Samsung holds SI meet at Kochi

New Delhi

In a bid to penetrate to the B- and C-class towns and increase its product
visibility, especially LCD monitors and printers, in non-metro cities, Samsung
Electronics has come up with a three-fold channel strategy. It will hold meets
for systems integrators (SIs), conduct regional concerts and strengthen its
presence by signing up more partners. The company is confident this will help to
further the 50 percent growth in the LCD monitor and printer segments recorded
in the first half of this year.

According to Ruchika Batra, GM-Corporate Communications, Samsung Electronics,
"These markets have a great potential for IT peripherals and printers and
we are in the process of enhancing our penetration in these towns by expanding
our Star Partner channel as well as SIs in these markets."

The series of SI meets was carried out in Madurai, Kanpur, Jabalpur,
Bhubaneswar, Ludhiana and Nagpur followed by Kochi which saw the participation
of around 250 partners.

According to Sanjay Sharma, VP-IT Business, Samsung Electronics, "The
Kochi meet will be followed by SI meets in Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Ranchi and Jammu.
The objective of this series of meets is to communicate to Samsung partners the
strengths and USPs of our new products as well as to discuss the channel
strategies in upcountry markets."

He further added," Most partners are already selling Samsung printers,
monitors and OMS products and the SI meets go a long way towards communicating
our focus on these markets. We want touch base with around 800 to 1,000 SIs
every month for the next three months. In addition to the SI contact program, we
have added 34 Star Partners in upcountry locations in the last one month."

Samsung also announced the launch of three new LCD monitor series - Myst,
Mendel and Mobius - in the 17" to 22" screen size segment. The company
announced a strategic new distribution tie ups for its printers -with Lipi Data
Systems for distribution of select high-end network printers and with Kores for
distribution of its consumables. More recently, it appointed eSys as the
national distributor for laser printers and multi function printers.

In order to expand the LCD business, the company has designed a strategy to
create consumer awareness and encourage consumers to upgrade their LCD monitors
on the basis of technology and feature enhancements of the new range.

The Company is targeting a 100 percent jump in LCD monitor sales (by volume)
and 50 percent jump in printer sales this year. "We expect our LCD monitor
sales to contribute around 45 percent by volume and 60 percent by value to our
total monitor business this year. We are also going in for strategic
distribution tie-ups to enhance reach for Printers. In addition to growing our
dedicated channel of printer stockists by around 25 percent this year, we are
planning to tap new retail opportunities like Croma and Reliance retail for the
printer business", said Ahn, VP- IT Business, Samsung India.

With the introduction of the new LCD series, Samsung has a range of 18 LCD
monitor models in the screen sizes between 17" to 46" , priced in the
range between Rs.8500/- to Rs.2,50,000/-.

Samsung India has also set up a Samsung Digital Zone in Chennai to showcase
the Company's technology range in the LCD PC monitors as well as laser printer
and laser multifunction printer category. It would also serve as a retail point,
where end-users can buy their choice of products after getting a feel of the
same. Similar digital zones are soon to be launched in Kolkata, Mumbai and
Delhi.