What You Should Know About Wish, The Most Downloaded E-Commerce App

Would you be surprised to hear that the most frequently downloaded e-commerce app in 2018 was not Amazon? Interestingly enough, it was Wish, an e-commerce shopping app that has grown significantly in popularity in the last few years and is known for its extremely low prices. Now the third-largest e-commerce marketplace in the world by sales, the company boasts nearly 90 million monthly users.

How Are Prices So Low?

Wish ships products to customers directly from manufacturers in China and other countries in Asia and the products are typically unbranded and immensely discounted. While browsing on the platform, you can observe the extremely steep discounts, such as a Bluetooth speaker that is marked down from $559 to $25. There is no brand information or item-level specifics on the majority of product listings on the website, so it is difficult to confirm who made the item or if you are truly receiving such a drastic discount. It has not been confirmed, but the original prices listed may be comparing the items to brand name options.

How to Use Wish

To even view products on Wish, you need to create an account by entering your Facebook or Gmail login, or making a separate login with an email address other than Gmail. The site is broken up in several categories: popular items, “Blitz Buy” items that are part of a once a day sale on extra discounted goods, recently viewed, outlet items, and items in specific product categories such as fashion or home decor.

For each product, shoppers are shown approximately how many people have purchased it. For example, a bracelet is priced at $4 and the site shows that 300,000+ have bought it. The prices are immensely inexpensive across the entire platform: knockoff Apple Watches for $20, Bluetooth headphones for $14, bedding for $19, leggings and shirts for $3 or $4 each, and more.

Shipping costs vary by item, but are usually less than $10. However, some Wish users have reported that it has taken more than a month to receive an item, while some have received their orders in just a few days. According to Forbes, though, around 80% of Wish’s first-time buyers will return to buy a second time.