The relatively brief history of the Internet is littered with stories of dot-com flameouts -- companies that blew through countless dollars in Venture Capital funding before riding off into the bankruptcy sunset. Most notable of those failed companies were the internet retailers who bragged about their Super Bowl ads, but generated little sales from their monumental branding campaigns. Here's several selections from the hall of shame https://www.bandf.ie/.
Pets.com
Among the trademark stories from the crash of the initial Internet bubble, Pets.com appeared to be a positive thing. Plenty of cash, a Super Bowl and an unforgettable sock-puppet mascot all placed this pet food delivery service into the minds of countless Americans. The issue was, nobody stopped to consider if the business model was sound. Ends up, it wasn't, as people didn't really want to wait for the pet food and supplies to arrive via UPS. The business went under after just 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 under half a year and looked to be coming to Internet success. But an interesting thing happened as you go along -- people just didn't warm as much as the thought of searching for grocery essentials online. The grocery business has very thin margins to begin with, so each time 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 initial iteration of your website experienced one of the very spectacular flame-outs in web history. Simply put, the organization used the bulk of its $150 million is start-up capital to promote and build the brand. Once 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 pay off your loan/investment from partner CBS. Despite a ton of initial PR and almost a $100 million in VC capital, MVP.com closed up search for good following a single year in business.
Boo.com
The women's clothing company Boo.com was ahead of its time...but not in an excellent way. Your website used Flash and JavaScript heavily at the same time when very few people had high-speed Internet connections. Consequently, shoppers became frustrated and turn away from your website 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 day websites are enjoying success in 2009 because they're smart business models that go easy on the "bells and whistles" and instead deliver no-frills discount shopping to an army of consumers. The internet has come a long way because these dot-com-busts, and therefore, online shoppers are now treated to safer websites with better selections and more incredible savings.
