|
Dot-com. It’s one term very few companies want to be
associated with today, in a world that sees every dot-com
with suspicion. All this, of course, is thanks to the dot-com
boom and the carnage that followed after the good times stopped
rolling. Reams were written about the promise of dot-coms
and the same reams were later used to bury everything that
had dot-com written anywhere on the signage. But dot-com is
not a word that’s synonymous with a company that’s
primarily composed of hot air, in spite of what the world
would like to have you believe. The truth is that most dot-coms
flipped into the grave, and while some are still clutching
at straws for survival, there are those that make profits
and are breaking even.
Strangely, the word dot-com is anathema to these ‘successful’
dot-coms and almost every player that we spoke to bent over
backwards to clarify that they were not a dot-com company
but were just using the power of the Internet to exploit business
opportunities. But fact is, the success of companies like
Baazee and Billjunction have shown that Indian customers who
always have been accused of being tight-fisted when it comes
to paying for online services don’t really mind paying
for services where they see genuine value. Every successful
company in this list has only not relied on its first mover
advantage to exploit business opportunities (Billjunction,
Apnaloan, Baazee) but is sustaining this advantage with extremely
good support (Fabmart). Some have cut down costs to the bone
and some have even re-invented themselves but not without
their share of bruises that stay to remind them and the other
players of the mistakes they’ve committed in the past.
True, there were some disappointments during our survey. Despite
repeated reminders, sites like Hungama and Rediff never answered
our questions. Unfortunately, such attitudes only serve to
add fuel to needless market speculation about Rediff’s
business health and rumours about its impending shutdown.
The fact remains that in the dot-com world, you never know
who’ll be down tomorrow. Rajneesh De and Srikanth R P
profile the dot-coms who’ve survived the carnage, and
are looking forward to a profitable tomorrow
|
