In the last few days, a positive sign has emerged for smartphone makers. The worldwide smartphone market showed signs of improvement in the third quarter of 2020 with shipments declining just 1.3 per cent year over year, according to International Data Corporation. And Samsung is especially happy as it has reclaimed the top spot globally. In India, the company has also significantly improved its position, thanks to a range of smartphone offerings.

We spoke to Asim Warsi, senior vice-president, Samsung India, and Mohandeep Singh, senior vice-president, mobile business, Samsung India, about how the company is taking the brand a few notches higher with new phones and platforms.

Samsung has done exceedingly well with its smartphone offerings this year. What have been some of the big drivers behind the success?

Asim Warsi: There are two things at play. We prepared a slew of product launches across all the segments we operate in. Our second driver is all the new affordability platforms and affordability programmes and promotion we’ve created for Diwali and beyond. On the back of these we have set ourselves up for a healthy growth outlook of 40 per cent year on year over last year. So we are looking at a 40 per cent value growth in Q4 2020 over Q4 2019. In order to be able to base this kind of growth on the product side, we have launched 12 new smartphones in the past few months alone, all with a view towards a strong Q4 and Diwali festive period.

These launches straddle all the price segments we operate in, from Galaxy Z Fold2 at Rs 1.5 lakh right to our flagship Galaxy Note20 and S20 SE… the recent launches… plus, we’ve got a slew (of phones) in A series, M series and the latest F series with the Galaxy F41. It’s covering Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 4,999 (Galaxy M01). Not just smartphones, we’ve also launched new tablets, the Galaxy Tab S7, S7+, besides a couple of other tablet models. Then we have the smartwatch Galaxy Watch3 and wireless option, Galaxy Buds Live.

Mohandeep Singh: We’ve been creating a lot of platforms and services for our consumers, keeping in mind the new normal. Just to give you an example, when the economy unlock started, we announced our partnership with a platform called Benow; it enabled a local retailer to get e-payment from the consumer and deliver the phone at home. Also, consumers can discover a nearby retailer on the platform Benow. We are doing 10,000 transactions per month on this platform with a coverage of over 20,000 retail outlets across the country. The insight obviously being consumers prefer shopping from home.
We also have a platform called Samsung Finance+ that enables consumers to finance their purchase. The uniqueness of the platform is that it’s entirely digital. Within 20 minutes you can get your loan cleared, and you can make your purchase and your phone can be delivered to your doorstep. Samsung Finance+ today finances all our phones, starting from M01 right up to our high-end flagship devices. One in three of our devices that was sold on finance, have been through Samsung Finance+, which is available at 40,000-plus retailers across India.

Asim Warsi (left), senior vice-president, Samsung India, and Mohandeep Singh, senior vice-president, mobile business, Samsung India. Sourced by The Telegraph

How successful has been the Galaxy Forever and Galaxy Assured programmes?

Mohandeep: It’s a unique programme globally. Consumers need to pay 60 per cent of a device’s value at the time of purchase, the residual 40 per cent after 12 months. He or she may want to continue to want the phone or may return it and take another Galaxy phone. Once again, the consumer can pay 60 per cent of the value at the time of purchase, which can also be converted into EMIs. So that makes for a very unique offering.

The other platform is Galaxy Assured. We are assuring the consumer a good buyback value. So up to 70 per cent of the device cost can be given as an assured buyback.

Both the platforms have been fairly successful. We also have a Samsung Referral programme using which both a referee and the person referred can get certain benefits. Given the learn-from-home reality, there is a Samsung student programme, which is available through our online store. Students can get specific offers on products.

Any particular category that has done very well?

Mohandeep: Tablet as a category is doing really good. We are selling three times the tablets that we were selling last year during the same time. Whether it is personal entertainment at home or trying to get work done on a larger screen or for education, tablets are seeing a fantastic growth. On the higher end is the Galaxy S7+, which has done fantastic is sold out, while in the mid segment is the Galaxy Tab A7, and finally on the lower-end is the Galaxy Tab A 8.0.