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The Unbearable Pain of Competing with Apple: Samsung’s Sad Christmas Tale

Yesterday, I tried to not buy an iPod.

Specifically, I tried to buy a Samsung “P2″ - 4gb, touchscreen, bluetooth, video, music. I looks sweet, has a great UI, is tiny and slim, and hits an awesome price point at $149 - perfect for Christmas gift giving.

Sadly, Samsung is not Apple. Let us count the ways in which Samsung fucked screwed up and put an iPod in my wife’s stocking…

1. STOCK: Christmas is the make-or-break retail season for consumer electronics. Yesterday, I went to five retail stores: two Futureshops, one Best Buy, one London Drugs, and even Zellers. Each store (except Zellers, which apparently doesn’t carry MP3 players over $50) had a full array of iPods in their full spectrum of prices and capacities. They were flying off the shelves, and the staff kept on carrying out more from the back. Samsung? Not one. Anywhere. In the ENTIRE CITY. Someone at a Futureshop told me they were on backorder from the manufacturer. How do you let your retail distribution network run out of stock two weeks before Christmas??! Are you kidding? Nope. The Futureshop that told me about the backorder didn’t expect any until January.
2. PRICING: Every staff member at every store new the iPod product line inside and out, and knew exactly how each was priced. Each store had identical pricing for each item - my expectations were consistently met. For the Samsung P2, I saw $149, $169, $179, and $219. That’s almost a 50% spread on price. Talk about sowing confusion and alienating customers…
3. POSITIONING: Obviously, every store had the iPod’s front and center. OK, makes sense. But the Samsung’s weren’t just out of the way - they were generally dirty, unplugged and battery drained, mislabeled, and generally disheveled. Does Samsung not have a freaking Retail Merchandiser in Winnipeg? The city draws a shopping population of over 1,000,000 people, the majority of who probably get their consumer electronics from under 30 retail locations. Why doesn’t Samsung have someone out there doing the rounds every day to ensure product condition, correct information, pricing, etc.? I know PEPSI does it on a weekly basis, sending reps around to 7-11’s and other retail channels. Why can’t Samsung?
4. EDUCATION: That same merchandiser should be educating holiday staff at the retail outlets as to the product names and features. Most staff that I spoke too seemed surprised that the product existed, and when I pointed to the demo model reacted as if they’d never seen one before. Insanity.

The moral of the story? Apple has it together. Total value chain management. Prescient inventory loading of their retail partners. Flawless execution. Samsung doesn’t even appear to be making an effort. Is it any wonder Apple dominates?

The other moral: Samsung needs to get a clue.

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