Item number: X20

Year: AD 1996-2001

Material: Plastic

Size: 143.7 x 14.4 mm

Weight: 13.9 g / single

Manufactured by: Denmark

Provenance: Private Collector, Germany, 2024

This is a set of ten floating pens issued by Webvan, the trailblazing leader in online grocery shopping during the dot-com bubble at the turn of the millennium.

On one side of the pen, a yellow background displays the company name, “webvan.com,” alongside the logo of a brown paper bag set against a green circular backdrop. The opposite side features a floating effect created by injected liquid: a delivery worker pushing a cart of goods glides between two static images—a delivery van on the left and a family photo on the right—moving slowly as the pen tilts. The marketing slogan, “You may never go to the grocery store again,” is printed prominently beneath the scene. The pen is topped with a clear plastic cap, which indicates that the item was manufactured in Denmark.

Webvan was an online grocery retail company founded in AD 1996 by Louis Borders in California, recognized as a pioneer of the “Online-to-Offline” (O2O) business model. In May AD 1999, Webvan officially launched its online grocery platform, promising delivery of orders within 30 minutes of placement. Leveraging this innovative business model, the company, despite generating only $4 million in revenue prior to its initial public offering (IPO) in August of that year, successfully raised nearly $400 million in funding, with its market valuation soaring to $15 billion at its peak.

Capitalizing on this momentum, Webvan aggressively expanded nationwide, establishing large-scale automated distribution centers and enhancing its service infrastructure. However, this rapid expansion strategy clashed with the company’s original focus on premium organic food offerings, leading to operational challenges. High overhead costs and low profit margins exacerbated financial pressures, ultimately rendering the business unsustainable. In July AD 2001, Webvan filed for bankruptcy, marking one of the most significant failures of the dot-com bubble era and serving as a cautionary example of the risks associated with overexpansion and the inability to balance growth with profitability.

However, the lessons and experiences from Webvan became the fertile ground for the growth of later entrants, notably Amazon. Amazon not only hired senior executives from Webvan but also acquired the company’s forward-looking robotic delivery technology to enhance its own warehouse management systems. In addition, Amazon purchased the Webvan.com domain, further consolidating its position in the evolving e-commerce and logistics landscape.

物件編號: X20

年代: 公元 1996-2001 年

材質: 塑膠

尺寸: 143.7 x 14.4 mm

重量: 13.9 g / 支

製造地: 丹麥

來源: 德國私人收藏 2024

這是一組千禧年之際的網路泡沫風潮中，引領業界風騷的線上生鮮購物先驅和霸主「Webvan」發行的十支浮動筆。

筆的一側以黃色為底色，印刷公司的商號「webvan.com」和一個以綠色圓環為背景的牛皮紙袋商標。另外一側則是有灌注液體的浮動特效，在背景兩側的廂型車和家庭照之間是公司的行銷口號：「你可能再也不會去雜貨店了」。而在這兩個照片之間是一個推著貨物的工作人員，會隨著筆的傾斜角度從左邊慢慢漂浮到右邊。筆頂端的透明塑膠蓋標示製造國家為丹麥。

Webvan是一間公元1996年，由路易·波德斯成立於加州的網路生鮮零售公司，是「線上線下整合」(O2O) 商業模式的先驅者。公元1999年5月，Webvan正式推出他們的線上生鮮平台，標榜客戶在下單的半小時內即能收到商品。憑藉著全新的銷售模式，即便在當年8月首次公開發行前，公司營收僅有400萬美金卻得到將近4億美金的募資，公司市值一度上升到150億美金。Webvan趁勢在全美開設大型的配銷中心和完善服務系統。然而大規模的擴張和公司原先的精緻有機食品走向不合，使得Webvan的經營日益困難。最終於公元2001年7月宣告破產，成為網路泡沫時代虧損最為龐大的案例。

然而Webvan的教訓和經驗卻成為後起之秀，即「亞馬遜」(Amazon) 的成長養份。亞馬遜不僅聘用Webvan高級主管，還買下具有前瞻性的配送機器人技術用於自身的倉儲管理，甚至連同網域「Webvan.com」都一律買下。