What happened

Shares of Wayfair (NYSE: W) soared 10.5% on Wednesday, adding to 8% gains made yesterday as online retailers continue to benefit from optimism over e-commerce sales.

Tuesday's action was driven by upbeat news from salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), which reported digital spending in the fourth quarter jumped 50% from last year.

So what

Shares of the online home goods retailer have rallied in the new year, with shares up 23% over the first two weeks of January.

Image source: Getty Images.

It's clear Wayfair feels confident about its business as it announced a week ago it was raising the pay of all of its workers to at least $15 per hour. The increase took effect on Jan. 3 and applied to all full-time and part-time workers, meaning more than 40% of its workforce got a raise.

Wayfair also said it was extending employee benefits to continue supporting its employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, including a pay premium for frontline workers, various bonuses, emergency paid time off, and child care support.

Now what

Wayfair is due to report its own fourth-quarter earnings late next month so investors will need to wait to see if the enthusiasm the market is showing toward its stock, as well as the seeming confidence it's signaling by its actions, is merited.

The company expected e-commerce to play an important role in the recent holidays. Consumers sent online sales surging 32% from the year before, hitting $188.2 billion.

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Rich Duprey has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Salesforce.com and Wayfair. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.