Businessman Denis O’Brien is shutting down his e-commerce venture, Appliancesdelivered.ie, with “immediate effect”.
The Dublin business, which sold household white goods such as fridges, blamed “trading conditions and very challenging market forces” for its failure.
“Whilst management and staff have done everything to avoid this decision, the business is not sustainable, and the company is now to close,” it said.
The business was launched in 2016 by Mr O'Brien's Communicorp radio group, as it sought to diversify with online commercial ventures. At the end of 2017 it was transferred out of the radio group into a separate O'Brien-linked structure in the Isle of Man.
Accounts for Demirca, the immediate Irish parent of Appliances Delivered, show it had accumulated losses of about €5.5 million by the end of 2017, although it is unclear if all those losses were accrued by the e-commerce venture, or if other businesses were included. Demirca had about 20 staff.
Appliances Delivered has told its customers that all orders on white goods made before it announced its closure will be honoured.
