Chapter 290
GrabCheap stormed the online shopping market at lightning speed, pioneering a new wave. By leveraging existing users to attract new ones, the GrabCheap app rocketed to the top of the app store download charts within just a month or two. Its momentum was even more unprecedented than Playzy’s launch. Every day, the platform welcomed hundreds of thousands of new users.
However, as GrabCheap soared in popularity, it naturally began to attract envy.
GrabCheap focused on the fresh produce market from the very beginning, and after the app launched, it quickly became its best-selling category. But that was where the trouble began. With perishable goods, any shipping or storage mishap could easily lead to quality issues.
Some merchants offered compensation to protect their reputation, while others were stubbornly difficult, shamelessly leveraging the platform’s massive user base with a couldn’t-care-less attitude, as if they had nothing to lose.
As a result, the platform’s negative review rate skyrocketed.
Aubree called an online meeting to address that.
In the early stages of GrabCheap’s development, there were many tasks to handle, and the customer service compensation system wasn’t fully optimized. Even so, according to Aubree’s initial projections, she never expected the number of negative reviews to get this out of hand.
It was clearly a targeted attack, born of jealousy.
Aubree said, “Our main focus right now is on fresh produce, which does tend to generate more compensation disputes. Birgitte, set up a dedicated customer service team specifically for fresh produce claims. Whenever a customer files a quality complaint and our team verifies the issue, issue an instant refund.
“In e-commerce, the customer base is everything. Without shoppers, no merchant would bother selling on your platform. But once you’ve got the customers, even with the strictest rules, sellers will still come flocking.”
Naturally, customers and merchants are not on equal footing. Those who spend money always come first.
One will always find people unwilling to spend, but never anyone unwilling to earn.
With those measures in place, GrabCheap’s positive feedback rate rebounded. Within just two months of its launch, its user base exploded past twelve million, easily eclipsing most established e-commerce platforms in the market.
Aubree’s GrabCheap e-commerce platform had achieved its initial success.
When those figures came out, even top executives like Birgitte were blown away. As key participants, they had always expected the project to succeed, but never dreamed it would be this huge!
Moreover, under the model, not only did low-income groups enjoy convenience and savings, but many greenhouse farmers also saw significant gains. With no middlemen driving down prices, they could now sell directly to consumers and keep all the profits.
During the online meeting, Birgitte’s cheeks flushed with excitement as she stammered, “Ms. Miller, this is insane! It’s gone completely viral. My entire social feed is flooded with those group bargaining links these days!”
Her friends even messaged her to ask if she was a new user, hoping she could help them “slash” prices.
Birgitte thought, ‘If someone had told me before that I had actually pulled off a project like this, I would’ve scoffed in their face. Yet here I am. I did it!’
Who would believe that all this came from a girl barely out of her teens?
“That’s not even half of it! It’s not just you women who love online shopping. Even we guys can’t resist this model. I’ve gotten all my friends hooked, too.”
Birgitte couldn’t help but ask excitedly, “Ms. Miller, we’re doing so well right now. Does this mean we’ve made it?”
Aubree crossed her legs and propped her chin with both hands. “We’re just getting started. Right now, fresh produce still makes up the bulk of our platform’s revenue. Are you satisfied with just this one category?”
“Of course not!” Birgitte exclaimed. “Who would be satisfied with just that?”