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In 2022, the market structure is constantly changing, and the cross-border platform world is even more turbulent: some emerging overseas platforms have used their promotional swords to achieve excellent results, while some mature cross-border platforms are on the verge of bankruptcy, layoffs and reorganization, and suspension of operations, etc. Now at the end of the year, we have learned from multiple sources that the well-known American e-commerce platform Tophatter is suspected to have gone bankrupt. US e-commerce platform Tophatter appears to be closed It is learned that since early November, the official website and APP of the US e-commerce platform Tophatter have been inaccessible for several consecutive days. As of now, Tophatter’s official website page still shows a 404 inaccessible status. At the same time, regarding social media dynamics, Tophatter’s Facebook account was last updated on June 28. On Twitter, Tophatter's update remained at its reply to netizens on October 15: Starting October 11, 2022, Tophatter will be closed indefinitely. Prior to this, we had received information from sellers that Tophatter had issued an announcement that it would be shut down on October 11. Judging from the above-mentioned information from multiple sources, the sellers’ speculation that Tophatter was suspected to have gone bankrupt seems to have been confirmed. It is learned that Tophatter was founded in Silicon Valley, USA in 2012. It is a new type of limited-time auction e-commerce platform. It has created a unique 90-second auction sales model and is known as "opening a store today and placing orders tomorrow." Since its establishment, its performance has grown at an astonishing rate, attracting a large number of sellers. As of 2020, there are more than 30 million active sellers on the Tophatter platform. But in June of this year, Tophatter suddenly announced the closure of Chinese sellers. Tophatter announces closure to Chinese sellers It is learned that on June 2, 2022, Tophatter issued an important notice that it will withdraw from the Chinese market. The notice stated that in view of changes in the U.S. consumer market and the overall transformation of the platform model, the Tophatter platform will be officially closed to Chinese sellers from 12:00 on June 2. Products in the accounts of Chinese sellers who have already settled in will no longer be displayed, and products that have been or will be listed will no longer receive orders. According to relevant media interviews, the reason why Tophatter chose to withdraw from the Chinese market was mainly due to the unfavorable economic situation in the United States, the high cost of acquiring customers through online advertising, and the company's efforts to shrink its overseas fronts and focus on high-quality local brands. Considering the above situation, Tophatter's operations seemed to have run into problems in June. However, after choosing to shrink its overseas front and return to the domestic market, the decline still could not be reversed. It was not until October that Tophatter issued a reply to netizens that "the platform will be closed indefinitely." As the most popular emerging e-commerce flash auction platform in the United States, why has Tophatter been so neglected? Looking back on its development history, Tophatter, which was founded in 2012 , achieved an astonishing annual growth of more than 100% for four consecutive years between 2014 and 2017. It was once known as the most promising and fastest-growing emerging e-commerce platform in the United States. However, judging from the feedback from sellers, Tophatter seemed to have a lack of traffic growth in the later period. Similarweb data shows that in the past three months, the total number of visits to Tophatter has continued to decline. As of October, the traffic on the Tophatter desktop version decreased by 14.80% compared to the previous month. Some sellers revealed that their sales were indeed good when they first joined Tophatter, but since 2021, the platform's traffic began to plummet, and sales also declined sharply, so they chose to leave. After Tophatter announced its withdrawal from the Chinese market in June this year, many sellers said they had expected this: "In the end, the traffic is gone." “The selling price on Tophatter is probably the lowest on the entire network, and the sellers are losing money.” "I paid attention to it earlier. I feel it is a scam. It makes sellers lose money and buyers buy it against their will. Anyone who can make money on that platform is a big shot." From the above, it can be seen that Tophatter’s decline seemed to have been foreshadowed. As of now, Tophatter’s official website has not yet resumed access, and Tophatter has not publicly announced the closure of the platform. The specific situation remains to be investigated. Nowadays, the cross-border trade ecosystem is being reconstructed, and a wave of multi-platform layout is emerging. Affected by multiple factors such as sluggish market growth and increasingly fierce competition, many cross-border sellers are trying to find new traffic depressions. However, the collapse of platform giants such as vova and Jollychic, which were once powerful, seems to warn cross-border sellers that judging the situation and carefully planning is the way to survive at present. What do you think of Tophatter? Welcome to discuss in the comments section. |
