Disappointingly for fans, Xiaomi has not managed to get 32 GB variants for its fourth flash sale of Redmi Note 3 in India and, by the looks of it, for the next one too.
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UDPATE: The company is reportedly planning to hold a huge open sale of 32 GB Note 3 next week. Read that story here.
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Last week, it had assured fans that more stocks are on their way: “We are indeed going to bring in the 32GB very soon. Hang in there, the beast is already on its way.” But this week’s flash sale did not see any 32 GB variants.
The company is now promising more stocks will be available in April.
“We have just confirmed that more 32GB units will be arriving very soon – as soon as early April,” it said in its latest update.
However, Amazon is advertising only the 16 GB model for its sale on Apr 6 (see photo above).
The Redmi Note 3 sale in India is threatening to turn into a public relations disaster for the company unless it manages to quickly assuage its fans.
One of the ways in which it could do it is by launching the Mi5 at cheaper than expected rates.
If Xiaomi prices the Mi5 at Rs 19,999, some of the demand for Redmi Note 3 may go in that direction, though not much due to the price difference.
Xiaomi announced a price of Rs 11,999 for the Redmi Note 3 32 GB — which was much much lower than the expected tag of Rs 16,000.
According to industry sources, part of the reason why the low price had to be announced was because of a similar move by fellow Chinese rival LeEco, which started selling its comparable model – Le 1s – at just Rs 10,990.
If Xiaomi had priced the Note 3 above Rs 13,000, it would have found buyers hard to come by as the Le 1s comes with a more powerful processor and certain features that RN3 does not have.
However, after announcing a cheap price, the company has not been able to meet even 5% of the demand.
And that’s bad news, considering that LeEco is gearing up to launch the successor of Le 1s — the LeEco Le 2s — next month. The 2s has a rumored glass back, and a more powerful processor, the Snapdragon 652.
According to our survey, 96-97% of those interested in Redmi Note 3 were looking to buy the 32 GB version. However, going by the number of reviews, the company has so far sold only 2,000-4,000 units of the model so far.
In other words, assuming a demand of 1 mln, Xiaomi has not even catered to 1% of the demand.
In comparison, against an expected initial demand of around 250,000 for LeTV Le 1s, LeEco sold 200,000 32-GB units in the first month — about 100 times more.
This could have big repercussions for the brand, the biggest of which is that people will not be able to predict their chances of getting hold of the company’s products whether or not flash sales happen.
For example, even though it will announce the Mi5 tomorrow — at an expected starting price of Rs 19,999-21,999, many people will wonder whether — after announcing the launch — they will actually be able to buy any phones or not.
The Note 3 problems are also threatening to overshadow its Mi5 launch scheduled for tomorrow.
“MI does not have proper stocks for Redmi Note 3 32 GB editions and now they are ready to sell Mi5,” noted fan Mohammed Asif on Facebook.
“My humble request to MI don’t start selling the product when you don’t have stocks, by this you are just making your fans fools and also your fans are losing hope in you.”
Fan Amol Adhav had this to say: “You people are just launching phone with ltd no of stocks and then acting like u have sold lot of phones, y dont u launch 32 gb grey redmi note 3?”
Meanwhile, Reliance Jio — the biggest 4G operator in the country — will start giving free SIM cards and data with LYF devices starting next week, but without voice calls or multiple tariff plans.
Reliance will also start an aggressive advertising campaign for its LYF phones from next week — which will increase competition for Redmi Note 3.
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