ON THE AFTERNOON OF 22 JULY LAST YEAR, around 200,000 people in India logged on to the website of the e-commerce company Flipkart and watched closely as a timer ticked down to 2 pm. The Chinese electronics company Xiaomi’s first sale in India was about to begin. Customers had heard about the “flash sale,” of the company’s Mi 3 smartphone, through news outlets, online forums and social media; Xiaomi doesn’t do paid advertising anywhere in the world, and it hadn’t done any ahead of its launch in India either. The phone was being sold exclusively through Flipkart, and, as with all the company’s flash sales, interested buyers had to register with the site starting a week before the sale.

When the timer hit zero, a “Buy Now” button appeared onscreen. Of the thousands who clicked it to make their purchase, some were directed to a follow-up page. But many were greeted with error messages, forcing them to return to the sale’s home page and try again. Customers persisted until 40 minutes later, when they saw a message that the phone was out of stock.