Customer experience in Bangladesh's computer market tells a tale of two realities.
The dominant experience remains frustratingly familiar: walk into most electronics markets—Multiplan Center, IDB Bhaban, Elephant Road—and you'll find customers crouched on plastic stools in crowded spaces, watching technicians juggle multiple repairs while fielding phone calls.
Timelines are often vague ("come back tomorrow, maybe"), warranties come loaded with exclusions, and basic facilities for customers like clean washrooms remain rare luxuries.
Certainly, some established players provide decent service, and a few retailers offer professional environments for new laptop sales. But for the vast middle market, particularly used laptops and repairs, the customer experience frequently ranges from tolerable to actively unpleasant.
For laptop purchases, the challenges multiply. Many used laptop sellers protect themselves with heavily conditional warranties: Battery problems not covered. Display issues excluded. Motherboard failures void coverage. Customers often leave these interactions feeling like they've entered a relationship designed around mutual suspicion rather than mutual benefit.
Corporate buyers face their own frustrations. Even when purchasing multiple laptops, businesses typically encounter the same cramped environments, unclear repair timelines, and conditional coverage that individual customers experience. When devices need service, companies lose productive time sending employees to wait while hoping for favorable treatment.
While these problems aren't universal, there are companies that provide good services, they're common enough to represent a genuine barrier to technology adoption. When purchasing and maintaining laptops involves predictable frustration, businesses delay upgrades, individuals extend the life of failing equipment, and the entire market grows more slowly than it might with better service standards.
Into this environment, ExchangeKori introduced a different standard of service: what if customers actually enjoyed the experience? The company addresses each pain point systematically. Where typical repairs involve vague timelines and anxious waiting, ExchangeKori provides immediate diagnosis, clear explanations, and specific completion dates. Where customers typically endure uncomfortable environments, it offers air-conditioned spaces with proper seating. Where warranties expire into indifference, it maintains relationships through "grace period" that cover repair costs even after official coverage ends.
The contrast becomes clear when you consider a common scenario: a business owner's laptop displaying the blue screen of death. In the traditional model, this means lost productivity while navigating cramped shops, uncertain repair timelines, and potentially expensive out-of-warranty costs.
ExchangeKori's model turns this problem into a manageable inconvenience: immediate diagnosis, clear seven-day timeline for motherboard issues, comfortable waiting environment, and potential cost-sharing even if the warranty has expired.
This systematic approach to eliminating customer pain points has driven remarkable business results for ExchangeKori. The company has grown from a single shop with six employees in early 2024 to three branches with twenty staff by February 2025, achieving 200% growth in sales and profits.
How exactly does ExchangeKori deliver this experience? What operational systems enable them to make promises others can't? And what does their success reveal about opportunities in Bangladesh's technology sector?
This article examines the specific practices, policies, and philosophy that have helped ExchangeKori to consistently design and deliver superior customer experience and what its approach might mean for an industry ready for change.
"Our philosophy is that our customers should not experience any pain or difficulty. This is our core philosophy," explains ExchangeKori's founder Rasel Ahmed. While customer-centric rhetoric is common in business, ExchangeKori has built its entire operational framework around this principle.
The philosophy starts with physical space. ExchangeKori mandates a minimum 800 square feet per location, allowing fifteen to twenty customers to receive service simultaneously without crowding.
"If someone comes to install an SSD, exchange, or upgrade a laptop, they usually spend at least one and a half to two hours with us," Mr. Rasel explains. "During this time, they don't feel bored because we have comfortable seating and a corporate-friendly, good environment."
The space investment enables better service delivery. Staff can focus on individual customers rather than managing crowds. Technical explanations happen at conversational volume. Customers can observe repair processes without interfering with other work.
Even details like washroom facilities receive attention. "Many people are not accustomed to receiving service in such a compact, cramped environment," Rasel notes, explaining their decision to ensure "very well-equipped and clean" facilities for customers spending extended time in their locations.
ExchangeKori has developed a ten-step Standard Operating Procedure that categorizes repairs into three levels, each with specific timelines customers can rely on.
Level 1 problems—software issues like Windows corruption—receive same-day resolution.
Level 2 hardware issues requiring parts replacement (keyboards, SSDs, displays) take two to three days.
Level 3 critical problems like motherboard failures get a maximum seven-day timeline.
This framework eliminates the uncertainty that typically accompanies device repairs. Customers receive immediate diagnosis, clear explanations, and definite completion dates.
The systematic approach also enables realistic promise-making, rather than vague estimates, ExchangeKori can commit to specific timelines because the company has mapped its repair processes thoroughly.
The system benefits both customers and operations. Customers gain predictability and peace of mind. The company gains workflow efficiency and the ability to manage capacity across multiple locations.
ExchangeKori's most distinctive practice may be its "grace policy", routinely helping customers whose devices fail just after warranty expiration. When repairs are needed past the coverage period, it frequently absorbs fifty percent of costs.
"For instance, if you buy a laptop with a 50-day replacement guarantee, but it breaks on the 70th day, legally, you wouldn't receive support," Rasel explains. "However, we have resolved many such cases, even for motherboards that failed exactly after 70 days."
The practice transforms potential negative experiences into loyalty-building moments. While these situations occur "perhaps one or two per month," the company has formalized responses to ensure positive outcomes. The policy reflects sophisticated thinking about customer lifetime value. The cost of occasional grace amounts is offset by customer retention and word-of-mouth referrals.
ExchangeKori's warranty structure takes a notably different approach from industry norms.
Rather than conditional coverage with multiple exclusions, it offers "flat warranties" covering everything from adapter cables to motherboards. Regular laptops receive fifty-day complete replacement guarantees; MacBooks get fifteen days with full coverage.
The company’s recent innovation extends this further: customers can purchase one-year extended warranties for just 15% additional cost. "This is not a full product replacement, but a parts replacement guarantee for one year," Rasel clarifies. "If the display breaks during this period, we will change it; if the keyboard breaks, we will change it."
This is the first such offering in Bangladesh's used laptop market. The pricing suggests ExchangeKori calculated that the 15% markup covers statistical failure rates while providing customers genuine peace of mind.
For a market where used laptop purchases typically involve considerable uncertainty, this level of coverage changes the fundamental value proposition.
For corporate customers, ExchangeKori has developed specialized protocols addressing business-specific requirements, including comprehensive on-site support, eliminating productivity losses associated with sending employees to repair shops.
"We arrange for on-site support. In such cases, we only charge a minimum transport cost," explains Rasel. When repairs can be completed immediately, engineers handle everything on-site with only travel expenses charged. When laboratory equipment is required, messengers collect and return devices, but security remains paramount. "Our laptops are never transported by local bus; they are always sent by CNG or bike to ensure quick and secure delivery."
The security consciousness extends to data handling. On-site engineers are "highly sensitive regarding everything, from data recovery onwards" and carry professional equipment bags with essential diagnostic tools. For corporate clients dealing with sensitive business information, this attention to data security provides crucial peace of mind during repair processes.
Corporate services extend beyond repairs into consultation. Companies often request component health testing, specific battery and SSD health percentages for bulk purchases. Others seek advice on laptop allocation based on employee roles and organizational workflow requirements.
"They are not just buying a product but also seeking full consultation," Rasel notes. This recognition that corporate buyers need IT guidance, not just equipment, has created additional revenue streams while strengthening customer relationships.
ExchangeKori's distinct customer experience policies are sustainable because of disciplined financial management. From launch, the company has employed chartered accountant services for monthly reviews, providing real-time visibility into business performance and preventing impulsive expansion decisions.
"From the very beginning, our company has been using accounting services from a Chartered Accountant firm, which is uncommon for small companies," Rasel explains. Weekly account reviews and monthly profit-and-loss statements guide strategic decisions about staffing, expansion, and service investments.
This measured approach, knowing its break-even point, profitable range, and capacity ceiling (1.5 crore taka with current infrastructure), provides the stability needed to honor customer service commitments consistently. "We are progressing slowly, but every step is carefully measured to avoid falling into significant losses," Rasel notes.
The business results validate ExchangeKori's customer experience investments. 30% of the company's sales now come from repeat customers and referrals, achieved with minimal advertising spend. Its Mirpur branch exceeds initial sales and profit forecasts. Customer satisfaction remains high despite operational scaling.
"Even if we don't run ads on Facebook, 30% of our sales come from recurring customers or referrals," the company reports. In Bangladesh's relationship-driven business environment, this organic growth demonstrates how customer experience creates sustainable competitive advantages.
The referral rate suggests customers aren't just satisfied—they're actively recommending ExchangeKori to others.
This level of referral typically happens only when experiences significantly exceed expectations, indicating that their service investments translate into measurable business value.
ExchangeKori's approach offers insights for technology companies operating in emerging markets where customer service standards remain inconsistent.
Customer experience can differentiate businesses even in price-sensitive markets. When execution quality varies widely across competitors, superior service justifies slight premiums and builds customer loyalty that transcends pure price competition.
Systematic service delivery builds trust more effectively than promises. Clear protocols and realistic timeline commitments create confidence that vague assurances cannot match.
Policies exceeding legal obligations create emotional connections with customers. Grace amounts and extended support generate disproportionate loyalty relative to their costs.
Physical environments communicate quality signals. Investment in comfortable, professional spaces builds customer confidence and enables better service delivery.
Financial discipline enables service consistency. Understanding unit economics and maintaining stable operations provides the foundation needed to honor generous customer policies reliably.
ExchangeKori's success shows something interesting about Bangladesh's technology market: significant opportunities exist for businesses willing to invest in customer experience while competitors focus primarily on price competition.
Its model suggests that in markets where service standards vary dramatically, companies that systematically eliminate customer friction can capture disproportionate value.
The laptop exchange market may be ExchangeKori’s starting point, but its real innovation appears to be proving that exceptional service can drive profitable growth in price-sensitive environments.
As Bangladesh's technology adoption accelerates and laptop penetration increases, businesses that master customer experience will likely capture outsized market share. ExchangeKori's approach, combining systematic service delivery, generous policies, and professional environments, provides a template for building sustainable competitive advantages through operational excellence.
The broader lesson extends beyond technology retail: in markets where customer expectations remain modest, businesses that deliver genuinely superior experiences create new standards that force entire industries to evolve.
