Ferrit to be put out of its misery
Telecom NZ has announced that Ferrit, its online retail site, will cease accepting orders from Wednesday. The only surprise is that Telecom has taken so long to send in the exterminators. Others will comment (and have already done so) on the technical and design shortcomings of the Ferrit website. Such criticism is valid, but misses the real issue. Ferrit failed to capture customers because its brand personality was fundamentally flawed from Day One. It doesn’t matter how great your site is if no-one wants to visit it.
I don’t agree with the school of thought that says that good e-commerce sites don’t need promotion. It depends on the circumstances. However, every business needs an appropriate brand personality, especially if you intend to build a customer base through TV advertising. Brands should have a personality that customers want to be associated with - whether fun, cool. luxurious or amusingly quirky. Ferrit tried to be that - amusingly quirky - but failed miserably. The actor playing the part of a Ferrit customer was required to portray a complete wally with no redeeming qualities. No-one would want to be a customer with that implied personality.
Update: Lance Wiggs has compiled a summary of his excellent long-running series on the shortcomings of Ferrit. Essential reading for anyone thinking about e-business. I should also note that my family trust owns Telecom shares (sigh!)
January 13th, 2009 at 7:46 am
[…] Donovan: Ferrit to be put out of its misery The only surprise is that Telecom has taken so long to send in the […]
January 29th, 2009 at 6:13 am
[…] An unpopular “brand personality”. […]