The Wayfair CFO claims that the company’s $ 12 billion market sellers are trying to “isolate” tariff customers

Kate Gulliver, director of the CFO and administrative director of Wayfair, spoke with CFO Brew of her career and the plan of her business to drive with the punches.

From start-ups to the leader category: In some respects, Gulliver grew up with Wayfair. After working in investment capital, she joined the company as head of investors relations in 2014 and helped manage its IPO. At that time, he had about $ 1 billion in sales and 2,000 employees, said Gulliver. She describes him as “a super growing company but relatively immature from the point of view of systems and processes”. Today, Wayfair employs around 12,000 people and has generated $ 12 billion in income from June 2024 to June 2025.

According to investors relations, Gulliver has become a global talent responsible and was appointed CFO and CAO in 2022. His career in Wayfair has evolved organically.

“I largely let my career be guided on the occasion most immediately before me,” she said. “I have never tried to guide around 10 years old, here is where this role takes me. It was more “is this the next good decision?” “”

As a combined financial director and administrative director, Gulliver has a lot on his plate: HR, finance, real estate, legal and compliance, business affairs and communications report to him. She likes the extent of the double role, which, according to her, gives her an overview of the company’s “spine”. “Intellectually”, the many departments they supervise “can feel quite different daily, which is fun,” she said.

A turbulent five years for retail: As a seller of discretionary goods, Wayfair has made a rocky tour in the past five years. He was able to capitalize on the boom of the home goods of the pandemic, when the buyers are stuck in the locking bought items for their spaces. But as the restrictions have risen and consumers have swiveled to spending on experience, it has experienced net losses for three consecutive years. Wayfair had to restructure and have undergone several layoff cycles, reducing around 13% of its workforce, or 1,650 jobs, in 2024.

Now, however, the “starts to stabilize,” category said Gulliver. Wayfair experienced a second quarter of bumpers this year, revenues increasing by 5% from one year to the next.

“We feel well in the momentum,” she said.

Wayfair does not yet see the sweetness of consumers due to prices and economic uncertainty, said Gulliver, although it has more strength in its high -end lines, such as Périgold, Allmodern and Joss & Main, than in its “central mass” lines. (“There is no doubt that the high -end market is stronger than mass,” said CEO Niraj Shah during a recent call for results.) The company keeps the eye on the macroeconomic image. It makes a lot of forecasts, incorporating both its internal data and its third -party inputs such as credit card data and trends in the housing market, said Gulliver.

So far, the prices have not had much impact, said Gulliver. This is partly because Wayfair is a market. The sellers display many brand-free items that look alike, so they are largely contributed to the price, she said. The drop in prices also allows better placement on Wayfair’s search results, which increases sales. The sellers, said Gulliver, find ways to absorb or compensate for the prices at different times along the supply chain, which “helps to isolate consumers” from higher prices. “Consumers are still seeing prices for the guys,” she said.

Ai, what about the middle of the modern century? Wayfair also anticipates the changes that generative IA could make to purchasing habits. It is associated with certain main AI providers on the development of agent purchasing tools, said Gulliver. And he added Genai features to his website and application that show customers what furniture could look like in different spaces in a house, as well as recommendations for similar Wayfair products. “It is a fun way to capitalize on how consumers could change the way they buy,” said Gulliver.

At the same time, the retailer made an surprisingly analog decision: to open brick and mortar stores. His Chicago store led to a “halo” effect, stimulating sales and brand recognition in the Chicago region, said Shah during a call for results. Three other physical stores are planned in the coming years.

As a buyer of Wayfair and house design fan herself (“that’s what I read during my free time”), Gulliver understands what consumers are looking for. But even her wide discount, she recognizes, is going only so far. “I always go to the brand team or the merchant team” and to ask: “Have we thought about obtaining this product?” “She said.” And they say to themselves, “Kate, stay in your way”.

This report was initially published by CFO BREW.