The Crier

The Wonders of Woot

A disarming online retailer is renewing our faith in worthless crap

Gerald Gordinier · The Exchange · Mar 05, 2007

In this winter of corporate misconduct — amid the storm of insider trading, vodka-urinating ice sculptures and ethically suspect snooping — it’s nice to know that one beacon of commercial genius is here to remind us just why it is that we love to buy worthless crap: Woot.com.

Woot, a disarming little online retailer, offers a new, discounted product every day. The deal stands until the stockroom is empty or the clock strikes 11:59 p.m. Central Standard Time. At midnight, a new deal hits the page and the old offer slips into the void of forgotten cultural ephemera, swirling somewhere alongside yesterday’s news and cootie catchers.

Most companies scramble to cover their product’s flaws; Woot exposes them willingly.

The discounts and products are good, but Woot’s honest business model is the real reason for its success. While stuffier retailers outline product specifications with the humorless drawl of accounting majors, Woot describes theirs with bursts of comic narrative, usually jabbing consumerism, consumers, and the product itself along the way. Most companies scramble to cover their product’s flaws; Woot exposes them willingly, highlighting user comments that point out deficiencies.

And Woot is relentlessly egalitarian. There’s a limited supply of every product and, inevitably, the earliest bird will get the worm (or fajita-maker, whichever is on sale that day). Users on Woot at midnight will have the best chance of nabbing the day’s product. Woot disallows orders of more than three of any product, ensuring that other retailers can’t buy in bulk. Any product might pop up, from DVD players to televisions to scuba gear.

To draw crowds, Woot offers a number of distinctive offers and contests. One of these is the “Woot-Off,” a 12-hour session held every few months, during which a number of products are successively displayed, ending when each item is shown or sold out. Woot also holds photo-shopping contests with nominal cash prizes for the winners, and encourages community with podcasts of eclectic homespun songs — including a pirate theme for all Bluetooth-related products.

Woot isn’t likely to provide you with anything more than unnecessary and often intrusive gadgets. But they do it with style.

One of Woot’s most loveable deals is the one-dollar “Bag of Crap.” Though usually full of worthless trinkets, these brown bags sometimes hold expensive electronics. Woot recommends you buy three to increase your odds of getting a nice prize. These bags sell out in minutes, though, so you’d better act fast.

If that’s not enough to endear you, check out the recently-launched www.Wine.Woot.com. Order, then just sit back and wait: The merlot will come to you. The site encourages activism, asking residents of states that outlaw internet wine purchases to write their local politicians. Don’t worry, though; Michigan is an internet-wine allowed state.

In the end, Woot won’t feed you, clothe you, or provide you with anything more than unnecessary and often intrusive gadgets. But they do it with style. And after all, isn’t that what capitalism is all about?