Dot-com Bubble and Boo.com
Chapter case: the Failure of Boo.com
MBA 612- International Management
Submitted to
Charls Habis
Submitted by
Bijaya shrestha
Date: April 7, 2009
Chapter case: the failure of Boo.com
Question 1: was Boo.com doomed more by its faulty strategy or by its poor implementation?
Boo.com was a European company founded in 1998 and operating out of a London head office, which was founded by three Swedish entrepreneurs. Boo.com is the first European global e-commerce entity. The company is launching in the US and Europe at the same time. With offices in London, New York, Stockholm and Munich, they have a desire to permit each national site to be driven by their local developers.
The issues
Timing
Boo.com launched several months of delays after dropping two launched dates and problems with the user experience when Boo.com first launched. Indeed sales had grown rapidly and were around $500,000 for the fortnight prior to the site being shut down. The fundamental problem was that the company was following an extremely aggressive growth plan, launching simultaneously in multiple European 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. Such capital ceased to be available for all practical purposes in the second quarter of 2000 following dramatic falls in the "dot crash" following the Dot-com bubble. Boo would probably have failed for this reason even if the user experience had been excellent and the launch on schedule.
Problems with the user experience
The presentation of products and content on their site were both imaginative and offer an experience. The Boo.com website was widely criticized as poorly designed for its target audience, going against many usability conventions. The site relied heavily on JavaScript and Flash technology to display 3D views of wares as well as Miss Boo, a
MBA 612- International Management
Submitted to
Charls Habis
Submitted by
Bijaya shrestha
Date: April 7, 2009
Chapter case: the failure of Boo.com
Question 1: was Boo.com doomed more by its faulty strategy or by its poor implementation?
Boo.com was a European company founded in 1998 and operating out of a London head office, which was founded by three Swedish entrepreneurs. Boo.com is the first European global e-commerce entity. The company is launching in the US and Europe at the same time. With offices in London, New York, Stockholm and Munich, they have a desire to permit each national site to be driven by their local developers.
The issues
Timing
Boo.com launched several months of delays after dropping two launched dates and problems with the user experience when Boo.com first launched. Indeed sales had grown rapidly and were around $500,000 for the fortnight prior to the site being shut down. The fundamental problem was that the company was following an extremely aggressive growth plan, launching simultaneously in multiple European 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. Such capital ceased to be available for all practical purposes in the second quarter of 2000 following dramatic falls in the "dot crash" following the Dot-com bubble. Boo would probably have failed for this reason even if the user experience had been excellent and the launch on schedule.
Problems with the user experience
The presentation of products and content on their site were both imaginative and offer an experience. The Boo.com website was widely criticized as poorly designed for its target audience, going against many usability conventions. The site relied heavily on JavaScript and Flash technology to display 3D views of wares as well as Miss Boo, a