We receive 7 million complaints a year! What is the “Complaints Buying Center” that buys up the petty complaints that arise in daily life?

I can’t eat snacks because I’m on a diet.

It’s a hassle to put the yogurt I eat every morning in and out of the refrigerator every time.

Did you know that an app that buys up the petty complaints that arise in our daily lives, the ones that we think are a waste of time to even talk about with others, is now secretly gaining popularity?

The name of the app is “Complaints Buying Center,” a popular app that was launched in 2015 and currently has about 700,000 registered users.

The basic function of the app is to “post complaints about daily life. Why is such an app so popular? ……

Tomohiro Ito, president of Insight Tech, Inc.

I wanted to create a world where the voices of ordinary people can be heard, not politicians or celebrities who have the power to communicate,” he said. Politicians can say what they want to say in the Diet and in elections, and celebrities can release their daily questions and frustrations through the media.

But what about ordinary people like us? Even if they are dissatisfied with corporate services or government agencies, many people give up because they feel that their voices will not be heard anyway. I created this service to pick up and deliver such voices as much as possible.

Registration, posting, point redemption, and withdrawal from the “Complaint Buying Center” are all completely free. Once the member registration is completed, they can immediately sell their dissatisfaction.

Here is how it works. After registering, you post a complaint, and the AI first evaluates it on a 10-point scale. Then, you can earn points for the rated points, and every 500 points can be exchanged for an Amazon gift certificate worth 500 yen.

So why are “ordinary people’s complaints” worth points?

How does the company make use of the many seemingly unhelpful complaints it buys? Mr. Ito answered as follows.

A large number of complaints purchased by the Complaints Buying Center are read by a sentence analysis AI called “ITAS,” which analyzes the issues in daily life and society that can be identified from the complaints. The results are then used by companies and government agencies as information for service improvement and product planning.

This service is used by many companies, including Ajinomoto Corporation and Lion Corporation, and has led to the creation of many new services.

Perhaps due in part to the low hurdle, the number of complaints received per day is approximately 20,000. In 2022, some members will have earned about 30,000 yen worth of points.

What kind of people are actually posting complaints? Mr. Ito analyzed as follows.

There are two types of users of the Complaints Buying Center: those who use the application to sort out their feelings, and those who really want to express their opinions to companies.

Since you can earn an average of about 5 yen worth of points per post, I get the impression that many people are posting their complaints in a steady stream. They probably use it as a diary.”

In fact, new products and previously unseen services have been created by utilizing the Complaints Buying Center service. One such product is Ajinomoto AGF Corporation’s “Blendy®” Xalitre.

Blendy® Zalitr is a large-volume stick drink, a powdered drink that allows you to enjoy tea or coffee by simply dissolving the powder in water. It is popular because it is compact, easy to shop for, and convenient to stock. The “Blendy®” Zalitl was born out of the following dissatisfaction.

When I buy a 2L plastic bottle, it is too heavy to carry home.

There is no place to keep large PET bottles.

I feel that bottled beverages are not good for the environment.

These opinions were presented to Ajinomoto AGF, and the “Blendy®” The Litre, which can be made in a matter of seconds by simply dissolving it in water, was born. The complaints that people have expressed to Ajinomoto AGF have led to the development of new services one after the other.

The small frustrations you feel in your daily life may lead to the creation of innovative services and products that have never existed before. Why don’t you try to buy your dissatisfaction from this dissatisfaction purchase center?