3 Visit the web site of some of lastminute.com’s leading competitors and analyse how much of a threat they pose to the company. Retailing online renders one of the established mantras of the fixed location retailer ‘location location location’

redundant. So how are the new e-retailers establishing and maintaining a competitive position in the Internet’s marketspace?

lastminute.com was an early leader with its development of a web site which operated as an online travel agent and retailer (see Figure 10.9). The company founded by Martha Lane Fox and Brent Hoberman in 1998 has recently been acquired by Travelocity and Sabre Holdings.

Strategy and business model The valuation achieved by the company at its float was seen by many at best as very unrealistic – its paper value exceeded the value of longstanding established travel agents like Thomas Cook Plc. Many dismissed lastminute.

com’s valuation as being an indicator of the absurdity of the dot-com phenomenon and dismissed excessive investment as irrational.