The festive season, which begins with Onam and extends through Navratri, Durga Puja, Dussehra, and Diwali, accounts for 30-40% of annual smartphone sales in India.
South Korean handset major Samsung is sharpening its offline push ahead of the festive season, bolstering promoter strength and retailer incentives to tap value growth and premiumization, even as overall smartphone volumes are set to stay muted through the year and during the upcoming festive sales period despite a strong monsoon.
The festive season, which begins with Onam and extends through Navratri, Durga Puja, Dussehra, and Diwali, accounts for 30-40% of annual smartphone sales in India. This year, however, unit sales are likely to remain flat compared to last year, with urban markets seeing elongated replacement cycles as consumers hold on to devices for longer.
Samsung, however, expects strong volume growth in tier-3, tier-4, and rural markets, while the overall market will see value growth as consumers upgrade to premium devices. The company is also banking on ecosystem products such as Galaxy Buds and wearables to lift sales.
"Growth will likely be stronger in tier-3 and tier-4 markets, supported by healthy consumption and a good monsoon...these regions have large young populations, many of them still on 4G, and they're aspirational as well as tech-savvy," said Raju Pullan, head of mobile business at Samsung India, in an interaction with Moneycontrol.
To drive value growth this festive season, Samsung is making investments in the offline market -- an area where it has faced friction with retailers in recent years. Retailers have often raised concerns over Samsung's preferential treatment of e-commerce platforms, which has led to lower margins for brick-and-mortar stores, unfavourable pricing discrepancies, and delayed payments.
"We're also increasing investments in the offline channel. For example, we're expanding our Samsung Experience Consultant (SEC) program by 20%, covering tier-2, tier-3, and some tier-4 cities. Over 30,000 retailers have undergone certification programs," Pullan said. "We are also expanding promoter strength and ensuring retailers can demonstrate AI features. Affordability is also key. We are working to make AI-enabled devices accessible through offline recommendations and special festive schemes."
Samsung was the second-largest smartphone brand by volume in the April-June quarter with a 14.5% market share, trailing Vivo, which led with 19%, according to IDC.
Samsung is pinning much of its festive season strategy on the Galaxy A Series, which the company sees as a key growth driver. Pullan said Samsung has sold 96 million A Series smartphones in India since its 2019 debut and expects to cross the 100 million mark this year, led by festive demand.
"There has been 1.3x growth in sales of the A Series in the first half of this year as compared to last," he said. "With the A Series and the latest A17 bringing AI to the entry segment, we expect strong value growth this festive season. We have a couple more launches lined up before the season to cover all price points within the A Series."
According to Pullan, the newly launched Galaxy A17 will see wider retail presence compared to its predecessor. "Compared to the A16, the A17 will have 1.2x more visibility at retail, along with increased retailer margins during the festive period to encourage stronger recommendations," he said.