News

Motorola offers apology, do-over on Cyber Monday promotion

December 3, 2013

Motorola's plan to offer a $150 discount on its Moto X smartphone turned out to be more popular than the company expected. Less than an hour after the sale started, the company acknowledged via Twitter that things weren't working as planned:

Our website is down due to traffic & we're working quickly to restore it. Watch here for updates & for when our Cyber Monday deal starts.

— Motorola Mobility (@Motorola) Dec. 2, 2013

Last night at 10:23, company CEO Dennis Woodside posted a blog offering an apology, and the chance to try again on Wednesday.

Here is what we are going to do: Starting at 12 p.m. EST/9 a.m. PST this Wednesday, we will relaunch the $349 promotion. To help make up for this major inconvenience to shoppers, we will also add an additional promotional day on Monday, Dec. 9. We will double the quantity of phones available, while supplies last, to allow as many people as possible to take advantage of the promotion. We’re also extending the 30 percent off offer on accessories to these two days.

In what is perhaps a sign of the times, Woodside blamed the Monday woes on pre-launch testing that "was not sufficiently extensive."

Read more about retail marketing.