Dive Brief:

• Wayfair had a 53% increase year-over-year in direct retail gross sales from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, according to a company press release.

• The retailer experienced its strongest sales day ever on Cyber Monday with peak order volume between 9 p.m. and 12 a.m. ET, and total orders from repeat customers accounted for 63% of holiday orders, Wayfair said.

• Much of the purchasing activity was focused on everyday household items, although larger-ticket items like sofas, beds, mattresses and dining sets also passed through Wayfair’s online checkout. On Cyber Monday, Wayfair said customers purchased a sofa every 13 seconds, a mattress every eight seconds and a rug every two seconds.

Dive Insight:

A Wayfair spokesman declined to provide Retail Dive with any real dollar figures regarding the holiday weekend surge, but the online retailer has turned in some fine results lately. Earlier this month, Wayfair reported a huge jump in third quarter net revenue, and said it had 10.3 million active customers as of Sept. 30, a 39% increase from a year ago. It hasn’t always been this way, as just a year ago this month, the online retailer was troubled by rising expenses.

The retail online furniture market, however, appears to be having a moment. About 15% of $70 billion in U.S. furniture sales are now online, according to IBISWorld data, a number that has been ticking upward in recent years. That movement and the recent success of Wayfair has drawn the attention of Amazon, which earlier this month launched two furniture brands of its own, and is now looking to take a big bite of the online furniture market pie.

Wayfair’s big holiday weekend may help diminish the new concern about its prospects in the wake of Amazon’s announcement. The company’s stock price took a big hit after Amazon’s news, though the e-commerce giant’s move into the market hardly should have come as a surprise at this point.

Still, Wayfair needs to keep pressing. The online retailer has been particularly aggressive on the mobile front, investing earlier than most retailers in augmented reality and a 3-D library and APIs to enhance app experiences.

Competitively, Amazon isn’t the only one in Wayfair’s rearview mirror, as Target also has developed an AR app specifically for furniture shopping, while Anthropologie has a similar app. If online furniture sales are having their big moment, Wayfair’s take from the holiday weekend could be a sign of more good things to come, but it won't be alone in fighting for its share.