Letsbuyit shuts all but the shop front

NEWS Troubled e-tailer Letsbuyit.com has unveiled a new business plan that will see it become a shopping portal - ditching its own retail activities in favour of becoming a shop front for others. The group shopping site will retain the current Letsbuyit interface, but all fulfilment, customer service and handling of goods will be taken care of by 'agents'. Anyone with a proven background in running a retail operation can become an agent. The company has weathered badly in the dot-com downturn. Last year it was forced to close down most of its European operations. At the end of December it lost one of its original founders and former CEO Fredrik Staël von Holstein. However, Ulf Modigh, MD of Letsbuyit, was bullish about the company's situation which he says is looking healthier. Speaking to silicon.com today, he said: "We did have some cash problems last year and we are still wrestling with some financial problems but the future looks positive for us and things are going well with our new agent programme. Our new business model will give us an opportunity to make the most of our site." One the company's backers, controversial German hacker Kim Schmitz, is currently being held in custody in Thailand for insider dealing. But Modigh said this doesn't affect Letbuyit.com in any way. "[Schmitz] only invested E1m (£610,000) in us, out of the E52m (£32m) we received in total. We got our money and now it's up to him if he wants to sell his shares. We don't want to discuss our shareholders' private lives," he said.