Going, going, gone – Publishers Clean House

2009 got off to a rocking (and in some cases, rocky) start with the weeding out of a number of underperforming websites.

Telecom have opted to close down their loss making retail site Ferrit.co.nz. Most commentators (and members of the public) put the failure down to a poorly thought out business model, sub-par site design and an above the line ad campaign that irritated more than it informed.

Also in January, two of ACP Media’s websites were migrated to MSN.co.nz while others (Metrolive, RunwayReporter.com, Yourhomeandgarden.co.nz) are being closed. The way in which these business decisions came to public attention makes interesting reading for bloggers and publishers alike.

Telecom and ACP both launched their sites against strong, established properties (such as Trademe, NZGirl and ViewAuckland). They both failed to generate the traffic numbers required to challenge the incumbent and therefore would have found it difficult to generate the sales revenue necessary to continue.

In our view, we are likely to see further rationalisation in the online market. There are bound to be a number of other sites reappraising their business models at this time.