Dewu's Counterintuitive Product Strategy: Highlighting Flaws to Win Trust

Dewu's 11th Anniversary All-Hands Letter Reveals Unconventional Product Philosophy

Dewu (得物) recently published an internal letter marking its 11th anniversary. The author analyzes how Dewu's product thinking diverges from typical e-commerce platforms.

Surfacing Product Disadvantages Prominently

Most e-commerce platforms default to showing positive reviews first, folding negative reviews, or diluting them by time. Dewu breaks this pattern by placing a "Disadvantages" (缺点) tab at the top of the product detail page. When a product accumulates sufficient authentic feedback, the system surfaces both repeatedly mentioned pros and cons together. For example, a garment's pros might include good fit, while cons note that the material wrinkles easily. Both appear front-and-center before purchase.

Additional Transparency Features

Price trend charts on product pages show recent price fluctuations.

AI-powered product interpretation displays category-specific positive and negative information: for beauty products, ingredients and allergy alerts; for food, additives and calorie counts.

Trade-Off: Short-Term Conversion vs. Long-Term Trust

The author argues that this logic — showing users more information, including details that may cause hesitation — inevitably hurts short-term conversion rates. However, the all-hands letter explicitly states the goal: "maintain honesty with users to build long-term trust." The trade-off is fewer immediate orders in exchange for deeper user trust over time.

Assessment: A "Wild" Long-Termist Bet

The author describes the move as "wild" (野) but recognizes it as a long-termist approach. The reasoning: users are not naive; transparency earns trust, which compounds into sustained loyalty.