Fonterra trims e-costs

By RICHARD WOOD

Dairy giant Fonterra has cancelled a number of content contracts for its RD1.com website in an effort to save $200,000 a year.

Staff cuts are also in train as part of Fonterra's $120 million first year cost-cutting target.

Two of the contracts terminated were with Independent Radio News and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa), which supplied weather information. The aim is to eliminate overlap between RD1.com and Fencepost.com. But the company remains adamant the two websites will not be merged.

Fencepost deals with on-farm issues and RD1 is the website of the Rural Supply Company.

"One is a standalone business, the other the website of another subsidiary," said spokesman Matthew Hooton. "There is duplication between them in terms of content ... and we're going to get rid of that. It's wasteful."

Although the first cuts have been at RD1, Hooton said there was potential for savings at Fencepost.

"They have been in competition, mainly with one another, and while they continue to need to market themselves with clearer roles, there may be some areas that could lead to savings.

"There is little to be saved in terms of website operations or equipment, as both sites will continue to operate."