Developing And Managing Products

According to Samsung, more than 40,000 of their employees engage in research and development in order to discover the next generation of powerhouse products . Samsung focuses sedately on innovation. As Samsung fights to be number one against their greatest competitor Apple, speed and innovation is crucial in obtaining a competitive advantage. In 2013, Samsung plans to spend about 9.3 billion a year on research and developement, compared to Apple's 2 billion. Spending this much money, Samsung has a much greater chance of being the forerunner in innovation. They also can secure more patents, which can help them against big lawsuits that threaten to damage the company, and help in their fight against Apple. Samsung controls 100,542 patents worldwide; 4,551 registered in the U.S. making them second to IBM .

Integrated Marketing Communications

Intergrated Marketing Communications is the coordination and integration of all marketing communciation tools, avenues, and sources . All aspects of marketing such as sales promotion, advertising, online communications, and public relations work together to create a commendable experience for their customers. The traditional marketing concept of solely looking at the advertising department has been changed . IMC encourages all departments of marketing to work together to reach all consumers . As time goes on, every consumer cannot be reached in the same traditional way.

IMC promotes using multiples forms of communication to reach consumers . They often target specific groups of people . Correct use of IMC can create a very high advantage against vast competitors. IMC highly endorses customer satisfaction. They promote a form of relationship marketing which helps to create loyal customers. Loyal customers help to prevent the inevitable downfall of the company due to competition . 

Product Concepts

As a growing company, Samsung focuses highly on products and concept creation . They have three teams within the company that focus on this specifically .They are broken into divisions called Product Management, Product Planning, and Concept Creation . The Product Management division focuses on creating products with quality and delivering them on time . The Product Planning division focuses on products within their earliest phases while Concept Creation creates products for the future.

As an electronics company, Samsung creates mostly shopping products. A shopping product is a product in which a consumer will spend time gathering information about price,quality,etc ,before making a decision to buy . Samsung also creates convenience products, which are consumed on a regular basis, and purchased frequently.

Sales Promotion And Personal Selling

 Recently Samsung has created a new sales promotion for the holidays. If a customer purchases a Samsung refrigerator they are eligible to receive a $100,$200,or $400 gift card to buy Samsung products. This promotion last through January 2013. When the holidays are close, Samsung often use gift cards to get customers to purchase more of their products such as washing machines, televisions, refrigerators, tablets, etc.

With the recent release of Samsung's 3d Television, they wanted sales of their new 3d technology to boom. One of their major sales promotions was offering two free pairs of 3d glasses with the purchase of a new 3d TV. Many customers bought the product expecting to receive what they were promises. However, many customers only received one pair of glasses. People were very upset with the electronics company, and were creating chaos about it. In order to fix this problem Samsung created a website for customers to receive the extra pair of glasses they were suppose to get.

Advertising And Public Relations.

Electronics giant, Samsung has many products. However, they are best known to the public for their outstanding cameras, televisions, and mobile phones. Samsung has just overtaken Nokia, to become the biggest phone maker in the world. As said in their marketing strategy, Samsung wants to draw lots of attention to to their phone, not necessarily sell loads of phones. Samsung also wants their phones to attract everyone, not just the buyers who race to get their hand on every new phone. Their goal for their new phone the Galaxy S Three, is to far outsell the previous Galaxy S Two.

To fulfill all their marketing goals, Samsung knows that they cannot solely rely on their innovative technology ; they have to put a emphasis on advertising. Unlike their competitors, Samsung doesn't use celebrities to promote their phone. They prefer to show everyday scenarios made better by using the phone. Samsung uses an "emotional theme" such as reading a bed-time story to a child or giving birth.

Retailing

Although Samsung doesn't have any specific retail stores, many manufactuers and companies sell their products such as AT&T, Sears , Best Buy, RadioShack, etc. Many people who want Samsung products usually go to these stores and find great deals. Samsung also have a very successful online store . 

In my opinion, if Samsung did have retail stores their business would be much more successful than it already is. Giving their products to these companies to sell, gives the company more freedom to sell it how they want, which can minimize profits for Samsung ; however, their online business is expanding, and in the future they may decide to open their own retail store.

Consumer Decision Making

There are many things that a specific company can do that can affect the decisions that consumers make; such as : advertisement, prices, quality of products, etc. Recently, Samsung created a commercial ; that everyone has been talking about. They implied that Apple has done nothing new to their products, and that they are made for the elderly. They also stated that the next big thing that everyone was waiting for, was already here. Apparently, this had a lot of people reconsidering buying the iPhone .

One of the reasons why Samsung is so popular, is because of the prices on their phones . More middle-age people who want a smartphone but don't want to spend so much money, are more attracted to Samsung. Their also attract people with the size of their screens, and the durability. What they create and how they go about advertising it, highly affects the decisions that these consumers make . They successfully reach their target market and others outside of it .