14 DAY TRIAL // Chinese phone maker Xiaomi is facing public criticism after it announced a huge £1 phone sale, only to be discovered that the company actually put just a couple of units up for sale.
Xiaomi said it would be selling phones for just £1 in the United Kingdom as part of a flash sale, but customers then came across evidence pointing to a rather controversial marketing strategy that may end up with the company being investigated by the country’s watchdogs.
Xiaomi’s flash sale included just two or three units of each phone, and the company is accused of displaying the message “sold out” right when the sale was projected to begin.
Twitter user @phil_williams81 discovered code in Xiaomi’s website that indicated the out of stock message was configured to show up on the page right when the sale was scheduled to start.
Wilkin Lee, Sales and Marketing Director UK, explains that this exactly the way the sale worked, as a lottery was then supposed to pick the winners randomly.
“The "£1 flash sale" used our flash sale mode. Of the thousands who clicked "buy" simultaneously, the tie-breaker is done by selecting the winners randomly. Winners will access inventory to add to cart and proceed, which is why there was no call to check stock limit on the page,” he said in a tweet.
Investigation under consideration
Xiaomi also mentioned how many units it would sell at the £1 price as part of the promo, but the details were buried deep in the terms and conditions page. The terms mention the following phones would be sold in the campaign:
12:00 Nov. 9th: Mi 8 Lite 6GB RAM 128GB ROM, Black, 3 units
20:00 Nov. 9th: Mi A2 4GB RAM 64GB ROM，Black, 3 units
12:00 Nov. 10th: Mi 8 Lite 6GB RAM 128GB ROM，Blue, 2 units
12:00 Nov. 11th: Mi A2 4GB RAM 64GB ROM，Gold, 2 units
But according to the BBC, the Advertising Standards Authority's rules state is now looking into the matter to decide whether an investigation needs to be started over how Xiaomi promoted the number of devices to be put up for sale.
“If the ad didn't include significant conditions and the terms and conditions were changed part way through the promotion, then that could potentially be a problem,” a spokesperson was quoted as saying.
Xiaomi also conducted similar sales in other countries, including in Spain, but in most of the cases, more than 50 units were included in the promo.