Early this month Xiaomi Taiwan was fined by the FTC for falsely declaring that their Mi3 smartphone sold out in minutes. This was revealed to me by folks from Huawei over lunch earlier this week and asked if there is an FTC equivalent here in the Philippines.
The topic was opened since we broke the news last month that Xiaomi sold about 1,300 of the 2,000 units they had on the second sale.
Lazada, the sold channel for Xiaomi in the Philippines, reached out to us denying the numbers but would not correct our figures even if they declared that the sale of the handsets closed out during that day.
A week later, Lazada went out and declared an Open Sale which supports our earlier story that not all the units were sold out.
Since then (about 37 days) the Xiaomi Mi 3 are still being sold by Lazada with very heavy advertising in Facebook and Google.
This makes us wonder why such a very good product with a very affordable price tag would not sell as much as we’d expect them. It’s probably the familiarity, of lack thereof, of the brand among Filipino consumers.
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Rainbow Rat says:
So it was a publicity stunt by Lazada and Xiaomi? I had friends who we’re ordering that day but at about 3mins past noon, all units were sold out…
Ryotaro Azuma says:
At the first sale, I was able to buy one. I ordered mine 45mins after the sale started. My friend tried to order one by 2pm and the item was already marked sold out. I don’t really know if it’s a stunt or not, but you can clearly see in FB Group that a lot of people really bought Xiaomi Mi3.
awts says:
so meaning lazada denied the out of stock issues? I just don’t get it, denied the availability of the units kahit marami paring gustong bumili? and by the huawei smartphones here in philippines is selling just like as the status of SKK
mike says:
IMO, the first sale is probably legit (or near legit). Since, as stated, they misdeclared the number of units sold during the second sale.
However, the info received was during a lunch conversation, with no real evidence whatsoever. So nothing concrete to backup the story.
I expect tech rumours in Yugatech, but stories like these aren’t really supposed to be out if your source is merely a lunch date with a rival company dba?
Gadgeteer says:
let’s face it, the mi3 was never really a hit with the Filipinos, because of being a single SIM phone, every body has at least 2 Sims. they made it appear to sell out quickly so as to create a hype of being a hard to get phone, thus highly sought after. but the hype didn’t work for the Filipinos, tough luck for xiaomi!!!
Anony Mouse says:
Sadly, daming wannabe tech-heads na Pinoy ang nagpa-uto sa HYPE-er marketing tactics ng Xiaomi — kunwari exclusive sale of very limited stocks at special promo price, para lalong mataranta ang mga atat… FFWD 1 month later at naka-open sale na lang ang mga di pa rin maubos-ubos na stocks ng Mi3. In a couple of weeks ay magpa-price cut na ang Mi3 para lang maubos na ang stocks, habang ita-try na naman ng Xiaomi mag-manufacture ng panibagong HYPE para sa Mi4… At syempre kakagat & magpapa-uto na naman ang mga Pinoy tech-head wannabes diyan. *smh*
boybato says:
last week, i ordered for a xiaomi mi3 phone over at lazada. gusto ko lang kasi ng secondary phone. it was delivered to me 3 days after i made the order (i live here in Baguio). okay naman yung phone, i’m really impressed and satisfied. now i am ditching my samsung duos phone for the mi3. the screen reso is really impressive and the battery is excellent. mabilis ang internet at maganda ung quality ng mga pictures. madali lang din magtext. so far, ala pa naman ako reklamo sa phone na eto. sana lang eh di ako magkaproblema. pero overall eh, masasabi ko na maganda talaga yung design and specs ng mi3.
angelique says:
LOL… the xiaomi hype is very real. good products at very affordable prices. the only problem is with their marketing, printed ads, television and radio is still the best way to put out your product to the filipinos. they have zero marketing muscle in those mediums.
Pogi says:
Kung makahusga naman mga tao dito, basta makapag sabi lang ng negative tungkol sa isang bagay/company tumwang-tuwa na. Kung may marketing stunt man sila, mas malala pa ang stunts ng iba. Na-feel nyo ba na umangat ng isang level pagkatao nyo? Haha! Yung mga nakabili ang uto-uto? Boplaks, KAYO ang uto-uto na naniniwala basta-basta sa trigger lines ng site na to. Kaya bumubuhos ang traffic at kumukita ang mga tech sites na ganito (na walang ginawa kundi gumawa ng chismis may mapag usapan lang) ay dahil sa mga tulad nyo. And you don’t even realize it. ;)Pasalamat si site sa inyo.
archie says:
“revealed to me by folks from Huawei over lunch earlier this week.” A little chit chat from a competitor without evidence is plausible.
Xiaomi should answer these allegations of misinformation or it will hurt their Mi4 sales very bad.
Prince says:
Xiaomi is the only smartphone company that sells their phones almost the same price in any countries. Samsung, LG, HTC, Apple and others sell their phones 10-30% higher here in the philippines because of one simple reason “you do not live in america”. that business model is a good thing aside for the fact that their smartphone specs is unrivaled compared with similar priced rivals. But it is not right to advertise 10,000 phones if you only have 9492 phones. They should have declared 9,500 phones. Even if the difference is only 6% a company should be closer to the truth. I lost trust with other companies because they advertise that their phone is fast but its not, quality is good but its really a piece of crap, worst of all using the same naming brand but with only one letter difference (iphone 5s-5c, htc m8-e8, xperia z-e, galaxy s-y, blackberry z10-q10 lumia 820-620) thinking you’ve got the same quality phones with small price and quality difference only to find out that there is small price difference but there is a big quality difference. People who lost trust will never comeback even if the company decided to change their greediness. Hopefully they will not exaggerate their sales next time. Let others like asus exaggerate their sales and quality because they use crappy atom processors.
Aqua says:
Filipinos maybe are still not used to buying thing on line. While Xiaomi maybe exaggerating their sales.
Easy E says:
This news is almost 3weeks old. http://thenextweb.com/asia/2014/07/31/taiwan-slaps-20000-fine-xiaomi-declaring-number-devices-flash-sales/
The statement of a huawie folk during lunch chitchat was true. I am expecting yuga to ask folks over at xiaomi the real deal about the lazada rumor. Obvously, it was a publicity stunt which is their way of marketing ht eproduct to increase the hype on mi3. I have no problem with the mi3, it was impressive. And hwawei, i think they want xiaomi to be fined here as well.
wew says:
“revealed to me by folks from Huawei over lunch earlier this week.”
Confirm mo kaya muna sa Xiaomi?
Junn Castro says:
Bottom line is… I’m very much satisfied with my MI3 and that’s what counts. I got a flagship-specced phone at almost 1/3 of the price of leading brands. In terms of marketing, it may be deceiving pero ang mahalaga, their phone really delivers the goods ;)
nameless says:
Parang J.CO Donuts lang ang marketing style nitong Xiaomi. Kahit wala naman talagang shortage, pinipilit na magkaroon kunwari. Kailangan pumila kuno para lang makita ng ibang tao na pinipilahan sila.
Yung mga social climber at mahilig sa trends, magpapadala naman at ayaw magpahuli. Kaya effective din ang strategy nila.
none says:
wish paranoia and snobby attitude ng mga nagpapaka patriot daw na di ata alam na karamihan sa mga phone nila eh made in china din.
para di ako mahirapan at maubusan pag na release yung iba pang gadgets ng xiaomi.
:D
rico says:
Sorry xiaomi di mo maloloko ang pilipino, thanks huawei for this! Atleast honest sila i hope asus zenfone would be honest too…this would create a large opening for its competitors… i smell blood!
mi ph says:
sorry huawei pinalitan ka na xiaomi sa globe at smart postpaid plans lol…
boybato says:
@archie: agree. just because ang source ni yugatech eh si huawei eh si huawei na ang honest (basahin muli ang comment ni rico). besides, the news has been posted sa isang website : http://thenextweb.com/asia/2014/07/31/taiwan-slaps-20000-fine-xiaomi-declaring-number-devices-flash-sales/
anyway, kahit ano pang sabihin ni huawei, nilamon na siya ni xiaomi in terms of market share. besides, the $20,000 fine (if i am not mistaken) imposed on xiaomi is nothing compared doon sa kanilang global sales. kumbaga eh it will not have a major impact on their income.
geogetski666 says:
he only thing that’s making this mi3 not sell like hot cakes is the measly 16gb rom XD and no expansion slot nuff said and release the kernel source code people like aosp better than muiu :))