Where are they now: Boo.com

Founding: Boo.com launched in 1999. It was co-founded by CEO Ernst Malmsten, CMO Kajsa Leander and finance director Patrik Hedelin. The company received $125 million in funding from backers including J.P. Morgan, members of the Benetton family and luxury-goods magnate Bernard Arnault.

History: From day one, Boo's goal was to sell 20 apparel brands in 18 countries in local currencies. It was an ambitious plan for a company whose name means, in the words of one Boo employee, “nothing in 50 languages.” Leander once described Boo.com as “a place where you can use the Internet to fulfill your fantasies.”

Perhaps the real fantasy was the idea that the site’s flashy features could be turned into sales. The site had plenty of bells and whistles, such as the ability to rotate clothes and see what they looked like on a virtual mannequin. And then there was Miss Boo – a 3D shopping bot to assist with product questions and sizing.

Unfortunately, these sophisticated elements helped bring down the company. After debuting almost six months late (after an expensive marketing campaign had already run), Boo.com was plagued by technical glitches and interface problems. The site was difficult to navigate, prone to freezing and crashed constantly. Functionality was so bad that some shoppers couldn’t get on the site at all, let alone make their purchases. Miss Boo was clearly in trouble.

What Happened: In an attempt at last-minute survival, Boo tried to capitalize on its ability to deliver products to several European countries within five days by handling shipments for other companies. Boo also attempted to "leverage its technology” without success.

The company was forced to close in May 2000, and liquidate its assets, a pitiful six months after launch. Fashion portal Fashionmall acquired the domain names, Web design elements, trademarks, and editorial concepts associated with Boo for an undisclosed sum. IT (information technology) firm Bright Station acquired Boo's back-end technology for a paltry $375,000.

Where Are They Now? Whether the Boo.com business model could work today is questionable, but Tristan Louis, who served as senior technical advisor to the CEO at Boo, says advances in Internet technology make the prospect more likely than when the site originally launched.

"Ultimately, the failure of Boo was due to the fact that our expectations of how quickly the Internet market would grow were out of step with the slow reality," he tells The Standard. "Much of what we expected to happen did, just at a slower pace. For example, most online clothing stores now reflect some aspects of Boo's offerings, including the ability to zoom in on a picture to get a better sense of what the fabric looks like, and 3D mannequins to 'try clothes on.'"

Louis is now vice president of product management at Deutsche Bank. Ernst Malmsten runs his own creative management company Redgreenzebra, and Kajsa Leander works as a clothing designer and photographer. Patrik Hedelin founded financial advisory firm Hedelin & Co. in 2000 (The Standard attempted to contact all three without success).

In May 2007, Boo.com re-launched as an online travel community and review site under new ownership by Web Reservations International (WRI), unrelated to the original Boo.

Were you an employee, customer, or client of this service? Then share your memories below. What did you like about the company? What didn't work? What other factors contributed to its success or failure?

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