Letsbuyit.com returns to the interweb

On 04.06.09, In Site Launches, by Hugh

Remember Letsbuyit.com? Back during the dotcom boom of the late nineties and early noughties it was all over the place, with TV ads, billboards, and all that overhyped jazz. It was basically a ‘co-buying’ site whereby groups of customers got together to purchase goods online. The more people who bought something, the cheaper it was. [...]

Remember Letsbuyit.com? Back during the dotcom boom of the late nineties and early noughties it was all over the place, with TV ads, billboards, and all that overhyped jazz. It was basically a ‘co-buying’ site whereby groups of customers got together to purchase goods online. The more people who bought something, the cheaper it was. Sort of a good concept, but only if you were completely mental. In 2000, the whole thing went tits-up. But now it’s back, courtesy of some Frenchies.

The UK and German versions of the site still aren’t live, but the French one is. At a glance they’re trying to do the now increasingly popular Price Comparison thing, but in their own unique way - badly. At first glance, the layout of the site looks supremely bloated with a clear focus on the ‘related products’ part of the site. But surely if you go to a price comparison site, you go with the clear intention of comparing prices for a product or products you’ve decided on yourself - you don’t need to be sold loads of other stuff you don’t want.

Letsbuyit.com have kept their mascot, Billy, and have been shoving him onto conveyor belts across Europe for photo opportunities. But does a mascot matter a damn if your site doesn’t work so well? I thought they’d have learned that the first time.

Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see how it launches when it comes to the UK. Hopefully they won’t splurge out as much cash on above the line stuff when the relaunch happens, and hopefully they’ll improve the user interface and settle on a revenue model (none seems clear at the moment). They seem to be hiring a decent amount of people in various offices, so they’re clearly dedicated to this one.

Best of luck to them…