We launched as an app. Almost nobody installed it.
We launched where our users felt at home. Then the evidence said the download was one step too many.
A market that lived on Facebook
In 2020, most people in Cambodia knew Facebook, not the web. Many had never used a browser or typed a URL. Buying a car meant walking from showroom to showroom: slow, but the only way people knew, and they seemed to have all the time in the world.
Meet users where they are
So we launched as a used-car marketplace app, built in React Native for iOS and Android. An app felt closer to what people already used than a website did.
Curious, but not enough to install
Introducing the app to buyers and dealers, the reaction was the same each time: interested, but not enough to download anything. Nobody was searching for the brand, and nobody could find the app. And with a team of two, we couldn't run an app and a website side by side.
“The download was one step too many.”
Every extra step loses the people who are only curious. A link needs no install: it can be shared on Facebook and Telegram, and it can be found on Google.
Three ways forward
One product, on the web
We moved Carmate to the web, built to be found through Google search and shared as a link. It grew into today's one-stop marketplace for new and used cars, with Seller Central for official brands.
Ready when the market moved
The market has been moving online, slowly. More people now look up a car before they visit a showroom, and the web platform is there to meet them.
What I'd do differently
I'd test the install step before building the app. A simple web page shared on Facebook would have shown how few people were willing to download, for a fraction of the build.