An example of E-Commerce failure and its cause – Pets.Com.

One of the top ten Dot-com failure is Pets.com. Pets.com was launched in November 1998 and initially was deemed successful as it sought to conquer the market of selling pet supplies direct to customers and accessories over the internet. Furthermore, the appearance of pets.com sock puppet mascot was became so popular that appear in a multimillion-dollar Super Bowl commercial and as a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. But it is a dramatic change like many other Dot.com failures continued to experience drops in the share price over the next ten month and have to declare bankrupt.

The causes of its failure may consist of poor business plan such as the company had to undercharge for shipping costs to attract customers but it actually lost money on most of the items it sold, so that purchasing online offered no real benefit whether it is in regards to price or convenience. Moreover, after their customers made an order, they need to wait for few days to actually get it. Furthermore, the hierarchy of the company was in shambles as the CEO and managing body had little experience in running a company, it may lead to the lack of a sufficient business proposal. Other than that, the idea of pets.com was inadequate. They failed to give the customer enough reason to purchase pet goods via the internet rather than their traditional source.