Samsung

History of Samsung;
In 1938, Lee Byung-chull (19101987) of a large landowning family in the Uiryeong
County moved to nearby Daegu city and founded Samsung. Samsung started out as
a small trading company with forty employees located in Su-dong (now Ingyo-dong).
It dealt in locally-grown groceries and made noodles. On March 1, 1938, founding
chairman Byung-Chull Lee started a business in Taegu, Korea, with 30,000 won. At
the start, his business focused primarily on trade export, selling dried Korean fish,
vegetables, and fruit to Manchuria and Beijing. In little more than a decade,
Samsung which means "three stars" in Korean-would have its own flour mills and
confectionery machines, its own manufacturing and sales operations, and ultimately
evolve to become the modern global corporation that still bears the same name
today.
Introduction of Samsung;
Samsung was founded by Lee Byung-chul in 1938 as a trading company. Over the
next three decades, the group diversified into areas including food processing,
textiles, insurance, securities and retail. Samsung entered the electronics industry in
the late 1960s and the construction and shipbuilding industries in the mid-1970s;
these areas would drive its subsequent growth. Following Lee's death in 1987,
Samsung was separated into four business groups Samsung
Group, Shinsegae Group, CJ Group and Hansol Group. Since 1990s, Samsung has
increasingly globalized its activities and electronics, particularly mobile phones and
semiconductors, have become its most important source of income. Notable
Samsung industrial subsidiaries include Samsung Electronics (the world's largest
information technology company measured by 2012 revenues, and 4th in market
value), Samsung Heavy Industries (the world's 2nd-largest shipbuilder measured by
2010 and Samsung Engineering and Samsung C&T (respectively the world's 13th
and 36th-largest construction companies). Other notable subsidiaries
include Samsung Life Insurance (the world's 14th-largest life insurance
company) Samsung ever land (operator of ever land Resort, the oldest theme park in
South and Cheil Worldwide (the world's 15th-largest advertising agency measured
by 2012 revenues).
Vision of Samsung;
As stated in its new motto, Samsung Electronics' vision for the new decade is,
"Inspire the World, Create the Future.

Mission of Samsung;
Samsungs mission seems focused in building its brand and Becoming a creative
leader in new markets. It looks like Samsung is setto change its reputation of being
fast followers, a company that succeeds through watching others pioneer new
technologies and markets and then rush in behind. This was seen when Samsung
lost a high profile case to iPhone after being accused of the companys phones were
iPhones rip-offs that violated a number of patents .In spite of its success, Samsung
still lags behind Apple in terms of which is the most innovative company. In its
mission to capture the title of being creative leader in the Smartphone market
Samsung leaders believe they must fundamentally transform the companys culture
and strategies. By doing R&D, Samsung will be able to control its destiny.
Marketing Mix;
Samsung has a vast product portfolio and its presence is in several different product
categories. The brand image driver for Samsung are the Samsung Smartphones
such as the Samsung note series or the Samsung galaxy series. Overall, Samsung is
present in the following product categories.

A; Products in the marketing mix of Samsung

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Tablets
Mobile phones Smart phones, normal phones,
Televisions LEDs, LCDs. Plasma TV, SMART TV, HDTV etc
Cameras and Camcorders
Refrigerators
Air conditioners
Washing machine

8) Microwave ovens
9) IT Laptops, printers and accessories
The benefit of Samsung in terms of its product is that there is a trust on all Samsung
products because of the way Samsung products have performed in the last few
years. Problems with the products has been negligible. And with its Smart phones,
Samsung has achieved a status symbol for its customers. At the same time,
Samsung is known for its service and people know that Samsung gives a very fast
service for any of its product. Thus in the marketing mix of Samsung, the product
portfolio is one of the strongest point for Samsung.

B; Price in the marketing mix of Samsung

Because of its presence in different product categories, Samsung uses various
pricing strategies. We can divide the pricing strategies and match it with the
products that it is used for;

Skimming price
Samsungs smart phones are one of the best in the market and are the market
leader in terms of the features and USPs that they provide. The recent Samsung
Note 3 + Gear is another entrant in the market which is catching peoples eyes.
Thus Samsung uses Skimming price for these products wherein it tries to get a high
value in the start before competitors catch up. Once the model is old or any
competitor has launched a similar product, Samsung immediately drops the price.

Competitive pricing
For products other than smart phones, Samsung uses competitive pricing.
Televisions, air conditioners, refrigerators and other products have competition in
the form of Panasonic or LG. Samsung is known to be a great brand but it is not
greater than LG for home appliances. In fact LG beats Samsung where home
appliances are concerned. Similarly in Washing machines Whirlpool, and in
Cameras Cannon, are the brands which are to be beaten. Thus in various
categories, Samsung keeps competitive pricing so as to beat the competitor.

C; Place in the marketing mix of Samsung

Samsung is present through various channels in the market. It works on the channel
concept wherein there are three segments. Sales and service dealers, Modern retail
and Distributors. The sales and service dealers handle key accounts for Samsung
and are involved in corporate sales. These dealers may also open exclusive
Samsung showrooms. The Modern retail segment includes large retailers like Croma,
Hyper city, Vijay sales, Viveks and any others who are present in the modern
electronic retail chain. Samsung being such a branded product, the retailers are
bound to keep Samsung as an alternative for their customers. The distribution
network is the most interesting in the case of Samsung. In several cities, Samsung
has a single distributor through whom they distribute throughout a territory. For
example; In Mumbai, Samsung has SSK distributors who are distributors for all

Samsung products. This distributor has a huge investment in Samsung and both,
the distributor and the company, go hand in hand for the sale of Samsungs
products. Thus all material of Samsung will be sold to a single distributor who in
turn will sell it forward to retailers.

D; Promotions in the marketing mix of Samsung

Samsung uses multiple forms of promotions. Samsung as a company believes in
pulling the customer to themselves through advertising but at the same time uses
strong tactics to push the product to the customer through sales promotions. Thus
on one hand, Samsung uses various marketing vehicles across the year covering
festive season as well as non-festive time. On the other hand, it gives many offers
and discounts to its trade partners to motivate them to sell Samsung above
competition. With such a strategy, Samsungs brand is on the rise so that both, the
pull as well as push strategy is working simultaneously in Samsung.
Strategic, Targeting & positioning of Samsung;

In term of segmentation there are hardly no geographic base and demographic. People from
different areas in diverse situations are able to enjoy a Samsung Galaxy Gear, thus at least
substantial segmentation attraction that the purchase power is big enough has been guaranteed.
Influenced by psychographic variables, people believe Samsung Galaxy Gear had experienced a
long and honor history and improve continuously, and thousands of millions of customers are
using it. Hence the public feel that Samsung Galaxy Gear is a trustworthy product. Specific to
behavioral base, people learn to use Samsung Galaxy Gear as a multi-functional product, such as
time displayer, whether report, notebook, phone call etc. With this effective but light product,
people go more smoothly and save time. Samsung Galaxy tends to reshape customers behavioral
to create a new modern lifestyle relying on its Gear Product.
Samsung Galaxy is targeting to people who are enjoying with a rapid pace of life, but able
to fit in a modern hi-technic lifestyle.
Positioning statement. Samsung Galaxy Gear is a light but multi-functional product that
provides various daily service to make our life easy but more effective.
SWOT Analysis of Samsung;

Strengths;

 Samsung is the worlds most successful electronics manufacturer. It is

the worlds largest manufacturer of television sets, liquid crystal
display (LCD) panels, mobile phones and smartphones.
Samsung is the worlds number one marketer of mobile phones with
21.4% of the worlds largest market share in the second quarter of
2015. Apple is number two with 13.9%.
Samsung has impressive research and design capabilities. It was able
to create and roll out Samsung Pay, a payment app with similar
capabilities to Apple Pay, in less than a year. Samsung has been able to
replicate many of the capabilities of both Apple Inc.s phones and
Google Inc.s Android operating system for mobile devices.
Samsung has strong manufacturing and marketing capabilities.
Samsung has long-standing relationships with retailers in the United
States and Europe that provide a steady sales channel for its products.

Weaknesses;
Samsung has not been able to match Apple
Inc.s marketing capabilities for smartphones. Its share of the U.S.
smartphone market fell by 2.3% between 2014 and 2015. In contrast,
Apples share price grew by 34.9%.
Some Chinese competitors are catching up to Samsung in the
smartphone market. Between 2014 and 2015 Huaweis share grew by
48.1%, and Xiaomis share grew by 29.4%.
Samsung is heavily dependent upon consumer electronics sales in
markets with limited potential for growth, such as the United States
and Europe, for much of its revenue.
Samsungs devices use the Google Android open source operating
system. Many consumers seem to view Android as an inferior product
to Apples iOS. The public has not been as accepting of Android as the
tech community has.
Some consumers view Apple products as more advanced and
dependable than Samsung products.
Samsungs marketing efforts are not as sophisticated as Apples.

Opportunities;
Growing market for smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices,
especially in developing regions such as Africa and India, where
consumers are unfamiliar with PCs. Sales of tablets finally overtook
sales of traditional personal computers in 2015.
Increased demand for tablet and smartphone-based solutions such as
Samsung Pay.
New technologies such as wearable tech.

 Growing middle class in developing world will increase market for

consumer electronics.
Growing online market from sales channels such as Amazon.com.

Threats;
Apple has emerged as the dominant smartphone and tablet brand in
some markets, such as the United States. Samsung has not been able
to overcome Apples reputation for reliability.
Apples reputation for quality, reliability and sophistication seems to be
growing.
The Google Android operating system, which Galaxy devices depend
upon, is not as popular with average people as iOS is.
Declining or stagnating middle-class incomes in North America and the
United States could reduce consumer buying power in those key
markets for Samsung.
Chinese manufacturers such as Huawei and Xiaomi could emerge as serious rivals
to Samsung. These companies share of the critical mobile device market is growing
while Samsungs is falling.
Apple could enter more consumer products areas such as home appliances and
cameras and directly compete with Samsung in those markets.
PEST Analysis of Samsung;

Political;
In most of the markets where Samsung operates, the political environment is
conducive to its operations and though there are minor irritants in some of the
foreign markets like India, overall Samsung can be said to be operating in markets
where the political factors are benign. However, in recent months, it has faced
significant political headwinds in its home country of South Korea because of the
countrys tensions with North Korea wherein the company has had to take into
account not only the political instability but also the threat of war breaking out in
the Korean Peninsula. Apart from this, Samsung faces political pressures in many
African and Latin American countries where the political environment is unstable
and prone to frequent changes in the governing structures. Of course, this is not yet
a major cause for worry as the company has more or less factored the political
instability into its strategic calculations.

Economic;
This dimension is especially critical for Samsung, as the opening up of many
markets in the developing world has meant that the company can expand its global
footprint. However, this dimension is also a worry since the ongoing global
economic crisis has severely dented the purchasing power of consumers in many
developed markets forcing Samsung to seek profitable ventures in the emerging

markets. The key point to note here is that the macroeconomic environment in
which Samsung operates globally is beset with uncertainty and volatility leading to
the company having had to reorient its strategies accordingly. The saving grace for
the company is that it has adjusted rather well to the tapering off of the consumer
disposable incomes in the developed world by expanding into the emerging and the
developing markets. Indeed, this is the reason Samsung has begun an aggressive
push into the emerging markets in the hope of making up for lost business from the
developed world.

Socio-Cultural;
Samsung is primarily a South Korean Chaebol or a family owned multinational. This
means that despite its global footprint it still operates from the core as a Korean
company. Therefore, there are several aspects to its global operations some of
which include adapting itself to the local conditions. In other words, Samsung being
a Global company has had to act locally meaning that it has had to adopt a Global
strategy in many emerging markets. Apart from this, Samsung has had to tailor its
products to the fast changing consumer preferences in the various markets where it
operates. The key point to note here is that Samsung operates in a market niche
that is strongly influenced by the lifestyle preferences of consumers and given the
fact that socio cultural factors are different in each country; it has had to reorient
itself in each market accordingly.

Technological;
Samsung can be considered as being among the worlds leading innovative
companies. This means that the company is at an advantage as far as harnessing
the power of technology and driving innovation for sustainable business advantage
is concerned. This has translated into an obsessive mission by the company to be
ahead of the technological and innovation curve and a vision to dominate its rivals
and competitors as far being the first to reach the market with its latest products is
concerned. however, as we shall discuss later, this has also resulted in the company
cutting corners with its imitation of the legendary Apples product design and this
has brought legal and regulatory scrutiny and troubles for the company. There is a
lesson here for other technology driven companies from Samsungs experiences
and it is that no matter how fast you are to reach the consumer in this age of Big
Bang Disruption, doing the basics right is still the key to success.
Marketing & Promotion Strategies;

High end market.

First company to top $10 billion in revenues from the TV market alone.
Strong brand image.
Brand ambassador: Amir Khan.
Organizing contests like Samsung mobile karaoke festival
Opening the Samsung fun club for better customer relationships.
Free online software updates, tutorials and customer service.

Conclusion about Samsung;

Samsung is rapidly capturing the market shares. Company is learning from

its past mistakes and trying to overcome their weaknesses. Soon it will
become market leader if it will work on the same pattern.