Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Given all the tumult in the world (last night on The Daily Show, Sen. John McCain called the period we're living through "a very very terrible time for America"), in the coming weeks CONTRAPOSITIVE will be retreating, at least periodically, into the past.
The turn of the century seems like a particularly appropriate time to be revisiting--a kinder, gentler, more innocent period. Recent, but distant-seeming. An era that some of us look back on fondly, and which others (many of them with their stock options still under water) have almost completely blocked out.
For an inaugural effort at turning back the block, here's a postcard from the dotcom heyday--specifically, in this case, a quick jaunt through the rise and fall of that late-great e-commerce giant Flooz.com.
Think of it as a five minute vacation from the year 2004.
Enjoy:
January 25, 1999: Flooz goes online.
February 19, 1999: The word is supposedly an ancient Persian slang term for money, but, more importantly, it's short, catchy, unique, and "hip" -- characteristics Levitan and his co-founders, Spencer Waxman and Dermot McCormack, hope will raise the brand to the exalted level of a Yahoo! or an Amazon.
"We wanted to be a brand that sticks out above the noise. Flooz does that for us," said Levitan. "We want to make Flooz the next big Web brand."--Internet News.com
June 7, 1999: At Flooz.com, users buy any amount of Flooz using a credit card; one Flooz equals one dollar. The certificate is then e-mailed, along with an e-greeting card, to the recipient, who can redeem the Flooz at one of the growing list of Flooz-enabled online merchants, such as Books.com, Caesar's Palate, and Nirvana Chocolates...Launched in February, Flooz.com has already handled several thousand transactions, said Levitan, and the average Flooz purchase is about $50.--Internet World
September 13, 1999: Things are afoot at.Flooz.com, where last week the site unveiled a new look, went into production for its first TV campaign and tapped James Glicker to the high-falooting title of brand guru...Flooz.com also enjoyed a first round of financing of $16.5 million led by Oak Investment Partners.--Brandweek
January 20, 2000: NBC and its Internet arm, NBCi, this week struck a deal swapping advertising on its TV network and promotion on Snap.com for equity in Flooz.com, an online gift currency site.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.--Clickz News
July 27, 2000: While CEO Robert Levitan says he's happy with the initial campaign's results, he also learned that it was time to turn his company's energy...from brand awareness to more emphasis on the quality of the customers.
Flooz.com now has about 770,000 accounts, or people who have either sent or received Flooz.--Clickz News
December 20, 2000: Q: What is it about your business model that differs from other B2C plays that are struggling?
A: [Robert Levitan, CEO, Flooz.com, Inc.] Fundamental to our business mode: we don't own any inventory. We don't pick, pack and ship anything. Our product is completely scalable. We like to compare it to eBay -- we sit between buyers and sellers and provide a transaction platform. That's a great business model.
Somebody wrote in The New York Times recently that a success formula for e commerce companies is hidden in the physical weight compared to the price point of your product. The lower the weight, the higher the price point, the more successful your e-commerce business will be (a low weight-to-price ratio).--Internet News.com
August 10, 2001: Internet message boards have been humming with speculation over the past few days that online currency company Flooz.com is going out of business.
As of Friday, Flooz itself had left no clear signal of its status and has made itself unavailable for response to any inquiry.
The company took its Web site offline Wednesday and posted a message reading: "We are currently unable to process your transaction. Check back for further updates. We apologize for this inconvenience."
Adding fuel to the speculation that Flooz has gone under without notifying shoppers is the fact that sites around the Web -- including Ashford.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Outpost.com and Tower Records -- have stopped accepting Flooz as a payment method.
Calls to Flooz' toll-free number by the E-Commerce Times were greeted with a message that the number was invalid, and Flooz responded to an e-mail request for information with an auto-response reply suggesting the use of the site's "Live Chat" feature to chat with a customer service representative.
However, the "Live Chat" feature, along with the rest of the Flooz site, was still disabled as of Friday morning.
"We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you may have experienced with Flooz," the company told customers who e-mailed the company Thursday requesting more information. "Please note that, since we are presently updating our site, you will not be able to access our website. We suggest that you visit our website www.flooz.com later for further updates."--E-Commerce Times
August 29, 2001: We regret to inform you that Flooz.com has ceased operations. The offices are closed and the company will file for bankruptcy protection.--Flooz.com
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? CEO Robert Levitan appears to be chief marketing officer of Point Roll--a successful-seeming internet advertising platform designer.
(Nirvana Chocolates, you'll be glad to know, is still up and running.)
THE LANDSCAPE TODAY: Paypal, which was ultimately absorbed by eBay, has continued to thrive. And Bitpass and a few others have gone after the micropayment market. But no seems to have quite figured out the business formula for internet-wide, merchant-friendly quasi-cash.
Unless you count Visa and Mastercard.
