Failing online retailer Boxman looks set to go into liquidation, after pulling its website earlier this week.

The CD retailer, which withdrew from its proposed £300m initial public offering earlier this year, wants approval from its investors and creditors to go into voluntary liquidation.

Boxman, one of Europe's largest online CD retailers, said it is also in talks with a potential buyer that might be able to save the company.

If Boxman does collapse it would be the highest profile dotcom failure since boo.com.

Chief executive Tony Salter said the company's problems were caused by a lack of investor confidence in the business-to-consumer sales model. "There is a herd mentality and the herd is stampeding in the wrong direction," he said.

According to Merrill Lynch analyst Peter Bradshaw, Boxman was not badly run as a company, but suffered as investors started to demand profits from online retailers. "It is not in the same class as Boo," he said. "Boxman had a proper business model."

First published on uk.internet.com