From e-commerce to cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence, the American multinational company Amazon.com, Inc. has pretty much everything under its roof.
Since its introduction to the e-commerce industry in July 1994, by founder Jeff Bezos in the US, the company has grown into a very influential and valuable brand with a long list of subsidiaries that includes Zappos, Audible, Whole Foods Market, Ring, Souq, and many more. As of 2021, the company has over 89 retail stores.
Does Amazon Own Woot
Woot! Founded in 2004, was then an original American daily deal and offers a site for buyers with different products on offer every 24 hours. On certain days, special Woot-Offs, multiple daily deals, and short-term deals are updated on their website. In short, Woot is a persuader that convinces you that you need what they have to sell, like electronics, household goods, apparel, and more.
In addition to the main website, Woot also has several related sites such as Tools.woot, Sport.woot, Home.woot, and a few others that were eventually shut down, like Deals.woot, and Kids.woot.
On June 30, 2010, Amazon bought Woot for $110 million, despite them hosting a similar clearance sales service on their website on almost the same products. The terms of the deal remain undisclosed, yet several hypotheses and judgments have it that Amazon aimed at scooping up Woot’s registered users.
Reasons Amazon May have Bought Woot
After analyzing the possible reasons, the inference states the following as the possible causes for Amazon’s acquisition of Woot:
- Strengthening of the team – Woot’s marketing techniques were always a hit, and that came from the smart, energetic workforce that Amazon wanted to have to build a dream team that implemented newer techniques faster.
- Competition – Although Amazon had much more stability and wider stability than its old competitor Woot, the latter still has a lot of eyes on them because of its strong dead-simple concept in business, which is the best strategy so far. Amazon with all sorts of expertise to develop this to its best saw a really good opportunity to make a fortune from it.
- Stock price and being live – for MNCs like Amazon, steady cash doesn’t impress their investors, so they are interested in acquisitions and mergers that keep money moving. As far as Amazon is concerned, they already have a lot of subsidiaries.
- Impulse shoppers – Many Woot users, irrespective of age or gender, are persuaded by the offers that Woot presents, which Amazon failed to do. The merger could bring Amazon all those impulse buyers, further adding to the sales.
Using Amazon’s Woot
To sign up for Woot, you could either create an account directly using a username, password and email ID or use the “Login with Amazon” option if you are already an account holder on Amazon.
There are several privileges that Amazon Prime members get on Woot, including free delivery on Woot! and free express shipping on Shirt.Woot!
Woot offers a return policy that holds for 30 days since delivery and gives you a full refund. Woot now offers products at a lower price than earlier and yet still makes a notable profit.
A few of the reasons why people go for Woot are the impressive deals, the Woot blog, which is a combo of humor, games, trivia, and pop culture, along with the product listing, member-inclusive community, and the satisfactory return policy.
Conclusion
After Amazon undertook Woot, they remained as an independent subsidiary with much of their previous staff until 2014, when Woot CEO Matt Rutledge announced that Woot’s successor website would soon be up, as he was unhappy with the changes Amazon had made.
It kept on losing a few of the employees of Woot for some time. Through the sale of even trivial items, the company began turning straw into gold. Although a few inefficient ideas were tried and eventually dropped, the sale was never down for Amazon.
The company now has around 140 employees and net sales of approximately 386 billion U.S. dollars as of 2020, with around 150 million users seeking its services.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Are Woot products new?
Since its takeover in 2010, Woot has made offers for the products housed by Amazon too. Though this includes factory-conditioned or refurbished products, the goods sold on woot deals are mostly new, which run out of stock in a whoosh.
- Can I pay with Amazon on Woot?
With the recent update, users can directly place orders before the deal closes as Amazon Pay is live on woot. This way, you can make sure that you don’t miss your favorite lightning deals. Other means of payment are via Discover, MasterCard, American Express, and VISA.
- Are Woot items returnable?
Many of the products sold on Woot can be returned within 30 days of delivery for a full refund, which will be credited as soon as the product reaches Woot. If the product isn’t having any issues, you will be charged the prepaid cost of shipping.
