Samsung has moved to ramp up its marketing efforts in India by launching an electronics experience and exhibition center in the country, recent reports indicate. The new Executive Briefing Center located in Gurgaon spans 836 square meters and is meant to serve as a hub where Samsung products will be put on exhibit to provide a first-hand experience for consumers. While Samsung officially opened the experience and exhibition hall to the public, the South Korean tech giant has not yet disclosed the total amount of its latest investment.
Among other things, the hub was designed to exhibit a vast selection of Samsung products and solutions to consumers, including mobile devices and home appliances. Enterprise customers will also be able to experience some related solutions from the South Korean tech giant on the site, including digital financial applications and other IT services. The launch of the Executive Briefing Center in India is the latest step in Samsung’s efforts to continue making investments in India where the company currently dominates the smartphone market. According to a recent market report, Samsung accounted for 22 percent of India’s handset shipments during the second quarter of 2017, having sold the most phones during that period, followed by Xiaomi. However, the gap between Samsung and the Chinese phone maker has narrowed compared to figures in the previous quarters, thanks to Xiaomi’s strategy of subsidizing a portion of marketing costs for a number of Indian smartphone retailers and designing phones that boast some premium features while simultaneously being offered with aggressive price tags.
Samsung’s move follows the company’s announcement from June when it pledged to invest Rs. 49 billion ($760 million) in India in a bid to expand its factory in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, where some of the company’s consumer electronics including smartphones and television sets are being manufactured. That investment is Samsung’s largest so far in the country and is expected to advance the company’s phone production by 2020. Additionally, Samsung is planning to produce more smartphones for the Indian market this year, though it remains to be seen whether its new product experience hub also helps it successfully promote these offerings in the short term.