Ferrit to close

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Hawkes Bay
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#190333 18-Jan-2009 10:53

nate: I liked Ferrit and am disappointed to see it close. I liked the fact you could shop from multiple stores, pay at one checkout and receive all the goods in a couple days. Certainly saved me battling the ridiculous Christmas shoppers and carols.

My query is why did they not sell it to the highest bidder? Some $$ is better than none, I'm sure someone would've been keen to buy it out.

What was there to sell? Telecom staff? Legal contracts between Telecom and retailers that would probably need to be trashed and re-negotiated from scratch? A web property that really wasnt that special?

Nothing that anyone else couldn't do if they really wanted to...

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#190334 18-Jan-2009 10:58

I tend to agree, you'd probably be better off starting from scratch.. the ferrit brand itself has some pretty negative connotations associated with it. If you could 'buy' the relationships with the existing retailers, that would be the only value I could see.

ajobbins

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#190345 18-Jan-2009 12:16

I'm guessing part of the decision to close Ferrit would have been based on sales of the Christmas Shopping period. I wouldn't be surprised if senior management set some targets for this period, and Ferrit's fate came down to these, at least in part.

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#190349 18-Jan-2009 12:30

The main flaw is that there were no incentives to shop there. Why should I go to ferrit and buy from my local towns shops for the same price then pay for shipping as well, when I can simply go to the shop myself sans delivery charges.

They would have had a winner if the prices were cheaper than instore, but then that would be competing with their stores that already do less than desirable turnover as well.

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#190367 18-Jan-2009 13:48

krisby: The main flaw is that there were no incentives to shop there. Why should I go to ferrit and buy from my local towns shops for the same price then pay for shipping as well, when I can simply go to the shop myself sans delivery charges.

They would have had a winner if the prices were cheaper than instore, but then that would be competing with their stores that already do less than desirable turnover as well.

The advantages for someone like me were:

Delivery was free so just as easy as buying instore
I could shop during my lunch break without leaving work, getting more done
At Christmas time, I could buy a variety of gifts from many different retailers and only have to put in my credit card details once.

I'm keen to see who else tries to tackle this space...

nate

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#190368 18-Jan-2009 13:52

tonyhughes: What was there to sell? Telecom staff? Legal contracts between Telecom and retailers that would probably need to be trashed and re-negotiated from scratch? A web property that really wasnt that special?

Nothing that anyone else couldn't do if they really wanted to...

Software, layout, website etc - certainly could be bundled up and on-sold to the next company. If it was me, I would fire the majority of staff and only keep some core staff and make it a much more user friendly site.

I don't think it would take much to turn Ferrit around, you could build it up and cash up on all the advertising that was done pre-crash and burn.

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#190409 18-Jan-2009 18:16

nate:
krisby: The main flaw is that there were no incentives to shop there. Why should I go to ferrit and buy from my local towns shops for the same price then pay for shipping as well, when I can simply go to the shop myself sans delivery charges.

They would have had a winner if the prices were cheaper than instore, but then that would be competing with their stores that already do less than desirable turnover as well.

The advantages for someone like me were:
Delivery was free so just as easy as buying instore
I could shop during my lunch break without leaving work, getting more done
At Christmas time, I could buy a variety of gifts from many different retailers and only have to put in my credit card details once.
I'm keen to see who else tries to tackle this space...

ah, fair enough, was not aware delivery was free, makes it a bit more acceptable I guess.

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#190411 18-Jan-2009 18:22

Originally, Ferrit didn't do free deliveries or offer any particular discounts... they arrived quite late in the game.

Juha

krisby

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#190415 18-Jan-2009 18:52

I thought so, Nate had me thinking there, that would be why I never went back, after seeing their RRP and then a delivery price I gave up, but I guess once they did offer free delivery it may have been a good idea, but then perhaps also the downfall, as I guess it was a cost they could not afford.

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#190417 18-Jan-2009 19:07

krisby: I thought so, Nate had me thinking there, that would be why I never went back, after seeing their RRP and then a delivery price I gave up, but I guess once they did offer free delivery it may have been a good idea, but then perhaps also the downfall, as I guess it was a cost they could not afford.

I haven't been using Ferrit for ages, but they've had free delivery since I can remember.

I don't think the free delivery was their downfall as goods were posted directly from the retailer, so the retailer would've been footing the bill. I also remember seeing the charges Ferrit put on the retailers and they were quite high (a base monthly fee, plus a % of the total sale value) - retailers certainly weren't the winners out of listing goods on Ferrit.

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#190588 19-Jan-2009 19:29

Aww i thought the ferret guy was kinda cute. Except for when he went shopping for his mothers underwear.
Oh wait now i understand.

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hachi

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#190938 21-Jan-2009 00:57

juha: Ferrit could've worked, with some imagination and vision... truth to be said, Trade Me isn't the greatest online shopping place in the world. It has the numbers now, but that doesn't make it impossible to do something better.

Considering all the fees they lump on the users, along with the ads, I don't understand why people still use it. Charging for uploading photos which are basically free for them to host is rediculious. It's very clearly a "we charge because we can" thing.

freitasm

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#190945 21-Jan-2009 05:59

hachi:
juha: Ferrit could've worked, with some imagination and vision... truth to be said, Trade Me isn't the greatest online shopping place in the world. It has the numbers now, but that doesn't make it impossible to do something better.
Considering all the fees they lump on the users, along with the ads, I don't understand why people still use it. Charging for uploading photos which are basically free for them to host is rediculious. It's very clearly a "we charge because we can" thing.

Free to host? What about traffic charges and what about storage space? What about servers?

All these things cost money. If they are charging a good price or not is a different story, but they should certainly charge. There isn't a free thing in the technology world.

hachi

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#190963 21-Jan-2009 08:09

freitasm:
hachi:
juha: Ferrit could've worked, with some imagination and vision... truth to be said, Trade Me isn't the greatest online shopping place in the world. It has the numbers now, but that doesn't make it impossible to do something better.
Considering all the fees they lump on the users, along with the ads, I don't understand why people still use it. Charging for uploading photos which are basically free for them to host is rediculious. It's very clearly a "we charge because we can" thing.

Free to host? What about traffic charges and what about storage space? What about servers?

All these things cost money. If they are charging a good price or not is a different story, but they should certainly charge. There isn't a free thing in the technology world.

There's a reason why I said almost. Charging a good price is what I'm commenting on, and when they charge 55c for a subtitle which would be in the bytes of size, it's silly. Then an extra 25c for a reserve, and then even more if you want to set when the auction ends. They're scrabling for cash. Every time I log on, the fees increase and more are added.

freitasm

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#190966 21-Jan-2009 08:15

hachi: There's a reason why I said almost. Charging a good price is what I'm commenting on, and when they charge 55c for a subtitle which would be in the bytes of size, it's silly. Then an extra 25c for a reserve, and then even more if you want to set when the auction ends. They're scrabling for cash. Every time I log on, the fees increase and more are added.

Well, in this case I agree. I haven't used Trade Me for ages and when I went on to list a couple of items I was surprised to be charged even to specify a reserve.

That's just "Value Added" for you...

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