After hyping the first ‘open sale’ of LeTV Le 1s for days, it looks like the Chinese firm either didn’t have enough stocks or didn’t anticipate the kind of demand that the phone will see.
Either way, stocks of LeEco’s first ‘open sale’ ran out within minutes, with many so-called ‘super fans’ turning into ‘super angry fans’.
“First make enough quantity available. THEN CELEBRATE SUCH SALES,” said an obviously angry not-so-super fan Ravikant, echoing the widespread sentiment on social media right now.
Many had high hopes from the company simply because it had made huge numbers of phones available in the first three flash sales.
The company saw 2.2 lakh orders placed within the first three flash sales and is expected to have sold around 2 lakh units.
Total demand, as gauged from registrations for the sale, was around 2 mln on Flipkart.
However, LeTV seemed to have assumed that the first 2 lakh units have managed to cater to the really desperate fans of Le 1s, and it would be able to deal with the remaining demand using the normal sale procedure.
In a bittersweet revelation for the company, it looks like demand for the phone is anything but subdued.
Chances are that the company put up only around 1 lakh units for its ‘open sale’, while at least 2-3 lakh people would have bought the handset today.
Part of the reason why demand remains high, even after nearly a month of the introduction of the device, is word of mouth. Many people wait till enough number of user reviews come in and then place their order.
In addition, there is also the rub-off effect, where people see the LeTV Le 1s in the hands of their office colleagues and friends, and decide they want one for themselves.
All said, the ‘open sale’ fiasco is leading to a lot of heartburn among fans. These fans never complained of not getting handsets when the company was holding flash sales, as it is expected that stocks will be limited.
But for open sales, stocks are supposed to last at least 1 day.
“Why so much advertising n marketing if stocks r not there?? Very disappointing,” asked another fan.
“I have added to cart today morning… But after 20 mins it is showing out of stock and there is mo mobile in mah cart… What is going on guyzz? This is not fair,” complained Rudraprasad Nanda.
“It is out of stock….then what is the meaning of Ececo day?” asked Jitendra Goyal.
For now, there is no word from the company on when the stocks will return. Usually, it takes a week for stocks from China to arrive.
Meanwhile, many 1s users have got a software update from the company meant to smooth out some rough edges from the phone. Display brightness and camera image quality are two things that have been fixed by the OTA update.
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