Ferrit to close

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Ferrit to close

BiggusDoggus

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#29577 12-Jan-2009 14:07

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4816111a13.html

A shame but predictable really.

Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries

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#188984 12-Jan-2009 14:18

A long time coming. No surprises here.

zocster

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#188985 12-Jan-2009 14:21

sad to see but yeah ... it is tough out there for local ecommerce I guess

sbiddle

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#188988 12-Jan-2009 14:32

Good to see there are people at Telecom now willing to make the tough decisions. One can only assume that the final decision lay with Reynolds - good on him if it was his decision. The business model was doomed and if you can't turn around a sinking ship with the investment Telecom have put into it then you're better off cutting your losses and pulling the plug.

Now there is just AAPT to sort out.

Now I wonder whether the directors of a company starting with W.... could learn something about pulling the plug on a sinking ship?

tonyhughes

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#188990 12-Jan-2009 14:52

I would be surprised if Paul Reynolds didnt think "OH NOES" when he first discovered Ferrit, and gave it a fixed budget + timeframe to either do or die.

Goodbye Ferrit.

sbiddle

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#188993 12-Jan-2009 15:08

I knew something was up when I saw the recent Ferrit ad and the Ferrit guy wasn't on it. Obviously he got laid off first - we should have seen the end coming.

juha

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#188996 12-Jan-2009 15:18

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.

Juha

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farcus

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#188997 12-Jan-2009 15:21

Despite my best efforts to buy something from Ferrit I never actually did. I usually gave up on the site in frustration and went directly to the a retailers site where I made a purchase.

krisby

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#188998 12-Jan-2009 15:27

I never bothered with them cos I never found their prices competitive anyway, always it cheaper elsewhere.

corksta

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#188999 12-Jan-2009 15:33

krisby: I never bothered with them cos I never found their prices competitive anyway, always it cheaper elsewhere.

paradoxsm

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#189001 12-Jan-2009 15:40

Quite a shame, There was certainly room for improvement and there is certainly a market now open.

If someone produces a site that had ample information and large, detailed photos and also had great service and support I think it would be quite successful. Stay away from clothing and similar items as they are pretty much impossible to sell online for obvious size /style and colour reasons.

BiggusDoggus

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#189003 12-Jan-2009 15:48

paradoxsm: Stay away from clothing and similar items as they are pretty much impossible to sell online for obvious size /style and colour reasons.

And yet people do on TradeMe, even second hand clothes. Bizarre.

Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries

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freitasm

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#189040 12-Jan-2009 17:32

Juha's comments and TonyHughes' comments.

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numfarr

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#189096 12-Jan-2009 22:43

Stay away from clothing and similar items as they are pretty much impossible to sell online for obvious size /style and colour reasons.

Clothing, footwear, accessories etc are big growth items in online sales overseas. So long as there's a good website and returns policy online clothes shopping is easy and fun. The Gap alone sold $US1 billion online in 2007.

Ferrit had only just got an attractive offer, with free shipping on everything and 10% discount coupons. The software and content (sloooow, tiny photos, little product info) were still horrible though.

nate

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#190214 17-Jan-2009 18:48

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.

RedJungle

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#190317 18-Jan-2009 09:22

You're not alone in your thinking here.

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