UKNM: RE: Was Wacky Names/Boo

[John Braithwaite]

Tony,


My opinion on Boo was that they got it wrong in a vast number of ways and

this was their undoing (see poor UI, bad management, lack of financial

control, poor marketing).


I work for a 'new' Internet firm that has been in mail order for about 25

years (The Good Book Guide) and some of our commercial partners sell

clothing very successfully to our customers (all ABC1, 85% Degree Educated

or above, Household ave earnings �85,000, 80% speak more than one language

fluently) so I definitely don't think that the market for direct selling of

clothes is in the bracket that you gave. There are also sites in the States

and over here that sell clothing successfully both through mail order and

online.


Direct clothing retailers expect returns from customers to be as high as 20%

in some cases, but the mark up for the products is very good (generally). I

think the main problem that Boo had was the lack of discounting - I would

have bought some products from them, but when I went to the site, I found

that the prices I was offered was the same as if I nipped down to Covent

Garden (or somewhere similar), without being able to try the items on.


The whole point of the Internet is to add value to the customer experience,

not only in speed terms, but also in cost (wedge!). Then, when Boo had their

super furry fab discount sale the number of items available was low and,

like many shops, you could only find the trainers in size 6,7,11,12,13 (e.g.

none of the 'regular' sizes), the discounting was far too steep and they

decimated their brand image by doing this. Although you can never turn the

clock back - I wonder what would have happened if Boo had offered ALL goods

at 15% off rap (with free postage) from day one. People would know that, if

they went to Boo, they would be getting 'bargains' on whatever they bought

and might be more inclined to suffer the UI to 'save' money.


Also, for the person looking for some legal books, we sell all books

currently in print (so if we don't have it, then it's unlikely anyone else

will) and have just re-configured our search by subject area pages in the

Legal field. Please visit and see whether you can find your book through

this page:

http://www.thegoodbookguide.com/gbg/subjects/law2.asp


Thanks



John Braithwaite


P.S. I thought that IQ was for Intelligence Quotient?


Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 10:26:05 +0100

From: Tony Newland <

tony [dot] newlandrainbownetwork [dot] com

>

Subject: RE: UKNM: 'Wacky Names'


Hi guys, have just joined the group, I'm from a print publishing background

so this is all very new territory for me. However, having just read the

first chapter of the Cluetrain Minefesto (sufficently interested to order

it) I thought I'd put the philosophy into practice and enter into

conversation.



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