Samsung to take on Chinese rivals in India: Announces its plans for 2018

Samsung is already a popular and most appealing smartphone provider in the world. In fact, the brand has managed to grab a huge market share in India as well. However, the South Korean tech giant has been facing stiff competition lately from Chinese manufacturers. Brands like Xiaomi, OnePlus, Huawei/Honor, Oppo, and Vivo have been on a launching spree and have introduced many smartphones in almost all categories be it the price range or hardware specific products.

But again Samsung is not going to keep quiet. It seems that the company is gearing up to heat up the market in the New Year by bringing in new attractive offerings for the consumers. As such, Asim Warsi, Global Vice President, Samsung India has now stated that the company is looking to formulate new strategies and grow its business across channels, including online, as the year progresses.

"We are wherever our users are. And that's why we have the largest retail network in the country with over 1,50,000 touch points. We are constantly looking to grow our business and are looking to pave growth stories in all channels including the online space," Warsi told IANS.

Samsung, which is gearing up to take on Chinese rivals in the online segment, has launched two back-to-back "online exclusive" handsets namely Samsung Galaxy A8+ and Samsung Galaxy On7 Prime. These devices are from different price segments.

While A8+ is priced at Rs. 32,990 and will compete in the premium segment, On7 prime starts at Rs. 12,990 and will compete in the highly-competitive, mid-price segment. "A8+ will help Samsung consolidate its leadership in the premium segment (above Rs. 30,000) where Samsung has nearly 60 percent volume market share, according to Gfk," Warsi added.

Galaxy A8+ will compete directly with OnePlus in the premium category, while On7 Prime is a strong contender in the sub Rs. 10,000-Rs 15,000 price bracket.

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"Both the phones have been priced competitively and it seems that Samsung is gearing up to take on Chinese companies' dominance in the online segment," an industry expert said. Meanwhile, both Galaxy A8+ and Galaxy On7 Prime will start selling on Amazon from January 20.

Besides Amazon and Flipkart, Samsung has also partnered with Paytm for online sales. It recently recruited over 5,000 online dealers as part of its tie-up with Paytm Mall. The company's focus, said Sandeep Singh Arora, Vice President, Samsung India, is to address consumers' needs in online as well as all price segments.

"Our focus is to address consumers' needs across all channels, whether it is online or offline. If our consumers are on a particular channel, we would make sure that we address them," Arora told IANS.
So far, Samsung has been reluctant to go all out in the online segment as it has huge stakes in the offline trade, with over 1.5 lakh retail outlets. Samsung has 43 percent market share in the offline market, which account for nearly 75 percent of all smartphones sales.

Apart from the online scheme, industry sources have told IANS that the South Korean giant is also planning to introduce a number of smartphones in the Galaxy "J" and "On" series in the coming months.