Clickmango.com forced to close and Adabra.com sells up

The company was backed by actress Joanna Lumley and founded by Robert Norton and Toby Rowland, son of business tycoon Tiny Rowland. When it first looked for funding, it secured the required £3 million in just 8 days.

Referring to the recent demise of Boo.com, Robert Norton said: “This is not Boo two. We still have money in the bank and we have not spent a fortune on advertising. We have made the decision to wind down the company in a responsible fashion to make sure creditors and staff can get full payment.”

Another UK company, Adabra.com, which launched a group-buying service in October 1999, has also been forced to sell its business in the midst of consolidation in the dot.com sector. The company said it had also decided to wind down operations while there was still funding left to do so in an orderly way.

Adabra.com co-founder Nigel Jones said: “It has been difficult to get funding. Our board decided this was the best way to go for everyone, the board, the employees. The employees were our main concern.”

Jones acknowledged that there were too many companies in the group-buying marketplace, an internet retail business model in which the price of an item goes down as more people sign up to purchase it. Jones believes that the surviving companies in this field in the European market will be Letsbuyit.com, the US start-up mobshop.com and Dealpartners Network. The latter has bought the Adabra.com assets and Jones is joining the company as European marketing director.