Innovative businesses are always in search of new features and solutions that can transform the customer experience, and when a new idea emerges, developers will often work at an accelerated pace, taking calculated shortcuts to prove the value of the concept in as short a time as possible. At this point, the mantra is, “why exhaust long cycles on something that may ultimately fail short of expectation?”

Last year, Aanan Contractor joined Wayfair as the Vice President of Technology for Storefront and Fintech & Loyalty. Today, she finds herself at the center of Wayfair's technology evolution and commitment to delivering incredible customer experiences. We had a few minutes to chat about her role at Wayfair, projects that she is working on, and what advice she has for aspiring female engineers.

Some people hate roadmaps. They are a pain to put together, formatting is annoying, your plans will probably change next quarter, and who looks at these things anyway? As Drift CEO David Cancel said of a typical roadmap, “either I’m going to disappoint you by giving you exactly what we thought six months ahead of time was the best solution when it’s not, or by changing course and having lied to you.” While much of what Cancel says is true, because no roadmap is future-proof, I’d encourage any roadmap haters out there to think about it differently.

Images from product reviews can inspire and inform our customers. We created a machine learning model that helps us in prioritizing the most helpful and good looking images on the product page.

Last month, I had the opportunity to attend Shoptalk Europe in London. For those unfamiliar with the event, it has quickly become one of the top retail shows in the world and a personal favorite, thanks to its focus on retail and innovation.

Consumers today count on user-generated content when shopping for products online. This includes review imagery posted by unbiased shoppers. In fact, for many, the content posted by fellow consumers offers the best validation and is vital to selecting the right items for the home when shopping online.

At Wayfair, we’re building our home with the future in mind. This means helping to provide the feeling of home for those in our communities, developing a more inclusive workforce, and doing our part to protect our planet for future generations. We’re building a foundation that rests on value creation – mindful of how we impact our customers, our supplier partners, and our teammates.

Wayfair has changed and evolved significantly over the past 20 years. From a small internet start-up to a global ecommerce destination for home, our commitment to helping others create the feeling of home has remained. This commitment encompasses the ”‘homes” that we all share - from our local communities and towns to the great planet we all depend on. We are committing to investing in our shared home and reducing our environmental impacts.

It’s been 20 years since the world was introduced to Wayfair. Over this time, we’ve transformed the online retail furniture space. This industry disruption was driven by innovations that emerged across all areas of the company, fueled by vision and a gifted group of technologists with a shared desire—to innovate, experiment, and redefine the online retail experience.

If you're a Wayfair customer or supplier, you have received our promotional and transactional messages. These come in a variety of flavors. For promotions, it could be a Thanksgiving/Black Friday sale or a Summer/July 4th deal. With transactional messages, the focus is on areas such as order updates, shipment confirmations, and cart abandonment messages.