<![CDATA[Gawker: valleywag, woot]]> http://tags.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gawker.com.png <![CDATA[Gawker: valleywag, woot]]> http://gawker.com/tag/valleywag/woot http://gawker.com/tag/valleywag/woot <![CDATA[Woot.com tries haiku advertising]]> Deal-a-day closeout site Woot.com frequently uses irreverent ad copy when trying to sell products, sometimes going so far as to criticize the product and ask why people would want to buy it. In addition to selling closeout items and t-shirts, Woot uses clever advertising to get you to visit its website. Check out this ad that a tipster spotted in Gmail:

We are Woot.com
Our tiny profit is lost.
Haiku ads don't work.
If I wasn't already a Woot customer, I'd be tempted to click on that ad, to see what it was all about if nothing else — exactly what an ad like that should do.]]>
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<![CDATA[Amazon.com gets a $4 million piece of Woot]]> Woot!Valleywag has learned that Amazon.com has invested $4 million in sale-a-day e-commerce site Woot. The deal gives Amazon right of first refusal to buy the company should Woot hit certain unnamed sales targets, want to go public, or sell to another company. For the most part, the companies operate independently. But there's more to Woot, and its ties to Amazon, than meets the eye.

The company has an extensive back-end sales and distribution network, buying and selling closeout goods to other companies in the industry, including finding items for Amazon to sell on its Gold Box promotion site. It's expanding into T-shirts and wine, as well. Its fulfillment operations are large and sophisticated enough to qualify for FedEx and USPS's SmartPost service (though plenty of users have complained about missed SmartPost deliveries, so that's nothing to brag about). Perhaps the most astounding tidbit of information we got? Woot gets 250,000 views in the first three minutes after midnight from consumers looking to grab the next new item for sale.

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<![CDATA[Microsoft has lots and lots of Zunes to sell — or no one is buying]]> Woot, a lot of ZunesWoot, the deal-a-day online retail site, offered first-generation Zunes for $150 in August — half price at the time. Then in September, Woot offered more Zunes, this time for $129. In October? $99. Are you seeing the pattern yet? Today, Woot is offering black or white Zunes for $150 $129 $99 $84.99. The Zune's price is falling faster than shares of Apple. After the jump, an excerpt from the product description that pretty much sums everything up.

Skeptics will say otherwise. They'll point out how Microsoft made way too many brown Zunes, and the glut of those unloved models has constipated their entire system. They'll drone on about the upcoming release of the Zune 2, and Microsoft's willingness to absorb any cost to grab a piece of the personal media market. They'll do anything but face the truth: that forces beyond our understanding are nudging us all toward Zune ownership, for reasons the human mind cannot begin to comprehend.
Incidentally, it's not uncommon for Woots to sell out within minutes of the offering. Woot seems to have plenty of Zunes on offer. They're still available 17 hours after going on sale.]]>
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<![CDATA[First $150, then $129. Now, Woot, the deal-a-day...]]> First $150, then $129. Now, Woot, the deal-a-day online retail site, is selling the first-gen Zune for $99 to any suckers who overpaid the first two times. No refund this time either. [Woot]

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<![CDATA[Woot has even more Zunes to "give" away...]]> Woot has even more Zunes to "give" away at the bargain price of $129. Apparently the fire sale is to clear shelf space for a rumored Zune 2.0 — though at these prices, who will be left to buy the new version? [Woot]

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