Samsung Electronics is going to get rid of its ‘SAMSUNG’ logo on the front side of Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge that will be released in South Korea and China. This is a continuation of ‘Getting Rid of Samsung Logo’ strategy that was first attempted in Japan last year. This strategy can be seen as Samsung’s attempt to strengthen its Galaxy brand and to build Smartphone businesses that correspond to consumers’ characteristics in specific countries.
According to Samsung and industries on the 24th, Samsung Electronics had held unpack event for its products in Barcelona on the 21st (Spain time) and introduced pictures of Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge on global corporate homepage. While there is a logo on top of product’s front side for western countries such as the U.S., England, Spain and others, Samsung Electronics got rid of its logo on front side of products in South Korea, Japan, and China and left its logo only on the back side.
After entering Japan’s Smartphone business with its Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, Samsung Electronics erased its logo on the front side of its products for the first time. It did so because it wanted to bring up its market shares that were falling behind of Apple’s iPhone, SONY’s Xperia and others in Japanese markets. SEJ (Samsung Electronics Japan Co., Ltd.) did not use ‘SAMSUNG’ logo in all of its foreign activities such as products, advertisements, sponsorship, online and others and has been marketing only with ‘Galaxy’.
Other than premium products including Galaxy S6, Samsung Electronics also has been using the same strategy for its wearable and inexpensive products such as Galaxy A8, Galaxy Active Neo, Gear S2 and others. By doing so, Samsung Electronics was able to increase its last year’s 1st quarter shares which were 5.2% before Samsung Electronics released its products, up to 12.0% in 2nd quarter after its products were released in April according to a research done by market research company called IDC Japan. This was done while overall markets had decreased from 6.97 million phones to 6.08 million phones.
A reason why Samsung Electronics has decided to use same strategy in South Korea and China is due to reduction of market shares in both markets and consumers’ favorable tendencies towards design. As Apple has encroached markets with its iPhone 6 that has large screens and as Chinese industry has dominated low and medium-priced markets, Samsung Electronics’ position in global markets has fallen compared to the past. Although it maintained its number 1 position in South Korea last year, it was considered as ‘others’ in China as its ranking fell under 5th place.
Fact that Apple’s policy on not putting its logo on the front side of its products has received positive responses was also reflected in Samsung Electronics’ new strategy. After design of Japanese models was introduced last year, there were opinions that same design should be applied to models that are released in South Korea also.
“Parts that consumers were disappointed about with Galaxy S6 were all applied in Galaxy S7 and have helped Galaxy S7 to gain competitive edge over other products.” said Director Ko Dong-jin of Samsung Electronics’ Wireless Business Department at press conference with reporters that was held at MWC 2016 on the 22nd (Spain time) and introduced steps of Galaxy S7’s development including its design and functions also.
However Samsung Electronics still left its ‘SAMSUNG’ logo on the back side of Galaxy S7 unlike models that were released in Japan to leave identity of ‘Samsung Electronics’.
Staff Reporter Seo, Hyeongseok | hsseo@etnews.com