Marketing and Promotion of Samsung Galaxy Gear Smartwatch - Essay Example

? Marketing plan Introduction The Samsung Galaxy Gear smart watch developed on Android operating system and has been produced by Samsung Electronics.The device was released on September 4, 2013 by Samsung Unpacked Event in Berlin. The smart watch has been developed to work as a companion for a range of smart phones and Samsung Tablets which run on Android version 4.3 i.e. Jelly Bean or higher includes some of the most selling products of Samsung like Galaxy Note3 and Galaxy Note 10.1 which is yet to be released. The Samsung Galaxy Gear smart watches considered as a great idea, considering that the calls and notifications could be accessed easily without having to look into the phone every time. The design of the watch has received mixed reviews as though the design is of high quality incorporating components into the strap has made it uncomfortable for wearing. Though Samsung Galaxy gear is an innovative concept, still during its release it has been criticized for its not so good battery life, interface design, availability of only a few numbers of applications and mostly due to its dependency on the Galaxy range phones and tablets. This was followed by an event that 30% of the Galaxy Gear watches sold by the US based chain-Best Buy, were returned by the customers thus bringing more doubt in the market about the functionality and credibility of the Galaxy Gear. Though when the device was initially launched, it was designed to work with only the Samsung Galaxy Note III and there were speculations that the smart watch would not work successfully with the email, calendar applications which people are generally habituated to use. But the issue has been partially solved as Samsung upgraded the software so that now the device can co function nicely with all the Samsung hones with Android Jelly Bean or higher version (Forbes, 2013). Technology of the Gear The Samsung Galaxy gear’s design is premium and sturdy with the housing being well built of stainless steel and the wrist strap of rubber. It is a quite chunky watch with the dimensions as 1.63 inches screen size, 11.1 mm thickness and the width being 36.8mm. Samsung offers its smart watch in six colors like classic black, beige, grey, Rose gold, orange and green. The Galaxy Gear is not water proof but it is designed as splash proof which means that it would survive if worn in shower but it is likely to be damaged if immersed under water. In this context it is lacking when it comes to a comparison with its competitors like the Sony Smart watch and the Pebble. The 320 by 320 screen looks quite impressive in on the wrist and easy to use as it displays texts clearly, pictures and videos can be taken by the camera application and easy to watch faces. The Galaxy Gear uses a 1.9 Megapixel camera for photos and movies. Though the Galaxy Gear can be used to read text messages easily, the downside is that the delivering of notifications from popular services like Face book and Twitter is a much clumsy process. The Gear vibrates when any notification comes from these channels but after checking the notification, anything further cannot be done with this device. The Gear only displays a message which says to access the actual content using the phone or the tablet. Though the inbuilt software system in the device is not fully competent for these functions, this type of functionality can be fulfilled by installing third-party applications (Samsung, 2013). Marketing and Promotion For the marketing of Galaxy Gear, Samsung is following the same strategy that it has been following for the Galaxy S range. Samsung has posted Gear as “the next big thing” and used some brilliant advertisements for the Launching and promoting the device. The policy of highly visible personal device was followed for the device. According to the 4Ps of marketing, Samsung has done the product, pricing, place and promotion strategically. Product: The product is launched in a new line of devices i.e. the smart watch segment. The design of the product is quite good whereas there are some basic problems in the user friendliness of the software. The product is positioned as the next big thing and as a premium rage device. Right now the Gear is only compatible with Galaxy smart phones. Samsung may later make the smart watch compatible with other Android smart phones depending on the response it gets from the potential buyers in the coming few months after the launch of the Galaxy Gear. Place: The Gear has been placed as a premium device and is not aimed at the mass market. The Gear has been launched for sale in US and Japan from October and 140 countries worldwide following that. Pricing: The Gear has been launched at a price of $300. The product is priced as a premium product with the price being high based on the factor that very few of this type of smart watches have been launched in the market. Since there is very small range of this type of devices Samsung was eager to get an edge over its competitors by introducing the rare product early in the market and thus capturing a market that is highly likely to grow. After the excitement over the Pebble and Sony smart watch Samsung has launched its device quickly to get the market fast. Promotion: The promotion of Gear is in the same line as that of the Galaxy S range of products. Some visibly brilliant advertisements have been placed for the device. The Galaxy Gear was showed at the IFA, Europe’s largest consumer-electronics show (Bloomberg, 2013). Sales and Revenue Expectations The researcher Strategy Analytics is expecting 500,000 Galaxy Gear smart watches to be shipped out for sale in2013 only. The sale has been started with US and Japan in October, 2013 and would be followed by its launch in the market of 140 countries worldwide. According to Jupiter Research, the sale of wearable gadgets including the Galaxy Gear is expected to grow from 15 million units this year to 70 million units in 2017 search. The watch industry is expected to generate around $60 billion in sales this year. If an assumption is made that considering the premium price, around 20% of Samsung’s high end customers will buy the Galaxy Gear whereas the low end customers are not taken into account, then the Gear’s market potential can be brought to around 20 million unit stakes. This is in assumption that Samsung will make the Gear compatible with a wider range of its smart phone portfolio (Bean, 2013) .Under this calculation; the sale of Galaxy Gear can net the additional revenues of Samsung of around $6 billion in a year. Also considering the fact that the global watch industry is likely to generate about $60 billion revenue in this year, Samsung would be able to capture 10% of the market in case the above mentioned conditions prevail. It is understood that a considerable amount of technology has gone into designing and manufacturing the gear. Still it doesn’t seem likely that the gross margins will be higher than that which watchmakers make i.e. around 50-60% (Forbes, 2013). User Opinion My personal opinion for buying the watch would be that I won’t be eager to buy it. Although it looks as quite an innovation still I think Samsung has placed the device too early for the smart watch market to fully evolve. I think at a price as high as $299 this watch is unlikely to be a weighted buys. As this market will evolve, in future more matured and better devices are likely to be launched in the market in the same or lower price range especially when speculations are going on for big market players like Apple to launch the Iwatch. According to the review of the Gear, even after following power saving approach, the battery does not live up to the expectations from such a premium product. Though it can run an entire day without being charged but then once it is not charged in a longer gap, it is likely to be completely drained. So at such a high end price, one would look for a longer battery life especially when the product is a watch. Also, I think the Galaxy Gear is not a completely matured product. Some lack in its functions, like not being able to access email, Face book or Twitter through it makes the device give a feeling of incompleteness. I believe Samsung’s entry into the smart watch world would popularize this market even more and as it will grow newer and better products will soon be launched by the other players in the technological field. Though Samsung has been one of the first major companies to launch a smart watch, still my opinion is that The Galaxy Gear acts more as a prototype than a mature product ready for the time. I would probably like to give a premium price of $299 for a smart watch that is more capable has a robust notification system and a longer battery life. References Bloomberg. (2013). Samsung $299 Galaxy Gear Tests Demand for Smart Watches. Retrieved from: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-04/samsung-299-galaxy-gear-tests-demand-for-smart-watches.html. Forbes, (2013). Samsung's Smartwatch Experiment Offers Little Upside. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2013/09/10/samsungs-smartwatch-experiment-offers-little-upside/. Forbes, (2013). The Samsung Galaxy Gear Smart watch Now Works With More Than One Phone. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/sethporges/2013/10/28/thank-goodness-the-samsung-galaxy-gear-smartwatch-now-works-with-more-than-one-phone/. Samsung, (2013).Galaxy Gear. Retrieved from: http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxynote3-gear/index.html?page=1. Bean, D. (2013). The biggest complaints about Samsung's Galaxy Gear smart watch. Retrieved from: http://news.yahoo.com/biggest-complaints-of-samsung-galaxy-gear-133032277.html. Read More