The Invisible Half

and how this election ironically rationalizes the Wish business model.

We never hypothesized going after value conscious consumers with unbranded goods, but the early data was indisputable. There was a large underserved market of consumers that prioritized price over pretty packaging, fast shipping, and brands. Despite our metrics, we were told repeatedly and at every stage by Menlo Park investors that they didn’t know anyone that would shop on Wish. That we were unlikely to surpass whatever sales volume we had at the time. Pointing out that the biggest retailer in America focused strictly on value conscious consumers fell on deaf ears, these investors didn’t shop at Walmart either.

The 2016 presidential election results caught the majority of people in silicon valley and the national media by surprise; the New York Times gave Mr. Trump an 8% chance of victory. It all made sense, after all we did not know anyone who supported Trump. Someone went to those rallies, someone cast those votes, and someone bought those hats, but we didn’t know them, they did not exist, they were the invisible half.

As you watch the Wish app climb the charts this holiday season and fail to rationalize why, remember that numbers don’t lie and how all those pundits, experts, and tech elites overlooked the priorities, values, and existence of 62 million “invisible” Americans earlier this year.