Wish (platform)

Wish was started by Piotr Szulczewski, a former Google engineer, as a software company called ContextLogic. In September 2010, ContextLogic received $1.7 million in investments and involved Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman.[1]

In May 2011, Szulczewski invited college friend Danny Zhang to relaunch the company as Wish.[1] It was created as an application that allowed shoppers to create wish lists of their favorite products before matching them with merchants. They also earned revenue with a Pay-per-click model by advertising on Facebook.[2]

In 2013, Szulczewski met with Hans Tung, an investor with GGV Capital in Menlo Park, California, and noted that a large number of sales were coming from Florida, Texas and the Midwest rather than New York or California.[1] Wish became an e-commerce site after asking merchants to host their products directly on the Wish application, with Wish taking a portion of each sale.[3]

In 2017, Wish was the most downloaded e-commerce application in the United States.[4] It signed a multi-year partnership with the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers.[5][6] Wish conducted a World Cup campaign in 2018, that featured Neymar Junior, Paul Pogba, Tim Howard, Gareth Bale, Robin Van Persie, Claudio Bravo and Gianluigi Buffon.[7]

In 2018, Wish was the most-downloaded e-commerce application worldwide.[8] The company doubled its revenue to $1.9 billion.

As of 2019, Wish was the third-biggest e-commerce marketplace in the United States by sales.[1] In August 2019, Wish received a Series H funding round, led by equity firm General Atlantic, taking the company's assets to $11.2 billion.[9] JD.com is an investor in Wish.[10]

The Wish platform employs browsing technologies which personalise shopping visually for each customer rather than relying on a search bar format. More than 1 million merchants[11][12] list their products on Wish’s platform to sell directly to consumers, eliminating distributor fees for the sellers while providing shoppers with low-priced merchandise. The bulk of merchandise available through the app comes from China and other overseas distributors.[13] Products are usually smaller items that are cheaper to ship,[10] aided by an agreement between China Post and the U.S. Postal Service that lowers costs of shipping for goods weighing less than 2 kg.[1] Wish offers express shipping in 5 days, or 6–8 days in some cases,[14] as well as standard shipping that takes 2–3 weeks, for customers who prioritize savings over speed of delivery.[8]

Wish’s "Wheel of Fortune"-style game, Blitz Buy, integrates a layer of gamification to offer consumers additional discounts on top-selling items.[15] The Wish application is available for download on iOS and Android.[4]

Wish has been criticized for listing poor quality or counterfeit goods, a common concern among major e-commerce sites which feature independent sellers.[16][17][18] Customers have complained about lack of communication from sellers and quality. As a result, Szulczewski has hired Connie Chang of Facebook to organize a community of about 10,000 Wish users to expose unsatisfactory dealers in exchange for free goods and discounts.[1]

It is possible to purchase items from Wish which are illegal in the purchaser's country. In January 2020, a man from Nelson, United Kingdom, was sentenced to 11 months in prison for purchasing a stun gun via Wish.[19]

Wish's advertisements on social media have been criticised for "unfathomable" recommendations, with one such 2020 advert claiming that the late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was available to buy on the site for $20.[20]

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