In an interactively intriguing twist, Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) is making Thursdays exciting this holiday season. Every week, the leading online retailer will be posting four product deals on its home page and asking viewers to vote for their favorite offer. The polls close on Tuesday night, and the winning deal goes live on Thursday.
In what Amazon hopes will be a viral boost, voters are encouraged to email the polling page to friends in an effort to "campaign" for their top deal.
So far, so good. The problem is that the deals are so good that Amazon is limiting the quantities. The early front-runner for Thanksgiving is a Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Xbox 360 for $100. Just a thousand of the core systems that normally sell for $299 will be sold at that price. Your chances of getting in? Not too good.
In theory, it sounds like a blend of Woot.com's deal of the day and the even more elusive limited deals that American Express (NYSE:AXP) rolled with last December. It gets hairy here, though, because Amazon is an established retailer. If it angers too many of its patrons -- and you can rest assured that there will be tens of thousands, if not potentially hundreds of thousands of deal-watchers -- refreshing that Xbox 360 page as the seconds tick down to 2 p.m. Eastern time.
It may be worth their time. Priceline.com (NASDAQ:PCLN) established itself as an online travel giant despite a "Name Your Own Price" gimmick that rejected five out of every six requests. The weekly novelty of voting and trying to nab a killer deal will make sure that many online shoppers hit Amazon.com twice a week from now through Christmas.
Is it a gamble worth taking? Perhaps, but it would help Amazon's case if it makes its deals a bit less outlandish -- like suspension bikes for $30 -- so it can fill them up in greater volume.
Don't be a tease, Amazon. Don't be a Grinch.
Priceline and Amazon.com are Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations. Microsoft is an Inside Value selection. Our newsletters always share great investing ideas with you -- all you have to do is try one of them (or any of them!) out free for 30 days.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz probably won't be one of those refreshing the Amazon site for a great deal on Thanksgiving, but that's only because he is unlikely to be near a wired connection at that point. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. T he Fool has a disclosure policy.
