Stephan Spencer's Scatterings

The Scattered Wisdom of a scientist turned web marketing virtuoso

March 2010
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Die-hard Woot.com addicts swarm the etailer on Christmas Day

What shopper in their right minds would order "Random Crap" from an etailer who describes the offering thusly:

Little do they know, when their packages arrive
They'll open them up and exclaim, "What's this jive?
"I thought I might get a giant-screen TV
Or at least a pair of sunglasses that play MP3s."
Instead they'll find garbage that the city dump
Rejected, so we sold it to you chumps.
And so we exclaim, to those let down by their loot:
"Merry Crapmas to all, and to all a crappy woot!"

Hordes of WOOTAHOLICS, that's who! I just made that word up, to refer to those crazed die-hard addicts of Woot.com who wait up til midnight every night to see what the next day's product is so they can order it before it sells out.

I am not a Wootaholic, but every once in a while around midnight CST I check what's on offer, and for the first time ever I saw the fabled "Bag of Crap" for sale!

Bag of Crap screenshot

I was SO EXCITED to see that fabled brown bag! Until... I noticed the SOLD OUT message. Damn!! Alas, I was too late.

ARRRRGGGGH!

Turns out the entire B.O.C. (affectionately referred to as "Blinged Out Cabbages" to the Wooter insiders) inventory of 3000 pieces was sold out in just ELEVEN MINUTES! Jeez, don't these Wootaholics have anything else to do on Christmas!?!? I wonder if I'm destined to ever lay my hands on a B.O.C.

Ah, to be an etailer like Woot who gets overwhelmed by frenzied mobs of shoppers on Christmas Day. That's brand devotion.

Posted by Stephan Spencer on 12/25/2006 | Permalink

Comments (7)| Comments RSS | Filed under: Online Retail woot, woot.com            

7 comments

  1. Wow. That just leaves me speechless.

    I did get a kick out of the fact that in your possible related posts section, there is a post titled:

    "Teaching kids the value of money"

    I hope that kid got his bike and didn't blow his money on some junk from woot.

    Comment by Tim [Visitor] Email · http://www.saleshub.net — 12/28/06 @ 08:45


  2. Even though the sale time was 11 minutes, if you didn't START the checkout process within the first minute, you would not get a Bandolier Of Carrots. That time is the time for the last paypal to be cleared, when everyone is through checkout. Some people even started the process exactly at midnight, and didn't get one due to server lag. I was not one of those. I got 3 :-P

    I love your blog,
    Jacob

    Comment by Jacob [Visitor] Email — 01/02/07 @ 21:21


  3. Hi Jacob, Glad you got 3. Thanks for stopping by to rub it in! :D

    Comment by Stephan Spencer [Member] Email — 01/03/07 @ 02:11


  4. i have purchased over 70 woot thus far and on Christmas was my first BOC and i just opened the box on friday and yep...it was crap alright, no TV for this wooter. just in case you wanted to know what it was i opened? 3 gel pens, a broken beyond repair doll and a screaming monkey. lucky me!

    Comment by gary [Visitor] Email · http://www.technologytuneups.com — 01/06/07 @ 21:58


  5. I too am an avid wooter. I've been trying for a couple of years to get the BoC but have not been able to. I've missed the last 6 (yes it's sad but I do keep track). If you're really into deal-a-day sites like myself go to www.zerodaydeals.com. It lists a bunch for you and includes thumbnails and brief descriptions.

    Great blog btw.

    Comment by Matt [Visitor] Email · http://www.zonkeypimp.com — 01/13/07 @ 12:59


  6. lol, great story this one :)
    This is the living proof, how a site, how a community can produce the best results and leave thousands of people doing crazy things. Long live the internet :)

    Comment by Jonix [Visitor] Email · http://birds.allaboutthese.org — 02/02/07 @ 13:05


  7. Woot woot! w00t

    Comment by Woot [Visitor] Email · http://www.wootology.com — 04/07/07 @ 15:51


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