Comments on: Ferrit, an expensive lesson.

By: Cameron Prebble

Cameron Prebble — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 08:14:49 +0000

I found it funny that when I was at Uni, Ferrit was already being used as a ‘what not to do online’ case study. Unfortunately for Telecom, this will be the case for many years to come.

By: elliot alexander

elliot alexander — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:19:32 +0000

Its hard to see so much money wasted. In my online start-up every dollar is measured. Imagine having a spare 30 million to throw at a new business, I know an online mall would not be my first choice. Maybe a hydro-ponic vege farm in a high-rise building would be better!

This cements the fact that nz retailers are old school. I have a retailer that refuses to use email, pays by check and demands fax communication. But, they are a good retailer who successfully offers their customers something different.

I wonder what telecom will do next, if your reading this telecom, I have some ideas, and they are only $100,000 a pop.

By: The blog and twitter comments on Ferrit closing « Lance Wiggs

The blog and twitter comments on Ferrit closing « Lance Wiggs — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:47:00 +0000

[...] Russell – Ferrit – an expensive lesson PEOPLE ARE NOT THAT LAZY: Ferrit fell for the misconception that people will shop online in their [...]

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:43:08 +0000

“What amazes me most is that they ignored all the advice and criticism that came from the industry. Everyone, but Ferrit it seems, knew their model was a failure. And they didn’t adapt.”

Often it seems the less internet savvy and the larger an organisation is, the less likely they are to listen to feedback outside of the organisation (speaking as someone who works for one of these organisations).

Once a company / organisation gets over a certain size (500 employees? 1000?) there seems to be a tendency to become incredibly insular and protective, choosing to listen to internal yes-people and trust internal stats and studies rather than listening to the actual real people who are paying actual real money to use your product or service…

This is where the internets can kick the rear of a large company. People just vote with their mice and go where they can get a better deal or better service.