Just as B2B distributors are structurally advantaged businesses, we believe vertically-integrated ecommerce businesses are advantaged because of the superior customer experience relative to offline competitors. Companies like Amazon, JD.com, and Carvana vertically integrate into owning inventory, warehousing, and last mile delivery to provide customers with a more convenient, quicker, and typically cheaper shopping experience than incumbents.

We’ve previously explored how Wayfair is following Amazon’s footsteps in the furniture industry through various primary research interviews, IP analysis articles, and an IP Investor Dialogue:

1. Former Wayfair VP on Wayfair First-Mile Logistics
2. Former VP Fulfilment Engineering at Wayfair on CastleGate
3. Our analysis of Wayfair’s CastleGate Logistics
4. Our analysis comparing Wayfair CastleGate with Amazon FBA
5. Former Global Supply Chain at Wayfair on building global e-commerce supply chains
6. Wayfair In Practise Investor Dialogue

We recently interviewed a Former Deputy-CEO of IKEA Germany and France to explore how IKEA plans to shift from offline to omnichannel furniture retailing. This interview is the first in a series of research to understand the potential advantages and disadvantages of IKEA vs Wayfair’s vertical-integrated online model.