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The acquisition of e-commerce platform Wish by Singapore-based online specialist Qoo10 makes it clear that Wish is losing out to competitors such as Temu and AliExpress.
Dethroned
When Wish went to the stock exchange in 2020, the company with Chinese roots but headquarters in San Francisco was still valued at fourteen billion dollars. Its sale price today is a paltry 173 million dollars (just over 150 million euros): just a fraction of its introduction price, reflecting its being dethroned the likes of AliExpress, Shein, and (mostly) Temu.
Wish was one of the first to bring cheap products directly from Chinese manufacturers to Western consumers. The platform works mainly through the system of ‘dropshipping’: the suppliers often do not have their own stocks, but pass on their orders to suppliers at the time consumers buy. This results in long waiting times, but at bargain prices. Today, however, consumers are used to both easy, cheap and fast online ordering from China.
Even Temu is already losing
Wish was beaten as the likes of Temu perfected its own recipe, but now even the new king is finding it difficult to hold on to its throne. Temu had to spend tons of money on advertising around the Super Bowl in the United States, including fifteen million dollars worth of giveaways during the annual sporting event, on top of a series of commercials that cost seven million, according to CNBC.
After barely a year, Temu is already losing users in the US and is trying with all its might to boost demand. Still, the number of new users this year after the Super Bowl would be lower than a year ago. Wish itself also spent a lot of money on social media marketing, especially through its Meta platforms, to attract shoppers. It even put its logo on the jerseys of the Los Angeles Lakers, but still had to look for “strategic exits” and a new CEO in November.
