilities, which includes consolidation centers, 
cross docks and last mile delivery facilities and office spaces. These leases expire at various dates through 2034. Operating lease 
expense was $158.6 million, $122.0 million and $66.7 million in 2020, 2019 and 2018. Sublease income was $11.2 million in 
2020 and immaterial in 2019 and 2018.

The following table presents other information related to leases:

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

(in thousands)

Supplemental cash flows information:

Cash payments included in operating cash flows from lease arrangements

Right-of-use assets obtained in exchange for lease obligations

$ 

$ 

157,267 

133,814 

$ 

$ 

109,163 

301,053 

Additional lease information:

Weighted average remaining lease term

Weighted average discount rate

December 31, 
2020

December 31,
2019

8 years

 6.5 %

10 years

 6.7 %

70

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

Future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable leases as of December 31, 2020 were as follows:

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

Thereafter

Total future minimum lease payments 

Less: Imputed interest

Total

The following table presents total operating leases liabilities:

Balance sheet line item:

Other current liabilities

Operating lease liabilities

Total operating leases

Amount

(in thousands)

$ 

149,590 

165,624 

160,487 

157,219 

150,788 

467,014 

1,250,722 

(283,478) 

$ 

967,244 

December 31, 
2020

(in thousands)

$ 

$ 

97,286 

869,958 

967,244 

As of December 31, 2020, Wayfair had additional operating lease commitments that had not yet commenced of 

approximately $127.9 million to be contractually delivered in 2021 with lease terms ranging between 2 to 15 years.

6. Debt and Other Financing 

The following table presents the outstanding principal amount and carrying value of debt and other financing as of the dates 

presented:

Debt Instrument

Principal 
Amount

Unamortized 
Debt Discount

Net Carrying 
Amount

Principal 
Amount

Unamortized 
Debt Discount

Net Carrying 
Amount

December 31, 2020

December 31, 2019

(in thousands)

Revolving Credit Facility
2022 Notes

$ 

18,036  $ 

$ 
(1,596)   

— 
16,440  $ 

2024 Notes

2026 Notes

2025 Notes

575,000 

948,750 

(132,892)   

(242,911)   

442,108 

705,839 

1,518,000 

(289,954)   

1,228,046 

2025 Accreting Notes

288,464 

(21,654)   

266,810 

$ 

431,250  $ 

(59,830)   

575,000 

948,750 

(161,275)   

(277,700)   

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 
371,420 

413,725 

671,050 

— 

— 

Total Debt

Short-term debt

Long-term debt

$  2,659,243 

$ 

— 

$  2,659,243 

$  1,456,195 

$ 

— 

$  1,456,195 

71

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

Revolving Credit Facility

Wayfair Inc., and certain of its subsidiaries (together, the “Guarantors”), and Wayfair Inc.’s wholly-owned subsidiary 

Wayfair LLC, as borrower (the "Borrower"), have a credit agreement with certain lenders, which provides for a $200 million 
senior secured revolving credit facility that matures on February 21, 2022 (the “Revolver”). Wayfair has issued letters of credit, 
primarily as security for certain lease agreements, for approximately $57.0 million as of December 31, 2020, which reduces the 
availability of credit under the Revolver. Any amounts outstanding under the Revolver are due at maturity. In addition, subject to 
the terms and conditions set forth in the credit agreement, Wayfair is required to make certain mandatory prepayments prior to 
maturity.

In August 2020, in connection with the 2020 Repurchase Program, Wayfair amended the credit agreement to increase 
Wayfair’s stock repurchase basket in the negative covenant for restricted payments. In October 2020, Wayfair also increased the 
revolving loan commitment to $200 million through an incremental commitment joinder. In 2020, Wayfair borrowed under the 
Revolver, and Wayfair had repaid all borrowings as of December 31, 2020. As a result, there were no revolving loans outstanding 
under the Revolver as of December 31, 2020.

Wayfair’s obligations under the Revolver are guaranteed by the Guarantors. The obligations of the Borrower and the 
Guarantors are secured by first-priority liens on substantially all of the assets of the Borrower and the Guarantors, including, with 
certain exceptions, all of the capital stock of Wayfair Inc.’s domestic subsidiaries and 65% of the capital stock of Wayfair Inc.’s 
first-tier foreign subsidiaries.

Revolver borrowings bear interest through maturity at a variable rate based upon, at the Borrower’s option, either the 
Eurodollar rate or the base rate (which is the highest of (x) Citibank’s prime rate, (y) one-half of 1.00% in excess of the federal 
funds effective rate and (z) 1.00% in excess of the one-month Eurodollar rate), plus, in each case an applicable margin. As of 
December 31, 2020, the applicable margin for Eurodollar rate loans was 1.50% per annum and the applicable margin for base rate 
loans was 0.50% per annum. The applicable margin is subject to specified changes depending on Wayfair’s liquidity, as defined 
in the credit agreement.

The Revolver contains affirmative and negative covenants customarily applicable to senior secured credit facilities, 

including covenants that, among other things, limit or restrict the ability of Wayfair LLC and the Guarantors, subject to negotiated 
exceptions, to incur additional indebtedness and additional liens on their assets, engage in mergers or acquisitions or dispose of 
assets, pay dividends or make other distributions, voluntarily prepay other indebtedness, enter into transactions with affiliated 
persons, make investments and change the nature of their businesses. The Revolver also contains customary events of default, 
subject to thresholds and grace periods, including, among others, payment default, covenant default, cross default to other 
material indebtedness and judgment default. In addition, the Revolver requires Wayfair to maintain certain levels of free cash 
flow, as defined in the credit agreement. As of December 31, 2020, Wayfair was in compliance with all covenants. 

Convertible Non-Accreting Notes

The following table summarizes certain terms related to our outstanding convertible notes, excluding the 2025 Accreting 

Notes:

Convertible Non-
Accreting Notes

2022 Notes

2024 Notes

2026 Notes

2025 Notes

Maturity Date

September 1, 2022

November 1, 2024

August 15, 2026

October 1, 2025

Annual Coupon 
Rate

Annual Effective 
Interest Rate

Payment Dates for Semi-Annual 
Interest Payments in Arrears

0.375%

1.125%

1.00%

0.625%

6.0%

8.1%

6.4%

5.2%

March 1 and September 1

May 1 and November 1

February 15 and August 15

April 1 and October 1

72

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

In September 2017, Wayfair issued $431.25 million in aggregate principal amount of 0.375% Convertible Senior Notes due 

2022 (the "2022 Notes"), which includes the exercise in full of a $56.25 million option granted to the initial purchasers. In 
connection with the 2022 Notes, Wayfair entered into capped calls that covered, initially, the number of shares of Wayfair’s Class 
A common stock underlying the 2022 Notes, subject to anti-dilution adjustments substantially similar to those applicable to the 
2022 Notes (the “2022 Capped Calls”).

In November 2018, Wayfair issued $575.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 1.125% Convertible Senior Notes due 

2024 (the "2024 Notes"), which included the exercise in full of a $75.0 million option granted to the initial purchasers. In 
connection with the 2024 Notes, Wayfair entered into capped calls that covered, initially, the number of shares of Wayfair’s Class 
A common stock underlying the 2024 Notes, subject to anti-dilution adjustments substantially similar to those applicable to the 
2024 Notes (the “2024 Capped Calls”).

In August 2019, Wayfair issued $948.75 million in aggregate principal amount of 1.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2026 
(the "2026 Notes"), which included the exercise in full of a $123.75 million option granted to the initial purchasers. In connection 
with the 2026 Notes, Wayfair entered into capped calls that covered, initially, the number of shares of Wayfair’s Class A common 
stock underlying the 2026 Notes, subject to anti-dilution adjustments substantially similar to those applicable to the 2026 Notes 
(the “2026 Capped Calls”).

In August 2020, Wayfair issued $1.518 billion in aggregate principal amount of 0.625% Convertible Senior Notes due 2025 

(the “2025 Notes”, and together with the 2022 Notes, 2024 Notes, 2026 Notes, the “Non-Accreting Notes”), which included the 
exercise in full of a $198.0 million option granted to the initial purchasers. In connection with the issuance of the 2025 Notes, 
Wayfair entered into capped calls that covered, initially, the number of shares of Wayfair’s Class A common stock underlying the 
2025 Notes, subject to anti-dilution adjustments substantially similar to those applicable to the 2025 Notes (the “2025 Capped 
Calls”).

Convertible Accreting Notes

In April 2020, Wayfair issued $535.0 million in aggregate original principal amount of 2.50% Accreting Convertible Senior 

Notes due 2025 (the "2025 Accreting Notes", and collectively with the Non-Accreting Notes, the “Notes”) to GHEP VII 
Aggregator, L.P ("Great Hill"), CBEP Investments, LLC ("Charlesbank") and The Spruce House Partnership LLC. The 2025 
Accreting Notes are fully and unconditionally guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by Wayfair LLC, a wholly-owned 
subsidiary of Wayfair Inc., as guarantor. No cash interest is payable on the 2025 Accreting Notes. Instead, the 2025 Accreting 
Notes accrue interest at a rate of 2.50% per annum, which accretes to the principal amount on April 1 and October 1 of each year. 
The 2025 Accreting Notes will mature on April 1, 2025, unless earlier purchased, redeemed or converted. The annual effective 
interest rate of the 2025 Accreting Notes is 4.4%.

Seniority of Notes

The Notes are general senior unsecured obligations of Wayfair. The Notes rank senior in right of payment to any of 
Wayfair’s future indebtedness that is expressly subordinated in right of payment to the Notes, rank equal in right of payment to 
Wayfair’s existing and future unsecured indebtedness that is not so subordinated and are effectively subordinated in right of 
payment to any of Wayfair’s secured indebtedness to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness. The Non-
Accreting Notes are structurally subordinated to all existing and future indebtedness and liabilities of Wayfair’s subsidiaries, 
including Wayfair LLC’s guaranty of the 2025 Accreting Notes, and the 2025 Accreting Notes are structurally subordinated to all 
existing and future indebtedness and liabilities of Wayfair’s subsidiaries (other than Wayfair LLC). 

Indentures

The Notes are governed by separate indentures between Wayfair, as issuer, and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee. 

The Non-Accreting Notes indenture also includes Wayfair LLC, as guarantor. Each indenture contains customary terms and 
covenants, including that upon certain events of default occurring and continuing, either the trustee or the holders of not less than 
25% in aggregate principal amount of the respective notes then outstanding may declare the entire principal amount of the 
respective notes plus accrued interest, if any, to be immediately due and payable.

73

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

Conversion and Redemption Terms of the Notes

Wayfair's Notes will mature at their maturity date unless earlier purchased, redeemed or converted. The Notes’ initial 

conversion terms are summarized below:

Convertible Notes Maturity Date

Free Convertibility 
Date

Initial Conversion 
Rate per $1,000 
Principal

Initial 

Conversion Price Redemption Date

2022 Notes

2024 Notes

2026 Notes

2025 Notes
2025 Accreting 
Notes

September 1, 2022

June 1, 2022

November 1, 2024

August 1, 2024

August 15, 2026

May 15, 2026

October 1, 2025

July 1, 2025

9.6100

8.5910

6.7349

2.3972

$104.06

$116.40

$148.48

$417.15

September 8, 2020

May 8, 2022

August 20, 2023

October 4, 2022

April 1, 2025

-

13.7931

$72.50

May 9, 2023

The conversion rate is subject to adjustment upon the occurrence of certain specified events, including certain distributions 

and dividends to all or substantially all of the holders of Wayfair’s Class A common stock, but will not be adjusted for accrued 
and unpaid interest.

Wayfair will settle any conversions of the Non-Accreting Notes in cash, shares of Wayfair’s Class A common stock or a 
combination thereof, with the form of consideration determined at Wayfair’s election. The holders of the Non-Accreting Notes 
may convert all or a portion of the notes prior to certain conversion dates (the “Free Convertibility Date”) under the following 
circumstances (in each case, as applicable to each series of Non-Accreting Notes):

•

•

•

•

during any calendar quarter (and only during such calendar quarter) after December 31, 2020, if the last reported sale 
price of Wayfair’s Class A common stock for at least 20 trading days (whether or not consecutive) during a period of 30 
consecutive trading days ending on, and including, the last trading day of the immediately preceding calendar quarter is 
greater than or equal to 130% of the conversion price on each applicable trading day;
during the five business day period after any ten consecutive trading day period (the “measurement period") in which the 
trading price (as defined in the applicable indenture) per $1,000 principal amount of the notes for each trading day of the 
measurement period was less than 98% of the product of the last reported sale price of Wayfair’s Class A common stock 
and the conversion rate on each such trading day;
if Wayfair calls the notes for redemption, at any time prior to the close of business on the second scheduled trading day 
immediately preceding the redemption date; and
upon the occurrence of specified corporate events (as set forth in the applicable indenture)

On or after the applicable Free Convertibility Date until the close of business on the second scheduled trading day 

immediately preceding the applicable maturity date, holders of the Non-Accreting Notes may convert their Non-Accreting Notes 
at any time.

The following Non-Accreting Notes are convertible during the calendar quarter ended March 31, 2021: the 2022 Notes, the 

2024 Notes and the 2026 Notes. The 2025 Notes are not convertible during the first quarter of 2021.

The holders of the 2025 Accreting Notes may convert all or a portion of their 2025 Accreting Notes at any time prior to the 
second business day immediately preceding the maturity date. Wayfair will settle any conversion of 2025 Accreting Notes with a 
number of shares of Wayfair’s Class A common stock per $1,000 original principal amount of 2025 Accreting Notes equal to the 
accreted principal amount of such original principal amount of 2025 Accreting Notes divided by the conversion price.

Upon the occurrence of a fundamental change (as defined in the applicable indenture), holders of the Notes may require 
Wayfair to repurchase all or a portion of the Notes for cash at a price equal to 100% of the principal amount (or accreted principal 
amount) of the Notes to be repurchased plus any accrued but unpaid interest to, but excluding, the fundamental change repurchase 
date (such interest to be included in the accreted principal amount for the 2025 Accreting Notes). Holders of the Non-Accreting 
Notes who convert their respective notes in connection with a make-whole fundamental change or a notice of redemption (each as 
defined in the indenture) may be entitled to a premium in the form of an increase in the conversion rate of the respective notes. 
Holders of the 2025 Accreting Notes who convert in connection with a make-whole fundamental change (as defined in the 
applicable indenture) may be entitled to a premium in the form of an increase in the conversion rate.

74

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

Wayfair may not redeem the Notes prior to certain dates (the “Redemption Date”). On or after the applicable Redemption 

Date, Wayfair may redeem for cash all or part of the applicable series of Notes if the last reported sale price of Wayfair’s Class A 
common stock equals or exceeds 130% (Non-Accreting Notes) or 276% (2025 Accreting Notes) of the conversion price then in 
effect for at least 20 trading days (whether or not consecutive), including at least one of the five trading days immediately 
preceding the date on which Wayfair provides notice of redemption, during any 30 consecutive trading days ending on, and 
including the trading day immediately preceding the date on which Wayfair provides notice of the redemption. The redemption 
price will be either 100% of the principal amount (or accreted principal amount) of the notes to be redeemed, plus accrued and 
unpaid interest, if any, or the if-converted value holder elects to convert their Notes upon receiving notice of redemption.

Accounting for Non-Accreting Notes

In accounting for the issuance of the Non-Accreting Notes, Wayfair separated the Non-Accreting Notes into liability and 

equity components. The carrying amount of each Non-Accreting Note's liability component was calculated by measuring the fair 
value of a similar liability that did not have an associated convertible feature. The carrying amount of each Non-Accreting Note's 
equity component, representing the conversion option, which does not meet the criteria for separate accounting as a derivative as 
it is indexed to Wayfair's own stock, was determined by deducting the fair value of the Non-Accreting Note's liability component 
from the par value of the Non-Accreting Note. The difference between the carrying amount of the Non-Accreting Note and the 
liability component represents the debt discount for the Non-Accreting Note, which was recorded as a direct deduction from the 
related debt liabilities and is amortized to interest expense using the effective interest method over the term of the Non-Accreting 
Note.

The equity components of the 2022 Notes, 2024 Notes, 2026 Notes and 2025 Notes of approximately $95.8 million, $181.5 
million, $280.3 million and $297.4 million, respectively, are included in additional paid-in capital and are not remeasured as long 
as they continue to meet the conditions for equity classification. Wayfair allocated transaction costs related to the components of 
the Non-Accreting Notes using the same proportions as the proceeds from the corresponding Non-Accreting Notes. Transaction 
costs attributable to the liability components were recorded as direct deductions from the related debt liabilities and amortized to 
interest expense over the terms of the corresponding Non-Accreting Notes, and transaction costs attributable to the equity 
components were netted with the corresponding equity components in shareholders’ deficit.

Accounting for Accreting Notes

In accounting for the issuance of the 2025 Accreting Notes, Wayfair determined there was a beneficial conversion feature, 

which represents the excess of the fair value of the underlying common stock at the commitment date less the effective conversion 
price of the shares convertible at that time. The beneficial conversion feature of $39.4 million was recorded to additional paid-in 
capital and represents a debt discount to the 2025 Accreting Notes, which was recorded as a direct deduction from the related debt 
liability. It is amortized to interest expense using the effective interest method over the term of the 2025 Accreting Notes. All 
transaction costs incurred were recorded as a direct deduction from the related debt liability and are amortized to interest expense 
using the effective interest method over the term of the 2025 Accreting Notes. Interest for the 2025 Accreting Notes is amortized 
to interest expense using the effective interest method over the term of the 2025 Accreting Notes and recorded to other long-term 
liabilities. Upon accretion to the principal amount on April 1 and October 1 of each year, Wayfair will reclassify the interest 
accrued as of that date to long-term debt. The beneficial conversion feature for additional shares, which would be issued upon 
conversion of paid-in-kind interest, is recorded as additional interest expense and additional paid-in capital over the term of the 
2025 Accreting Notes as such interest accrues.

Proceeds from Notes Transactions

The net proceeds from the sale of the 2022 Notes, 2024 Notes, 2026 Notes, 2025 Notes and 2025 Accreting Notes were 

approximately $420.4 million, $562.0 million, $935.1 million, $1.5 billion and $527.4 million, respectively, after deducting the 
initial purchasers’ discounts, if applicable, and the offering expenses payable by Wayfair. We used approximately $44.2 million, 
$93.4 million, $145.7 million and $255.0 million of the net proceeds from the 2022 Notes, 2024 Notes, 2026 Notes and 2025 
Notes, respectively, to purchase the Capped Calls. We intend to use the remainder of the net proceeds from the Notes for working 
capital and general corporate purposes, including, but not limited to, operating and capital expenditures. We may also use a 
portion of the net proceeds to finance acquisitions, strategic transactions, investments, repurchases of our Class A common stock 
or the repayment, redemption, purchase or exchange of indebtedness (including the Notes). 

75

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

Extinguishment and Conversions of Notes

In August 2020, Wayfair used $1.0 billion of the net proceeds from the issuance of the 2025 Notes to repurchase for cash in 

privately negotiated repurchase transactions $343.4 million in aggregate principal amount of the 2022 Notes. 

Additionally, in 2020, $69.8 million aggregate principal of the 2022 Notes were settled upon conversion by the holders for 

670,610 shares of Wayfair’s Class A common stock. In accounting for these transactions, Wayfair allocated $380.2 million of the 
total fair value of the consideration received from the 2025 Notes to the debt component of the repurchased 2022 Notes by 
estimating the fair value of a similar liability that did not have an associated convertible feature. The $12.8 million loss on 
extinguishment of the 2022 Notes recorded to other (expense) income, net, primarily represents the difference between the total 
fair value of consideration allocated to the debt component and the $368.8 million carrying value, net of the remaining 
unamortized debt discount and debt issuance costs. Wayfair applied the $832.0 million residual value of the total fair value of the 
consideration to the equity component in additional paid-in capital.

In October 2020, Charlesbank converted $253.1 million of accreted principal of the 2025 Accreting Notes and received 

3,490,175 shares of Wayfair’s Class A common stock. Upon Charlesbank's conversion of the 2025 Accreting Notes, the 
remaining debt discount for those notes of $19.8 million was immediately recognized as interest expense in the fourth quarter of 
2020. In January 2021, Great Hill converted $253.1 million of accreted principal of the 2025 Accreting Notes and received 
3,490,175 shares of Wayfair's Class A common stock.

Interest Expense

The following table presents total interest expense recognized for the Notes for the years ended December 31:

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

Convertible Notes

Contractual 
Interest 
Expense

Debt Discount 
Amortization

Total Interest 
Expense

Contractual 
Interest 
Expense

Debt Discount 
Amortization

Total Interest 
Expense

2022 Notes

2024 Notes

2026 Notes

2025 Notes

2025 Accreting Notes

$ 

1,054  $ 

13,775  $ 

14,829  $ 

1,617  $ 

20,080  $ 

(in thousands)

6,469 

9,488 

3,611 

8,324 

28,382 

34,759 

20,369 

25,438 

34,851 

44,247 

23,980 

33,762 

6,469 

3,342 

— 

— 

26,161 

12,205 

— 

— 

21,697 

32,630 

15,547 

— 

— 

Total

$ 

28,946  $ 

122,723  $ 

151,669  $ 

11,428  $ 

58,446  $ 

69,874 

Fair Value of Notes

The estimated fair value of the 2022 Notes, 2024 Notes, 2026 Notes, 2025 Notes and 2025 Accreting Notes was 

$38.4 million, $1.2 billion, $1.6 billion, $1.4 billion and $923.7 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2020. The estimated fair 
value of the Non-Accreting Notes was determined through consideration of quoted market prices. The estimated fair value of the 
2025 Accreting Notes was determined through an option pricing model using Level 3 inputs including volatility and credit spread. 
The fair values of the Non-Accreting Notes and the 2025 Accreting Notes are classified as Level 2 and Level 3, respectively, as 
defined in Note 3, Cash and Cash Equivalents, Investments and Fair Value Measurements. The if-converted value of the 2022 
Notes, 2024 Notes, 2026 Notes and 2025 Accreting Notes exceeded the principal value by $21.1 million, $540.5 million, 
$494.1 million and $610.0 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2020. The if-converted value of the 2025 Notes did not 
exceed the principal value as of December 31, 2020.

Capped Calls

The 2022 Capped Calls, 2024 Capped Calls, 2026 Capped Calls and 2025 Capped Calls (collectively, the "Capped Calls") 
are expected generally to reduce the potential dilution and/or offset the cash payments Wayfair is required to make in excess of 
the principal amount of the Notes upon conversion of the Notes if the market price per share of Wayfair’s Class A common stock 
is greater than the strike price of the applicable Capped Call (which corresponded to the initial conversion price of the applicable 
Non-Accreting Notes and is subject to certain adjustments under the terms of the applicable Capped Call), with such reduction 

76

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

and/or offset subject to a cap based on the cap price of the applicable Capped Calls (the "Initial Cap Price"). The Capped Calls 
can, at Wayfair’s option, remain outstanding until their maturity date, even if all or a portion of the Non-Accreting Notes are 
converted, repurchased or redeemed prior to such date.

Each of the Capped Calls has an initial cap price per share of Wayfair’s Class A common stock, which represented a 

premium over the last reported sale price (or, with respect to the 2025 Capped Calls, the volume-weighted average price) of 
Wayfair’s Class A common stock on the date the corresponding Non-Accreting Notes were priced (the "Cap Price Premium"), 
and is subject to certain adjustments under the terms of the corresponding agreements. Collectively, the Capped Calls cover, 
initially, the number of shares of Wayfair’s Class A common stock underlying the Non-Accreting Notes, subject to anti-dilution 
adjustments substantially similar to those applicable to the Non-Accreting Notes.

The initial terms for the Capped Calls are presented below:

Capped Calls

2022 Capped Calls

2024 Capped Calls

2026 Capped Calls

2025 Capped Calls

Maturity Date

September 1, 2022

November 1, 2024

August 15, 2026

October 1, 2025

Initial Cap Price

Cap Price Premium

$154.16

$219.63

$280.15

$787.08

100%

150%

150%

150%

The Capped Calls are separate transactions from the Non-Accreting Notes, are not subject to the terms of the Non-Accreting 

Notes and will not affect any holder’s rights under the Non-Accreting Notes. Similarly, holders of the Non-Accreting Notes do 
not have any rights with respect to the Capped Calls. The Capped Calls do not meet the criteria for separate accounting as a 
derivative as they are indexed to Wayfair's stock. The premiums paid for the Capped Calls were included as a net reduction to 
additional paid-in capital within shareholders’ deficit.

7. Commitments and Contingencies 

Purchase Obligations

Wayfair has entered into purchase obligations that represent enforceable and legally binding software license commitments. 
Our payments due under these purchase obligations are $97.4 million in 2021, $121.2 million in 2022, $114.6 million in 2023 and 
no other commitments thereafter. These payments exclude payments for contracts that are able to be canceled, both in full or in 
part, since they do not represent legally binding arrangements. 

Collection of Sales or Other Similar Taxes

Wayfair has historically collected and remitted sales tax based on the locations of its physical operations. On June 21, 2018, 
the U.S. Supreme Court rendered a 5-4 majority decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc., 17-494. Among other things, the Court 
held that a state may require an out-of-state seller with no physical presence in the state to collect and remit sales taxes on goods 
the seller ships to consumers in the state, overturning existing court precedent. Several states and other taxing jurisdictions have 
presented, or indicated that they may present, Wayfair with sales tax assessments. The aggregate assessments received as 
of December 31, 2020 are not material to Wayfair's business and Wayfair does not expect the Court's decision to have a 
significant impact on its business.

Legal Matters

From time to time Wayfair is involved in claims that arise during the ordinary course of business. Although the results of 

litigation and claims cannot be predicted with certainty, Wayfair does not currently believe that the outcome of any of these other 
legal matters will have a material adverse effect on Wayfair's results of operation or financial condition. Regardless of the 
outcome, litigation can be costly and time consuming, as it can divert management's attention from important business matters 
and initiatives, negatively impacting Wayfair's overall operations. In addition, Wayfair may also find itself at greater risk to 
outside party claims as it increases its operations in jurisdictions where the laws with respect to the potential liability of online 
retailers are uncertain, unfavorable, or unclear.

On November 18, 2020, certain of our present and former directors, along with Great Hill Partners, L.P., Great Hill, 
Charlesbank Capital Partners, LLC and Charlesbank, were named as defendants in a shareholder derivative lawsuit filed in the 
Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware by the Equity-League Pension Trust Fund. Wayfair is named as a nominal defendant. 
The derivative complaint primarily alleges that the director defendants breached their fiduciary duties with respect to Wayfair’s 
issuance of the 2025 Accreting Notes, and further alleges that the non-director defendants were unjustly enriched on the basis of 

77

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

the issuance. The complaint asserts causes of action for breach of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment and seeks disgorgement of 
proceeds received as a result of the issuance, other equitable relief and damages and attorneys’ fees and costs. At this time, based 
on available information regarding this litigation, we are unable to reasonably assess the ultimate outcome of this case or 
determine an estimate, or a range of estimates, of potential losses.

8. Employee Benefit Plans 

Wayfair has a defined-contribution, incentive savings plan pursuant to Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code. The 
plan covers all full-time employees who have reached the age of 21 years. Employees may elect to defer compensation up to a 
dollar limit (as allowable by the Internal Revenue Code), of which up to 4% of an employee's salary will be matched by Wayfair. 
The amounts deferred by the employee and the matching amounts contributed by Wayfair both vest immediately. The amount 
expensed under the plan totaled approximately $31.7 million, $27.9 million and $18.2 million in the years ended December 31, 
2020, 2019 and 2018.

9. Stockholders’ Deficit 

Preferred Stock

Wayfair authorized 10,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock, $0.001 par value per share, for future issuance. As of 

December 31, 2020, Wayfair had no shares of undesignated preferred stock issued or outstanding.

Common Stock

Wayfair authorized 500,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, $0.001 par value per share, and 164,000,000 shares of 
Class B common stock, $0.001 par value per share, of which 72,980,490 and 66,642,611 shares of Class A common stock and 
26,564,234 and 26,957,815 shares of Class B common stock were outstanding as of December 31, 2020 and 2019. The rights of 
the holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock are identical, except with respect to voting and conversion 
rights. Each share of Class A common stock is entitled to one vote per share and each share of Class B common stock is entitled 
to ten votes per share. Each share of Class B common stock may be converted into one share of Class A common stock at the 
option of its holder and will be automatically converted into one share of Class A common stock upon transfer thereof, subject to 
certain exceptions. In addition, upon the date on which the outstanding shares of Class B common stock represent less than 10% 
of the aggregate number of shares of the then outstanding Class A common stock and Class B common stock, or in the event of 
the affirmative vote or written consent of holders of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding shares of Class B common stock, all 
outstanding shares of Class B common stock shall convert automatically into Class A common stock. Subject to preferences that 
may apply to any shares of preferred stock outstanding at the time, the holders of common stock are entitled to receive dividends 
out of funds legally available if Wayfair's Board of Directors (the "Board"), in its discretion, determines to issue dividends and 
then only at the times and in the amounts that the Board may determine. Since Wayfair's initial public offering through 
December 31, 2020, 55,474,180 shares of Class B common stock were converted to Class A common stock.

Stock Repurchase Program

On August 21, 2020, the Board authorized the repurchase of up to $700 million of Wayfair’s Class A common stock (the 

“2020 Repurchase Program”). The 2020 Repurchase Program replaced Wayfair’s previous $200 million stock repurchase 
authorization approved by the Board in 2018, which was terminated simultaneously. During the year ended December 31, 2020, 
Wayfair repurchased $380.2 million of its Class A common stock through the stock repurchase programs at an average price of 
$302.71 per share. During the year ended December 31, 2019, Wayfair did not repurchase any shares of common stock. 

10. Equity-Based Compensation 

The Board adopted the 2014 Incentive Award Plan ("2014 Plan") to grant cash and equity incentive awards to eligible 
participants in order to attract, motivate and retain talent. The 2014 Plan is administered by the Board for awards to non-employee 
directors and by the compensation committee of the Board for other participants and provides for the issuance of stock options, 
SARs, restricted common stock, restricted stock units ("RSUs"), performance shares, stock payments, cash payments, dividend 
awards and other incentives. Prior to the adoption of the 2014 Plan, Wayfair LLC issued certain equity awards pursuant to the 
Wayfair LLC Amended and Restated Common Unit Plan (the "2010 Plan"), which was administered by the Board of Wayfair 
LLC. Awards issued under the 2010 Plan that remain outstanding currently represent Class A or Class B common stock of 
Wayfair Inc. 

The 2014 Plan initially made 8,603,066 shares of Class A common stock available for future award grants. The 2014 Plan 

also contains an evergreen provision whereby the shares available for future grants are increased on the first day of each calendar 

78

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

year from January 1, 2016 through and including January 1, 2024. As of January 1, 2021, 6,224,792 shares of Class A common 
stock were available for future grant under the 2014 Plan. Shares or RSUs forfeited, withheld for minimum statutory tax 
obligations, and unexercised stock option lapses from the 2010 and 2014 Plans are available for future grants under the 2014 Plan. 

The following table presents activity relating to stock options for the year ended December 31, 2020:

Outstanding at December 31, 2019

Options exercised

Outstanding and exercisable at December 31, 2020

Shares

Weighted-Average
Exercise Price

43,606  $ 

(24,560)  $ 

19,046  $ 

3.00 

3.01 

2.99 

Weighted-Average
Remaining
Contractual Term
(Years)

1.5

0.5

The intrinsic value of stock options exercised was $4.6 million and $4.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 

2019. Aggregate intrinsic value of stock options outstanding and currently exercisable is $4.2 million as of December 31, 2020. 
All stock options were fully vested at December 31, 2020.

The following table presents activity relating to RSUs for the year ended December 31, 2020:

Unvested at December 31, 2019

RSUs granted

RSUs vested

RSUs forfeited/canceled

Outstanding as of December 31, 2020

Shares

Weighted-Average
Grant Date
Fair Value

8,112,736  $ 

2,441,898  $ 

(3,015,462)  $ 

(1,563,873)  $ 

5,975,299  $ 

95.69 

196.04 

97.15 

105.42 

134.03 

The intrinsic value of RSUs vested was $562.3 million and $358.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 
2019. The aggregate intrinsic value of RSUs unvested was $1.3 billion as of December 31, 2020. Unrecognized equity-based 
compensation expense related to RSUs expected to vest over time is $728.3 million with a weighted-average remaining vesting 
term of 1.2 years as of December 31, 2020.

Equity-based compensation was classified as follows in the consolidated statements of operations for the years ended 

December 31:

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

2018

Cost of goods sold

Customer service and merchant fees

Selling, operations, technology, general and administrative

(in thousands)

$ 

9,494  $ 

5,376  $ 

14,835 

251,879 

9,286 

212,789 

Total equity-based compensation

$ 

276,208  $ 

227,451  $ 

2,549 

5,524 

119,491 

127,564 

Equity-based compensation costs capitalized as site and software development costs was $17.3 million for the year ended 

December 31, 2020. The amount qualifying for capitalization during the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 was not 
material.

79

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

11. Income Taxes 

The components of the provision for income taxes, net for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018 are 

presented below:

2020

2019

2018

(in thousands)

Current:

   Federal

   State

   Foreign

Deferred:

   Federal

   State

   Foreign

$ 

—  $ 

—  $ 

7,817 

2,164 

9,036 

1,306 

— 

874 

2,136 

— 

— 

— 

Provision for income taxes, net

$ 

20,323  $ 

3,010  $ 

— 

744 

78 

(86) 

(24) 

1,325 

2,037 

The actual provision for income taxes, net differs from the expected provision for income taxes computed at the U.S. 

Federal statutory tax rate of 21% due to the following:

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

2018

(in thousands)

Provision for income taxes at the federal statutory rate

$ 

43,116  $ 

(206,131)  $ 

(105,429) 

State income tax expense, net of federal benefit

Foreign tax rate differential

Non-deductible equity-based compensation expense

Windfall benefits from equity-based compensation

Change in valuation allowance

Change in tax rate

Limitation on officer's compensation

Debt integration termination

Other
Provision for income taxes, net

18,518 

18,591 

7,671 

(51,024)   

(26,982)   

(847)   

8,103 

— 

3,177 
20,323  $ 

(40,136)   

(22,584) 

24,346 

6,604 

(28,915)   

236,863 

(2,293)   

6,509 

— 

6,163 
3,010  $ 

14,976 

3,267 

(29,003) 

119,370 

197 

5,283 

9,236 

6,724 
2,037 

$ 

We recorded a provision for income taxes, net of $20.3 million, representing an effective tax rate of 9.88%. The effective 
tax rate differs from the U.S. Federal statutory rate of 21% primarily as a result of excess tax benefits on equity awards for U.S. 
employees and the valuation allowance maintained against our worldwide net deferred tax asset. 

The components of income (loss) before income taxes determined by tax jurisdiction, are as follows:

U.S.
Foreign
Total

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

2018

(in thousands)

$ 

$ 

399,973  $ 
(194,654)   
205,319  $ 

(699,347)  $ 
(282,227)   
(981,574)  $ 

(327,356) 
(174,687) 
(502,043) 

80

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

The tax effects of temporary differences that give rise to significant portions of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the 

periods presented are as follows:

Deferred tax assets:

Accounts receivable

Inventories

Net operating loss carryforwards

Equity-based compensation expense

Intangibles 

Accrued payroll

Accrued expenses and reserves

Charitable contributions

Leases

Gross deferred tax assets

Less: Valuation allowance

Net deferred tax assets
Deferred tax liabilities:

Prepaid expenses

Capitalized technology

Property and equipment

Operating lease right-of-use asset

Convertible debt

481(a) adjustments

Other

Total deferred tax liabilities

December 31,

2020

2019

(in thousands)

$ 

5,507  $ 

1,048 

433,543 

12,720 

9,274 

36,580 

23,633 

— 

255,381 

777,686 

5,909 

871 

470,199 

14,929 

10,675 

21,395 

14,539 

872 

239,259 

778,648 

(328,116)   

(412,898) 

449,570 

365,750 

$ 

(4,889)  $ 

(35,261)   

(41,543)   

(211,727)   

(167,043)   

(8,103)   

(1,934)   

(5,930) 

(27,354) 

(14,191) 

(197,680) 

(120,447) 

— 

(148) 

(470,500)   

(365,750) 

Non-current net deferred tax assets (liabilities)

$ 

(20,930)  $ 

— 

The valuation allowance decreased by $84.8 million during 2020. The decrease in the valuation allowance is the result of 

Wayfair utilizing its deferred tax assets related to historical net operating losses to offset current year taxable income, as well as a 
decrease in valuation allowance through equity as a result of the deferred tax liability recorded related to our convertible debt 
issuances. This is partially offset by establishing a valuation allowance against the current year operating losses of our foreign 
entities.

In determining the need for a valuation allowance, Wayfair has given consideration to the cumulative book income and loss 
positions of each of its entities as well as its worldwide cumulative income position. We have assessed, on a jurisdictional basis, 
the available means of recovering deferred tax assets, including the ability to carry-back net operating losses, the existence of 
reversing temporary differences, the availability of tax planning strategies and available sources of future taxable income. At 
December 31, 2020, we maintain a full valuation allowance against our worldwide net deferred tax assets. 

As of December 31, 2020, Wayfair had federal net operating loss carryforwards available to offset future federal taxable 

income of $1.2 billion. In addition, Wayfair had state net operating loss carryforwards available in the amount of $1.0 billion 
which are available to offset future state taxable income. Of the federal net operating loss carryforwards, $150.7 million begin to 
expire in the year ending December 31, 2037. The remaining $1.0 billion of federal net operating loss carryforwards do not 
expire. The state net operating loss carryforwards begin to expire in the year ending December 31, 2023. Our ability to utilize 
these federal and state net operating loss carryforwards may be limited in the future if we experience an ownership change 
pursuant to Internal Revenue Code Section 382. An ownership change occurs when the ownership percentages of 5% or greater 

81

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

stockholders change by more than 50% over a three-year period. Through December 31, 2020, we have determined that none of 
our tax attributes were subject to such a restrictive limitation.

As of December 31, 2020, Wayfair also had foreign net operating loss carryforwards available to offset future foreign 
income of $949.8 million. The Canadian net operating loss of $18.2 million will expire in the year ending December 31, 2038. 
The remaining foreign net operating loss carryforwards do not expire.

As of December 31, 2020, Wayfair has not provided for U.S. deferred income taxes on undistributed earnings of its foreign 

subsidiaries of approximately $6.0 million since these earnings are deemed to be indefinitely reinvested. Upon distribution of 
those earnings in the form of dividends or otherwise, we could be subject to income taxes as well as withholding taxes. The 
amount of taxes attributable to the undistributed earnings is immaterial.

Wayfair establishes reserves for uncertain tax positions based on management's assessment of exposures associated with tax 

deductions, permanent tax differences and tax credits. The tax reserves are analyzed periodically and adjustments are made as 
events occur to warrant adjustment to the reserve. Reserves for uncertain tax positions as of December 31, 2020 and 2019 are not 
material and would not impact the effective tax rate if recognized as a result of the valuation allowance maintained against our net 
deferred tax assets.

Wayfair's policy is to recognize interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits and penalties as a component of 

the provision for income taxes, net. Related to the unrecognized tax benefits noted above, we did not accrue any penalties and 
interest during 2020, 2019 or 2018 because we believe that such additional interest and penalties would be insignificant. 

Wayfair's tax jurisdictions include the U.S., the UK, Germany, Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands. 
The statute of limitations with respect to our U.S. federal income taxes has expired for years prior to 2017. The relevant U.S. state 
statutes vary and years prior to 2016 are generally closed. The statute of limitations for our foreign income taxes vary, but have 
expired for years prior to 2016. However, preceding years remain open to examination by U.S. federal and state and foreign 
taxing authorities to the extent of future utilization of net operating losses generated in each preceding year.

12. Earnings (Loss) per Share 

The following table presents the calculation of basic and diluted earnings (loss) per share:

Numerator:

Numerator for basic EPS - Net income (loss)
Effect of dilutive securities:

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

2018

(in thousands, except per share data)

$ 

184,996  $ 

(984,584)  $ 

(504,080) 

Interest expense associated with convertible debt instruments

— 

— 

— 

Numerator for diluted EPS - net income (loss) available to common 
stockholders after the effect of dilutive securities
Denominator:
Denominator for basic EPS - weighted-average number of shares of 
common stock outstanding
Effect of dilutive securities:

Employee stock options

Restricted stock units

Convertible debt instruments

Dilutive potential common shares
Denominator for diluted EPS - adjusted weighted-average number of 
shares of common stock outstanding after the effect of dilutive securities
Earnings (Loss) per Share:

$ 

184,996  $ 

(984,584)  $ 

(504,080) 

95,825 

92,200 

89,472 

29 

3,483 

— 

3,512 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

99,337 

92,200 

89,472 

Basic
Diluted

$ 
$ 

1.93  $ 
1.86  $ 

(10.68)  $ 
(10.68)  $ 

(5.63) 
(5.63) 

82

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

The potential common shares from anti-dilutive securities excluded from the weighted-average shares of common stock 

used to calculate diluted earnings (loss) per share were as follows:

Outstanding employee stock options

Unvested restricted common stock

Unvested restricted stock units

Shares related to convertible debt instruments

Total

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

2018

(in thousands)

— 

— 

192 

20,115 

20,307 

44 

— 

8,113 

15,474 

23,631 

80 

20 

7,971 

9,084 

17,155 

Wayfair may settle conversions of the Non-Accreting Notes in cash, shares of Wayfair's Class A common stock or any 
combination thereof at its election. Wayfair will settle conversions of the 2025 Accreting Notes in shares. The Capped Calls are 
generally expected to reduce the potential dilution of Wayfair's Class A common stock upon any conversion of the Notes and/or 
offset the cash payments Wayfair is required to make in excess of the principal amount of the Notes upon conversion of the Notes 
if the market price per share of Wayfair’s Class A common stock is greater than the strike price of the Capped Calls (which 
corresponded to the initial conversion price of the Non-Accreting Notes and is subject to certain adjustments under the terms of 
the Capped Calls), with such reduction and/or offset subject to the Initial Cap Price. The number of shares of Wayfair's Class A 
common stock potentially issuable and obtainable at the respective conversion prices of the Notes and the Capped Calls, 
respectively, as of December 31, 2020, are as follows:

2022 Notes / 
2022 Capped 
Calls

2024 Notes / 
2024 Capped 
Calls

2026 Notes / 
2026 Capped 
Calls

(in thousands)

2025 Accreting 
Notes

2025 Notes / 
2025 Capped 
Calls

Shares potentially issuable from 
convertible debt instruments
Shares obtainable from the exercise 
of capped calls

Total

173 

4,940 

6,390 

(1,347)   

(1,174)   

(2,322)   

2,618 

(3,003)   

3,387 

3,979 

— 

3,979 

3,639 

(1,710) 

1,929 

For more information on the structure of the Notes and the Capped Calls, including potential adjustments to the conversion 

prices used to determine the shares presented in the preceding table, see Note 6, Debt and Other Financing.

13. Segment and Geographic Information 

Operating segments are defined as components of an enterprise for which separate financial information is available that is 

evaluated on a regular basis by the Chief Operating Decision Maker ("CODM") in deciding how to allocate resources to an 
individual segment and in assessing performance. Wayfair’s CODM is its Chief Executive Officer. 

Wayfair's operating and reportable segments are the U.S. and International. These segments reflect the way the CODM 

allocates resources and evaluates financial performance, which is based upon each segment's Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted 
EBITDA is defined as net income (loss) before depreciation and amortization, equity-based compensation and related taxes, 
interest (expense), net, other (expense) income, net, provision for income taxes, net, non-recurring items and other items not 
indicative of our ongoing operating performance. These charges are excluded from the evaluation of segment performance 
because it facilitates reportable segment performance comparisons on a period-to-period basis as these costs may vary 
independent of business performance. The accounting policies of the segments are the same as those described in Note 
1, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies.

Wayfair allocates certain operating expenses to the operating and reportable segments, including customer service and 

merchant fees and selling, operations, technology, general and administrative expenses based on the usage and relative 
contribution provided to the segments. It excludes from the allocations certain operating expense lines, including depreciation and 
amortization, equity-based compensation and related taxes, interest (expense), net, other (expense) income, net and provision for 
income taxes, net. There are no revenue transactions between Wayfair's reportable segments. 

83

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

U.S.

The U.S. segment primarily consists of amounts earned through product sales through Wayfair's family of sites in the U.S.

International

The International segment primarily consists of amounts earned through product sales through Wayfair's international sites.

Net revenue from external customers for each group of similar products and services are not reported to the CODM. 
Separate identification of this information for purposes of segment disclosure is impractical, as it is not readily available and the 
cost to develop it would be excessive. No individual country outside the U.S. provided greater than 10% of consolidated net 
revenue.

The following tables present net revenues and Adjusted EBITDA attributable to Wayfair’s reportable segments for the 

periods presented:

U.S. net revenue

International net revenue

Total net revenue

Adjusted EBITDA:

U.S.

International

Total reportable segments Adjusted EBITDA

Less: reconciling items (1)

Net income (loss)

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

2018

(in thousands)

$  11,900,658  $ 

7,764,831  $ 

5,813,070 

2,244,498 

1,362,226 

966,104 

$  14,145,156  $ 

9,127,057  $ 

6,779,174 

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

2018

(in thousands)

$ 

1,041,892  $ 

(179,010)  $ 

(19,049) 

(95,004)   

(317,534)   

946,888 

(761,892) 

(496,544)   

(488,040) 

(195,937) 

(214,986) 

(289,094) 

$ 

184,996  $ 

(984,584)  $ 

(504,080) 

(1) The following adjustments are made to reconcile total reportable segments Adjusted EBITDA to consolidated net income 

(loss):

Depreciation and amortization

Equity-based compensation and related taxes

Interest expense, net

Other expense (income), net

Provision for income taxes, net
Other (1)
Total reconciling items

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

2018

(in thousands)

$ 

285,711  $ 

192,419  $ 

296,872 

146,397 

8,633 

20,323 
3,956 
761,892  $ 

240,978 

54,514 

(2,881)   

3,010 
— 
488,040  $ 

$ 

123,542 

136,415 

28,560 

204 

2,037 
(1,664) 
289,094 

(1) We recorded a $4.0 million loss related to severance costs associated with February 2020 workforce reductions. The 
values were recorded in selling, operations, technology, general and administrative expenses. In 2018, we terminated 

84

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

the lease of a warehouse we had vacated in 2017 and recorded a one-time gain of $1.7 million related to the 
difference in the expected future net lease commitments and the actual costs incurred to terminate the lease.

The following table presents long-lived assets attributable to Wayfair's reportable segments reconciled to the amounts:

Geographic long-lived assets:

U.S.

International

Total reportable segment long-lived assets

Plus: reconciling corporate long-lived assets

Total long-lived assets

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

(in thousands)

$ 

718,681  $ 

163,753 

882,434 

610,247 

731,963 

144,803 

876,766 

511,178 

$ 

1,492,681  $ 

1,387,944 

U.S. and International long-lived assets consist of property and equipment, net and operating lease ROU assets. Corporate 

long-lived assets consist of property and equipment, net and operating lease ROU assets at our corporate facilities. 

The following table presents total assets attributable to Wayfair's reportable segments reconciled to consolidated amounts:

Assets by segment:

U.S.

International

Total reportable segment assets

Plus: reconciling corporate assets

Total assets

Year Ended December 31,

2020

2019

(in thousands)

$ 

1,122,391  $ 

1,076,733 

214,707 

1,337,098 

3,232,831 

190,167 

1,266,900 

1,686,148 

$ 

4,569,929  $ 

2,953,048 

U.S. and International segment assets consist primarily of accounts receivable, net, inventories, prepaid expenses and other 
current assets, property and equipment, net and operating lease ROU assets. Corporate assets include cash and cash equivalents, 
short- and long-term investments, long-lived assets at our corporate facilities, capitalized internal-use software and website 
development costs and other noncurrent assets. 

14. Related Party Transactions

As discussed in Note 6, Debt and Other Financing, in April 2020, pursuant to the terms of the amended and restated 
purchase agreement, dated April 7, 2020 (the "Purchase Agreement"), Wayfair issued $535.0 million in aggregate original 
principal amount of 2025 Accreting Notes. The issuance of the 2025 Accreting Notes constitutes a related party transaction 
because of Michael W. Choe's positions as a director of Wayfair (as of May 12, 2020) and Managing Director and Chief 
Executive Officer of Charlesbank Capital Partners, LLC, the sole owner of the ultimate general partner of Charlesbank, a party to 
the Purchase Agreement; Michael Kumin's positions as a director of Wayfair and a Managing Partner at Great Hill Partners, LP, 
Manager of the ultimate general partner of Great Hill, a party to the Purchase Agreement; and the limited partnership interests 
held by Niraj Shah and Steve Conine, Wayfair's co-founders and co-chairmen, in affiliates of Great Hill and Charlesbank.

Item 9.    Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

None.

85

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Item 9A.    Controls and Procedures

Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our management, with the participation of our chief executive officer ("CEO") and chief financial officer ("CFO"), 

evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the 
Exchange Act) as of December 31, 2020. Based on such evaluation, our CEO and CFO have concluded that, as of December 31, 
2020, our disclosure controls and procedures are effective in ensuring that (a) the information required to be disclosed by us in the 
reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods 
specified in the SEC's rules and forms, and (b) such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including 
our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required 
disclosure.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting identified in connection with the evaluation required 

by Rules 13a-15(d) or 15d-15(d) of the Exchange Act during the quarter ended December 31, 2020, that materially affected, or are 
reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting. We have not experienced any material impact 
to our internal controls over financial reporting despite the fact that most of our employees continue to work remotely due to the 
COVID-19 outbreak. We are continually monitoring and assessing the COVID-19 situation and our internal controls to minimize 
any impact on their design and operating effectiveness.

Management's Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting (as 
defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act). Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed 
to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for 
external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and includes those policies and procedures that: (i) 
pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of 
our assets; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial 
statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that our receipts and expenditures are being made 
only in accordance with authorizations of our management and directors; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding 
prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on our 
financial statements. Our management conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting 
based on the framework in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the 
Treadway Commission (2013 framework). Based on this evaluation, management concluded that our internal control over 
financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2020 to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial 
reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting 
principles. Management reviewed the results of its assessment with our Audit Committee. The effectiveness of our internal 
control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020 has been audited by Ernst & Young LLP, an independent registered 
public accounting firm, as stated in its report which is included immediately following Item 9A. Controls and Procedures, in this 
Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Limitations on Disclosure Controls and Procedures and Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting are designed to provide reasonable 

assurance of achieving their objectives as specified above. Management does not expect, however, that our disclosure controls 
and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent or detect all error and fraud. Any control system, no 
matter how well designed and operated, is based upon certain assumptions and can provide only reasonable, not absolute, 
assurance that its objectives will be met. Further, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due 
to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within Wayfair have been detected.

86

 
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of Wayfair Inc.

Opinion on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited Wayfair Inc.’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020, based on criteria established in 
Internal  Control-Integrated  Framework  issued  by  the  Committee  of  Sponsoring  Organizations  of  the  Treadway  Commission 
(2013 framework) (the COSO criteria). In our opinion, Wayfair Inc. (the Company) maintained, in all material respects, effective 
internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020, based on the COSO criteria.

We  also  have  audited,  in  accordance  with  the  standards  of  the  Public  Company  Accounting  Oversight  Board  (United  States) 
(PCAOB),  the  consolidated  balance  sheets  of  the  Company  as  of  December  31,  2020  and  2019,  the  related  consolidated 
statements  of  operations,  comprehensive  income  (loss),  stockholders’  deficit  and  cash  flows  for  each  of  the  three  years  in  the 
period ended December 31, 2020, and the related notes and our report dated February 25, 2021 expressed an unqualified opinion 
thereon.

Basis for Opinion

The  Company's  management  is  responsible  for  maintaining  effective  internal  control  over  financial  reporting  and  for  its 
assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting included in the accompanying Management’s Annual 
Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company's internal control 
over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be 
independent  with  respect  to  the  Company  in  accordance  with  the  U.S.  federal  securities  laws  and  the  applicable  rules  and 
regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the 
audit  to  obtain  reasonable  assurance  about  whether  effective  internal  control  over  financial  reporting  was  maintained  in  all 
material respects. 

Our  audit  included  obtaining  an  understanding  of  internal  control  over  financial  reporting,  assessing  the  risk  that  a  material 
weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and 
performing  such  other  procedures  as  we  considered  necessary  in  the  circumstances.  We  believe  that  our  audit  provides  a 
reasonable basis for our opinion.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

A  company’s  internal  control  over  financial  reporting  is  a  process  designed  to  provide  reasonable  assurance  regarding  the 
reliability  of  financial  reporting  and  the  preparation  of  financial  statements  for  external  purposes  in  accordance  with  generally 
accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that 
(1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of 
the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of 
financial  statements  in  accordance  with  generally  accepted  accounting  principles,  and  that  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the 
company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide 
reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s 
assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because  of  its  inherent  limitations,  internal  control  over  financial  reporting  may  not  prevent  or  detect  misstatements.  Also, 
projections  of  any  evaluation  of  effectiveness  to  future  periods  are  subject  to  the  risk  that  controls  may  become  inadequate 
because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP
Boston, Massachusetts

February 25, 2021

87

Item 9B.    Other Information 

None.

Item 10.    Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

PART III

We have adopted a written code of business conduct and ethics that applies to our directors, officers and employees, 

including our principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller, or persons 
performing similar functions. A copy of the code may be found at the Investor Relations section of our website, located at 
investor.wayfair.com under the link for "Governance." We intend to make all required disclosures regarding any amendments to, 
or waivers from, any provisions of the code at the same location of our website.

The other information required by this item is incorporated by reference from our proxy statement for our 2021 annual 
meeting of stockholders, which we will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days of December 31, 
2020.

Item 11.    Executive Compensation 

The information required by this item is incorporated by reference from our proxy statement for our 2021 annual meeting of 

stockholders, which we will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days of December 31, 2020.

Item 12.    Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

The information required by this item is incorporated by reference from our proxy statement for our 2021 annual meeting of 

stockholders, which we will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days of December 31, 2020.

Item 13.    Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence

The information required by this item is incorporated by reference from our proxy statement for our 2021 annual meeting of 

stockholders, which we will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days of December 31, 2020.

Item 14.    Principal Accounting Fees and Services

The information required by this item is incorporated by reference from our proxy statement for our 2021 annual meeting of 

stockholders, which we will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days of December 31, 2020.

PART IV

Item 15.    Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules

(a)  The following documents are filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K:

(1) Financial Statements:

The financial statements are filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K under Item 8, Financial Statements and 

Supplementary Data.

(2) Financial Statement Schedules:

The financial statement schedules are omitted because they are either not applicable or the information required is presented 

in the financial statements and notes thereto under Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

(3) Exhibits:

See the Exhibit Index immediately following the signature page of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is incorporated 

herein by reference.

88

 
 
 
 
 
EXHIBIT INDEX

Exhibit
Number

Exhibit Description

3.1  Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the 

Company

3.2  Amended and Restated Bylaws of Wayfair

4.1  Specimen stock certificate evidencing the shares of 

4.2 

Class A common stock of the Company
Indenture, dated as of September 15, 2017, by and 
between Wayfair Inc. and U.S. Bank National 
Association, as trustee

4.3  Form of 0.375% Convertible Senior Notes due 

2022 (included in Exhibit 4.2)

4.4 

Indenture, dated as of November 19, 2018, by and 
between Wayfair Inc. and U.S. Bank National 
Association, as trustee

4.5  Form of 1.125% Convertible Senior Notes due 

4.6 

2024 (included in Exhibit 4.4)
Indenture, dated as of August 19, 2019, by and 
between Wayfair Inc. and U.S. Bank National 
Association, as trustee

4.7  Form of 1.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2026 

(included in Exhibit 4.6)

4.8  Form of Indenture by and between Wayfair Inc., 
Wayfair LLC, as Guarantor, and U.S. Bank 
National Association, as trustee

4.9  Form of 2.50% Accreting Convertible Senior Notes 

4.10 

due 2025 (included in Exhibit 4.8)
Indenture, dated as of August 14, 2020, by and 
between Wayfair Inc. and U.S. Bank National 
Association, as trustee

4.11  Form of 0.625% Convertible Senior Notes due 

2025 (included in Exhibit 4.10)

Incorporated by Reference

Filed
Herewith

Form
8-K

File No.
001-36666

Filing Date
10/8/2014

Exhibit
Number
3.1

8-K

S-1

8-K

001-36666

10/8/2014

333-198171

9/19/2014

001-36666

9/15/2017

3.2

4.1

4.1

8-K

001-36666

11/19/2018

4.1

8-K

001-36666

8/19/2019

4.1

8-K

001-36666

4/8/2020

4.1

8-K

001-36666

8/17/2020

4.1

4.12  Description of Wayfair Securities 

X

10.1+ Second Amended and Restated 2010 Incentive Plan

10.2+ Form of Deferred Unit Agreement under the 

Second Amended and Restated 2010 Incentive Plan

10.3+ 2014 Incentive Award Plan

10.4+ Form of Option Agreement under the 2014 
Incentive Award Plan (adopted fiscal 2014)
10.5+ Form of Restricted Stock Unit Agreement under 

the 2014 Incentive Award Plan (adopted fiscal 
2014)

10.6+ Form of Restricted Stock Unit Agreement under 

the 2014 Incentive Award Plan (adopted fiscal 
2018)

10.7+ Form of Restricted Stock Agreement under the 

2014 Incentive Award Plan (adopted fiscal 2014)

10.8+ Form of Indemnification and Advancement 

Agreement for Directors and Executive Officers

S-1

S-1

S-1

S-1

S-1

333-198171

8/15/2014

333-198171

8/15/2014

333-198171

9/19/2014

333-198171

9/19/2014

10.1

10.2

10.3

10.4

333-198171

9/19/2014

10.5

10-K

001-3666

2/25/2019

10.6

S-1

333-198171

9/19/2014

10.6

8-K

001-36666

1/8/2018

10.1

89

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
10.9+ Form of Amended and Restated Letter Agreement 
dated May 6, 2014 between the Company and each 
of Niraj Shah and Steven Conine

S-1

333-198171

8/15/2014

10.11

10.10+ Letter Agreement dated October 2, 2013 between 

S-1

333-198171

8/15/2014

10.12

the Company and Michael Fleisher, as amended 
May 5, 2014

10.11  Amended and Restated Credit Agreement dated 

8-K

001-36666

2/22/2019

10.1

February 21, 2019 among Wayfair LLC, Wayfair 
Inc., each other Loan Party from time to time party 
thereto, each Lender from time to time party 
thereto and Citibank, N.A., as Administrative 
Agent, Swing Line Lender and L/C Issuer

10.12  Amendment No. 1 to the Amended and Restated 

10-Q

001-36666

11/3/2020

10.14

Credit Agreement, dated August 21, 2020, among 
Wayfair LLC, Wayfair Inc., each other Loan Party 
from time to time party thereto, each Lender from 
time to time party thereto and Citibank, N.A., as 
Administrative Agent, Swing Line Lender and L/C 
Issuer

10.13  2020 Incremental Commitment Joinder Agreement 

10-Q

001-36666

11/3/2020

10.15

and Consent to Waiver, dated October 30, 2020, 
among Silicon Valley Bank, as an Incremental 
Lender, the other Lenders party thereto, Wayfair 
LLC, Wayfair Inc. and Citibank, N.A., as 
Administrative Agent.

10.14  Letter Agreement, dated September 11, 2017, 

between Citibank, N.A. and Wayfair Inc. regarding 
the 2017 Base Capped Call Transaction

8-K

001-36666

9/15/2017

10.2

10.15  Letter Agreement, dated September 11, 2017, 

8-K

001-36666

9/15/2017

10.3

between Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Wayfair 
Inc. regarding the 2017 Base Capped Call 
Transaction

10.16  Letter Agreement, dated September 11, 2017, 

between Bank of America, N.A. and Wayfair Inc. 
regarding the 2017 Base Capped Call Transaction

10.17  Letter Agreement, dated September 14, 2017, 

between Citibank, N.A. and Wayfair Inc. regarding 
the 2017 Additional Capped Call Transaction

8-K

001-36666

9/15/2017

10.4

8-K

001-36666

9/15/2017

10.5

10.18 Letter Agreement, dated September 14, 2017, 

8-K

001-36666

9/15/2017

10.6

between Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Wayfair 
Inc. regarding the 2017 Additional Capped Call 
Transaction

10.19 Letter Agreement, dated September 14, 2017, 

8-K

001-36666

9/15/2017

10.7

between Bank of America, N.A. and Wayfair Inc. 
regarding the 2017 Additional Capped Call 
Transaction

10.20 Letter Agreement, dated November 14, 2018, 

8-K

001-36666

11/19/2018

10.2

between Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Wayfair 
Inc. regarding the 2018 Base Capped Call 
Transaction

10.21 Letter Agreement, dated November 14, 2018, 

8-K

001-36666

11/19/2018

10.3

between Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Wayfair 
Inc. regarding the 2018 Base Capped Call 
Transaction

10.22 Letter Agreement, dated November 14, 2018, 

between Bank of America, N.A. and Wayfair Inc. 
regarding the 2018 Base Capped Call Transaction

8-K

001-36666

11/19/2018

10.4

90

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
10.23 Amended and Restated Letter Agreement, dated 
November 15, 2018, between Citibank, N.A. and 
Wayfair Inc. regarding the 2017 Base Capped Call 
Transaction

10.24 Amended and Restated Letter Agreement, dated 
November 15, 2018, between Goldman Sachs & 
Co. LLC and Wayfair Inc. regarding the 2017 Base 
Capped Call Transaction

10.25 Amended and Restated Letter Agreement, dated 
November 15, 2018, between Bank of America, 
N.A. and Wayfair Inc. regarding the 2017 Base 
Capped Call Transaction

10.26 Amended and Restated Letter Agreement, dated 
November 15, 2018, between Citibank, N.A. and 
Wayfair Inc. regarding the 2017 Additional Capped 
Call Transaction

10.27 Amended and Restated Letter Agreement, dated 
November 15, 2018, between Goldman Sachs & 
Co. LLC and Wayfair Inc. regarding the 2017 
Additional Capped Call Transaction

10.28 Amended and Restated Letter Agreement, dated 
November 15, 2018, between Bank of America, 
N.A. and Wayfair Inc. regarding the 2017 
Additional Capped Call Transaction
10.29 Letter Agreement, dated November 27, 2018, 

between Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Wayfair 
Inc. regarding the 2018 Additional Capped Call 
Transaction

8-K

001-36666

11/19/2018

10.5

8-K

001-36666

11/19/2018

10.6

8-K

001-36666

11/19/2018

10.7

8-K

001-36666

11/19/2018

10.8

8-K

001-36666

11/19/2018

10.9

8-K

001-36666

11/19/2018

10.10

8-K

001-36666

11/29/2018

10.1

10.30 Letter Agreement, dated November 27, 2018, 

8-K

001-36666

11/29/2018

10.2

between Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Wayfair 
Inc. regarding the 2018 Additional Capped Call 
Transaction

10.31 Letter Agreement, dated November 27, 2018, 

8-K

001-36666

11/29/2018

10.3

between Bank of America, N.A. and Wayfair Inc. 
regarding the 2018 Additional Capped Call 
Transactions

10.32 Letter Agreement, dated August 14, 2019, between 
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Wayfair Inc. 
regarding the 2019 Base Capped Call Transactions 

10.33 Letter Agreement, dated August 14, 2019, between 
Citibank, N.A. and Wayfair Inc. regarding the 2019 
Base Capped Call Transactions 

10.34 Letter Agreement, dated August 14, 2019, between 

JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and Wayfair Inc. 
regarding the 2019 Base Capped Call Transactions 

10.35 Letter Agreement, dated August 16, 2019, between 
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Wayfair Inc. 
regarding the 2019 Base Capped Call Transactions 

10.36 Letter Agreement, dated August 16, 2019, between 
Citibank, N.A. and Wayfair Inc. regarding the 2019 
Base Capped Call Transactions 

10.37 Letter Agreement, dated August 16, 2019, between 

JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and Wayfair Inc. 
regarding the 2019 Base Capped Call Transactions 

10.38 Form of Registration Rights Agreement by and 

between Wayfair Inc. and GHEP VII Aggregator, 
L.P., CBEP Investments, LLC and The Spruce 
House Partnership LLC

91

8-K

001-36666

8/19/2019

10.2

8-K

001-36666

8/19/2019

10.3

8-K

001-36666

8/19/2019

10.4

8-K

001-36666

8/19/2019

10.5

8-K

001-36666

8/19/2019

10.6

8-K

001-36666

8/19/2019

10.7

8-K

001-36666

4/8/2020

10.2

10.39 Letter Agreement, dated August 11, 2020, between 
Barclays PLC and Wayfair Inc. regarding the Base 
Capped Call Transaction

10.40 Letter Agreement, dated August 11, 2020, between 
Citibank, N.A. and Wayfair Inc. regarding the Base 
Capped Call Transaction

10.41 Letter Agreement, dated August 11, 2020, between 
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Wayfair Inc. 
regarding the Base Capped Call Transaction
10.42 Letter Agreement, dated August 11, 2020, between 
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Wayfair Inc. 
regarding the Base Capped Call Transaction
10.43 Letter Agreement, dated August 11, 2020, between 
Nomura Global Financial Products Inc. and 
Wayfair Inc. regarding the Base Capped Call 
Transaction

8-K

001-36666

8/17/2020

10.2

8-K

001-36666

8/17/2020

10.3

8-K

001-36666

8/17/2020

10.4

8-K

001-36666

8/17/2020

10.5

8-K

001-36666

8/17/2020

10.6

10.44 Letter Agreement, dated August 11, 2020, between 

8-K

001-36666

8/17/2020

10.7

Bank of Montreal and Wayfair Inc. regarding the 
Base Capped Call Transaction

10.45 Letter Agreement, dated August 12, 2020, between 
Barclays Bank PLC and Wayfair Inc. regarding the 
Additional Capped Call Transaction

8-K

001-36666

8/17/2020

10.8

10.46 Letter Agreement, dated August 12, 2020, between 

8-K

001-36666

8/17/2020

10.9

Citibank, N.A. and Wayfair Inc. regarding the 
Additional Capped Call Transaction

10.47 Letter Agreement, dated August 12, 2020, between 
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Wayfair Inc. 
regarding the Additional Capped Call Transaction

10.48 Letter Agreement, dated August 12, 2020, between 
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Wayfair Inc. 
regarding the Additional Capped Call Transaction

10.49 Letter Agreement, dated August 12, 2020, between 
Nomura Global Financial Products Inc. and 
Wayfair Inc. regarding the Additional Capped Call 
Transaction

8-K

001-36666

8/17/2020

10.10

8-K

001-36666

8/17/2020

10.11

8-K

001-36666

8/17/2020

10.12

10.50 Letter Agreement, dated August 12, 2020, between 

8-K

001-36666

8/17/2020

10.13

Bank of Montreal and Wayfair Inc. regarding the 
Additional Capped Call Transaction

21.1 Subsidiaries of the Company

23.1 Consent of Ernst & Young LLP

31.1 Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to 

Rule 13a-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 
1934, as amended, as adopted pursuant to 
Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

31.2 Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to 

Rule 13a-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 
1934, as amended, as adopted pursuant to 
Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

32.1# Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to 

18 U.S.C. §1350, as adopted pursuant to 
Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

32.2# Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to 

18 U.S.C. §1350, as adopted pursuant to 
Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

101.INS XBRL Instance Document

101.SCH XBRL Taxonomy Schema Linkbase Document

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

92

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
101.CAL XBRL Taxonomy Calculation Linkbase Document

101.DEF XBRL Taxonomy Definition Linkbase Document

101.LAB XBRL Taxonomy Labels Linkbase Document

101.PRE XBRL Taxonomy Presentation Linkbase Document

104 Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as 

inline XBRL with applicable taxonomy extension 
information contained in Exhibits 101.*)

X

X

X

X

X

+ Indicates a management contract or compensatory plan
# This certification is deemed not filed for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (Exchange 
Act), or otherwise subject to the liability of that section, nor shall it be deemed incorporated by reference into any filing under the 
Securities Act of 1933, as amended or the Exchange Act.

93

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused 

this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

SIGNATURES

WAYFAIR INC.

By:

/s/ NIRAJ SHAH
Niraj Shah
Chief Executive Officer and President

Date: February 25, 2021

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following 

persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

Signature

Title

Date

/s/ NIRAJ SHAH

Niraj Shah

/s/ MICHAEL FLEISHER

Michael Fleisher

/s/ STEVEN CONINE

Steven Conine

/s/ JULIE BRADLEY

Julie Bradley

/s/ MICHAEL CHOE

Michael Choe

/s/ ANDREA JUNG

Andrea Jung

/s/ MICHAEL KUMIN

Michael Kumin

/s/ JEFFREY NAYLOR

Jeffrey Naylor

/s/ ANKE SCHÄFERKORDT
Anke Schäferkordt

/s/ MICHAEL E. SNEED
Michael E. Sneed

Chief Executive Officer and President, Co-Founder 
and Director (Principal Executive Officer)

February 25, 2021

Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial and 
Accounting Officer)

February 25, 2021

Co-Founder and Director

February 25, 2021

February 25, 2021

February 25, 2021

February 25, 2021

February 25, 2021

February 25, 2021

February 25, 2021

February 25, 2021

Director

Director

Director

Director

Director

Director

Director

94

 
 
 
 
 
 
Stock Price Performance Graph

The graph set forth below compares the five-year cumulative total stockholder return on our Class A common 

stock with the five-year cumulative total return of the S&P Retail Select Industry Index and the NYSE Composite, 
resulting from an initial investment of $100 in each on December 31, 2015 and, assuming the reinvestment of any 
dividends, based on closing prices. Measurement points are the last trading day of each fiscal quarter during 2016, 
2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Note: Stock price performance shown in the Stock Price Performance Graph for our Class A common stock is 

historical and not necessarily indicative of future price performance.

Period EndingIndex ValueComparison of Cumulative Total ReturnWayfair Inc.NYSE COMPOSITES&P Retail Select Industry Index12/31/1503/31/1606/30/1609/30/1612/31/1603/31/1706/30/1709/30/1712/31/1703/31/1806/30/1809/30/1812/31/1803/31/1906/30/1909/30/1912/31/1903/31/2006/30/2009/30/2012/31/200200400600800BR94419L-0321-10KW