“Holy crap! Woot has signed an agreement with Amazon” is how Woot irreverently announced the company takeover by Amazon. The mainstream press was just as bad with the Guardian headlining the deal as “Amazon snaps up ‘bags of crap’ retailer Woot.com“.
Woot has a reputation for breaking all the rules of ecommerce. They only ever have one item available for sale per day, so the eBay adage of choice, selection and price goes out of the window. However the items offered for sale are always at deep discounts so it’s a bit like a single eBay daily deal with none of the rest of the site.
Communications on Woot are also always a little tongue in cheek. I guess it’s no surprise that today’s Woot offer is for an Amazon Kindle at $149.99 instead of the Amazon price of $189.00, but even selling their new owners product the description is typically Woot – “Yeah, yeah, that’s the real price for a real Kindle. It’s not a typo or a knockoff or some Russian credit-card scam – just a Woot exclusive deal. But, y’know, hurry it up, willya?”
Woot has always been a maverick but interesting ecommerce player. Just how well they’ll fit in the Amazon family remains to be seen. Their customer support is a little different to Amazon’s saying “If the item doesn’t work, find out what you’re doing wrong. Yes, we know you think the item is bad, but it’s probably your fault. Google your problem“. Their shipping options are equally helpful simply stating “An item can ship if you order it, or not ship if you don’t”.
Woot will be run pretty much as it is at the moment, so what are the benefits for Amazon? Well firstly a growing competitor in the ecommerce world is now an Amazon company. Secondly there are about 3 million Woot customers to market Amazon products to and finally Woot could be a great platform to dispose of any excess stock that’s not shifting on the main Amazon platform.
One Response
I’m most excited that we may get to get Amazon referral credits for Woot items now. 🙂