Does Walmart own Wayfair? (breaking of their relationship)
With super-fast shipping, helpful ratings and reviews, and thorough product descriptions, Wayfair has become one of the largest e-commerce home furnishings sites in the world.
Likewise, Walmart is the largest general retailer on the planet, and you may have noticed the same items from Wayfair on the Walmart website.
So it begs the question: Does Walmart own Wayfair? Here’s what I found!
Does Walmart own Wayfair?
Walmart doesn’t own Wayfair, and never has. While there was a time in the late 2010s when Walmart may have been considering buying Wayfair, no deal was ever proposed. Walmart and Wayfair are completely separate business entities, despite claims that Wayfair sells furniture through Walmart’s online marketplace.
To learn more about the connection between Wayfair and Walmart, whether you can return Wayfair items to Walmart, and whether Walmart prices match Wayfair, read on!
What’s the connection between Wayfair and Walmart?
When Walmart launched its online marketplace to try to compete with Amazon, Wayfair jumped at the chance, according to some sources.
As the story goes, Wayfair chose to sell furniture and other home goods on Walmart’s website, giving the brand access to Walmart’s massive customer base.
This is supposed to be around 2015, but other than this online rumor, I can’t find much information to support this claim.
Wayfair employee Jake Blakeman commented on Quora, “Wayfair and Walmart have been working together in e-commerce for a while.”
He asserts that “…Wayfair even handles orders from Walmart.” However, I can’t find any evidence of this.
Wayfair doesn’t sell on Walmart’s marketplace now, and I can’t find any actual, verifiable data that they did in the 2010s.
Right now, this alleged “connection” between Wayfair and Walmart is more of an internet rumour.
Another quasi-connection between the two occurred in 2017, when Forbes.com published an article on why Wayfair shouldn’t sell to Walmart.
This article is not in response to Walmart saying they are interested, but a market analyst suggesting Walmart should acquire the home furnishings retailer.
Regardless, the authors suggest that a merger or acquisition between Walmart and Wayfair would hinder the latter’s growth, and that Walmart would disrupt integration.
The connection between Wayfair and Walmart is more fiction than fact.
In my opinion, the two are already far apart in terms of business models and target markets, and any further connection may not be established in the future.
Who owns Wayfair?
Wayfair isn’t owned by Walmart; instead, it’s still in the hands of the entrepreneur who founded it in 2002.
That was Niraj Shah and Steve Conine, who started a furniture selling business in Boston, MA.
While Shah and Conine share the chairmanship of the company, Shah is the current CEO.
Can you return Wayfair items to Walmart?
Although Wayfair and Walmart may sometimes sell similar (if not identical) items, you cannot return Wayfair items to Walmart.
The two are completely separate companies with completely different leadership, and Walmart is not Wayfair’s parent company.
Even if you purchased a Wayfair item on Walmart’s marketplace, Walmart will not initiate a return through this route.
Instead, you can contact individual sellers regarding returns and refunds.
That’s a shame, though, because Walmart makes returns incredibly easy.
My experience with Wayfair returns is that it’s expensive (you pay for return shipping, not them) and in some cases, completely unmanageable.
(For example, if you want to return an 80 lb bed frame – how do you get it to the packing center?)
Hopefully this is one area where Wayfair will look at Walmart’s customer service excellence and learn a thing or two.
Do Walmart Prices Match Wayfair?
Walmart doesn’t match Wayfair’s prices.
Second, even if Wayfair sells an item on Walmart’s Marketplace and you see the exact same item on Walmart.com, it’s exempt.
The reason is that the price in the Walmart store only matches the lower price on Walmart.com or Jet.com.
Also, Marketplace items are excluded from Walmart’s price match policy, which is the only place where Wayfair items can be sold even if they’re connected (but they’re not).
If you want to learn more about Walmart, you might also be interested in reading Is Target Owned by Walmart, Does Walmart Own Tractor Supply, and Does Walmart Own Home Depot.
in conclusion
Walmart doesn’t own Wayfair, and they never have. While some internet sources claim the two are linked, there is no real data to suggest there was ever any partnership.
Wayfair has a strong e-commerce platform, and I don’t think it’s likely that they will bow to Walmart’s offer — at least anytime in the near future.
