For week three of our holiday online shopping recommendations, we look at a company that has its headquarters here in Boston. As dedicated HGTV viewers, we see more than our share of Wayfair ads. But what we did not know was that the company combined more than 250 websites to become one of the largest home goods destination online sites.
Normally, we have an aversion to sites with so many products, but we decided to take it for a test drive to see if we could successfully shop online knowing that Wayfair has no bricks and mortar stores. For example, there is no place to go to actually sit on the $4,000 sofa.
{https://www.wayfair.com/v/about/our_story)
We are sometimes asked if we love every place we recommend to shop and the answer is no. Sometimes we decide not to do a post after careful consideration, but, in this case, we decided to do it with a word of caution: why would anyone invest in a sofa that he or she has never sat on, in a color that can only be seen on a computer screen?
That being said, we figured there are some good reasons to shop at Wayfair. First stop was the Yuletide Gift Guide and we liked the way it was organized:
www.wayfair.com/gifts/gifts.
With hundreds of gifts to choose from, it makes it easy to shop for a range of friends and family. (Lucy is thinking of getting Claudia the personalized wine glasses with her dog’s name on them.) There were plenty of pretty awful gifts for pets or pet lovers, proving that quantity doesn’t always make great taste.
We decided next to look through the furniture sections, which is what Wayfair is known for. After too much time reviewing too much furniture, we came to the conclusion that furniture is best done at stores where you can touch and sit in and see furnishings in settings like Crate and Barrel and/or Restoration Hardware(if you’ve got the budget).
But there are some accent pieces, fairly priced that might be a good option if you want to complete or update a room:
https://www.wayfair.com/Byzantium-2-Drawer-Nightstand-HOHN4203-HOHN4203.html
A Wreath is a Wreath
On the way out of the destination, we looked at the Holiday Decor Section and found a lovely Christmas tree that could be used as a centerpiece:
Bottom line, we are disappointed. Not only did it reinforce the fact that not everything in the universe works for shopping online, and also, being the biggest with the most inventory is not necessarily a plus. We are glad we looked but it was not great. Sign up is required and you get 10% off, but they get to haunt you forever. But, you know, you can always opt out.
A little holiday cheer or caution from the Grinches!
Lucy and Claudia.