Acknowledgements
This report on brand audit of “Samsung” has been prepared for the partial fulfillment of
the subject “Product and Brand Management”, through which we got a deep insight about
how brands perform, grow, sustain and are managed over the years. We got practical
exposure and real world experiences while preparing this report on Samsung. Thus, we are
grateful to all those people who supported us directly and indirectly while preparing this
report.
Firstly, it would be a great honor to thank KUSOM for having this subject as a
specialization course for marketing students since it is a very important to know about core
concept of brand management and importance of brand development, promotion and
management. Also, we would like to express our gratitude to our course instructor Mr.
Sujan Raja Shrestha for providing us with regular guidance and supervision without whose
support completion of this report would have been a nightmare. We would also like to
thank Puskal Khatiwada, marketing manager of Samsung store, authorized distributor of
Samsung mobiles in Nepal for providing us detailed information about the company,
product and the branding strategies that it has been adopting since years.
Finally, we are thankful to all friends and colleagues who helped us in some or the other
way to complete this report.
Executive Summary
Samsung, a well known electronics brand all over the world, introduced its mobile phones
in Nepal in 2001. Since then, it has been serving Nepalese market with various types and
ranges of mobile phones. Currently, in the era of techno savvy customers, Samsung, like
some other mobile phone companies has been regularly updating and upgrading itself and
has been occupying good market share in the Smartphone segment. The company has been
enjoying its position as a best brand in Smartphone segment for some years now and has
been increasing its brand value in terms of current sales, forecasted sales, marketing
expenses and corresponding sales, customer satisfaction, customer preference, etc.
Samsung states itself as:
“Samsung cares about people. Samsung makes life easier. Samsung creates cool
technologies.”
– www.samsung.com
Thus, we can infer through this statement made by Samsung as Samsung is dedicated to
serve the need of customers and satisfy them by making their lives easier through various
technological offerings. Samsung has been striving to adapt to the changing market needs,
technological innovations, and quality enhancement. Having young population as their
core target market, Samsung comes up with unchallenged features and technology in its
Smartphones. Through various marketing programs and strategies, it has been creating
awareness among its customers and increasing its customer base each year.
This report on brand audit of Samsung Smartphone confers the general overview about
how Samsung has been managing its brand overtime and what strategies it has been
adopting to secure its position as a best brand in Smartphone segment. Thus, by analyzing
various approaches and strategies which Samsung has applied to build its brand equity,
manage its brand name and create brand value, we have prepared a brand audit for
Samsung Smartphone.
Methodology
To conduct the brand audit of Samsung Smartphone, both primary data and secondary data
were collected. As a primary source for data collection, we conducted a survey through
questionnaire with 90 respondents of Kathmandu Valley, both the users and non-users of
Samsung Smartphone. Also, we visited the authorized distributor of Samsung and
interviewed the marketing manager for information and data collection. For secondary
data, we surfed the internet, visited the company’s website and various other online
sources.
Brand Inventory
Company’s profile
Samsung Electronics is Korean multinational company headquartered in Suwan, South
Korea.
Samsung – the world’s top mobile phone seller captured 21% market share of worldwide
mobile handset in the first quarter of 2012 and sold 86.5 million handsets. Samsung
Electronics was established in 1969 in order to provide an engine of future growth for the
Samsung Group. After its foundation, Samsung worked in many fields related with
electronics, mechanics and telecommunication. Different fields brought fame and success
to Samsung. For Samsung Electronics, 2003 was a watershed year. It successfully
positioned itself as one of the world’s best mobile phone manufacturers and its products
were featured all over the media. Many were calling its mobile phones as “the best gift for
Christmas” or “the Mercedes of mobile phones.”
Samsung Brand Portfolio
A successful brand begins with a clear understanding of “who”, “what”, and “why” about
the company. Samsung call it their brand ideal. This enables everyone to internalize what
the brand stands for. Samsung includes different technological brands, with premium
pricing strategy. All the brands are very successful in the market, especially the Tablets and
Smartphone. Samsung determines to continue providing value to consumers through its
new products, services and user experiences by launching new model in their brands to
keep their brand on the top.
The product categories of Samsung are as follows:
• Mobile phones
• Tablets
• TV/Audio/Video
• Camera
• Home Appliances
• PC/Peripherals
• Memory cards
• Washing Machines
Global marketing
Global market is a place that Samsung has an important role. Samsung’s clever marketing
strategies played an important role in lifting Samsung’s image from that of a low-end
manufacturer to that of a global digital technology leader. For effective global marketing
and branding, Samsung established a new organization to deal with its integrated global
marketing activities. Eric B Kim, who used to work at IBM, was recruited to lead the
Global Marketing Department. One of his most important decisions was to cease all
existing contracts with 55 advertising agencies and to sign a $400 million contract with
one ad agency, FCB Worldwide. Since then, Samsung has unveiled a series of corporate
branding campaigns and the slogan, “Samsung: Everyone’s invited.” Since the very first
days of Samsung, the company worked hard and it brought many innovations to our lives.
Now it is not only a brand. It is brand of many different devices, machines, it is sponsor of
many teams and it is a worldwide known company. One of the most important fields that
Samsung dominates is mobile world.
In Nepal
Nepalese mobile phone market is witnessing a rapid growth for last few years. It counted
14.125 million subscribers in mid March, 2012. International Marketing Services Pvt. Ltd
(IMS) is the sole authorized distributor of Samsung mobiles in Nepal since 2001.
However, its aggressive marketing presence was initiated since 2009 with a carefully
tailored marketing plan. IMS offers all kinds of cell phones with different features as per
customer needs. Its product offerings range from economic phones to high-end
Smartphone. It has also been providing an excellent after services through its authorized
service centers. Samsung has gained the top spot in Nepalese mobile handsets market
including in the Smartphone market. This leading brand experienced greater than
anticipated demand for its products. Young generations today are becoming more techno
savvy and they would like to buy the latest mobile handsets to keep themselves up to date
with technological advancement. To address this issue, the marketing environment for
Samsung seems to be very receptive these years.
Vision
Samsung Electronics’ vision for the new decade is to “Inspire the World, Create the
Future.”
Goals
• To attain leadership in the market share of mobile handsets business by retaining existing
customers and gaining customers from its established competitors.
• Operate at the costs as low as possible to contribute to the profitability.
• Create brand awareness by using our logo, positioning statement and theme whenever
possible and in the correct format.
• To improve service offerings to customers and maintain a strong relationship with
collaborators.
Marketing objectives
• To strengthen the penetration of Samsung mobile phones.
• To grow the depth and width of distribution by at least 10% per year.
• To capture 90 percent market share in the Smartphone segment.
Segmentation
Segments Factors
Demographic Income (good disposable income)
Profession (students, professionals)
Psychographic Lifestyle
Opinion
Attitude
Geographic Urban
Semi-Urban
Behavioral-
Benefits Sought Smartphone
Simple
Samsung segments its market for smart phone on the basis as listed above. Mobile phone
is no longer a luxury but rather a necessity. Samsung’s target market can be broken into
two broad categories – low end users and high end users. Almost 70 – 80% of users in
rural areas use cheap Chinese and Indian sets. Samsung plans to aggressively push its ultra
low cost sets to low income group. However for it is looking towards the urban market and
are differentiated by their lifestyle and attitude towards Smartphone.
Target Markets
After segmenting the market, Samsung Smartphone the target markets are the high end
user i.e. ‘smart generation’ includes college and university students (16 – 25 years age
group) and corporate personalities. Particularly, the target market of Samsung Smartphone
is those consumers who love to look stylish and fashionable with everything they do. They
are early adopters of new technology and love to have the latest gadget. It wants to create
an impression among them that Samsung is synonymous to Smartphone. These customers
are technology conscious and less sensitive to price. They have a secret need to be
associated latest available technology.
Positioning
Samsung Smartphone has positioned itself as best mobiles in middle range offering having
its highest market share. Now, it will position itself as Smartphone one that makes life easy
and live in smart way. It wants its people to imagine Samsung when they think of
Smartphone.
Marketing Mix
Samsung’s marketing mix comprises following approaches to pricing, distribution, and
