Article. The Future of Ecommerce That Wasn’t: An In-depth Look into What Went Wrong with Wish
Jan 26, 2024
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This podcast discusses the failure of Wish, an e-commerce platform. It compares Wish's unique approach to Amazon's and analyzes the reasons behind Wish's failure, including ineffective advertising. The podcast also explores the factors contributing to Wish's success and downfall, such as their user acquisition engine and direct relationships with manufacturers. It addresses criticisms of low-quality products and slow shipping times. The struggles in attracting new shoppers and the impact of rising advertising costs are also discussed.
Wish's failure was not solely due to excessive spending on sales and marketing, but rather the inefficiency of their advertising strategies.
The problems faced by Wish, such as selling cheap products and slow shipping, were not inherently fatal as demonstrated by successful e-commerce models like Pinduoduo and platforms like Etsy.
Deep dives
The Pitch for Wish as the Next E-commerce Winner
Wish was presented as a unique e-commerce platform, focusing on discovery, deals, and novelty. It aimed to serve a different market by offering an extensive range of items and leveraging a sophisticated algorithm to recommend products. Unlike Amazon, Wish targeted consumers who were looking for serendipitous finds rather than specific purchases. They also aimed to assist physical stores with merchandise procurement, enabling small businesses to stock their stores based on data and direct wholesaler connections. The appeal was that Wish offered a low-cost alternative to Amazon's sponsored ad approach, making it easier for merchants to stand out.
Analyzing Reasons for Wish's Failure
The common explanations for Wish's failure, such as excessive spending on sales and marketing or focusing on cheap items with slow shipping, do not entirely capture the problem. The issue was not the amount of money spent on marketing, but rather the inefficiency of the advertising strategies employed. Wish struggled to acquire and retain customers, with much of their marketing budgets going towards re-engaging existing users rather than acquiring new ones. Churn rates were high, and the cost of acquiring and retaining customers outweighed the potential profit. While criticisms of selling cheap products and slow shipping were raised, other successful e-commerce marketplaces have faced similar challenges without resulting in failure.
Contrasting Wish with Successful E-commerce Models
Examining successful e-commerce models like Pinduoduo in China and other marketplaces like eBay and Alibaba further highlight that the problems faced by Wish were not inherently fatal. Pinduoduo, for example, pioneered community group buying and thrived by establishing direct relationships with manufacturers, offering low-cost products. Wish pursued a similar approach with direct manufacturer relationships to provide affordable products. Furthermore, criticisms of Wish's slow shipping or fake listings fail to account for the success of other platforms like Etsy, where customers are willing to wait and tolerate occasional disappointments. Overall, there is no single key reason for Wish's downfall, and the financial numbers themselves indicated looming issues.
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This weeks article is The Future of Ecommerce That Wasn’t: An In-depth Look into What Went Wrong with Wish
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