The recent round of dot com company casualties could help the high-tech industry, claims an e-logistics specialist in Chestertons Bristol team.
According to Russell Crofts, who heads Chesterton’s Bristol e-logistics team, dot com companies that survive the crash that is affecting many are extremely well placed to thrive in future years, thanks to opportunities in the property sector.
“The survivors have a great opportunity to acquire purpose-built buildings from failed ventures” he said. “An infrastructure has been created that could go to the survivors without them needing to make the heavy initial investment their predecessors struggled to cope with”
Crofts identifies the parallel markets in the technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) sectors, with the complex telecommunications switching centres as a prime example: “Fit out costs are tremendously high for buildings like these. We have already seen the first of these come onto the market in London, and can expect similar opportunities to arise in the South West.”
But he warned dot com companies that they could not expect an easy rise to success—even with the advantage of acquiring infrastructure at knock-down prices: “The Internet is a level playing field for multinationals and start-ups and consumers are notoriously fickle in their web-based shopping. E-tailers get one chance to perform and, if they fail to provide an excellent service, consumers will never go back.”
—Richard Byatt
Reprinted with permission; copyright 2001 i-FM
