Retailers eyeing Woot business model

Conventional wisdom holds that retailers should offer as many choices as their customers might want, and keep them on the shelves for as long as the customers want them. But the Texas-based e-tailer Woot has turned that wisdom on its ear with an unusual business model, and last week the country's largest closeout retailer followed suit with its new e-commerce initiative.

Each day at midnight central time, Woot posts a single item for sale — usually at a steep discount from average retail price — along with the quantity they have on hand. The products range from computers to stuffed monkeys to vacuum cleaners and when they're gone, they're gone, and the site will have nothing else to sell until the next morning.

Ultra-slim inventory and availability isn't the only way Woot deviates from the "basics" — the company also talks down to its customers. Consider this entry from the company's FAQ:

Will I receive customer support like I'm used to?

No. Well, not really. If you buy something you don't end up liking or you have what marketing people call "buyer's remorse," sell it on eBay. It's likely you'll make money doing this and save everyone a hassle. 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.

Woot's editorial staff is obviously candid, and that extends to the product descriptions themselves — negative attributes are often highlighted and become fodder for the writer's narrative. At the site's heavily trafficked forums, user comments and reviews run the gamut from glowing to excoriating.

Woot's site displays up-to-the-minute information on the current product, including inventory levels and how sales are divided geographically. (Click image to enlarge.)

"Woot.com has become an addiction," said advertising executive and avid Woot shopper Todd Greene. "Not just for the deals, but also the community and their irreverent presentation of product. It's one of the few sites, out of hundreds, that I recommend to the widest group of people."

Woot has spawned something of a revolution in online retail, as well as a flurry of imitators. Going Today takes the "one deal one day" model into the realm of musical instruments, Steep and Cheap offers outdoor gear and clothing, and Tramdock sells extreme sports gear. Tracking site DODTracker monitors 75 different deal-of-the-day sites, giving real-time updates on inventory levels.

Conventional retailers are tinkering with the tactic, too. Amazon has taken a similar approach with its Gold Box section, and just last week Big Lots, the largest broadline close-out retailer in the country, launched its new e-commerce site built around a "Deal of the Day" section. The Ohio-based retailer told Business Week that it wanted its site to retain the "treasure hunt atmosphere" of its bricks-and-mortar stores.

story continues below... advertisement     This story and all of our great free content is supported by:     Corporate Safe Specialists | Safes | Cash Management  Take your kiosk to the next level...accept customers' cash and track its flow to the bank.  Enhance your customers' experience while securing your cash.

Product descriptions as experimental art form

A common attribute of many "one deal one day" sites is a whimsical approach to product descriptions. Woot disclaims its descriptions at the bottom of each page, noting that "product narratives are for entertainment purposes and frequently employ literary point of view." A recent deal on a high-end blender was accompanied by a missive from space aliens that wanted to invade Earth but got distracted by the great frozen drinks they were making.

We are beings from other planets, who for many eons of your time have had a weakness for frozen cocktails. The Breville Ikon has a five-speed, 750-watt motor plus presets for crushed ice and smoothies. Its pad is designed without creases for easy cleaning. The Breville Ikon made it so easy to crush the ice for these drinks, and to clean up afterwards, that even our millennia-old willpower could not resist.

"They really make it special to come back each day by being extremely creative," said Woot shopper Keith Pape. "It becomes about the story as well as the product, which is sold out most days by the time I check in at 9 am."

Big Lots too takes the lighthearted approach with its descriptions, even though its entries are considerably shorter than Woot's, whose narratives are often short-story length. A recent Big Lots deal for a purple eight-megapixel digital camera included a note for "all the Barney, Prince and Grimace fans out there ... we all know that purple is the new black and 8 is the new 7."