According to a senior executive, Samsung Electronics is aiming to increase repeat purchases from its 175 million Indian customers through a new cashback credit card in an effort to increase sales in the crucial country where it was once the top smartphone seller.
The South Korean electronics giant announced a new credit card with India’s Axis Bank on Monday to provide 10% cashback all year round to customers buying Samsung products as the country’s holiday season got began.
Such discount offers often only appear on brick-and-mortar establishments and e-commerce sites like Amazon.com Inc. during special occasions or sales.
Samsung claims to be the leading consumer electronics company in India and sells everything from cellphones to washing machines there. However, smartphones accounted for roughly 72% of its 9.3 billion dollar total India sales in 2020–21.
After losing over time smartphone market share to Chinese rivals like Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo, who provide a number of low-cost smartphones in the second-largest mobile market in the world, Samsung has decided to offer cashbacks to customers through its new card relationship.
According to research from Counterpoint Research, Samsung had a 26% market share of India’s smartphone market in the second quarter of 2020. The market is currently at 19%.
“Samsung is going aggressive on the financing side of things. Financial support plays an important role in helping people make smartphone purchase decisions,” Counterpoint analyst Tarun Pathak said.
