Plenty of jobs lost
The Belgian and Dutch version of Neckermann.com had only relaunched 18 months ago, thanks to investment fund Axivate, but it was declared bankrupt again yesterday. Nevertheless, an agreement on another relaunch has already been reached.
Neckermann.com will continue to exist, albeit in a trimmed version with merely 15 out of 200 employees left after the relaunch. The department that processes the orders and its call center will be closed and outsourced. According to CEO Andreas Ezinga, these departments were severely outdated.
Plaza model
Neckermann is considering a Plaza model approach future, which will allow web shops to sell their products on Neckermann.com’s platform. It has already started collaborating with external suppliers which sell Neckermann products. “For example, Scheer & Foppe supplies every household and electronic appliance, but the customer orders and buys a Neckermann product”, Axivate’s Bas Rasker told Emerce.
Consumers won’t see a lot of change at the moment, as they can keep ordering on the website. “The Neckermann name is the reason we will keep going, because it is a very strong brand which could result in a top 5 position even though that will obviously take some time. A fast relaunch is important because we don’t want the customer to suffer and that is why we have been working on a new website which has to launch today”, Rasker said.
Customers who had ordered something at Neckermann.com will have to talk to the liquidator though.
