Wish (company)

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]

The Wish marketplace is accessed by the Wish.com website or by a mobile application that is available for iOS and Android.[4]

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, 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] and 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, ContextLogic received a Series H funding round, led by equity firm General Atlantic, taking the company's valuation to $11.2 billion.[9] JD.com is an investor in Wish.[10] ContextLogic went public via an IPO in 2020.[11] As of August 2, 2023, the value of WISH stock has fallen more than 99% from its IPO price in December 2020. That represents a loss in market value of about $14 billion.

In France in November 2021, the Wish e-commerce system, including the website and smartphone applications, were delisted from Google's search results[12] and from Google's French app store, after French authorities claimed that many items sold on the platform do not comply with European regulations.[13][14] The same authorities also accused the platform of selling counterfeit items.[15] In January 2022, Wish appointed Vijay Talwar as the new CEO.[16] As of September 8, 2022 Joe Yan has been appointed as the current Interim CEO of Wish. He previously worked at Stripe as a managing director and Country Head, Greater China.[17] On February 23, 2023 the interim title was removed for Joe Yan - and he was appointed as the permanent Chief Executive Officer. [18] In France in March 2023, Wish was relisted, allowing the online marketplace to return to app stores and search engines in the country. [19]

More than 1 million merchants[20][21] list their products on Wish's platform to sell directly to consumers. The bulk of the merchandise available through the app in the United States comes from China and other non-U.S. distributors.[22] The 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,[23] 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.[24]

Wish has been criticized for listing poor quality or counterfeit goods, a common concern among major e-commerce sites which feature independent sellers.[25][26][27] Customers have complained about lack of communication from sellers and quality. In response to the criticism, Szulczewski hired an executive from 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 often possible to purchase items from Wish that are not legal in the purchaser's country. In January 2020, a man from Nelson, Lancashire, United Kingdom, was sentenced to 11 months in prison for purchasing a stun gun using Wish.[28]

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