How the “Invisible Half” Shops and the Rise of Wish.com

If someone asked you to name the sixth-largest e-commerce retailer in the world valued at more than JCPenney, Macy’s, and Sears combined, you might venture a guess on eBay or maybe Zappos. After that, traditional brick-and-mortar retailers with e-commerce operations might be logical contenders for the remaining slots in the top-10 list of largest online retailers in the world.

The answer, as you may have guessed, is somewhat surprising. As the media, retailers, and politicians alike fret over the effects of these more-well-known e-commerce operations, Wish has emerged as an incredibly popular online shopping destination for millions of Americans who shop online. The Wish app, which users can download to their iOS or Android devices, speaks to digital natives and consumers who feel ignored by slicker — and often pricier — online shopping destinations.

Even Amazon, with its reputation for rock-bottom prices, isn’t as cheap as many people make it out to be. And with that company’s forays into Amazon-branded devices and subscription services that command premium prices, it’s not clear that “discount retailer” is a label they can claim rights to for much longer. And for the millions of Americans who shop at Dollar Tree and Dollar General, Amazon can seem like even less of a bargain.