‘Wayfair Achieved in 2 Years What Most GCCs Take 4-5 Years to Reach’
India has become a top choice for global retail companies for setting up their global capability centres (GCCs), owing to the country’s skilled workforce. Companies like Best Buy, 7-Eleven, Giant Eagle, Lululemon and Adidas established centres between 2020 and 2024. According to an ANSR report, nearly 30% of the world’s top retail and consumer goods companies have established their GCCs in India. A report by Zinnov further highlights that these centres are powered by over 34,000 professionals, driving digital transformation and innovation for their global headquarters. Among them, Wayfair, a Fortune 500 online home retailer, made its entry into the Indian market from a technology standpoint just over two years ago. Unlike traditional expansions, where companies cautiously test the waters, Wayfair took a bold approach to learn from other GCCs and take a more strategic approach. Rohit Kaila, who has led Wayfair’s technology development centre (TDC) since its inception in April 2023, discussed this with AIM. Instead of going through the usual phases of evaluation that include understanding the talent landscape and scaling gradually, Wayfair decided to leapfrog these steps and build a strong foundation from day one. What is Wayfair Doing Differently? While most GCCs take four to five years to reach significant milestones, Wayfair’s TDC has achieved them in just two. For instance, Kimberly-Clark, a pioneer and global leader in trusted baby and child care brands, has seen its team in Bengaluru grow twentyfold over the past five and a half years. Meanwhile, in its first year alone, the TDC hired around 130 team members, reaching 300 employees by the end of Q1 2024. Today, the centre has grown to 550 employees and is set to hit a headcount of 700 by 2025. One of the key factors behind this success, Kaila mentioned, is the blend of startup energy within a Fortune 500 company framework. Wayfair has built a microcosm of its global operations in India, with leaders representing every aspect of technology. This particularly represents the future of digital centres evolving into microcosms of an organisation’s headquarters, encompassing multiple departments and serving as hubs of innovation rather than merely executing predefined tasks. Beyond any doubt, Wayfair is a burning example of how the role of GCC heads in India is transforming, extending beyond operational leadership to assume more CEO-like responsibilities. Wayfair’s Generative AI For Innovation When Wayfair first established its TDC in India, the initial plan was to gradually build a data science and machine learning (ML) team, Kaila revealed. However, the importance of these capabilities soon became evident, prompting the company to accelerate its efforts. This led to the launch of their Machine Learning Sciences organisation in 2024—a significant milestone in Wayfair’s global AI journey. Since then, India has emerged as a key hub for Wayfair’s artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives. Kaila highlighted the company’s strong and growing partnership with Google—not just for cloud infrastructure but also in the realm of generative AI. These efforts are complemented by ongoing collaborations with industry leaders such as OpenAI and Microsoft. A notable aspect of Wayfair’s developer ecosystem is the widespread use of GitHub Copilot, a generative AI coding assistant that has gained immense popularity among engineers. “While Google’s Gemini Code Assist is also excellent, Copilot currently has a slight edge in popularity due to developer familiarity,” Kaila remarked. Despite this preference, Wayfair continues to engage closely with Google on various generative AI initiatives. Beyond these tools, Wayfair has a long-standing tradition of building its own machine learning models. “These don’t always have to be large language models,” Kaila explained. “We often develop smaller, purpose-built ML algorithms tailored to address specific business challenges. We’ve been doing this for quite some time.” Kaila further elaborated on the extent of AI integration at Wayfair, highlighting the company’s deployment of agentic AI—systems that can perform tasks autonomously based on goals and context. “AI plays a crucial role across multiple domains. We use it extensively in areas such as search recommendations, advertising, and customer-facing applications. These are core commercial functions where AI delivers significant value.” In addition to business-critical applications, Kaila mentioned that AI enhances internal productivity. Customer support chatbots streamline user interactions, while developer tools like GitHub Copilot and Gemini Code Assist empower engineers to write better code, faster. AI has also been transformative in tech stack modernisation. “Most companies undergo some form of tech transformation—moving from older stacks to newer ones. We’ve worked closely with Google to develop models and mechanisms that accelerate this process,” Kaila said. Internships and Talent Acquisition In terms of talent recruitment, Wayfair is setting an example by taking a slightly different approach. Wayfair’s strategy towards developing talent extends to its six-month-long internship programme, which is designed to provide hands-on industry experience. Kaila added that while Indian universities produce excellent engineers, the education is often theoretical, and Wayfair aims to address this gap by offering real-world experience. The company partners with institutions like Plaksha, BITS Pilani, and others, but also runs an open model where students from any university can apply. “Last year, 80% of our interns converted to full-time employees,” Kaila noted. He emphasised that while tier-2 and tier-3 cities offer advantages, Wayfair has no plans to open additional centres outside. “Bengaluru remains our hub, and we’ve successfully attracted talent from across India…We chose Bengaluru as our headquarters for the technology centre because the best talent in the retail e-commerce domain resides here, given the presence of major GCCs like Flipkart, Amazon, and others.” Kaila also highlighted the strategic advantages of Bagmane World Technology Centre in Mahadevpura, located between Whitefield and Outer Ring Road, which is home to major players like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. The company had evaluated several other tech parks, but ultimately chose Bagmane for its location and infrastructure. Kaila highlighted that India’s priority is to build an organisation with independently owned charters. “Each leader here owns specific areas they are driving forward, ensuring accountability and autonomy. This eliminates the inefficiencies of constant back-and-forth coordination between centres,” Kaila explained. India, the largest TDC outside Boston, plays a significant role in this strategy. Wayfair’s Ecosystem Contribution When it comes to the future of GCCs, many leaders believe that one major challenge is talent development. With the same group of professionals moving between multiple GCCs, hiring and retaining employees can become a significant hurdle. However, Kaila pointed out that Wayfair has been able to “leapfrog others by leveraging existing knowledge and best practices”. “This isn’t something we keep secret—it’s a playbook I encourage others to follow. The more GCCs adopt these approaches, the better it is for the ecosystem.”He noted that the Indian tech ecosystem is unique in how it “feeds on itself”. Engineers move between companies, learn new skills, and contribute to the overall growth of the industry. “We don’t see this as competition. Instead, we view it as an opportunity to help the ecosystem,” Kaila concluded.
In its 2023 alone, the centre hired around 130 team members, reaching 300 employees by the end of Q1 2024.
In its 2023 alone, the centre hired around 130 team members, reaching 300 employees by the end of Q1 2024.
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["data science", "agentic AI", "machine learning", "artificial intelligence", "OpenAI", "AI", "ML", "RAG", "Aim", "generative AI", "GCC india"]
["AI", "artificial intelligence", "machine learning", "ML", "data science", "generative AI", "agentic AI", "OpenAI", "Aim", "RAG"]
Shalini is a senior tech journalist, exploring the latest advancements in AI. When she's not reporting on the latest innovations, you can find her immersed in her next literary adventure.