The first Lenovo K3 Note flash sale is going to kick off in less than three hours, and according to our sources, each person who has registered has a 30% chance to get hold of the phone. In fact, accounting for multiple registrations, chances of getting the phone could be as high as 40%.
“There are about 5 lakh registrations.. stocks are about a third of that,” said a person in the know.
Though it may sound like the odds are against the buyer, the fact is that they are actually much better than they’ve been in recent flash sales.
For example, during most of Mi3 flash sales, the odds of getting the phone was sometimes as low as 1:20, or just a 5% probability. That was because there would be 2 lakh people trying to buy 10,000 units.
To avoid widespread discontent and a social media blowbback as happened in case of Xiaomi, Lenovo has been careful to delay the sale until enough stocks are ready.
Still, even a one-third chance is too less for many.
“Frankly, I would rather that they charge a little bit more, but give an assured product,” said Kishore Narayan, a Delhi-based college student. Narayan has got four of his friends to sign up for the Lenovo K3 Note sale, hoping that at least one of the five people will be able to get hold of one.
Flipkart is likely to keep many on hold to account for cancellations in cases like the above, where more than one person tries to buy for a single individual. As a result, the actual demand for the K3 Note may be less than the 5 lakh figure implied by the registrations.