fort.nn.ru was the website of the Nizhny Novgorod techno-trading center "FORT," a store of household appliances and electronics. All surviving snapshots of the home page carry the same city phone number — (8312) 30-00-00[1][2][3]. In the nn.ru catalog directory, the listing described the store in its own words: "In our store you will always find what you need for comfort in your home… We offer more than 1000 items of household appliances, from irons and vacuum cleaners to washing machines and refrig…" — the text in the directory broke off mid-word. The first web-archive snapshot of the home page is dated November 30, 2002[1], the last — April 3, 2007[3].

The 2002 showcase

The preserved text of the early home page was a showcase of four product blurbs, each with a "more (and other new arrivals)" or "more (and other hits)" link[1]. First came the Panasonic NV-DS30EN digital video camera with an "800,000-pixel CCD matrix" and a tenfold optical zoom; as the home page announced, "SUPER PRICE 17990 RUBLES, AND ON CREDIT? CALL 30-00-00, DOWN PAYMENT FROM 25%"[1]. Next to it was the "budget DVD player" Rolsen RDV-500, which read DVD, AudioCD, VCD and SuperVCD, and — "thanks to Dual-Laser technology" — also CD-R and CD-RW discs with MP3 recordings, "ALL FOR $125 (SUPER PRICE)"[1]. The third blurb was the Panasonic SC-AK200EE-S mini system — a five-disc changer — and the fourth, the LG VCP L214 video player for 2470 rubles, which played back NTSC on a PAL television, with automatic head cleaning and auto-tracking[1].

Further down the page came a list of "ttc Fort brands carried" — 32 brands, from BOSCH, ZANUSSI and AIWA to ZIGMUND & SHTAIN and NARDI; between LG and SONY stood the domestic brand "RUBIN," and Grundig was misspelled as "GRUNDING"[1].

The exchange rate: the 2005 snapshot

By February 11, 2005, nothing remained of the showcase in the preserved text — no products, no news — only the line "Our rate: 31.0 rubles per c.u.," the phone number (8312) 30-00-00, and the same unchanged list of 32 brands[2]. Judging by this line, the store kept its prices in conventional units and converted to rubles at the announced rate.

2007: an online store

The last snapshot shows a full-fledged online store. The window title read "Technolotsman:: Home," although the footer stated "Copyright @ 2006 tts FORT," "tel. (8312) 30-00-00," "Design by Time-A"[3]. The top menu consisted of the sections "Service," "Delivery," "Warranties," "About Us" and "Price List"[3].

The side directory broke the assortment down to a third level: washing machines were divided by loading type and by cabinet depth (up to 35, up to 45, and over 45 cm), refrigerators — down to SIDE-BY-SIDE models, and built-in appliances included DOMINO cooktops. Further on came kitchen hoods, climate control equipment, kitchen appliances from bread makers to deep fryers, "Beauty and Health," vacuum cleaners, irons, audio and video equipment with televisions divided by screen diagonal, video cameras (analog, MiniDV, DVD and HDD), automotive electronics, office equipment and computers (CPUs and motherboards, HDDs, monitors, modems), and even plumbing fixtures — ALVEUS (Slovenia) and BLANCO (Germany) undermount sinks and food-waste disposers[3].

The store's e-commerce fittings were working: a "Your Cart" block reading "0 Items in cart" and "Total: 0.00 Rub.," a profile form with "E-Mail" and "Password" fields, a "Remember me on this computer" checkbox, and "Forgot your password?" and "Registration" links, plus "Recommend," "Print version" and "Add to favorites" buttons[3]. The "Popular Products" block preserved prices from early April 2007: the Whirlpool AWG 236 washing machine — 11,989 rubles, the Hansa FCMW 57032030 gas stove — 10,076, the INDESIT B 16 NF refrigerator with No Frost — 13,476, the 42-inch Sharp LC42SA1RU LCD television — 56,340, the BOSCH PIF 675T01E electric cooktop — 32,476, the THOMAS Twin TT Aquafilter 788530 wet vacuum cleaner — 12,092 rubles[3].

A place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

The site entered this census through the nn.ru directory — "the directory of Nizhny Novgorod websites" — where the listing for the "Techno-Trading Center 'FORT'" appeared in three categories at once within the "Firms (Enterprises)" tree: "Online Stores"[4], "Household Appliances"[5] and "Audio-Video, Photo"[6]. The preserved directory pages are dated September 16 and November 24, 2003. The Counter.nn.ru reading for the listing was 56, counter number 10495[4].

In the "Online Stores" category, sorted by rating, "FORT" ranked thirteenth out of fifty-eight — between the "Simona" household-appliance online store (61) and the "Kedr" enterprise (35); at the top of the same category were GSMPHONES.RU (2142), "Studio Beaumonde" (1846) and "Byttekhnika.RU Nizhny Novgorod" (1221)[4]. In the "Household Appliances" category, out of six listings, "FORT" was second, after the Trading Center "Avrora" on Lenin Square (241)[5], and in "Audio-Video, Photo" — second out of fourteen, after the company "RIAN" (130)[6]. For more on this metric itself, see the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating. In the snapshot of the results table for the Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day, preserved in December 2004, the domain fort.nn.ru does not appear[7]: among the sites of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet noted at the contest, this retail site is not listed.

The domain's fate

The web archive was sparing with this domain: the index for fort.nn.ru holds 27 entries, and only three substantive home-page snapshots survive — from 2002, 2005 and 2007. The last was made on April 3, 2007, and in it the store looks operational: the cart block, the registration form, the catalog with prices[3]. The census materials do not say when or why the site stopped working: by the time the census was compiled, the domain fort.nn.ru was no longer responding, and the census found no trace of a move to another address.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2002 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2005 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, 2007 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — nn.ru directory, "Online Stores" category, snapshot of September 16, 2003 (archive)
  5. web.archive.org — nn.ru directory, "Household Appliances" category, snapshot of September 16, 2003 (archive)
  6. web.archive.org — nn.ru directory, "Audio-Video, Photo" category, snapshot of November 24, 2003 (archive)
  7. web.archive.org — Voting results of the Day of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet, snapshot of December 26, 2004 (archive)