2008 not only was another record year for Woot! but also a year of optimization in every respect.
For the first time since 2004, the Woot! team didn’t launch any new sites and instead dedicated its energy to building up and stabilizing their existing sites (Woot!, Wine.Woot!, Shirt.Woot!, Sellout.Woot!).
Where Woot! fought every month for its successes in 2007 (see 2nd chart below), a cornucopia of optimization measures significantly stabilized the situation in 2008:
The only substantial disappointment of 2008 was the month of May (9% below the previous year), when Woot! lost previously reliable bestsellers (with expected revenues of over $500,000) and had to settle for a topseller of the month which brought in a relatively weak $357,000.
With some difficulties remaining in June (3% below the previous year), Woot! stabilized from July onwards and even posted revenues in September that were over 50% better than the (admittedly weak) previous year.
Relative to the orderly 2008 fiscal year, 2007 was for Woot! a rollercoaster ride: Woot! at that time regularly made up to 50% or more of their monthly revenues just shortly before the end of the month. The overall picture was accordingly bumpy.
The revenue chart for 2007 (below) shows neither continual growth (as we know from the likes of Etsy & Co.), nor a seasonal pattern such as typical with classic (online) commerce. The first such patterns are only apparent in the 2008 chart above.
Woot! appears to be getting its business more and more under control. Therefore it can doubly benefit from the experiences of the previous years – the core business is still growing. And a one day record of $1.9 million in 2008 (compared to $1.3 million during 2007) shows: there’s still room to grow.
Originally posted in German by Jochen Krisch, translated by Jason Soo.
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