This article will talk about the SWOT analysis of Samsung ( Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats).
SWOT Analysis of SAMSUNG
Strengths describe the factors that which the organization is good at and what separates it from its competitors.
–Strong Brand Image: Samsung has a strong brand image and is trusted by millions for its quality products.
–Loyal Customer Base: Samsung has its own follower base who wait normally shop for Samsung products only be it smartphones, appliances etc. These customers trust the brand for its products and are willing to pay the desired amount to purchase the product.
— Global Presence: Samsung has a global presence, it has a strong foothold in American, European and Asian markets.
–Wide range of Product Portfolio: There are three main product categories that Samsung offers
- Home Appliances
- Semiconductors
- Consumer Electronics
Something for everybody, be it smartphones, or TV or AC etc Samsung has a wide range of products to offer to its customers. That’s not it Samsung brand has below subsidiaries as well under its umbrella:
- Samsung Electronics (the world’s largest information technology company, consumer electronics maker and chipmaker measured by 2017 revenues),
- Samsung Heavy Industries (the world’s 2nd largest shipbuilder measured by 2010 revenues)
- Samsung Engineering and Samsung C&T (respectively the world’s 13th and 36th largest construction companies).
- Samsung Life Insurance (the world’s 14th largest life insurance company),
- Samsung Everland (operator of Everland Resort, the oldest theme park in South Korea)
- Cheil Worldwide (the world’s 15th largest advertising agency measured by 2012 revenues).
—Strong Research and Development: Samsung has impressive research and design capabilities. It was able to create and roll out Samsung Pay, a payment app with similar capabilities to Apple Pay, in less than a year. Samsung smartphones are always looked up for their path-breaking new technology.
Weaknesses stop an organization from performing at its optimum level. They are areas where the business needs to improve to remain competitive:
–High Diverse Portfolio: Having a product portfolio as big as Samsung’s is more a bane than a boon.
Jack of all trades, master of none
The problem with having such a vast product width is that a brand fails to create its identity in the minds of the customer and is just remembered as a brand which offers good quality products.
The same thing is what happened with Samsung – Unlike Apple which has a brand perception in the minds of the consumer of being a high-end product company which is “exclusive”, Samsung, on the other hand, has failed to crack this code.
To sum up, Samsung failed to create a brand positioning which is as clear as Apple’s and thus failed to maintain a loyal base of customers for a longer period of time.
Threats refer to factors that have the potential to harm an organization in the future. Given the fact, threats give a brand a far-sighted view about the problems that the brand is likely to face in the future, it is one of the most important factors in the SWOT Analysis of Samsung.
— Emergence and Growth of Chinese players like OPPO and Vivo: Samsung which once considered India as a high potential market has now started to lose its stronghold, all thanks to the entry of new Chinese players like OPPO and Vivo.
OPPO and Vivo due to their new technology mid-segment smartphones have managed to take away a large portion of smartphone market share from Samsung.
Understanding this shift, Samsung was quick to launch their new series of A6 and J6 which targets mid-segment customers, but was a bit late to the party and has faced the brunt.
— Highly Dynamic Market and changing customer loyalty– We are living in a highly dynamic and changing world, and have “n” number of options available at our bay for any product or service. In today’s market, customer loyalty is getting changed with every new product that is getting launched in the market.
People are open to try products which are technologically advanced from the old product that they are using and not worry about the brand name (Apple is an exception). This is where Samsung is lagging behind, with brands like Oppo and Vivo who are coming up with new technologically advanced products every other month, Samsung is a bit slow in introducing new products in the market and hence is facing a major dent in the market share.
Check out the marketing mix of samsung
Opportunities refer to the factors which the organization can use to its favor to grow its market share, sales, brand recognition etc. It’s the second most important factor in SWOT Analysis of Samsung as it will shape the future of the company’s strategy.
–Expanding to new Geographies: Samsung faces competition from Apple in US market and tough competition from OPPO and Vivo in Chinese and Indian markets. The biggest opportunity that Samsung currently has is to expand to unchartered geographies, expand to new markets aggressively.
–Invest heavily in Research and Development: ‘Technology” – is the name of the game, the trick to winning customers in the current market scenario is to provide them with technologically advanced products. Samsung enjoys a great R&D team and just needs it to invest more in this segment and bring in more firepower in their artillery.
— Target Mid-tier or Middle-Class customer segment: It is the growing middle-class customers in the developing world who are increasing the demand for consumer electronics. This is what companies like OPPO, Vivo, Xiaomi etc did. Samsung needs to come up products for this customer segment as they are the ones who are bringing the next big wave for product demand.
Conclusion
While the number of challenges facing Samsung is abundant, this company posses a great deal of promise for the future. The company holds a strong brand equity and loyalty, its just the opportunities that it needs to play on to outdo its competitors.
This concludes the SWOT analysis of Samsung.
Related articles:
Check out the BCG Matrix of Coca Cola and SWOT analysis of Coca-Cola and Marketing mix of Coca-Cola
Learn more about the Swot analysis of Amul
Read more about the swot analysis of Pepsi, Marketing mix of Pepsi and BCG Matrix of Pepsi