The home furnishings e-retailer fuels its growth by debuting its own TV series and a wedding registry. Wayfair also is investing internationally.

Wayfair Inc. is investing in international expansion, e-commerce logistics and seasonal promotions, the web-only home furnishings giant said Tuesday in its third quarter earnings call.

Wayfair’s direct retail revenue, which primarily comes from orders placed online at Wayfair.com, Joss & Main, AllModern, Birch Lane and Dwell Studio e-commerce sites, increased 52.7% to $832.4 million in Q3 ended Sept. 30 from $545.0 million in Q3 2015.

Following its 2015 holiday strategy, Wayfair is featuring twice as many holiday-related products this year compared with last year, CEO and co-founder Niraj Shah told investors on the call, according to a Seeking Alpha Transcript.

“Last year, we increased our holiday promotions and seasonal decor to take advantage of the fact that the holidays are a great time to attract new customers and invite purchases from repeat customers,” he said.

Throughout the holiday season, one-hour episodes of “The Way Home,” a Wayfair-produced TV series, will air on Lifetime cable channel, which is part of A&E Television Networks LLC. The 10-episode series began in October and will be aired multiple times a week into the first quarter of 2017. The most important aspect of “The Way Home,” Shah said, is that a consumer can look up every item on the show and buy it at Wayfair.com/TheWayHome.

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Wayfair’s most substantial investment in Q3 is building out its international business, focusing on Canada, the U.K. and Germany, Shah said. International direct sales grew more than 200% year over year, he said.

Wayfair is also continuing its investments in warehouses, logistics and transportation. It now has approximately 5 million square feet of warehouse space, with plans to open more sites in early 2017, Shah said. This is up from 3 million square feet in the second quarter and 1 million square feet at the beginning of 2015.

“The most important benefits of these investments are a faster delivery promise, lower damage and a higher level of service to our customers,” Shah said. Right now, Wayfair can promise and deliver products in one or two days to 10% of U.S. shoppers, and Shah aims to increase that percentage quickly with the added space.

During the quarter, Wayfair also launched its wedding registry service. Since the launch in September, consumers have created 12,000 registries, which Shah called “a good start.”

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The e-retailer also reported 7.4 million active customers in the quarter, up 60.4% year over year. Repeat customers placed 56.9% of orders compared with 55.2% in the same period last year. Average order value was $244 in Q3, up from $235 a year ago.

Wayfair is No. 24 in the Internet Retailer 2016 Top 1000 Guide.

For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, Wayfair also reports:

  • E-commerce revenue of $832.4 million up 52.7% from $545.0 million in Q3 2015.
  • Net revenue of $861.5 million, a 45.0% increase from $594.0 million.
  • Net loss of $60.9 million compared with a loss of $15.5 million.
  • 40.3% of e-commerce orders were placed on a mobile device, compared with 35.1%.

For the nine months ended Sept. 30, Wayfair reports:

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  • E-commerce revenue of $2.30 billion up 70.4% from $1.35 billion in the year-ago period.
  • Net revenue of $2.40 billion, up 60% from $1.50 billion.
  • Net loss of $150.4 million compared with a loss of$62.0 million.

In June, Wayfair was named Internet Retailer of the Year in the second annual Internet Retailer Excellence Awards, based primarily on its 42.1% five-year compound annual growth rate and its ability to dominate the online retail housewares category.

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