The relatively brief history of the Internet is littered with stories of dot-com flameouts -- firms that blew through millions of dollars in Venture Capital funding before riding off to the bankruptcy sunset. Most notable of the failed companies were the internet retailers who bragged about their Super Bowl ads, but generated little sales from their monumental branding campaigns. Here's a couple of selections from the hall of shame https://www.bandf.ie/.
Pets.com
One of the trademark stories from the crash of the very first Internet bubble, Pets.com appeared as if a certain thing. Lots of cash, a Super Bowl and an unforgettable sock-puppet mascot all placed this pet food delivery service to the minds of millions of Americans. The problem was, nobody stopped to take into account whether or not the business model was sound. Ends up, it wasn't, as people didn't actually want to watch for your pet food and supplies to reach via UPS. The business 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 web grocer raised almost 400 million dollars in under half a year and looked to be coming to Internet success. But an interesting thing happened on the way -- people just didn't warm as much as the notion of searching for grocery essentials online. The grocery business has very thin margins to start with, so everytime Webvan used a particular offer to entice customers, it fell that much deeper into debt. The business closed with little fanfare in 2001 https://www.complasinternational.ie/.
eToys.com
Although eToys.com was eventually reborn after being purchased by KayBee Toys, the very first iteration of the site experienced one of the very most spectacular flame-outs in web history. To put it simply, the business used the bulk of its $150 million is start-up capital to market and build the brand. When the customers didn't come, the stock price sank to nine cents a share. Closure soon followed https://earsense.ie/.
MVP.com
How could a sporting goods and apparel site backed by athletic luminaries such as for instance John Elway, Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky fail? Easy, in the event that you don't have any significant sales growth and can't repay your loan/investment from partner CBS. Despite a huge amount of initial PR and almost a $100 million in VC capital, MVP.com closed up search for good after having a single year in business.
Boo.com
The women's clothing company Boo.com was before its time...but not in a great 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 lack of $160 million dollars before it had been liquidated in 2000 https://www.outsourcesupport.ie/.
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 afternoon websites are enjoying success in 2009 since they are smart business models that go easy on the "bells and whistles" and instead deliver no-frills discount shopping to a military of consumers. The internet has come quite a distance because these dot-com-busts, and as a result, online shoppers are now actually treated to better websites with better selections and more incredible savings.
