Command Palette

Search for a command to run...

Product Graveyard
Postmortem1990s

Boo.com

European online fashion retailer that blew through $135M in 6 months building a 3D virtual try-on experience that 1999 internet connections couldn't load.

Launched

November 1999

Discontinued

May 2000

Lifespan

6 months

Category

e-commerce

Cause of Death

Execution Failure

The product failed on its own terms. Bad product-market fit, technical debt, or leadership failure.

What Happened

Boo.com raised $135M to launch a global fashion site with real-time 3D product visualization in 1999. The technology required Flash and a broadband connection at a time when most users had 56k modems. The site launched 6 months late, hemorrhaged cash on logistics and infrastructure, and went bankrupt after only 6 months of operation.