Introduction
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, South Korean multinational electronics company, has been a major manufacturer of electronic components for five decades. In the 1990s Samsung expanded into the global electronics markets. It is currently one of the world’s largest manufacturers of mobile phones and smartphones. The Company is also a major vendor of tablet computers, particularly its Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Tab collection, and is generally regarded as pioneering the phablet market through the Samsung Galaxy Note family of devices. Not too far ago, Samsung wasn’t as popular as now. They struggled to keep up with the smartphone market, but now Samsung has progressed so much that they are the main competitor of Apple Inc. Besides, Samsung is the largest tech business by revenue and the seventh most valuable brand today. They have 150,00 employees around the globe. Samsung produces various electronic products; mobile phones, tablet PC, laptops and chrome devices, LCD and LED Televisions, cameras, home appliances, and accessories.
Samsung Electronic produced android smart phones; the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Samsung Galaxy S9+ (shortened to S9 and S9+, respectively) as part of the Samsung Galaxy S series. The Samsung Galaxy S9 phone was introduced in 2018 February (Field, 2018), following the analysis of the Samsung’s advertising, packaging and website with application to 4 P’s of marketing.
Save your time!
We can take care of your essay
- Proper editing and formatting
- Free revision, title page, and bibliography
- Flexible prices and money-back guarantee
The enhanced camera and better positioned fingerprint scanner of S9 and S9+ attracted to the customers worldwide. Samsung Galaxy S9 rang bell in head-to-head fight with Apple's iPhone X as it was a faster and notably cheaper challenger to Apple's iPhone X.
The marketing strategy of Samsung
John Dudovskiy said that Samsung spent a total of USD10.2 billion on marketing in 2016. This included USD3.9 billion toward advertisements. Samsung marketing strategy integrates various forms of advertising, events, and experiences, public relations, direct marketing, and personal selling. Samsung marketing strategy is based on the principles of “The Master Brand” and “marketing mix”. It has helped the firm to build trust in every product they manufacture.
The pricing model of Samsung depends on the prices of competitor’s products using two pricing strategies. The first strategy is “Skimming Price Strategy” – Smartphones of Samsung are leading the market with Apple’s iPhone. Like Apple, Samsung also uses skimming price to gain the upper hand over their competitors. For instance, Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are the brand new products of Samsung carrying the slogan “Next is Now” and claiming that they are the most beautiful smartphones ever created. S6 Edge (64 GB) that costs 1,180$ will brilliantly and smoothly sell around the globe. But, when other competitors launch a smartphone with identical features, Samsung lowers the price and easily steal customers from the competitor.
The second strategy is “Competitive Pricing Strategy”. Unlike smartphones, Samsung has difficulties in gaining an edge over its competitors with other products. In terms of home appliance, it can’t possibly surpass LG. Furthermore, in Cameras Cannon and Nikon are leading the market. So, for Samsung to withstand this fierce competition, it introduces a change. Samsung uses major electronic goods retailers such as reliance digital and Samsung Smart Cafes Institutional sales such as the airport, Shopping malls etc.
According to Winer and Dhar (2011), the 4 P’s of marketing include the product’s price, channels of distribution (promotion), actual product, communications and customer relationship management (place). We can have a closer look at value proposition using 4P’s of Marketing for Galaxy S9 as an example. Product; the product is a premium-class smartphone of the global manufacturer Samsung, called Galaxy S9. It has a great camera, face and iris recognition functionality, stereo speakers made by AKG company, many beautiful looks and another dozen of high-quality elements inside and out, which tells an average person that Galaxy S9 is a beautiful and undoubtedly powerful smartphone (“Galaxy S9 | S9+”, n.d.). Price: the price of the Samsung Galaxy S9 is the cheapest among its close competitors, like Apple’s iPhone XS with 25% higher price or Google’s Pixel 3 with 10% higher price (Dolcourt, 2018).
Promotion; Samsung Galaxy S9 used every possible way of promotion. There are billboards on the streets and inside every mall, commercials playing on TV and a lot of paid advertisements in Facebook and Instagram. Place; The communication with customers for the Samsung Galaxy S9 sales is done via two main channels: the website and sales agents inside the retailers’ stores. So, they are communicating the product to every person who is interested in it.
Brand evolution of Samsung comes from innovation. Samsung has launched the newest installment of its episodic consumer-focused ad campaign, “Samsung Within,” an ongoing interactive web and mobile experience series depicting Samsung’s legacy as a company: it’s philosophy, the meaning of its name, and its cultural drive for pursuing relentless innovation and how it’s latest smartphone.
Evaluation of Samsung current marketing strategy and implementation
Samsung use of segmentation strategy by targeting different market segments is working well for them too. Samsung realizes every need in the market and offers products for different customer segments. They have positioned their products well, and they have let their customers know they are offering something for everyone. They have mastered the idea of creating products that are suitable for their chosen market segments, and positioning itself clearly so that customers are aware they recognize their needs. Everyone can see this by how they advertise their products effectively in the market, by clearly communicating how ordinary people can take advantage of the technology they are offering. Most smartphone companies do not communicate the benefits clearly and in a way an ordinary person can understand. Samsung communication strategy in its promotion component of marketing mix shows exactly who they are targeting and what they are offering to the targeted market.
References
- Samsung Electronics - Wikipedia(2019). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Electronics
- Samsung Defies the Elements in New Ad Campaign 'Samsung Within (2019). Retrieved from https://news.samsung.com/us/making-of-make-it-yours-jesse-coulter-samsung-galaxy-s9/
- Samsung Marketing Strategy: The Master Brand · Inevitable Steps(2019).Retrieved from http://inevitablesteps.com/marketing/samsung-marketing-strategy/
- Samsung Marketing Strategy - research-methodology.net https://research-methodology.net/samsung-marketing-strategy-4/
Stuck on your essay?
