Comments on: Finnish startup Fruugo avoids meltdown with approx. €1 million in bridge funding

By: Yervich Nailer

Yervich Nailer — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 19:05:48 +0000

Didn’t the dot.com bubble burst about ten years ago?

By: Lessons from 10 disappointing tech stories of 2009

Lessons from 10 disappointing tech stories of 2009 — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:33:15 +0000

[...] this was prior to a closed beta launch) and now has 25 to 30 people. Fruugo CEO Juha Usva recently told TechCrunch’s Robin Wauters that “Things are moving to a good direction, and we are looking forward to successful [...]

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:06:57 +0000

They have a good idea, hopefully it will work out.

By: Site for Shopper Stalkers in Trouble? | Social Commerce Today

Site for Shopper Stalkers in Trouble? | Social Commerce Today — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:06:02 +0000

[...] the social shopping European marketplace has received lifeline funding, estimated at €1m, Techcrunch [...]

By: Stefan

Stefan — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:24:00 +0000

Crazy Investors, I would like to know where do they see profits being made and returns.

By: Finisher

Finisher — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:51:24 +0000

They are finnished (no pun intended).

By: @PaulH

@PaulH — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:38:46 +0000

Ouch!

By: Fabio De Bernardi

Fabio De Bernardi — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:12:26 +0000

This looks increasingly like the Boo.com story. And they already wrote a book about it so there isn’t much money to be made there either…

By: damiansen

damiansen — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:32:10 +0000

They should listen to Jason from 37signals. Learn how to make money is more important and should happen first than learning how to spend it.

By: Robin Wauters

Robin Wauters — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:10:32 +0000

Correct, thanks – fixed that now.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:05:20 +0000

Quick typo: I think you mean “rock star,” not “rock start” board of directors.

By: Jüri Kaljundi

Jüri Kaljundi — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:48:34 +0000

The biggest question for Fruugo is which marketing model will work out for them.

On one side there is a very local approach in each European country. Local marketing and biz dev people. Local campaigns. You have to be there in Slovakia, Greece, Island, Italy and Germany. This is usually what works in Europe, to be recognized as a real player in each specific country. It is costly, time and any other resource consuming.

On the other side there is a hope, that you can do marketing as a single campaign across Europe. You could say that Amazon, Google, Youtube have not done local marketing in any of the countries mentioned above and is still successful. Viral marketing. Social media marketing. Low marketing costs per acquired user. No customization for each country. Very few companies have succeeded in that and probably no European ones across Europe.

The difference in marketing budgets for these 2 scenarios could be as much as 20 mEUR vs 1 mEUR. Only time will tell, which model they choose and even then we will not know what the other one would have achieved. Its a big gamble. Smart decisions and especially operational marketing excellence will be needed for our Northern neighbours. Wish them luck!

By: dasein

dasein — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:40:11 +0000

Fulfillment is always a crux for these pan-European e-commerce sites.

A €6 item on Fruugo costs the user €8 to ship, from the UK to NL.