Woot

Woot, Inc.
	File:Wootlogo.gif
Company type	Private
Industry	Retail
Founded	2004 Dallas, TX
Headquarters	Dallas, TX
Key people	Matt Rutledge, Founder & CEO
Products	Electronics, Household Goods, etc.
Revenue	approx. $40 million annually
Number of employees	25-30
Website	www.woot.com

Woot is an internet commerce company based in Dallas, Texas, which operates a web site of the same name. Founded by electronics wholesaler Matt Rutledge, the site debuted on July 12, 2004, with a unique business model, offering one discounted product per day, instead of the wide range of choices available through traditional online retailers such as amazon.com. Woot’s novel, irreverent approach quickly attracted a robust community of customers, who share their opinions on the site’s community forums. Product selections tend to emphasize (but are not limited to) computer components and electronic gadgetry, all sold at closeout prices.

Woot takes its name from the widely-used online interjection “w00t!” Each product sold is referred to as the woot.

Sales model

Woot's tagline is "One Day, One Deal". Generally, Woot offers one product per day, seven days a week, until its stock of that item is sold out or the product is replaced at midnight central time with the next offering. If a product sells out during its run, the next item still does not appear until midnight, except during Woot-Offs (described below). Products are never announced beforehand and often sell out in a few hours or even minutes of frenzied buying. In contrast to a market characterized by ever-expanding consumer choice, the Woot.com approach relies on the elements of simplicity and surprise.

Customers may buy up to three of the day's item. Woot does not reveal how many units remain available in a given sale, but animates the "I Want One" button when 10 percent or less remains. Woot does list how many products were available after they are sold out.

Shipping is a flat rate of $5.00 per order, regardless of quantity of items purchased, size and weight of purchase, or shipping destination (as long as that destination is in the continental US).

Marketing style

The company’s marketing style runs counter to conventional wisdom in other ways. Typically, product descriptions will mock the product, the customer, or Woot itself. Product drawbacks are preemptively acknowledged and buyers are advised to beware. Community users often do their own research and post their opinions – positive, negative, or indifferent – on the user forums.

Special Events

Woot often has special sales events.

Woot-Off

The site will occasionally deviate from the one-product-per-day model for a “Woot-Off,” where a succession of products are available during the same 24-hour period. This mode is indicated by rotating lights and a bar indicating the usually unknowable amount of product remaining. Each product is sold in smaller quantities and is replaced by a new product 5 minutes after selling out.

Bag O’ Crap

In lieu of typical product sales, Woot occasionally offers the “Bag O’ Crap” (or “BOC”), a blind grab-bag that randomly includes bigger-ticket electronics items. The BOC costs $3.00 and typically sells out within minutes amidst a frenzy of ordering.

Mystery Brand

Occasionally, Woot will offer a "Mystery Brand" product, such as the "Mystery Brand 6 Piece 100 watt Speaker Set".

Launch Event

On a few occasions, Woot has partnered with another company to launch a new product on its website. This "Launch Event," designated by an animated rocket ship, indicates Woot is the first and only place (at that moment) that you can get the sale product.

Photoshop contests

Woot also offers Photoshop contests every weekend, with cash prizes going to the top 3 entries. The worst photoshopped entry is often awarded a 'screeching monkey' prize.

Certain images recur in contest entries. "Brave Woman", the name of one such image, is a woman who originally appeared in conjunction with the sale of the "Ab Tilt Abdominal Exerciser with Backrest".

Statistics

Currently

As of 11 October 2005, Woot had 200,000 registered users.

September 2005

On 20 September 2005, a post in the Woot Blog provided several statistics about Woot sales, including the following:

On average, 62% of customers buy 1 of an item, 14% buy 2, and 24% buy 3.
On average, 27% of sales occur in the first hour. The next highest sales (8%) occur at 7 am Central time.
The top 5 states ranked by woots purchased per capita are:

- Nevada - 1:637
- Washington - 1:828
- Maryland - 1:865
- California - 1:876
- Utah - 1:893

July 2005

On 26 July 2005, a post in the Woot Blog provided several statistics about Woot customers, including the following:

One wooter has purchased 338 products from 114 different woots.
The top spender (a different user) has spent $16,285.62.
37 users have "poop" in their username.

During a sale

During a sale, clicking on the "Product Stats" tab will reveal the "percentage of each quantity purchased," the "percentage bought per hour," and the "purchaser seniority" (which is how long each purchaser of the product has been a Woot.com member).

After a sale

After a sale, the item's page in the Woots forum will usually list the:

item quantity
last order time
"Woot Member to blame" (user who last purchased the item)
order pace
"Woot Wage" (a calculation of how much revenue Woot made per hour based on the order pace)

Related services and applications

Community members have contributed back to the site by offering Woot-related services. One of the popular ones is an alert service called WootAlerts, which sends out email and SMS alerts when the next Woot product is listed. Others include a forum to swap Woot-purchased items, an Apple desktop widget, an IRC bot that spits out the product name, and other programs that monitor what item Woot is selling.

External links

General

Articles

Related services and applications