In an effort to boost business in the Chinese market, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics has created a new division within the company dedicated to marketing strategy. Sources revealed that the organization is under the direct authority of Korea Samsung Electronics co-CEO Han Jong-hee, and is preparing to compete with local brands in smartphones, TVs, home appliances and other areas by analyzing China’s unique business habits and consumer preferences.
Statistics from Counterpoint Research show that Samsung had the No. 1 share of the smartphone market in China at 20 percent in 2014. However, with the rise of local companies such as Huawei and Xiaomi, and the subsequent impact of the explosion of Samsung’s Galaxy Note7 phone in 2017, Samsung’s market share in China has repeatedly shrunk.
Some relevant data show that Samsung’s share in the Chinese market has recently dropped to less than 1%. With a market share from 20% in its heyday to less than 1% now, Samsung’s presence in the Chinese market is getting lower and lower.
In addition to the cell phone business, Samsung home appliances in the Chinese market are also not performing as well as expected. Data from Aowei shows that as of November 7, 2021, Samsung fell out of the Top 15 list of offline market sales of refrigerators, with its market retail volume accounting for only 0.58%; in the Top 16 list of offline market sales of washing machines, Samsung was also not seen, with its market retail volume accounting for only 0.55%. In the home appliance industry, whether it is a local brand or an overseas brand, a retail volume share of less than 1% in the Chinese market means that the Samsung brand is not competitive in the market.
Although the competitive Chinese market has lost its glory, China is still a “cake” for Samsung that it is not allowed to give up. In terms of the share of Samsung’s sales by region in 2020, China’s share of sales is 16%, second only to the Americas at 33% and Europe at 19%.
Before the new division was revealed, Samsung has repeatedly revealed to the outside world its determination to save the Chinese market. In January 2020, Samsung changed hands for its smartphone division to counter domestic handset makers such as Huawei, OPPO and Xiaomi.
In December 2021, Samsung Electronics significantly adjusted the top personnel, its three major businesses: smartphones, consumer electronics, semiconductors, consumer electronics merged into the SET division, headed by the then head of the video display business Han Jong-hee, and subsequently also adjusted the name of the SET division to DX division. Based on Han’s intention, the company established a dedicated team to rescue the sluggish China market. However, it is still unclear whether the two reports from December 2021 and January 2022 refer to the same division.
Samsung has now confirmed a global launch event for the “Samsung Galaxy S22” series of phones on February 8, 2022. The Galaxy S22 Ultra, which is said to be replacing the Galaxy Note series, maybe a turning point for Samsung in terms of market share. Source