Day after day passed peacefully. During this time, Edward hadn't been doing much else — instead, he spent most of his days playing with his Pokémon, occasionally using the opportunity to train Fortune so that the latter could one day take over his work.
After all, as the president of the Devon Corporation, there were many things Edward had to personally handle every day. However, only a small portion of them were what he personally considered truly important.
As for the more trivial or repetitive matters, Edward felt perfectly fine leaving them to Fortune. Still, even though he said that, he didn't immediately dump all those tasks onto Fortune's shoulders.
After all, while Fortune had managed a comic magazine before, running the Devon Corporation was an entirely different beast. Even so, Edward didn't give up on nurturing his successor.
While Edward spent his days juggling the affairs of both Devon Corporation and Ghost Films, the project he had been overseeing had finally completed its final stage of development. Soon, the long-awaited debut of this software would arrive.
"Boss, are you sure we shouldn't adjust the daily marketing resources and reward budget for PokéCart?" Zoroark asked in disbelief as she stared at the staggering numbers printed across the report in her hands. Though she was Edward's secretary and normally wouldn't question orders, these numbers were simply too outrageous to ignore.
"Mhm. In fact, we might even need to invest more later," Edward replied with a calm nod. The launch of PokéCart had temporarily halted all of his charitable donations — instead, he planned to pour those funds into marketing and promotion first.
When it came to advertising, Edward knew the budget for PokéCart's promotion was unbelievably high. But there was no helping it, in this world, although there was no shopping app like "Amazon" from his past life, there were plenty of similar e-commerce platforms already deeply rooted in the market. If PokéCart wanted to snatch a bite from their plates, it would have to fight its way in tooth and nail.
"Understood." Zoroark said no more. She quickly began relaying Edward's orders, and soon the entire Devon Corporation roared into motion. Since the new software would cover the entire Pokémon League region, countless employees of the company suddenly found themselves busy. Like tireless worker ants, everyone began moving at full speed.
And naturally, the simplest and most direct form of promotion was — paid advertising.
Thus, on the PoképokéTV, the popular streamer "Kai Gnat," who had previously done several movie reviews, suddenly found himself busy again.
"Hey everyone! Its Kai Gnat! Today we're going to talk about a product that's been absolutely everywhere these past few days — PokéCart."
On his livestream, Kai laughed as he opened his phone and began downloading the app.
[Don't even mention it, I can't open a single app without seeing its ads!]
[Actually, it's a pretty good app. I literally managed to get a free bicycle using it!]
[My user code: dzmtfdc! Anyone who hasn't registered yet, please help me out — I'm trying to cut down the price of a free laptop!]
[A laptop? You're too greedy! I'm downloading it right now!]
"Haha, seems like everyone's already seen the ads for PokéCart," Kai chuckled. "Honestly, at first I wasn't very interested in trying it. You all know I'm a loyal Craigslist user, I shop there all the time. But the thing is, PokéCart's ads are everywhere. I couldn't resist anymore, so today we're giving it a shot."
As he spoke, he showed the audience his registration process, blurring out any private information as he went. Once the app fully opened, Kai frowned slightly.
"Guys, I don't know if you feel this way, but I definitely do, this app feels... different. It's so… clean?" He scratched his head, staring at the overly simple interface with disbelief.
[Yeah, I've already uninstalled my other shopping apps. This one's so clean.]
[Finally! No more feeling like my phone's spying on me every day.]
[I swear, I just mentioned buying a vacuum robot over the phone, and next thing I knew, it was being advertised everywhere.]
[Funny joke: 'Personal information belongs to you.' Sure, it does.]
"Cough, alright alright, let's not discuss that here," Kai interrupted quickly, worried his stream might get banned.
Everyone knew exactly what was being implied, but also knew better than to say it aloud. There was a silent understanding not to poke that particular beedrill's nest.
"This PokéCart app," he continued, "you can see it only has a simple search bar and a few product categories. No messy recommendations, no intrusive pop-ups. It's... weirdly pure."
Indeed, the app was unusually clean almost as if it didn't rely on ad revenue at all.
For shopping apps, making money through ads might sound absurd, but in truth, it was extremely common. Open any shopping app, and the products that appear first are rarely just algorithmic — they're often boosted by hefty advertising fees. Unless you specifically search for a brand name or exact model, the top results are always those that pay the most.
It was like search engines, sometimes you'd search for a software, and the official website would appear only at the bottom of the first page because the top spots were all paid promotions.
Shopping platforms worked the same way. In Edward's previous life, he had heard many merchants complain that "Black Kangaroo" a notorious e-commerce giant would secretly throttle traffic unless they paid up. It squeezed both customers and sellers alike, to the point where some merchants swore never to use it again.
Even those who stayed often barely broke even — or worse, lost money.
[I once searched for lingerie and got flooded with off-brand junk.]
[Tell me about it! I wanted to buy "Annael" perfume and accidentally bought "Annaire" — got ten fake bottles as compensation.]
"Oh, there's a new user discount here. Let's check it out."
Kai noticed a "New User Bargain" tag and clicked on it. A list of brand-name products popped up, ranging from a few dozen to several thousand credits in value. Each one came with a note: "The higher the product value, the more new users you'll need to help you cut the price."
"Haha, that's fair! If it were easy, everyone would just go for the most expensive stuff."
He picked the priciest one available a 3,999 pokedollars "Alien" laptop, one of the top high-end brands known for premium performance and price. To get it free, he needed help from around thirty thousand new users.
"Alright, everyone in the stream — if you haven't registered yet, please help me scan and sign up! Let's see if we can actually get it!" he laughed, clasping his hands together like in prayer.
[That same model costs over 5k at the brand store!]
[Yeah, most of the stuff here is cheaper than other sites.]
[Probably just a marketing stunt. Who knows what it'll look like later.]
[Doesn't matter! A 5k laptop is worth the try!]
The viewer count shot up to over a hundred thousand as people flocked in — the title "Kai's Live Bargaining for a 5k pokedollar Laptop" had gone viral.
"Honestly, I'm a bit worried this is one of those scams where no matter how much you cut, it always says 'just a little more' left," Kai said, half-jokingly. "You guys know I've reviewed my fair share of shady games."
[Yeah, like those 'withdraw $300 but stop at $298' scams!]
[Hahaha, I saw that episode! Garbage game!]
[This is PokéCart, though — Devon's behind it. No way it's fake.]
[Yup! I already got a $1,000 phone from them. Thanks, Devon!]
Under the barrage of comments, Kai watched the progress bar skyrocket and to his shock, it hit 100%. "Bargain complete!" flashed across the screen. The app asked for his address, and that was it no hidden fees, no traps, no nonsense.
The most surprising part? His order arrived the same day. PokéCart had warehouses in every major city, allowing same-day or next-day delivery.
"This is amazing! I'm so impatient with online shopping this is exactly what I wanted!" he said joyfully. After confirming the laptop was genuine, he went on another stream just to praise the app to the skies, even canceling his Taotao Net membership and uninstalling the app.
"As long as PokéCart stays true to its roots," he declared, "I'll stick with it till the end!"
Soon after, PokéCart exploded in popularity — trending across all major platforms. Many initially thought it was just another ploy by powerful corporations, and rival apps complained bitterly, but none could actually do much. Devon was simply too big, too rich, and too strong.
Before long, the world had accepted it. PokéCart had officially become the newest titan in e-commerce.
Time passed, and the release of Shutter drew near. Yet, PokéCart remained exactly the same, a simple, clean interface, minimalistic design, quiet and unobtrusive. It never sent annoying notifications, never pushed products. It just sat peacefully on users' phones, saying nothing until it was time to tell them their package had arrived.
Its low-price strategy continued as well. Seeing the massive user base, brand owners voluntarily lowered their prices to compete, creating the illusion of a universal sale. To avoid legal issues, they made up excuses for the discounts but the effect was the same.
Other platforms tried to imitate it, but by then it was too late. PokéCart had already built an ecosystem that others couldn't replicate.
Drawing from his past-life knowledge, Edward had also addressed common user complaints — banning the unfair "refund without return" loophole and tightening buyer-seller protection. Merchants and consumers alike were satisfied. Combined with Devon's elite legal department and vast network, no competitor could keep up.
Devon once again expanded its empire, thanks to PokéCart.
Still, Edward was fully aware of the line he wouldn't cross. PokéCart was just a shopping app and it would stay that way. It wouldn't follow the path of certain infamous "everything" apps that eventually collapsed under their own greed.
After all, the platform fees collected from merchants were already more than enough to sustain it. There was no need to self-destruct.
"You've done well, Edward," his father, Joseph, said with a proud smile. "What Devon needs now isn't wild expansion, it's stability."
Edward's lips twitched slightly. He wanted to complain about how shameless his father could be sometimes, but when he saw the streaks of white in the old man's hair, he simply nodded.
Forget it. The old man deserved to retire and live happily. Edward didn't want him to work himself into the ground.
"Still," Steven said through a mouthful of food, "PokéCart's getting pretty famous now. Some celebrities even want to endorse it."
"That's true," Edward admitted, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "But I'm considering... charging them for it."
(End of Chapter)