Link to story on Stuff is here
So it has finally happened. I had heard stories about the amount of money that was thrown at Ferrit by Telecom and how it was not really working. These stories go back right to the start.
I applaud them for sticking at it for so long if things were grim, however, Christmas 2007 seemed to be an indicator that online shopping was becoming more and more sustainable.
It possibly didn\’t help that Ferrit was purely a reseller of other retailers goods. Those retailers have robust bricks and mortar businesses that can absorb a non performing online platform better than telecom and they have indicated they will be focussing on more core activities.
I think Ferrit has helped the e-commerce scene in New Zealand, more for getting the concept of online shopping into the mainstream through their mass marketing of the brand and what it can do.
None of the brands it was selling made anywhere near the impact that Ferrit did.
I expect that what Ferrit made on each item was small and needed a high level of sales to make it work, supermarket style.
Contrast this to the brands themselves who would likely have made more profit from each sale than Ferrit did, yet thay did no real work.
So goodbye to Ferrit and their weird but funny ads.
I expect ecommerce to grow and this will end up being more of a restructure issue rather than the market not being able to sustain ecommerce as a concept.
Websites can be one of the most cost effective marketing tools around. Don\’t let Ferrit put you off.
