The Chinese division of Samsung Electronics reorganized itself in an effort to revive its struggling performance that’s primarily reflected by its diminishing sales, the consumer electronics manufacturer confirmed on Tuesday. The Seoul-based tech giant stated that no staff cuts were made as part of the reshuffle, adding that the change only affected seven of its sales points that were shut down and replaced by 22 new locations that are less comprehensive in terms of products they’re offering but may perform better by covering more ground in the Far Eastern country. The locations of the sales points that were shut down by Samsung range from Dongbei in the northeast to southern parts of China and all of the employees working at the old stores are now being relocated to new positions, the firm said.
The Chinese branch of the South Korean original equipment manufacturer (OEM) has been struggling for several consecutive years now, with its market share currently hovering around the five percent mark only four years since it held one fifth of the largest smartphone market on the planet. In terms of shipments, that amounts to a drop from 62 million units in 2013 to 23 million in 2016. Local competitors like Huawei, OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi all grew their domestic operations directly at the expense of Samsung in recent times by offering products that are comparable to many Galaxy devices in terms of design and performance but are priced in an extremely aggressive manner. That business strategy paid off as Samsung was seemingly unwilling to reduce its profit margins by getting involved in a price war with local OEMs, and while the firm is now somewhat more willing to sacrifice its income percentage for sales, it’s still striving to compete in China by relying on the overall value of its brand.
The company’s latest attempt to revitalize its Chinese business came in May when the firm named a new chief of mobile marketing responsible for its local promotional endeavors, giving the role to its veteran executive Choi Kyung-sik. Samsung also designed a more powerful variant of the Galaxy S8 Plus for China and is expected to release a similar “Emperor Edition” of the Galaxy Note 8 in the country in the coming months.