$14 Billion to Bankruptcy: The Wish.com Disaster In 2013, Wish.com promised to democratize shopping: designer looks for dirt-cheap prices, delivered straight to your door. By 2018, they were pulling in $1.9 billion in revenue. Their 2020 IPO valued the company at $14 billion, and they were spending millions on Super Bowl ads positioning themselves as the future of e-commerce. Three years later, they filed for bankruptcy. In this episode, hosts Brian Crowley and Eve Eden investigate the catastrophic collapse of Wish.com with special guest Carm McDonald, a Product Design Leader with 15+ years building e-commerce experiences for Shopify, United Airlines, and CDW. We'll examine how a platform built on rock-bottom prices became a case study in broken trust, dark patterns, and the fatal consequences of prioritizing growth over user experience. Was it the 60-day shipping times? The products that looked nothing like their photos? The algorithm that prioritized seller profits over customer satisfaction? Or did Wish.com's entire business model depend on deceiving users just enough to keep them coming back—until they didn't? Join us as we investigate how $14 billion in market value evaporated because someone forgot that trust is the only currency that actually matters in e-commerce. Guest: Carm McDonald Portfolio: https://www.carmenleahmcdonald.com/

UX MURDER MYSTERY HOSTED BY Brian J. Crowley Eve Eden EDITED BY Kelsey Smith INTRO ANIMATION & LOGO DESIGN Brian J. Crowley MUSIC BY Nicolas Lee A JOINT PRODUCTION OF EVE | User Experience Design Agency and CrowleyUX | Where Systems Meet Stories ©2025 Brian J. Crowley and Eve Eden Email us at: questions@UXmurdermystery.com Thank you for watching and or listening! Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the hosts are commentary and speculation, not statements of fact. All discussions about real companies, individuals, or organizations are based on publicly available information, media reports, and personal opinions offered for the purpose of critique, education, and storytelling. We make no representations or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of any information discussed. Nothing in this podcast should be interpreted as a factual assertion about the actions, motives, or intentions of any individual or corporate entity. Listeners should conduct their own research before drawing conclusions. The creators and guests of this podcast disclaim all liability for any loss, harm, or damages arising from reliance on any information or opinions presented. Names, characters, and events may occasionally be dramatized or fictionalized for illustrative purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or to actual events, is purely coincidental.