Comments on: Boo.com Back in 2007, Maybe

By: Web 2.0 Ireland

Web 2.0 Ireland — Wed, 02 May 2007 15:31:43 +0000

Irish company WRI brings Boo.com comes back from the dead…

e-consultancy has the details – Boo.com comes back from the dead. Techcrunch previously covered the Boo.com rise from the ashes
Web Reservations International (WRI), a Dublin internet company[owner of brands such as Hostelworld, Hostels.com, etc] – se…

By: Insider@boo

Insider@boo — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 10:12:41 +0000

Is boo 2.0 – you bet! The new boo.com will be all about empowering the user

By: The Dollar Factory Blog » Boo.com coming back from the dead

The Dollar Factory Blog » Boo.com coming back from the dead — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 21:47:54 +0000

[...] It would appear the boo.com is scheduled to re-launch in the not so distant future. The website is making a comeback after first going online in 1999 and emphatically burning through $120 million dollars funding in just –hold on to your chair- 6 months. The original boo.com was a fashion retail site making heavy use of Flash at a time when people would go online using 56K modems. Needless to say, the founders made a number of mistakes starting from the site’s design to renting extremely expensive retail space. It is not clear if the new site will also be about fashion retail or even if the people involved are the same who failed the first time (rumor has it that there is a new team involved.) In addition, there is not much information about who is providing financing for the new boo.com. In other words, we know very little about it but is hasn’t really stopped many in the blogosphere from giving their opinion about the who, what, where and why of the new boo.com. For example, you can read Techcruch’s rather neutral article, John Cow’s negative opinion and Tristan Louis positive take on the news. I’ll just leave you with a screenshot of the site’s new landing page. [...]

By: Why the Boo.comeback makes sense

Why the Boo.comeback makes sense — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 16:58:30 +0000

[...] There has been much discussion lately, most of it negative, about the comeback of boo.com and once again, I find myself on the opposite side of the shared wisdom. Before I go into reasons as to why I think a comeback by Boo.com (a boo.comeback?) makes sense, let me first go into my unique qualifications to make such an assessment: I happen to have worked at Boo.com in the past and I was the insider who exposed some of the challenges the company had faced. I spent a fair amount of my time, in 2000 and 2001, talking at conferences about the lessons learned from this failure and I think that some of those are now fixed. [...]

By: Boo.com to return? at SlamXHype

Boo.com to return? at SlamXHype — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 12:19:21 +0000

[...] If you were around in the late 90s, you may remember Boo.com . One of the first online streetwear retailers, it received a lot of publicity as one of the leaders of the original Dotcom boom of the late nineties. When the bubble burst six months later, Boo went down with a whimper rather than a bang. Techcrunch reports that Boo is planning a comeback, with the site set to relaunch in 2007. [...]

By: OH SO YESTERDAY ALREADY!

OH SO YESTERDAY ALREADY! — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 20:36:06 +0000

hopefully they will spend less this time around!

By: OH SO YESTERDAY ALREADY!

OH SO YESTERDAY ALREADY! — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 20:35:08 +0000

THIS IS SO YESTERDAY! 120 MILLION IN SIX MONTHS! IS THAT POSSIBLE??

By: Uzi Ben-Levy

Uzi Ben-Levy — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 07:16:29 +0000

I say BOOOOOOOOOOO

By: Patricia

Patricia — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 06:01:59 +0000

i would love a 3d fashion site shopping site. i would love a site that allows you to enter a picture of any fashion item from any retailer, an outfit from my site stylediary or whatever, and it’ll simulate what it would look like in 3d. that’d be excellent.

By: La Guardia

La Guardia — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 05:49:41 +0000

It’s too simplistic to say the model failed the first time, so it’s going to fail again. Let’s face facts, when boo was operational originally e-commerce was only just taking off and certainly very few people were interested in shopping for fashion online. That’s slowly changing. I love fashion, I enjoy the convenience of shopping online, and the technology is now there to make shopping for fashion products more appealing. I’ve been left very frustrated by the lack of quality merchants with a wide range of items that can be bought online. Yoox.com (from Italy) is one of the few really decent sites. But their interface is a pain in the ass to use.

Boo could succeed a second time around. But the company has to be managed very differently than the first failed attempt. Focus needs to be building a great brand and loyal ustomer-base organically through deep product range, great easy-to-use website and fantastic customer service. Not pouring through tens of millions of dollars of investors money with flashy gimmicks, expensive advertising campaigns and lack of focus on building the core business.

I’m assuming it is possible to get the manufacturers to permit a large range of current products to be sold online, based on Yoox, and therefore believe a company could now succeed with a venture of the kind Boo.com embarked on years ago.

By: basicity

basicity — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 04:42:51 +0000

Wow, what an awesome three-letter domain name!

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 22:42:54 +0000

back then we had a profitable ecommerce site called netsetgoods.com focused on a similar niche, BUT we knew that the v1.0 boo was all hype and no substance. the fact that they rented offices in Carnaby as well as here in NYC where they blew tons of money on office build-outs, overstaffing, over programming and not on their products and apparel lines etc….was a complete joke. who will run the new venture? they don’t stand a chance…..

By: Giordano

Giordano — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 21:01:13 +0000

http://www.yook.com sells high fashion online, really successfully. The site in based in Italy, but has nearly worldwide distribution.

They have great service: I bought several times from them, and never had a problem.

By: Nemrut

Nemrut — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 20:23:18 +0000

These folks dont stand a chance. Unless theyre integrating innovative tech(eg, visual search -like, custom 3-d views) how are they differentiating themselves other than brand name. And if it’s headed by the same folks you know we’re in bubble if VCs think this pig will fly.

As for appealing to the Euro mkt, ecommerce is just not attractive culturally. People there, are by and large, more fashion conscious(men&women) than their American counterparts. They like shopping, not just to try on, but as a social event-to see and be seen.

So in the end, Europe as an untapped e-commerce mecca just ain’t going to happen unless there is a sea-change in cultural attitudes and type-A work ethic.

By: Boo.com will be back at Not So Relevant

Boo.com will be back at Not So Relevant — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 19:26:30 +0000

[...] Both Om Malik and Michael Arrington have reported over the weekend that one of the synonyms of the dot-com-crash will make its return: Boo.com. And they are right. Just have a look at the site. Though it seems there are other people in charge now who hopefully won’t burn $120 million in just six months. Have a look at the Wikipedia article if you are not familiar with the Boo.com story. Technorati Tags: boo, crash, dot com, relaunch [...]

By: Arrêtez de parler de boo.com!

Arrêtez de parler de boo.com! — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 11:19:30 +0000

[...] Arrêtez de parler de boo.com! Etonnant hier je lisais un article assez creux sur techcrunch et aujourd’hui sur le blog d’Om Malik sur la renaissance potentielle de Boo.com. [...]

By: David Mackey

David Mackey — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 02:39:59 +0000

Well, they’ve gotta relaunch. I imagine they have spent quite a bit to begin revamping the site.

By: Guido Picus

Guido Picus — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 23:14:41 +0000

The brand and rights were sold like the rest of the company’s assets. Chairs, tables, etc were auctioned at ridiculous prices.

A brand alone does not make an ecommerce company. They might have a headstart when starting operations but like any other company operating in the online retailing space, they’ll need to invest in brand awareness, traffic and merchandising. Sourcing products for a startup will be expensive. Besides, why assume they’ll be an online retailer this time around?

By: Josh

Josh — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 22:18:13 +0000

Paricia (comments) seems to think Ranelagh, Dublin is in the UK. Dear oh dear. Maybe if she backpacked over to Ireland she’d find out more about who’s behind new boo.

By: Rakemans Digital Living » boo.com? buh!

Rakemans Digital Living » boo.com? buh! — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 22:10:55 +0000

[...] Wenn ich jedoch, so wie jetzt bei Techcrunch, lesen muss, dass boo.com einen Relaunch plant, dann wird mir entschieden anders. Ich sass damals in einer der größten Londoner Agenturen und verfolgte die (miß)geschicke von boo ziemlich genau. [...]

By: sinick

sinick — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 21:05:02 +0000

Is there a reason that someone could explain regarding why someone would buy anything from them? With no brand name it just seems to be a reincarnation of a failed business.

By: Ken

Ken — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 20:47:19 +0000

hmm….. I think it’s time to start looking for a full time job again.

By: Adam

Adam — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 19:29:30 +0000

What’s next ? Govworks.com makes its comeback ?

By: Patricia

Patricia — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 18:49:09 +0000

@ sam, believe me, I’m the biggest skeptic. I didn’t watch most of my friends lose their jobs and freak out last time and learn nothing

BUT…. Online shopping in Europe IS relatively underserved, there is huge demand for it – I’m not saying Boo will be the one that gets it right – it’s more that if somebody does, I think there’s a market ready for it.

On a side note, there was a great article in business week this past week about a lot of really cool tech coming out of europe. It was tucked into an article about some VC firm – whoever it was that funded skype. Very good.

By: Pigou

Pigou — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 15:56:52 +0000

Well Boo didn’t doo very well, but if his owners were Hariris from Lebanon they have bigger stuff to worry about. Wasn’t Rafik Hariri killed which caused mass demonstrations which caused Syria to get out of Lebanon?