Samsung Marketing Plan

Jenna Dang - [e-mail]
Khoa Nguyen - [e-mail]
Nikki Nguyen - [e-mail]
Patrick Hartnett - [e-mail]

MARKETING PLAN REPORT
Marketing Plan for Samsung Electronics

I. Executive Summary
“At Samsung, we follow a simple business philosophy: to devote our talent and technology to creating superior products and services that contribute to a better global society” (samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung). At Samsung we like to think of the entire world as not only our customers but as our family. We aspire to treat each and every one of our customers like they are the most important. We benefit our customers by providing the most advanced electronic devices at the lowest possible prices. We have a wide range of electronic products including computers, cameras, televisions, mobile phones and much more. Here at Samsung we have hired experts from around the globe to help us advance our technology and to help us become the number one electronics manufacturer on the planet. Our employees are also part of the Samsung family and we treat them with the utmost respect and try to give them every possible opportunity to succeed at the company and in life. The Samsung family is not only on the cutting edge of technology, but we are also one of the global leaders in environmentally safe and ecologically sound business practices. We strive to minimize our carbon footprint, while attempting to create sustainable work environments for the future. For over seventy years Samsung has been improving the lives of its employees, its customers, and the world. In order to be successful in business one must create prosperity and opportunity for everyone around them, so that is why we take great pride in all of the communities we operate in around the world. Samsung Electronics’ vision for the new decade is to “Inspire the World, Create the Future” (samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung).

II. The Challenge Samsung Electronics primary products that will be marketed are LCD and LED panels, mobile phones, televisions, semiconductors, camera’s and camcorders. While there are many more electronics and appliances we offer these are the main focus of this marketing plan. The current goals we have for these products are to get a large percent of the market share. Like many other electronics companies we are not primarily focused on the short term goals of maximum profitability but on the long term, mainly market share. In this report we will outline the main strategies we will employ to achieve the large percent of the market that is our goal. This report will also give detailed projections and forecasts of the sales required to reach our target market and achieve maximum market share.

III. Situation Analysis
Company Analysis
Samsung Electronics, one of the subsidiary company of Samsung Group, is one of the leaders of the global market in high-tech electronics manufacturing and digital media. It produces televisions, cameras, home appliances, mobile phones, and computers.
Samsung Electronics strives to secure three core capabilities: product leadership, market leadership, and people-centered leadership. It provides high quality and regularly updated products to further ensure its success as a top electronics manufacturer. As a worldwide corporation, SEC seeks “to create superior products and services, thereby contributing to a better global society.”
Samsung improves the quality of everyday life of users with innovative household appliances combining style and technology excellence while leading the industry in green technology. Also, its research and development efforts are specially concentrated in the area of technological capabilities and developing new growth products such as smart phones. Samsung is the leader of technology with luxurious, unique design.

Customer Analysis
Samsung Electronics’ products not only for Korean market, because the product is appropriate for everybody from every country and every age. Mobile phone that uses Android is a trend now, and Samsung Electronics is following this trend.
Competitor Analysis
As the market of today has been globalized, there are many brands that offer same type of products and compete against each other to gain share in the market.
According to the firm’s data, Samsung sold 89 million smartphones into channels in the first quarter of 2014, up from 69.4 million units in the same quarter of 2013. While that figure represents remarkable on-year growth, the low-end market grew even faster and Samsung’s smartphone market share actually declined to 31.2% from 32.4% in the year-ago quarter as a result.
This marked the first time in four years that Samsung’s global smartphone market share declined.

Samsung Electronics has a lot of competitors in every field. Competitors in the television and smart phone fields are extremely aggressive.
Competitors of Samsung’s SMART TV are:
SONY
Sony BRAVIA TV 3D LED is the rival of Samsung SMART TV. It has same features and specs but it does not has Smart interaction like Samsung SMART TV.
LG
Local competitor Samsung electronics. LG Smart TV 3D LED has same features and specs with Samsung SMART TV and also has smart interaction too.

Competitors of Samsung in Smart Phones are:
APPLE
The biggest competitor for Samsung Electronics. From 2011 Apple and Samsung Electronic always compete each other in smart phone. It is iPhone versus Galaxy Note and Galaxy S
HTC
The first company that produces phones with Android mobile device and the first company that produce first touch screen smart phones in the world. In the second quarter 2011, HTC become third largest smart phones company, after Apple and Samsung.
Climate
Political and legal environment
Samsung has been at times subjected to political action law suit. For instance, it has been subjected to copyright law suit.
Economic environment
The recession that hit America in 2007 negatively affected the sale of Samsung phones in the US. Fluctuation of the dollar also affects the sale of Samsung phones.

Social and cultural environment
There has been a trend in various places that Samsung produces the best smart phones. Therefore, consumers around the world are influenced by this notion that Samsung produces the best smart phone.
Technological environment
Samsung is ranked as one of the most innovative companies. The software and applications available in the Samsung phone makes it exclusive.
In the global dynamic economy, technology has developed more rapid than ever. Improvement in technology made the electronic product cheaper and cheaper. Gap between scientific findings and new products has been shortened. Product lines also are completed and updated regularly. Samsung has strongly focused on its quality. For this reason, a great amount of money has been invested in technology improvement. To survive and further win competitors, Samsung spends a great amount of fund on R&D.
SWOT Analysis
STRENGTHS
Customization - Most of Samsung’s hardware can easily be integrated with various software.
High quality products – Samsung has won many awards on its high quality products based on consumers’ rating.
R&D and Innovation - Samsung has the best innovation and design. It has the ability and resources to use the latest technology and offer new and exciting features frequently.
Strong hold in Consumer Electronic - Samsung’s brand is recognized globally and holds a significant portion of the market share in nearly all its products.
Focus on environment - Samsung’s products are environment friendly.
Low production cost - Samsung has set up many manufacturing plants in low cost locations such as India, thus they save on cost of production significantly.
Cultural diversification - Samsung has a lot of employee in local and global.

WEAKNESSES
Relatively low profit margin - Compared to other technology companies, Samsung has low profits margin.
Samsung does not create its own software therefore it often relies on other sources to complete the products. Main competitors are also largest buyers - Samsung’s competitors like Apple are also its largest buyers of its electronic equipment.
Focus on too many product lines in both depth and width - Samsung Mobile launched a series of Smart phones recently which led to cannibalization.
Patent infringement

OPPORTUNITIES
Growing demand of smartphones on consumer market such as India market
Increasing mobile advertising industry
Growing demand for quality application processors
Expansion of tablet market
Opportunity in offering additional services to gain advantage over competition and to retain existing customers and attract new ones.
Obtaining patents through acquisitions.

THREATS
Intense competition - Apple is biggest competitor for Samsung Electronics in smart phones category.
Threat from many other low cost companies - Samsung is facing threats from low cost competitors in China.
Saturated smart phone markets in developed countries.
Rapid technology change
Declining margin on hardware production
Breached patents – costly legal war against Apple
Price war.
Political and economic instability at local manufacturing plants - Samsung has set up production plants in low cost areas, which are subject to ample political and economic instability. These instabilities can have an impact overall company if the crisis gets unmanageable.
Many government legislations are now active against the innovative technology due to health and mental concerns.

Samsung Electronics SWOT Chart

IV. Market Segmentation
Samsung Electronics Company is engaged in consumer electronics, information technology and mobile communications, and device solutions businesses worldwide. We sell various consumer products such as mobile phones, tablets, televisions, digital cameras, and camcorders; home appliances such as notebooks, printers, and computers; memory and storage products such as solid state drives and memory cards; and accessories. Besides that, we not also engage in cyber game match hosting, technology business venture capital investments, manufacture of semiconductor components, semiconductor equipment’s business, sponsoring of sports team and games, and credit management activities but also provides repair service for electronic devices, general logistics agency services, consulting services, and communication system services. To persuade Indian users, we brought keyboard in 9 Indian languages. Other features like Split Window, Eye Scrolling, Reading mode, Chat On, Story Album, Music player with plenty of equalizer settings gives lots of options for different types of users. Recently we have launched Milk Music service which is a perfect competitor for iTunes Radio & Spotify. Moreover, we also offer apps in regional language which should attract more customers. For example, Samsung Group Play app which allows you to share your content exclusively between the Samsung phones via Wi-Fi is also a handy feature. Samsung Electronics is part of one of the largest multi-billion dollar corporations in the world. In 2007, it exceeded the $100 billion mark in annual sales for the first time in its history and spends more than $6 billion on research annually. Furthermore, in the third quarter of 2007, Samsung’s mobile phone division overtook Motorola to gain second place in the market and has again seen growth in handset sales reaching 14% share. Sales for the quarter were up 17 percent to 52.9 trillion won, while net profit grew 42 percent to 7.2 trillion won, or $6.5 billion. Nearly three-quarters of our profits came from its division responsible for smartphones, tablets, personal computers and cameras.
Samsung Electronics operates in one of the most competitive markets of the world. New Smartphone devices are introduced every year. Samsung traditionally had a conservative image that focused on low-price products for the lower end of the market. With low prices it was able to compete in the lower cost market, whereas in the higher cost market it had lesser penetration. To penetrate the higher cost market Samsung had to give up their lower cost market position and focus on innovation and perceiving a higher brand value. Based on recent Marketing definitions, Behavioral and Psychographic Segmentations are the definitions that best represent Samsung’s current Segmentation Strategy.
• GEOGRAPHIC
It has Samsung Guru Segment for rural areas as well as Galaxy segment for urban areas. Samsung is one of the largest manufacturers of mobile phones and it shares the highest cell phone customers with Nokia in India. It has something for everyone. • DEMOGRAPHIC
Samsung has mobile phones for youth, age of 16-29, for businessmen etc. for middleclass youth it has Samsung Guru which is for government lower class workers also. Guru has many variants; it also comes in 3G. It is a good option if you want to get a cheap 3G handset. Samsung Galaxy is a good option for youth as it has many attractive features such as Wi-Fi, 3G. Galaxy is also for Businessmen. Samsung has partnered with IT industry leaders to bring you the most relevant enterprise solutions and the most comprehensive mobile implementation of Exchange ActiveSync. Decidedly adept in security concerns and the answer to your every business need, the Galaxy S II is ready for serious enterprise usage.
• PSYCHOGRAPHIC
Samsung mobile is available for those customers who choose their devices based on their lifestyle. Samsung came with some fancy mobile phones especially for girls and cheaper touch screen stylish phones so that everyone can enjoy touch screen.

V. Marketing Strategy

A) Product

It is the very first ‘P’ in the marketing mix. Marketing begins with the very thought of the product. Without the product, there can be no marketing strategy or mode through which a company can satisfy a consumer’s wants and needs. These four variables help the firm in making strategic decisions necessary for the smooth running of any product / organization. Samsung is present in the following product categories:
Tablets
Mobile Phones- Smart phone
Television – LCDs, Plasma TV
Camera and Camcorder
Air Conditioners
Refrigerators
Washing Machine
Microwave oven
Laptops
Besides that, Samsung offers the most diverse product mix in the 3D market, offering LCD and plasma 3D TVs.
Features:
-55” or 46” class LED backlight display
-.31” thin, the thinnest TV
- The most technologically advanced television remote with which you can stream live television to if you leave the room of the main display and view content directly on the LCD screen on the face of the remote

Advantages:
- The consumers buy the most cutting edges; technologically advance TV in the 3D market
- Samsung’s 9000 series is the thinnest TV ever produced. Packaging has many roles such as protection and presentation. Packaging offers brand owners the possibility to communicate with consumers through specific designs and communication in the logos, graphics, images, colors, and product information. It is very important for marketing communication and an important battleground for the intense rivalry evident in the markets where brands compete for the attention of consumers.

The benefit of Samsung in terms of its product is that there is a trust on all Samsung products. Samsung realized that low price is just a major means to compete in the lower-market whereas in the upscale market technology and brand are competitive means. Samsung decided to penetrate the upscale market and gave up the lower-market in order to exalt its brand image. It repositioned all series of its products such as mobile phone, consumer electronics and memory flash to the upscale market. Samsung’s new position is in a relatively higher price category. To Samsung’s higher price will bring more profits and at the same time it implies a better quality of goods. Technology innovation Samsung recognized that digital is the future developing aspect of consumer electronics. The technology breakthroughs enhanced Samsung’s brand image of young, fashionable and strong function.

B) Price

Price is one of the classic “4 Ps” of marketing (product, price, place, promotion). There are different strategies made for retailers which is different from the pricing strategy of customers because retailers buy products in bulk amounts compared to the customers who get the discount when purchasing in bulk quantity. The company also breaks out its public relations expenses in its year-end financial release. In 2012, it reported $558.8 million for global PR expenses. According to the Ad Age Data Center, the company reported worldwide PR expenses of $476.1 million in 2011.
As the customers are becoming more price sensitive so they want a good quality product in low or in a reasonable price. The company is focusing on the customers to satisfy them with the classic and superior quality product at a reasonable price. They have different brands under its product categories and the price is affordable for people who can easily buy it.

C) Promotion Strategy

There are different types of promotional mix that will be used to promote the brand.
Advertising:
The company will use any non-personal paid form of communication using any form of mass media to promote the new brand.
Public Relation: It involves developing positive relationships with the public media organizations. The ways of good public relations are not only to obtain favorable publicity within the media, but also involves being able to successfully handle negative attention. It will also catch consumer’s attention on social media.
Sale Promotion: It is used to obtain an increase in sales in the short term. Samsung Company has rewards for loyal customers such as coupons, and notices of special events.
Personal Selling: We take the time to treat each customer like they are our only concern. We strive for complete satisfaction from our customers.
Direct Mail: The firm provides information about the new brand and its collection to attract more customers.
Internet Marketing The Samsung Company will sell and promote goods and services online to customers.

D) Distribution (Place) Samsung is present through various channels in the market. Samsung products sell mostly online, so customers can find items with free shipping and set up. Besides that, it also offers customers the chance to analyze review and physically see features of products rather than hear them in a retail store. Samsung’s products will not be offered in wholesale stores or Wal-Mart or Target, but the consumer can purchase them in electronics retail stores like Best Buy and Fry’s. In 2012, Samsung displaced Nokia as the leader in mobile handset shipments globally, shipping 29 percent of all mobile phones compared to 24 percent by Nokia, according to IHS. This year, IHS expects Samsung to extend that lead by 11 percentage points. In smart phones – the most profitable and fastest-growing segment of the mobile phone market – Samsung has pulled ahead of Apple, shipping 28 percent of all smart phones compared to Apple’s 20 percent.

VI. Short & Long-Term Projections Here at Samsung our short and long term goals are quite simple: “to devote our talent and technology to creating superior products and services that contribute to a better global society” (samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung). As we have previously stated our main goals are primarily focused on the long term, especially percentage of market share in electronics like mobile phones and television’s. The immediate effects of our marketing strategy will be the continued domination in the mobile phone and television areas. Our strategy will however help us in the long term to gain a greater share of the entire electronics market. Financially our sales will continue to increase annually as well as our total market share. With our team of specialists developing the latest in technological advances, we fully intend to be the leader in the electronics industry for years to come. Below you will see a chart illustrating our financial projections for the next few years.

VII. Conclusion In conclusion, Samsung Electronics is a worldwide leader in the electronics and technology sectors. This marketing report is a guidebook that will help our marketing management team implement our latest marketing strategies. We have provided our executive summary, current situation analysis, and future marketing strategy. By following the strategies we have just laid out, we here at Samsung intend on dominating the world of electronics for the next millennium.

REFERENCES
Unknown. (2014). “Samsung Builds Strong Momentum with More New Product Innovations Than Ever Before.” Fort Mill Times Co., 11 Jun 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.fortmilltimes.com/2014/06/11/3539857/samsung-builds-strong-momentum.html Epstain, Zach. “Samsung sold more smartphones than all of its top competitors combined… again.” BGR, LLC, 29 Apr 2014. Retrieved from: http://bgr.com/2014/04/29/smartphone-market-share-q1-2014-global-samsung-apple Lee, Bell. “Samsung smartphone sales dip by four percent in Q1 despite a £4.4bn profit.” Incisive Media Investments Limited, 29 Apr 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2342163/samsung-smartphone-sales-dip-by-four-percent-in-q1-despite-a-gbp44bn-profit Unknown. (2014). Forbes.com, LLC. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/companies/samsung-electronics/
Unknown. (2014). Samsung Group. Retrieved from: http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/
Bruell, Alexandra. “Samsung Launches Public Relations Agency Review.” AdvertisingAge, 14 Jun 2013. Retrieved from: http://adage.com/article/agency-news/samsung-launches-public-relations-agency-review/242131/ Harbert, Tam. “The Secret to Samsung’s Ascent.” Electronic360, 30 Apr 2013. Retrieved from: http://electronics360.globalspec.com/article/133/the-secret-to-samsung-s-ascent
Jurevicius, Ovidijus. “SWOT analysis of Samsung.” Strategic Management Insight, 23 Feb 2013. Retrieved from: http://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/swot-analyses/samsung-swot-analysis.html Unknown. (2012). Samsung Electronics ' Employee. Retrieved from: http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/sustainability/sustainabilityreports /download/2012/2012_Facts_and_Figures_FINAL.pdf.
Unknown. (2014 retrieved). Innovation Leaders. Retrieved from: http://innovationleaders.org/pdf-profiles/Samsung%20Profile%202007%20%28 HR%29.pdf? subject=Samsung %20Company%20Profile
Unknown. (2014 retrieved). Marketing91.com. Retrieved from: http://www.marketing91.com/marketing-mix-of-samsung/

References: Unknown. (2014). “Samsung Builds Strong Momentum with More New Product Innovations Than Ever Before.” Fort Mill Times Co., 11 Jun 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.fortmilltimes.com/2014/06/11/3539857/samsung-builds-strong-momentum.html Unknown. (2014). Forbes.com, LLC. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/companies/samsung-electronics/ Unknown Unknown. (2012). Samsung Electronics ' Employee. Retrieved from: http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/sustainability/sustainabilityreports /download/2012/2012_Facts_and_Figures_FINAL.pdf. Unknown. (2014 retrieved). Innovation Leaders. Retrieved from: http://innovationleaders.org/pdf-profiles/Samsung%20Profile%202007%20%28 HR%29.pdf? subject=Samsung %20Company%20Profile Unknown. (2014 retrieved). Marketing91.com. Retrieved from: http://www.marketing91.com/marketing-mix-of-samsung/