Cartup aims to revolutionize e-commerce with quality service, commitment

Dhaka : The e-commerce industry occupies only five per cent share of the overall retail market of Bangladesh, and the average ticket size (ATS) of the industry is below USD 10. Both of these key indicators are significantly poor compared to other countries because the customers have lost their trust in e-commerce as several envious platforms intervened in the ecosystem and devastated it. Cartup, an e-commerce concern of the US-Bangla Group, aims to improve the overall situation by providing the customers with "quality products at the best price within a promised timeline and reliable after-sales service."

Fuad Arefin Tonmoy, Chief Executive Officer of Cartup, said this while talking to The Bangladesh Monitor at his office in the capital recently.

In addition to its core priorities, Cartup emphasizes the inclusion of more quality players to foster a healthy ecosystem and acknowledges the efforts of earlier platforms in educating and habituating customers. However, the company believes that even these quality players, particularly those affiliated with major overseas platforms, will not pose a threat to Cartup's success, thanks to its strong commitment to customers, as expressed by the CEO.

To ensure quality products at the best price, Cartup follows a rigorous process, involving a sequence of certain evaluation stages before enabling a third-party store to enlist their items on the platform, and the store must complete a minimum number of orders within a fixed deadline to achieve permanent approval, clarified Tonmoy.

Cartup intends to roll out its own logistics fleet across all 64 districts of the country and plans to incorporate other logistics services of US-Bangla Group, including its expanded air network, if necessary. The platform regards logistics as one of the key factors as it directly influences the customer's shopping experience, which in turn impacts two other core priorities of the company: delivery within a promised timeline, and reliable after-sales service.

Though logistics comes second in importance regarding reliable after-sales service, as the company has assigned a dedicated team for this that receives complaints and return or refund requests through various communication methods and resolves the issues in accordance with the organization's SLAs and SOPs, the CEO added.

Cartup is a completely homegrown Bangladeshi company that has developed a diverse range of technologies in-house, including, however not limited to, back-end tools, call center solutions, and smartphone applications. These innovations are among the most unique features of Cartup, Tonmoy remarked.

Persuading the biggest brands to join Cartup was the biggest challenge the platform initially faced. Now acquiring a loyal customer base and gaining their trust is the biggest challenge, and the company has focused on creating educational content to address this.

Cartup has partnered with several banks, mobile financial services, brands, and logistics services to offer  customers perks and, in turn, help it to grow, according to the CEO.