Samsung Marketing Plan

Introduction

Samsung Electronics is one of the major companies that design and produce electronic gadgets. It specializes in various merchandises, including mobile and smartphones, home appliances, and television sets with the support of more than 320, 000 employees and over 200 subsidiaries globally. The firm operates in three segments: consumer electronics, IT & mobile communications, and device solutions. For the first quarter of 2018, Samsung Electronics posted KRW 60.56 trillion in consolidated revenue and an operating profit of KRW 15.64 trillion. The bigger part of the returns was generated from the mobile sector and 21 billion dollars from semiconductors (Samsung Newsroom, 2018). The management team has a marketing strategy with the potential to counter competition. Through extensive technological advancements in the electronics industry, Samsung seeks to explore newer innovative capabilities in the quest to meet its clients’ demands. The company concentrates on developing premium goods among them Samsung Galaxy smartphones on the Android operating system that have placed it at the top of the ladder in the IT and communications market. The multinational stays ahead by innovating and ensuring that a new product is always in the market to meet consumers’ expectations.

Product/Service

Samsung deals with high-tech electronics and digital media. The company manufactures TVs, home appliances, communication devices, including mobile and smartphones, cameras, and computers. Its products strive to achieve three primary capabilities: market, product, and people-centered leadership (Michell, 2010). As a result, the firm introduces to the industry high-quality and updated products to remain competitive.

Purpose

The marketing plan has the aim of growing the company’s sales revenue in the three sectors to retain its leadership position in the global market. The management also desires that the firm would become competitive in the creative arena and one of the best workplaces to attract and retain the most qualified and talented team. Therefore, the marketing group should reach the target market and expand to new ones to achieve the objectives.

Audience

Samsung has a global client base, suggesting that the marketing strategy should apply to all the real and potential customers in the three operating segments.

Product’s Life Cycle

Samsung Galaxy smartphones are currently in the maturity stage of the life cycle. The sales of the products are declining as the competition intensifies. From the beginning of 2018, the company’s shares have gone down to about 12 per cent potentially due to its recent lack of technological innovation to drive the performance. In the first quarter of 2018, the launch of the new Galaxy S9 model and robust sales of Galaxy S8 resulted in considerable growth in earnings. However, profitability is expected to decrease in the coming quarters due to stagnant sales of Galaxy S9 flagship model. In the smartphone market segment that accounts for about 40 per cent of its returns, the company faces increasing competition from Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, and other industry leaders (Bhasin, 2018). Although the Electronics section has maintained a leadership position in the global market for the last six years, in the first quarter of 2018, the total shipments dropped, while Apple, Huawei, and Xiaomi sales grew by 1.3 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Marketing Environment

Competitor Analysis

The global market is characterized by brands and companies offering the competing products. Apple is Samsung’s chief rival, especially in the smartphone’s market (Michell, 2010). Samsung Galaxy smartphones are always competing with iPhone. However, other competing brands are evident, including HTC, Huawei, Xiaomi, and Oppo.

Economic Forces

The company’s success depends on the economic stability of its operating environment. For instance, its sales were significantly altered by the 2008 global financial recession, while the revenue is affected in case of a fluctuation of the dollar.

Political Forces

The environment in the countries where the company operates affects its performance. For instance, it is likely to work better in stable markets such as in the Western world compared to the politically unsteady industry like in some parts of Africa.

Legal Forces

The company has been subjected to lawsuits, especially relating to the violation of copyright legislation.

Technological Forces

Samsung is one of the most innovative brands in the industry, with exclusive hardware, software and applications. However, the rapid technological changes affect its IT department due to the need to keep up with the developments. Additionally, such improvements make products cheaper, reducing the company’s sales revenue. The management invests in modern technology to ensure that the company remains competitive.

Sociological Forces

The lifestyle and choices of the consumers affect the sales of the company’s smartphones. The prevailing notion that Samsung produces the best smartphones in the market has always been a selling point for the firm.

Marketing Objectives

Samsung’s marketing objective is to create a brand in electronics that inspires the world and makes the future possible. The goal of the proposed strategy is to offer value to customers such that it expands the market and increases sales revenue to USD 400 billion by 2020. Another objective is to make the Samsung Electronics among the top five globally accepted brands. The management will achieve this initiative by capitalizing on three main pillars of its culture: “creativity, partnership and great people” and through innovative products and processes (Michell, 2010). The firm looks forward to venturing into new areas as the world of technology continue to expand while the customers’ demands increase.

Marketing Management

The sales strategy will take various channels to reach and appeal to the global customers. One of the models is direct marketing that will build stronger and more personal relationships between the company and the buyers. Therefore, the promotion and distribution process will not involve many intermediaries, and the management will communicate with the customers through emails and social media to receive and act upon their reviews and feedbacks. The business will engage in advertising and promotion to reach a huge market, especially when launching new products. Public relations would be part of the marketing mix to build a strong image and reputation that would increase brand loyalty.

Analysis of Web Site

Samsung sells both to customers directly and to other businesses for resale. Therefore, it leverages both the B2B and B2C models. The company has various subsidiaries and corporate partners across the world marketing its products. One of the channels through which the firm advertises its gadgets is through the website, which is its one-stop-shop since it has all the information relating to its innovations. The channel has become one of the most exciting ways for businesses to reach their clients dispersed across geographical space (Gangeshwer, 2013). Customers seeking information relating to any aspect of the firm can visit the website and browse through to gather more details. Samsung’s website is designed adequately to make it highly navigable and with a user-friendly interface. It has a homepage from which the user can locate any item from any of the three segments. For instance, individuals fascinated by mobile phones can get the content on the same and decide the on the product they would wish to purchase. It contains pointers to the existing goods and their availability, primarily targeting the businesses and trade partners interested in bulk purchasing.

The website directs the customers to its products, revealing its interests in the B2C model. For instance, individual clients can visit the internet and find out what the company offers and get information on the new and upcoming inventions to purchase once they are launched. It is among the competing strategies as it gives the real and potential buyers timely records, relating to its products for effective decision-making. However, the social media platform is not always successful in sending the message to the users. While it contains content relating to the innovations and services, it is not a great promotion tool. The site is created for update purposes and not necessarily appealing to the customers to purchase the goods. As a result, a need exists to improve it such that it achieves the promotional goal and increase the sales revenue, even as the smartphones reach a decline in the product life-cycle.

Recommendation for Website

The company should hire media influencers to promote its products on the website and social networks. The actors play an important role in affecting the buying decision due to the information they post on the internet (Tanner & Raymond, 2013). Samsung can ask these parties to take their photos or interact with the firm’s innovative products and feature the unique content on the website. Further, they could post the pictures on social media and personal blogs to reach a huge part of the audience. Users viewing the influencers’ posts should be given the option to click on “Shop Now” link in the caption of the pictures which will redirect them to the website. The company should improve on the B2C model to ensure that it is reaching as many of its customers as possible. In the process, it can support the other businesses that it targets in the B2B approach by marketing its products.

Marketing Mix (4 Ps/7 Ps)

Product

Samsung’s portfolio is vast and contains goods in different sections. The company promises quality in whatever it has created over the years. Tablets, mobile and smartphones, televisions, cameras and camcorders are among its inventions that continue to serve its global customer base. Its innovations have created a strong brand image and a status symbol that remains its strongest point in the marketing mix.

Price

Samsung applies a competitive pricing strategy for all of its products to beat the rivals, including LG and Panasonic. The management also uses a skimming approach for other categories such as smartphones. The company offers expensive products immediately it launches them, but lowers the cost once a competitor brings a similar invention in the market.

Placement

Samsung is a global company; hence, the firm markets its products in different regions of the world.

Promotion

The management team invests in motivation by giving offers and discounts to its trade partners. It applies strong tactics to promote its products and invest in advertisement to appeal to more customers and expand its market.

Marketing Segmentation

The company targets a global market that can be segmented based on demographic and lifestyle variables. The primary division includes countries such as North America, Central and South America, Europe, Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East, Korea, and China. The promotion team also segments the market as urban and rural consumers due to differences in lifestyle and other socio-economic factors. For instance, while the countryside residents desire essential home appliances, the city dwellers will consider high-tech devices. Besides, the management uses other factors to separate the market, including the quality of the product, technology, athletics, and convenience. Business class also differs from the high-class middle-aged consumers regarding their needs for the devices.

Primary Target Market

The company’s primary market is the Millennials due to their desire for high-tech communication devices. The individuals are the most important since they spend most of their time accessing the tools, listening to music, chatting, and browsing through the social media. They are also among the urban residents who prefer class and style.

Secondary Target Market

The majority of the Baby Boomers does not concentrate much on the communication devices, but they purchase the products that meet the household needs. Although they will still use the communication devices, they are not the main segment in the sector.

SWOT Analysis.

 Competitor Analysis

Recommendations to Counter Competition

1. The company should create more low-cost products to become more competitive than Apple which only targets the high-end clients.
2. The management should implement better marketing and promotion strategies to reach more customers and extend the market, especially to reverse its decline in the product lifecycle.
3. The firm should design its operating system (OS) and software to maximize its growth and become competitive while, at the same time, embrace more innovation.
4. It should establish a presence in the cloud segment to attract more customers.

Budget

References

Bhasin, H. (2018). Top 21 Samsung competitors-competitor analysis of Samsung. Retrieved from https://www.marketing91.com/samsung-competitors/

Gangeshwer, D. K. (2013). E-commerce or internet marketing: A business review from Indian context. International Journal of u-and e-Service, Science and Technology, 6(6), 187-194.

Michell, T. (2010). Samsung electronics: And the struggle for leadership of the electronics industry. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons.

Samsung Newsroom. (2018). Samsung electronics announces first quarter 2018 results. Retrieved from https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-electronics-announces-first-quarter-2018-results

Tanner, J. F., & Raymond, M. A. (2013). Principles of marketing version 2.0. Boston: Flat World Knowledge.

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