The ecommerce landscape continues to evolve as consumers redefine their shopping habits from strictly brick & mortar to ecommerce or some combination of both.  Hear the exciting story of Wayfair and how Niraj Shah and Steve Conine rapidly grew the business to become the largest online retailer of home goods (furnishings, housewares and home improvement) in the United States.  They will discuss the strategies they use to remain competitive online, and suggest solutions addressing typical pain points manufacturers experience as they transform their business to serve the online channel.

3:15 pm
Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Presenter:

Niraj Shah CEO WayfairNiraj Shah co-founded Wayfair with Steve Conine in 2002 and the pair rapidly grew the business to become the largest online retailer of home furnishings, housewares and home improvement goods in the U.S., generating $3.4 billion in net revenue for the full year of 2016. Before founding Wayfair, Shah served as CEO and co-founder of Simplify Mobile, an enterprise software company that was sold in 2001. Prior to that, he served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Greylock Partners; COO and a member of the board of directors at iXL, a publicly traded global technology consulting firm; and the CEO and co-founder of Spinners, which was sold to iXL in 1998.Shah has been included in Fortune magazine’s 40 Under 40, and has won the Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award. He also serves on the board of Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. He has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Cornell University.

CHESS—Chief Housewares Executive SuperSession—is IHA’s annual senior-level conference for industry leaders. This strategic education and networking event of the year allows attendees to access high-profile industry experts directly and share information and ideas with other housewares and home goods decision-makers. Held every fall, CHESS attracts more than 150 chief officers of IHA’s most prominent member companies. The program includes Keynotes, panel discussions, general sessions and networking opportunities—the most valuable part of the 2-day event according to past participants.