The relatively brief history of the Internet is littered with stories of dot-com flameouts – companies that blew through millions of dollars in Venture Capital funding before riding off into the bankruptcy sunset. Most notable of these failed companies were the online retailers who bragged about their Super Bowl ads, but generated little sales from their monumental branding campaigns. Here’s a few selections from the hall of shame.
Pets.com
One of the trademark stories from the crash of the first Internet bubble, Pets.com looked like a sure thing. Plenty of cash, a Super Bowl and an unforgettable sock-puppet mascot all placed this pet food delivery service into the minds of millions of Americans. The problem was, nobody stopped to think about whether or not the business model was sound. Turns out, it wasn’t, as people didn’t really want to wait for the pet food and supplies to arrive via UPS. The company went under after only a year and a half in business.
Webvan.com
In 1999, Webvan.com was the darling of the Internet world. The online grocer raised almost 400 million dollars in less than six months and looked to be on its way to Internet success. But a funny thing happened along the way – people just didn’t warm up to the idea of shopping for grocery essentials online. The grocery business has very thin margins to begin with, so every time Webvan used a special offer to entice customers, it fell that much deeper into debt. The company closed with little fanfare in 2001.
eToys.com
Although eToys.com was eventually reborn after being purchased by KayBee Toys, the first iteration of the site experienced one of the most spectacular flame-outs in web history. Simply put, the company used the bulk of its $150 million is start-up capital to advertise and build the brand. When the customers didn’t come, the stock price sank to nine cents a share. Closure soon followed.
MVP.com
How could a sporting goods and apparel site backed by athletic luminaries such as John Elway, Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky fail? Easy, if you don’t have any significant sales growth and can’t pay back your loan/investment from partner CBS. Despite a ton of initial PR and almost a $100 million in VC capital, MVP.com closed up shop for good after a single year in business.
Boo.com
The women’s clothing company Boo.com was ahead of its time…but not in a good way. The site used Flash and JavaScript heavily at a time when very few people had high-speed Internet connections. As a result, shoppers became frustrated and turn away from the site in droves. Boo.com posted a loss of $160 million dollars before it was liquidated in 2000.
Why Online Shopping Gets in Right in 2009
The Web 2.0 era has been the scene of more online retailer success stories because now, innovative thinking and real customer growth has replaced 'pie in the sky' big ideas that generate no money. Auction houses, overstock companies and deal of the day websites are enjoying success in 2009 because they are smart business models that go easy on the 'bells and whistles' and instead deliver no-frills discount shopping to an army of consumers. The web has come a long way since these dot-com-busts, and as such, online shoppers are now treated to more secure websites with better selections and more incredible savings.
To find the best deals on the coolest products, visit www.dailysteals.com. Every day, you’ll find a cool new item at a ridiculously low price. If the folks on your gift-giving list are into the hottest electronics and accessories at the lowest prices, you don’t want to miss a day at Daily Steals! Have a safe and happy holiday from everyone at www.DailySteals.com.
Mark Etinger is a business strategist at Ajax Union Marketing Ajax Union specializes in Business Development and Internet Marketing
New Preamble to the Australian Constitution?
WE, the People of the broad, brown land of Oz, wish to be recognized as a free nation of blokes, sheilas and the occasional trannie.
We come from many lands (although a few too many of us come from New Zealand) and, although we live in the best little country in the world, we reserve the right to bitch and moan about it whenever we bloody like.
We are One Nation but we're divided into many States.
First, there's Victoria, named after a queen who didn't believe in lesbians. Victoria is the realm of Mossimo turtlenecks, cafe latte and grand final day. Its capital is Melbourne, whose chief marketing pitch is that it's "livable".
Next, there's NSW. It is the realm of pastel shorts, macchiato with sugar, thin books read quickly and millions of dancing gay-boys. Its mascots are Bondi lifesavers who pull their Speedos up their cracks to keep the left and right sides of their brains separate.
Down south we have Tasmania, a State based on the notion that the family that bonks together stays together. In Tassie, everyone gets an extra chromosome at conception. Maps of the State bring smiles to the sternest faces.
South Australia is the province of half-decent reds, a festival of foreigners and bizarre axe murders. They had the Grand Prix, but lost it when the views of Adelaide sent the Formula One drivers to sleep at the wheel.
Western Australia is too far from anywhere to be relevant in this document.
The Northern Territory is the red heart of our land. Outback plains, sheep stations, kangaroos, jackaroos, emus, Ulurus and dusty kids with big smiles. Although the Territory is the centrepiece of our national culture, few of us live there and the rest prefer to fly over it on our way to Bali.
And there's Queensland. While any mention of God seems silly in a document defining a nation of half-arsed agnostics, it is worth noting that God probably made Queensland. Why he filled it with dickheads remains a mystery.
We, the Lullaby League of Oz, are united, primarily by the Pacific Highway, whose treacherous twists and turns kill more of us each year than die by murder.
We are united in our lust for international recognition, so desperate for praise we leap in joy when a ragtag gaggle of corrupt IOC officials tells us Sydney is better than Beijing.
We are united by a democracy so flawed that a political party, albeit a redneck gun-toting one, can get a million votes and still not win one seat in Federal Parliament. Desirable, sure. But fair? Not when you consider Brian Harradine can get 24,000 votes and runs the bloody country. Not that we're whingeing.
We've chucked out the concept of "fair go" in the downsized '90s. Instead, we want to make "no worries" our national phrase.
We love sport so much our newsreaders can read the death toll from a sailing race and still tell us who's winning, in the same breath.
We treasure our politicians, who talk about listening with such persistence it's hard to get a word in. We tolerate our Prime Minister, who is not only short but a Methodist, hanging offences in decent countries. And we like watching Parliament on TV because Natasha Stott Despoja is a total spunkrat.
We, the wicked witches of the land of Oz, want to make it clear this continent is ours and always has been. Mind you, Liberal Party polling shows that there were some people here before Captain Cook so we should address the issue once and for all.
While possession is nine-tenths of the law, our ancestors were fortunate enough to discover that genocide, cultural extinguishment, baby theft and flour poisoning make up the other tenth.
So Oz is now ours and that's that. Our midget Methodist master says we have no reason to feel sorry for killing more Aborigines per capita than the Nazis did Jews and Liberal Party polling says we're OK with that.
Why don't we say sorry? In the words of our PM - because, because, because, because, because. Now, can we just drop the whole thing before the Olympics start?
Phew, with that nasty bit out of the way, we the Brain, the Heart and the Nerve of Oz, want the world to know we have the biggest rock, the tastiest pies and the worst-dressed Olympians in the known universe.
We don't know much about art but we know we hate the people who make it. We shoot, we vote. We are girt by sea and pissed by lunchtime. And even though we might seem a racist, closed-minded, sports-obsessed little People, at least we're better than the Kiwis.
Now bugger off, we're sleeping.
Answer
Take me Tasmania, sound like a perfect place for me.
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