Do we feel the banking crisis already?

Banking crisis (image taken from Emerce)

A few days ago I was asked by Emerce (a magazine focused on Internet) in The Netherlands if my current company (Compare Group) can feel the effects of the banking crisis. In my opinion it is much too early to see any significant effects and most likely consumers will feel the crisis (if any) in the beginning of 2009.

If you can ready Dutch, here is a link to the article in the Emerce.

Leading dutch comparison engines go off-line

In The Netherlands a consortium of 4 leading comparison engines in their area of expertise have successfully launched a new magazine for Internet consumers, Check magazine.

Cover Check magazine

To boost the first issue (150.000) the magazine Check has been sent to Internet consumers by large (r)etailers, such a Dixons, Conrad and Modern/It’s. Consumers can also become a subscriber to the magazine (only EUR 9,50 for a year) or can buy the magazine in supermarkets/kiosks.

Aim of the magazine is to inform Internet consumers what to buy, where to buy and how to buy. The consortium also has no aim to make a profit on the magazine, but to increase the distribution numbers and become the leading magazine on consumer decisions. In the long run the partners hope to increase brand awareness and to increase direct traffic to their websites.

The consortium contains the following companies:

• Vergelijk.nl (leading price and product comparison engine and part of the Compare Group)
• Zoover.nl (leading travel opinion site in The Netherlands and Europe)
• Independer.nl (leading comparison engine on financial products and health in The Netherlands)
• HetBesteProduct.nl (best aggregator in the field of expert reviews)

The strength of this concept is that all these companies know exactly which products or services or hot (and which are not), they have a lot of consumer opinions (which in my book is often much better than a test conducted in a controlled environment) and they have the opinion of a lot of experts (tests of products in other magazines).

The first issue was a big success and consumers really like to magazine. Even before the magazine was launched subscribers poured in already. So, that’s very good news!

NOTE: Obviously I must admit that I am biased, as I am one of the initiators of this initiative together with HetBesteProduct…. just for the record