After experiencing a brief phase of exponential growth, Wantful shutdown in September 2013 due to stiff competition from other companies offering e-commerce services. While at the beginning they offered a fairly new type of platform by focusing on the customization and suggestion of gift ideas, when they tried to shift to a normal e-shop business in which users bought items for themselves they had to compete with established platforms such as Wanelo, Wish, Fancy, Svpply’s Want, Polyvore, and more.

In the later stages of the e-commerce business, it became evident that Wantful was not getting the kind of growth curves that venture capitals expected and desired and as a result failed to secure additional investment. This highly discouraged business with Nordstrom, a potential investor and strategic partner that Wantful heavily depended on for their long-term investment. The company closed in 2013.

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Go on Reading

• Techcrunch: Personalized E-commerce Startup Wantful Shuts Down
• Crunchbase: Wantful