Wayfair is shaping the future of retail with AI

Our Executive Function series features perspectives from leaders driving transformation through AI.

Wayfair⁠(opens in a new window) is a U.S. ecommerce company based in Boston, Massachusetts, specializing in selling a wide range of furniture, home decor, and other household goods online and, more recently, in physical stores. We spoke with Fiona Tan, Chief Technology Officer, about AI reshaping the customer experience, streamlining operations, and its impact on employee upskilling.

What priorities made it important for Wayfair to invest in AI?

At Wayfair, strategy drives everything. We start by identifying areas where AI can enhance efficiency, accelerate processes, or innovate the customer experience.

As a digitally native ecommerce retailer, marketing was one of our earliest AI applications—specifically, optimizing ad spend and improving attribution. We focused on traditional machine learning techniques, such as predictive modeling. The early work provided a strong foundation for Wayfair’s broader AI adoption over the past several years.

Today, AI plays a pivotal role not just in marketing, but also in areas like supply chain optimization, product recommendations, and customer experience design.

The rise in popularity of OpenAI has significantly increased our emphasis on AI, pushing us to explore more advanced applications and leverage new capabilities.

“We really think about our company strategy first, and then underneath it, which are the areas AI can help accelerate, disrupt, etc.”

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Why do you think AI is especially critical for ecommerce?

Personalization has always been a major goal in ecommerce. AI has allowed us to move beyond basic keyword-based searches to sophisticated conversational interfaces. 

AI helps us enrich our product catalog and deliver more meaningful customer interactions.

Beyond customer improvements, how is Wayfair fostering AI fluency within the organization?

How do you measure the success of these AI initiatives?

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