INTRODUCTION
Samsung as an innovative company maintains its leadership position in the TV market at global level. In 2014, it earned 1st position in relation to global TV market share (28.3%) across all product lines of flat-panel TV. In 2015, the company secured the leadership position by offering a range of innovative products like UHD, Curved and ultra-large-size TVs, and SUHD TV. The product (Samsung TV) is chosen because of the innovation the company has made in relation to the product. The company to increase the growth of the TV product lines as well as customer satisfaction collaborated with the international companies in different fields to made alliances to develop rich content and high level picture quality. The company has included the Tizen platform in its smart TVs to provide assurance of faster and convenient user experience (Samsung Electronics, 2014).
PRODUCT SECTION
Samsung as part of their visual display business, offered innovative product lines like SUHD TV with wireless audio. In turn, the company achieved a leadership position in the market as described earlier. The characteristics of the Samsung TVs are as follows:
Positioning
The company positioned its product (TV) based on two strategies, such as differentiation and cost. In relation to differentiation strategy, the company focuses on differentiation/innovation to provide high quality TV to its customers. On the other side, with respect to positioning based on cost the company provides high quality and innovative TVs to the customers at affordable prices (Boone & Kurtz, 2009).
Brand Name
Samsung is the innovative brand and manufacturer of largest number of television sets as well as LCD panels at global level since 2006. It is a South Korean company with the headquarters at Suwon. It is also the first company that introduced 3D LED HDTV in 2010. In six months, the company sold millions of sets of TVs as the total sales at national and international level was 1.23 million. It indicates that about 80% of the TVs across the world were of Samsung (Samsung Electronics, 2014).
Company Image
The image of the Samsung Electronics is the global leader that provides innovative products (Lee, 2006) like differentiated range of TVs.
Features & Benefits
There are various features and benefits of Samsung TV due to which the company is a leader in visual display market. One of the features is the better color and brighter picture as SUHD indicates high quality picture and compliance with the future 4K UHD standard. Another feature is the new Tizen-based operating system of TV. The users are able to take advantage of the new design like SUHD, which is a forward looking TV technology (Denison, 2015). 2.5. Packaging
The company uses eco-friendly packaging for the delivery of its products like Samsung TV with the focus on sustainability. It can be ascertained by the fact that recently the company started to use dissipation technology solution for display driver ICs (DDIs) in relation to high-end TV applications. In addition, the company used Korean industry’s sugar cane film for the packaging of all the accessories of TV i.e. bioplasting bag (Samsung News, 2014).
PLACE SECTION3.1. Channels of Distribution
The company uses intensive distribution channels to provide its customers with the products (TV and TV accessories) and services. As the company can sell anywhere till the retailers have urge to take stock (Randy, 2011). The company uses larger discount stores like Sears and Wal-Mart to attract the customers. In addition, specialty stores like Best Buy are used by the company to distribute the products lines of TV (Chang, 2011). Moreover, the company is involved in the online selling of TV and other products as it sells online by its own website and build relationships with the other online retailing companies like Amazon. Online selling channel for distribution of TV is used intensively because it enables the customers to check every detail of the product and review the information to make effective purchase decision. In other words, the company uses direct and indirect marketing channels. In relation to direct marketing channel, the company uses own retail stores and sales force, etc. On the other hand, indirect marketing channel is the use of distributors, retailers and whole sellers (Paul, 2008).
3.2. Type of Distribution
As described earlier, there are two types of distribution channels the company uses to distribute the products and services. To deliver TV and other TV accessories to its customers, wholesaling and retailing methods are used. Through wholesaling the company sells large quantity of the TVs to whole sellers, who sell the product to small retailers. Whereas, the company sells TVs to small retailers, who further sell to the customers.
PROMOTION SECTION
Message/Positioning
The key message or positioning through promotional tools with respect to TV is the innovation at its best by providing extraordinary picture quality and advanced features and content (Samsung Electronics, 2014).
Advertising
The company uses direct sales force for the direct selling of TV and its accessories to achieve success. As identified by Cant and Van Heerden (2005) that personal selling needs to be integrated in the promotional mix to get ultimate success.
Sales Promotion
Sales promotion is the part of Samsung’s promotional mix in relation to TV. The company offers various discounts and coupons to its customers to increase the brand equity and to promote the products.
4.4. Public relations
Public relations is an effective tool for products’ promotion and to develop relations with Media. For example, the company hold the SUHD TV Spring Launch Event in the U.S. in which Charlie Puth performed.
Other Digital Tools
The company also uses its website, digital billboards and banners and social media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest, etc.
PRICE SECTION
The company uses effective pricing strategy with respect to TV to achieve competitive edge.
Objective
The objective of the company is the volume pricing to be a competitive leader in the market and to sell in bulk to increase market share.
Strategy
The company uses competitive pricing by setting the prices of TVs based on the competitors but being a leader and provider of innovative product uses the skimming pricing strategy to increase market share and profits (Czinkota & Ronkainen, 2012).
Impact of Competition
Sony and LG are the main competitors of the Samsung Electronics in the context of TV (Katzmaier, 2016). Competition put direct impact on the pricing strategy of the company. The strategists set competitive prices to compete with the competitors and to be a leader in the market.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above discussion that to be a leader in the TV market, Samsung requires to implement effective strategies relating to products, price, place and promotion. In turn, the company provides innovative and differentiated TVs to the customers to achieve competitive edge. In addition, competitive and skimming pricing strategies are used to be competitive and affordable at a time. Moreover, the company uses direct and indirect marketing channels to enable the customers to purchase Samsung TV from anywhere, including online channel. Furthermore, through use of traditional and digital tools of promotion the company communicate with the customers about its TV products and inform and induce them to make purchasing decision. In other words, effective 4P’s strategies are the reasons of company’s leadership position.
REFERENCES
Boone, L. E., & Kurtz, D. L. (2009). Contemporary business 2010 update. John Wiley & Sons.
Cant, M. C., & Van Heerden, C. H. (2005). Personal selling. USA: Juta and Company Ltd.
Chang, S. J. (2011). Sony vs Samsung: The inside Story of the Electronics Giants' Battle for Global Supremacy. USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Czinkota, M., & Ronkainen, I. (2012). International marketing. USA: Cengage Learning.
Degun, G. (2015). Samsung Christmas ad features people 'accidentally' damaging their old TVs. Retrieved from: http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/samsung-christmas-ad-features-people-accidentally-damaging-old-tvs/1373794#jcyP0HyUcQqzrB1k.99
Denison, C. (2015). Just what you wanted, another acronym! Here’s what Samsung’s SUHD really means. Retrieved from: http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/interview-samsungs-dave-das-explains-why-suhd-is-better-than-uhd/#ixzz49KID0B5s
Katzmaier, D. (2016). HDR is TV's next big format war, and Samsung and Sony could find themselves on the losing side. Retrieved from: http://www.cnet.com/news/dolby-vision-vs-hdr10-how-to-survive-the-hdr-tv-format-war/
Lee, D. (2006). Samsung electronics: The global Inc. USA: LEE Dongyoup.
Paul, J. (2008). International marketing: text and cases. India: Tata McGraw-Hill Education.
Randy. (2011). Why Apple Is Very Afraid Of Samsung. Retrieved from: http://www.androidauthority.com/why-apple-is-very-afraid-of-samsung-26459/
Samsung Electronics. (2014). Annual Report. Retrieved from: http://www.samsung.com/common/aboutsamsung/download/companyreports/2014_E.pdf
Samsung News. (2014). Are Samsung Plastic bags for TV Accessories Packaging Environmentally Friendly? Retrieved from: https://news.samsung.com/global/35216
