Boohoo - a Dotcom Story free essay sample

Under these circumstances the downfall of the company was pretty much a foregone conclusion, although it is tempting to think about the many what if? scenarios it presents in our minds. Boo. com was overwhelmed with problems and mismanagement from the start. Its website relied heavily on Javascript and Flash which was really slow to load at a time when dial-up internet usage was the norm among the populace round the world. Boo. com spent a lot to market itself as a global company but then had to deal with different languages, pricing, and tax structures in all the countries it launched its website. The company also mysteriously decided to pay postage on returns, but even more importantly, sales never reached expectations. The company spent $135 million of venture capital in just 18 months and it was placed into receivership on 18 May 2000 and liquidated. The company’s goals to dominate the world’s global online retail sales with its virtual doors open throughout Europe and America fell through the roof by the end of its 1st year since launched globally. Malmsten (2001): â€Å"The ‘BOO’ brand name originated from film star Bo Derek; best known for her role in 1979 Blake Edwards film 10. The domain name ‘bo. om’ was unavailable, but adding an ‘o’, they managed to procure the domain ‘boo. com’ for $2,500 from a domain name dealer. † Rob Talbot, director of marketing for Boo. com: â€Å"Boo were â€Å"looking for a name that was easy to spell across all the different countries and easy to remember something that didnt have a particular meaning†. ANALYSIS: The market for clothing was viewed as very large venture at that time, so the idea was to capture only a small part of this market, which guaranteed success in the founders mindset. They listed brands like Polo Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Nike, Fila, Lacoste and Adidas. The proposition involved sports and fashion goods alongside each other. The market on the basis of imminent success was indicated by New Media Age (1999) where it was described as: â€Å"The $60b USD industry is dominated by the Gen-Xers who are online and according to market research in need of knowing what is in, what is not and a way to receive such goods quickly. If Boo. com becomes known as the place to keep up with fashion and can supply the latest trends then there is no doubt that there is a market, a highly profitable one at that for profits to grow from. † The growth in market was also supported by retail analysts, with Verdict redicting online shopping in the United Kingdom to grow from ? 600 million in 1999 to ? 12. 5 billion in 2005. Boo. com wanted to develop an easy to use experience which re-created the offline shopping experience as far as possible; which included gimmicks such as: A virtual salesperson, â€Å"Miss Boo† would guide users through the sit e and give helpful tips. When selecting products, users could drag them on to models, zoom in and rotate them in 3D to visualize them from different angles, rejecting basic ideas like set-up cost, internet speed and user friendly windows. In 1999 if you were a MAC user; BOO. COM was inaccessible. $6 million was spent on content about spring/summer fashion ware. $200 to photograph each product, representing a monthly cost of more than $500,000. Analyst Nik Margolis writing in New Media Age (1999) said: â€Å"What I saw at boo. com is simply the most clever web experience I have seen in quite a while. The presentation of products and content are both imaginative and offer an experience. Sure everything loads up fast in an office but I was assured by those at Boo. com that they will keep to a limit of 8 seconds for a page to download. Eight seconds is not great but the question is will it be worth waiting for? † Of course, today, the majority of European users have broadband, but in the late 1990s the majority were on dial-up and had to download a specific software to view products. MORALE: WHAT WENT WRONG? 1. Ambition The problem was that they were following an extremely aggressive growth plan, launching simultaneously in 18 different countries. This plan was founded on the assumption of the ready availability of venture capital money to see the company through the first few years of trading until sales caught up with operating expenses. . Problems with user experience The website was poorly designed for its target audience. The site relied heavily on  JavaScript  and Flash  technology to display pseudo 3D views of products as well as â€Å"Miss Boo. † The complicated design required the site to be displayed in a fixed size window, which limited the space available to display product informatio n to the customer which was overlooked by domain designers. Its interface was also complex with a hierarchical system that required the user to answer four or five different questions before products in stock in a particular sub-section. . Message communication Boo. com wanted to arrive on the scene with a bang. They tried to do the unorthodox; by aggressively attacking the mind of their target audience. Also their norm paradox: Adverts, were often obnoxious and outrageously portrayed. Creditors, most of whom were advertising agencies, were owed around ? 12 million. Over 400 staff and contractors were made redundant in London and around the world, and many not being paid for several months. Fashionmall. com, which has been operating since 1994, bought the remains of Boo. om which included brand, Web address and advertising materials but this deal did not include any physical assets, software or distribution channels. Less than $2 million was earned by selling all Boos remaining asse ts. As late as 2003, stickers from their  revolutionary marketing  campaigns could still be seen in London, with the slogan Fashion never dies! â€Å" In 2005  CNET  called Boo. com the sixth greatest dot-com flop in the history. Annotated Bibliography References include: Primary sources Secondary sources Website Peer reviewed Journals Primary sources: Brand Failures : The Truth About the 100 Biggest Branding Mistakes of All Time by Haig, Matt, 2011 Page-187 http://reader. eblib. com. au. ezproxy. lib. rmit. edu. au/(S(ztukcb3bwkhlzajzqf2c5bt5))/Reader. aspx? p=692439o=116u=3UEHHNV80FV000KaQsBEeQ%3d%3dt=1333420628h=53FFAD78FA4C29E3BFDD3BF28338616DE440A5ECs=5577301ut=337pg=1r=imgc=-1pat=n# This is the first examination of the worlds top 100 spectacular brand disasters. Its not just smaller, lesser-known companies that have launched dud brands. On the contrary, most of the worlds global giants have launched new products that have flopped spectacularly and at great cost. Brand Failures is a fascinating look at how such disasters occur. It describes those brands that set sail with the help of multi-million dollar advertising campaigns, only to sink without trace. In a highly readable and entertaining style, Matt Haig starts with classic examples from every era of branding and moves towards more recent brand failures. The book also has great practical value: each brand scenario includes a checklist of lessons learnt, so providing how not to advice. Secondary sources: Venture Capital Funding : A Practical Guide to Raising Finance by Blommfield, Stephen, 2008 Aimed at SMEs looking to raise new finance, Venture Capital Funding provides a detailed examination of the funding options available, the most effective approaches to venture capitalists, and new material on the legal and regional perspectives. The business of helping firms to become investment ready has long been seen as vital to the long-term development of any economy, but the process of identifying and attracting the right kind of investor can be a difficult process for many small- and medium-sized businesses. Venture Capital Funding gives you a detailed, step-by-step guide to obtaining venture capital from building a management team, through to the maze of due diligence procedures and necessary legal procedures. Wikipedia: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Boo. com Wikipedia helps summarize the whole dot com story with many references, names and dates. Marketing the e-Business http://reader. eblib. com. au. ezproxy. lib. rmit. edu. au/(S(vptr54qn1ri3in02qmgt3kb3))/Reader. aspx? =180605o=116u=3UEHHNV80FV000KaQsBEeQ%3d%3dt=1333423108h=9F25EDD82AACABC89AFDF7D52FF25F5D3FA9B8EEs=5577876ut=337pg=143r=imgc=-1pat=n by Harris, Lisa; Dennis, Charles This e-book refers to ways of improving marketing effectiveness through electronic means. Looks at the main marketing themes (product, price, promotion, place) and the bigger e considerations, for example legislation, data protection and ethics. Never Bet the Farm : How Entrepreneurs Take Risks, Make Decisions and How You Can, Too by Iaquinto, Anthony; S pinelli, Stephen|2010 Anthony Iaquinto and Stephen Spinelli, turn much of the so-called expert advice for entrepreneurs on its head. They show that by preparing for setbacks and using a framework that can help reduce risks and simplify decision making, entrepreneurs can increase their probability for success http://www. australianhumanitiesreview. org/archive/Issue-September-2002/lovink. html Peer reviewed journal After the dotcom failure in the early 2000, some accounts by people who were at the center of the dot called internet. Website: www. boo. com gt; http://www. ostelworld. com/ In May 2007 Web Reservations International turned boo. com into a travel site with reviews and listings. Since october 2010, it redirects you the its sister site; hostelworld. com http://www. londonspeakerbureau. com/speaker-profiles/ernst-malmsten? PHPSESSID=147f99af0063c51b542a9e22bf70aa7f Profiling Ernst Malmsten http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Dan_Wagner Gives an insight to the sponsors and the investors of the British owned Internet company. http://www. guardian. co. uk/technology/2005/may/16/media. business retrieved- 01/04/2012