Five lakh chargers a month and 80 percent of the market, undone by an undated guarantee card

This mobile charger, battery and antenna business started in 1996 on the third floor of Mogbazar Plaza in Dhaka. By 2010 it was selling about five lakh chargers a month, roughly 2.5 crore taka of sales, held about 80 percent of the national charger and battery market and worked through around 100 dealers. Its selling point was a six-month replacement guarantee card — but the card carried no date, so retailers and customers brought old products back for free replacement indefinitely, and others forged the cards and labels. The founder says giving an undated replacement guarantee was a mistake. The replacements and the copying broke the business and sales stopped over the following years; he now makes electrical goods in small quantities and sells chargers online with dated warranty cards. Capital and total losses are not given in the report.