nnov.363.ru was the Nizhny Novgorod address of the "Byttekhnika.RU" household appliances and electronics online store, which operated in the first half of the 2000s. As its home page stated, the store offered a "wide range of household appliances and electronics with free delivery to Nizhny Novgorod at low Moscow prices" and was a "Nizhny Novgorod branch of Byttekhnika.RU, Russia's largest online store"[1]. In the site header, next to the name, stood "Nizhny Novgorod"[1]. The address was a third-level subdomain in the 363.ru zone; the site was listed in the nn.ru directory — a catalog of Nizhny Novgorod websites[3]. The last home-page snapshot in the web archive is dated April 13, 2009[5].

What the home page looked like

A snapshot from November 6, 2002 preserved a layout typical of e-commerce at the time. At the top were four menu items — "Home," "Terms of Service," "Forum," "About the Project" — with a "help" link alongside[1]. Below, a row listed product categories: televisions, camcorders, video, DVD, audio and Hi-Fi, microwave ovens, vacuum cleaners, small appliances, built-in appliances, washing machines, refrigerators, gas stoves, dishwashers, electric stoves, range hoods, water heaters, air conditioners, photo, and heaters[1].

The "Information" side column led to the pages "Delivery," "Payment," "Bestsellers," "Our Discounts!," "Appliance Hookup," "FAQ," "Glossary," "Forum," and "Contacts"; a newsletter subscription form stood there as well, and a separate block duplicated "popular products"[1]. Customer interaction was represented by an "Ask a Consultant" block and a hours line: "Business hours: 9-19," closed on Sunday[1]. Neither a postal address nor a phone number appears in the preserved text of the home page[1].

Assortment and prices

The store quoted prices in dollars and published its own conversion rate: "Rate 1$ = 31.9 rubles"[1]. The special-offers block for November 2002 listed a Technics SC-EH780 mini system ($496, discounted to $459), an LG FL-R900K karaoke system ($239 and $212), and a Bosch B1WTV3002 washing machine ($455 and $429)[1]. The "recommended products" included a Kaiser W4T10 washing machine 42 cm deep, a Sony KV-29FX66K television with "100 Hz technology," a BBK 931S DVD player, and Sven HP-520T speakers[1]. The catalog description in the nn.ru directory promised "over 3,000 items" and free delivery[3].

The home page footer listed neighboring stores of the same chain: Byttekhnika.RU, PCI.ru, Book.ru, Vstroyka.ru, TV-Video.ru, DiViDi.ru, vKredit.ru, along with links to "Contact Information," "Company Vacancies," and "Investor Center"[1]. The Nizhny Novgorod site was thus a city storefront of the chain rather than a separate local business.

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

In the nn.ru directory's "popular resources" list, sorted by number of referrals from the catalog, the store ranked 93rd in a snapshot from November 17, 2002: 173 referrals, Counter.nn.ru rating — 1284[2]. In the "Firms (Enterprises): Online Stores" category, sorted by rating, in a snapshot from September 16, 2003 it ranked third with a rating of 1221 — behind "GSMPHONES.RU — Kupets Firm" (2142) and "Studio Beaumonde" (1846)[3]. Thus, within its category of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet, the store held a place near the top of the list, though not the top spot; a comparison of ratings of the era is examined in the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating.

In the surviving results table of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day voting for 2004, neither the domain nnov.363.ru nor the name "Byttekhnika.RU" appears[4].

How it closed

The store was preserved as still operating in the web archive's snapshot of November 6, 2002[1]. The next available snapshot, from April 13, 2009, shows not a storefront but a hosting panel service page: "This is the default H-Sphere server page," with a list of reasons the domain might not resolve correctly, and a Parallels 1999-2008 copyright notice[5]. That is, by 2009 nnov.363.ru was serving a hosting-provider placeholder page rather than a site.

Our materials do not contain an exact closing date for the Nizhny Novgorod branch of "Byttekhnika.RU": the last home-page snapshot in the web archive is dated April 13, 2009[5].

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2002 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — nn.ru directory, popular resources, 2002 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — nn.ru directory, "Online Stores" category, 2003 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Results of the Day of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet voting, 2004 (archive)
  5. web.archive.org — Home page, 2009 (archive)