Online reseller Rankhour has become the latest casualty of the credit crunch after filing for administration.

The Tottenham Court Road-based VAR, which also has a warehouse situated in Waltham Abbey, has ceased online trading and made its 40 staff redundant.

Many of Rankhour’s distributors have retention of title, which means stock will be returned over the next few weeks. The remaining stock will be sold at auction.

Nitin Joshi, founder and director of advisory service ChannelMoney, said: “It is a great shame. Rankhour has been going for some 18 years. It is a case where an informal arrangement might have worked.

“There seems to be a fair amount of stock which will be returned under retention of title,” he added.

A representative from Rankhour, told CRN: “Rankhour is very disappointed because the business has been built up since 1990. It is contacting all of its suppliers to help minimise their loss.”

Distributor Bell Micro removed its credit line with Rankhour in 2005, as a consequence of late payments.

Eddie Pacey, director of credit at Bell Micro, said: “It shows the pressure that exists with companies such as Rankhour. Firms like this will take fairly easy falls and we will no doubt see many more follow.”

Joshi agreed, saying: “Heavy borrowing does not lend itself to this model and with continuing margin pressure, there will be others.”

Stewart Hayward, sales director at online VAR WStore, said resellers should always look to expand their business models.

“Resellers need to move with the times and add extras such as services, storage and online availability to survive,” he said.