Weblebi.com

What did it do?

Weblebi.com was a general online shopping site founded by three childhood friends, which went live in October 2000 with a team of 12. From 2003 it operated under the umbrella of Pro-Net İnternet Hizmetleri A.Ş. Known for its promotions, the site was described in the press at the time of its closure as Turkey's second-largest shopping site.

Why did it shut down?

According to the company's own statement, economic difficulties in Turkey and around the world, together with the collapse of some firms in the sector, led suppliers and banks to take a negative view of e-commerce. The statement said this chain of events had left the company unable to continue operating. In the months before the closure, complaints about orders not arriving had risen rapidly; CNN Türk reported that there were 1,736 complaints about the site on Şikayetvar, Turkey's consumer complaints platform. Kaan Dönmez, chair of the Association of E-Commerce Operators, said he did not agree that banks and suppliers took a negative view of e-commerce and criticised the site for closing without meeting its obligations.

The story

Weblebi.com set out in October 2000 with a team of 12, at a time when shopping online was not yet widespread in Turkey. According to a report in the newspaper Zaman, the site had been founded in a flat by three childhood friends: Nafiz Kerim Kotan, Ziya Alemdar and Osman Gündoğar. As reported by CNN Türk, the site went on to operate under the umbrella of Pro-Net İnternet Hizmetleri A.Ş., set up in 2003. Known for its promotions, the site grew over time; on the day it closed, MediaCat described it as Turkey's second-largest shopping site. According to the same report, about eight months before the closure the site had reached a turnover of $20 million; at the time, the partners said individual investors and some funds from the Middle East had approached them. Kotan had also said that with 60 to 70 firms in the sector, making a profit was hard.

In the summer of 2008 things went wrong. Complaints that began in July and multiplied in August showed that the site was in trouble. Customers were writing that products they had paid for had not arrived. On 5 August 2008 Weblebi.com posted a statement on its home page announcing that it was ending its business. According to the statement, economic difficulties and the collapse of some big firms in the sector had made suppliers and banks wary of e-commerce, leaving the company unable to continue operating. The company explained that customers whose orders could not be delivered could get their money back through credit card chargebacks.

The closure sparked debate in the industry. According to a Haber7 report based on the İHA news agency, Kaan Dönmez, chair of the Association of E-Commerce Operators and general manager of Hepsiburada, the Turkish online retailer, disputed the view that banks and suppliers looked unfavourably on e-commerce. Dönmez said obligations should have been met first and the site closed afterwards. Arda Kutsal of Webrazzi, the Turkish tech news site, asked why such a valuable start-up had failed to appear on investors' radar.

Together with other e-commerce companies that struggled in the same period, Weblebi.com's closure became one of the symbols of the sector's fragility during the 2008 crisis. The story also shows how quickly customer trust can melt away for an e-commerce company.

Lessons for founders

• The trust of suppliers and banks is e-commerce's invisible capital; lose it and you cannot ship products even if you can still make sales.
• Hiding problems right up to the day you close only magnifies the reaction from customers and the industry.
• When you get into trouble, fulfil the open orders first, then close the doors.

Sources

1. The end of the road for Weblebi.com... (Webrazzi, 2008-08-05)
2. Weblebi.com announces it has gone bankrupt (MediaCat, 2008-08-05)
3. Weblebi.com goes bankrupt (Milliyet, 2008-08-05)
4. Shopping site Weblebi.com dissolves itself (CNN Türk, 2008-08-05)
5. Bankrupt online shopping site had a turnover of $20 million! (Memurlar.net (via Zaman), 2008-08-12)
6. Weblebi's bankruptcy sparks debate (Haber7, 2008-08-07)

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