One of the up-and-coming aspects of the industry of retail is the aspect of "social shopping." A new internet retailer called Woot.com is a one-deal-a-day website that sells excess inventory products for very discounted prices. The products can vary from kids' toys to digital cameras, to HDMI cables or t-shirts. Founded by Matt Rutledge, the company was recently bought by Amazon.com. Though the two are going to continue working independently, Woot may gain some more influence due to the connections it is forming with such a high-profile site.
Since the creation of the main site, Woot has also created a few subsites/spinoffs, such as Woot Shirt, Wine Woot, Sellout Woot, Kids Woot, Deals Woot, and Moofi Woot. These sites have gathered quite a cult following, as they offer a variety of very random products daily, at very good prices. Of course, the site follows its tagline, "One day, one deal," meaning that there is only one item per subsite per day. Products are never announced beforehand either, so it is up to faithful checkers of the site to take the initiative to buy the item.
This way of selling a product may not necessarily revolutionize the way that consumers shop, because of the fact that it is impossible to know what the product being sold is until it is posted on the site. Therefore, the site will likely not cause competition or interference with main online retailers. Still, it has the potential to compete with other similar deal sites, such as overstock.com and others.
As of right now, the site has no customer support service, and does not post sales figures until the item has sold out. It also limits purchases to 3 of the item per customer. It should be very interesting to see how these habits change as the site gains more recognition. The site is unique in its single deal per day sales model, and in its witty blog posts and close community following. Will Woot continue to grow and prosper? Will Woot cause other online retailers to implement a one-deal-a-day special to their sites? I think that Woot is still fairly obscure, but as long as it keeps gaining a tight group of followers, it will be able to continue to add a unique spin to the competition within the retail industry.
Sources: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703426004575339320497483414.html
and Time's Coolest Websites 2005: Shopping
Catherine Reeves
Great post!
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