But I had to say something…

A press release this morning announced that;

Nelson businessman Alan Trent says he is committing more than $1 million to the development and launch of a shopping website, 735pm.com, aimed at New Zealand retailers and consumers.

One of the site’s features is it gets redesigned every day at 7.35pm. While retailing websites including Telecom’s Ferrit have struggled to win significant numbers of customers, Trent said 735pm.com would provide a unique shopping experience and offer significant opportunities for companies to market nationwide.

A look at the site shows that it’s a rip-off of the wildly popular 1-day site. Not only is it a rip-off, but it’s executed exceptionally badly.

1-day was a great idea that spread virally and probably cost around $20k to get going. This idiot plans to blow $1mill on a product that can gain neither early mover advantage nor be seen as a fast-follower.

It’s a dramatically flawed prospect and this Trent fellow should be taken out the back and shot.

I honestly find it hard to believe – comments I’ve heard have mostly been along the lines of "is this a joke?".

FAIL – Big time

Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes is a technology evangelist, an investor, a commentator and a business adviser. Ben covers the convergence of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users.

33 Comments
  • Are you kidding??? I love this site!

    This really appeals to my sadistic side that enjoys watching people suffer. You know that side – it’s the same part of you that laughs when you watch those videos on YouTube of people hurting themselves in spectacular skateboarding accidents.

    This is by far and away one of the worst commercial sites I’ve seen in my career as a web developer. And I’ve seen plenty (just go to http://www.fairydown.co.nz)!

    I would gladly have accepted a share of that $1m to build a better site than this. The page background’s irrelevant, the layout dreadful, the navigation worse. It’s a case study in e-business stupidity.

    Wonder how long before the site goes iYomu…

  • Rachel Ah Kit |

    WTF!

  • I’ve got something for this guy to invest in if he wants -Serious.

    But as for the site – ummm I’m a developer and I got lost in what I was meant to do.

    Although, credit where credit is due, it’s unique and I’ve never seen a shopping site randomly re-build itself at a given time before. Just not convinced it’s a good idea for this site.

    I’m hoping it’s a trial for something bigger and better, maybe a picture/image selling site, or something like that.

  • @scollings: “it’s unique and I’ve never seen a shopping site randomly re-build itself at a given time before”

    http://firstin.co.nz/splash/index.php
    http://1-day.co.nz/

    Just two I could think of off the top of my head, but I think there are others too.

  • Stuart says it best “words fail me”

    It breaks almost every rule from experience I know about operating online (domain name, constant change, too many options, colours, layout, the story)

    However….. may i say it fulfills one rule.

    “Be remarkable enough to generate conversation and a story”

    It is remarkably so amateur that we are all here commenting about it.

    So I am holding out that at 735pm the new site redesign will be better, and we will see the actual business. In the meantime they will have generated lots of buzz around the site. [surely?]

  • The plan is flawed in the first place, aside from that they need to hire a web developer if they plan to “rebuild” it every day.

    It looks like something someone would make in high-school when they’re just learning HTML. I want to point out their “interactive experience” isn’t interactive at all, it’s flash so it’s not going to be indexed by search engines, it’s made of horrible contrasting colours (and a usability nightmare), I’ve used another country (like brazil) and it doesn’t update shipping, they don’t have credit card validation.

    It’s completely terrible, they could have done the same thing in a simple content management system, and might I add they say it’s the first time anything like this has ever been done before (according to their about page) when it has been done to death.

    They’re just amateurs (judging by their other websites) we don’t need to concern ourselves with. *bleuch*

  • it’s so slow i think its probably malware

  • Just rung the company, they brought someone over from the US to do the website?? wtf

    Its a complete fuckin joke, almost as bad as Pete Smithies work on http://www.cratersofthemoon.co.nz

  • try it on an iPhone…
    Incidentally your site has a nice mobile version Ben.

  • @Lance – Thanks, I know 🙂

  • $1m … Wow…

    The design is so 1995…

  • with banner ads for flop.co.nz – are you sure this isn’t an elaborate joke by br3ndabot to ensure no work is done today?

  • @xurizaemon do you know something we don’t?

  • Here’s my thoughts:
    “735pm.com – OMG! This concept and website are terrible! Someone please stop this person losing all their money!”

    http://julian101.com/2008/08/735pm-thoughts/

  • So bad! Oh my goodnesss its just incredible. Incredibly sad. What a trainwreck of a site.

  • Ha.. Great to see someone else picked up on this.. How much did they pay for the Herald plug? So not worthy..

  • The site is great…. products relevant, well-priced, and not forced down our throats. Every age in our house likes it, especially the teenagers!

  • Agreed Trish, I got myself a brand new stihl 250 chainsaw off this site for about half price of anywhere I could get it anywhere else.. EVEN trade me! I found it easy to use and notice the site is getting faster and faster to load each night even on cruddy dial up I have at home.

  • Are those last two comments authored by stooges?

  • @GeekInSuit – I thought the same

    @Ben – care to check the IP?

  • “especially the teenagers!”
    Hahahaha it could be bigger than Facebook!

  • @Julian – the comment by ‘Trish’ re “especially the teenagers!”
    is a gentle reminder to us crusty old developers that the new generation appreciates a modern, flashy, whizz-bang website and that we need to update our ideas. Thanks for the ‘heads up’ Trish. We’re obviously behind the times and need to create more websites that will give style(????) over substance, functionality and usability.

  • @Geekinsuit
    @Mike

    Different IP’s both Telecom Jetstream

  • @Geekinsuit – Speak for yourself. 🙂 There’s no way I’m a crusty old developer. But I do know the difference between “modern, flashy, whizz-bang websites” and just plain bad.

    Did you read my commentary about an experience of trying to shop on it?
    http://julian101.com/2008/08/735pmcom-omg-this-concept-and-website-are-terrible-someone-please-stop-this-person-losing-all-their-money/

  • @julian, I was probably being just a tad too subtle with my feedback. I am 100% in agreement with your sentiments.;)

  • BTW, there are very few cases where I would think a website done in Flash is justified. This is an amateurish attempt to show off Flash skills (but in this case, fails even on that score) and doesn’t achieve the main goal which is sales.

  • @GeekInSuit I agree with everything so far.. the site is badly designed etc but how can you make a call on their sales? does anyone know how they’re doing?

  • Well, unless we developers are doing the buying, who else would bother navigating the site to make a purchase? I admit the buzz that this appalling site has caused here would drag in a lot of us who just want to see how bad things can get. So, has anyone here purchased anything? Perhaps ‘Trish’ and ‘Andrew’ could be for real after all?

  • Well, a year later and still here .. 3rd x 40ft shipping container arriving soon. Not to mention all the products we’ve moved for Kiwi companies, 2000 customers later in a recession.

    Yes we’re still developing as we go, though that’s not my job as I admin and deal with our lovely customers, who have put up with our development issues,though our regulars come in logon buy and go with ease.

    Most say it’s worth their while for quality goods at a great price & the personalised service that they get.

    We look after people which is very important.

    OK will check back in in another year.

    Aly
    735pm admin

  • Well, I just visited 735.com and couldn’t find any 1day type merchandise for sale. Just a lot of in-your-face advertising for non-site related stuff. Has 735 changed its direction?
    It does load quicker, so thats an improvement. But once you get ‘lost’ in the hyperlinks, there’s no going back. So I’m stuck with dating Russian brides for the moment – my only option is to investigate further or make it my homepage. Not wanting to do either, I’m outta there.
    You would have thought some of the usability basics would be ironed out by now – its been a year already.

  • Hi Caroline

    You went to the wrong site! missed the pm after the 735.. If you click on the Aly icon in this message it takes to to the correct site 🙂

    We have no other advertising on our site .. We also have different products to the the other 24 hour type sites. More NZ products mixed in with Oakley, Fox, Billabong, Guess, Abercrombie & Fitch & Ducati. I’m yet to find another 24 hours site with a Ducati motorcycles for sale cheaper than you can get one anywhere else in the country..

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