Boo.com

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Boo.com was an UK Internet company founded by Ernst Malmsten and Kajsa Leander that famously went bust during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s. Boo.com's intention was to sell branded fashion wear over the Internet, however after spending vast sums of its venture capital it eventually had to liquidate and declare itself bankrupt on May 18, 2000.

Reasons for failure

Website design

The boo.com website was widely criticised as poorly designed for its target audience, going against many usability conventions. The site relied heavily on Flash technology to generate 3D views of wares as well as Miss Boo which meant that the vast majority of users had to wait minutes for the site to load (as broadband technologies were still only in their testing phase at this time). The warning on their front page- "this site is designed for 56K modems and above" apparently did not appease their would be customers.

Important product information was given about 1 inch square to describe the product (about 15 words) and users had to use non-standard scrolling mechanisms to view the next 15 words. Unless users knew exactly how to use the menus, the site was not forgiving for novices. Boo also made great use of tiny icons and horizontal scrolling, both disastrous on the web. Boo also used unfamiliar words such as the boobag rather than shopping cart.

Burn rate

Boo.com's Swedish founders famously spent their way through nearly $160 million during its numerous startup delays and sixth month existence. While some companies like Amazon.com were spending a lot, but basing it on future savings and growth returns, Boo.com was known for spending money on large leather sofas, professionally designed offices with the latest computer hardware, and software for multiple languages and currencies that was frought with problems. Consequently they soon found themselves running out of money without having made much from the sales through their website.

Boo.com Aftermath

The biggest loser among boo.com's investors is Omnia, a fund backed by members of Lebanon's wealthy Hariri family, which put nearly $40 million into the company.

Creditors, most of whom are advertising agencies, are owed around $25 million.

Fashionmall, which has been operating in the US since 1995, reportedly paid £0.25m for the Boo name and the Miss Boo character. Boo's main assets, its software, went to UK company Bright Station.