Localization helps Samsung win French hearts and minds

PARIS, Feb. 21 (Yonhap) -- At an electronics retail store in an affluent
neighborhood in western Paris, two flagship devices from South Korea's Samsung
Electronics Co. have taken the most coveted spot, save for the poster of Apple
Inc.'s iPad greeting visitors at the store's entrance.
Two mobile devices -- the Wave smartphone and the Galaxy Tab tablet computer,
both by Samsung -- are on display at the checkout, standing out among a torrent
of the latest gadgets competing for attention from well-heeled consumers at the
country's top tech gadget distributor, Darty.
"The largest number of smartphone models on display here are made by Samsung,"
said Nounout Ameur, a salesperson at the retail store in the 16th quarter. "I
think people like the feeling of touch."
The store's TV compartment, which flaunts a number of shiny flat-screen TVs from
a slew of companies, also displays Samsung's 3-D TV models in a prominent corner.
"People seek Samsung TVs because they are marked by design," said Achraf Grioute,
a Samsung TV salesperson for various retail stores across Paris. "LED TVs are the
most popular here these days and people are getting more and more curious about
3-D TVs as well."
Samsung established a fully-owned French unit in 1996, much more recent compared
with rivals Sony Corp., Panasonic Corp., both of Japan, Nokia Corp. and Philips
Group, which operated businesses in Europe's second-largest country for more than
half a century.
But in less than 15 years, the South Korean company has begun to outperform its
long-established rivals in the competitive French market for consumer
electronics, home appliances and mobile phones.
According to market research firm GfK Group, Samsung accounted for 29.2 percent
of France's TV market in 2010, ahead of Sony's 18.9 percent market share and LG
Electronics Inc.'s 14.9 percent.
Samsung has been the top cell phone supplier in France for five straight years
since 2005, claiming a 39.3 percent share last year, helped by its Galaxy and
Wave smartphone series, according to the researcher. The company is also a
leading refrigerator maker with a 12 percent market share in 2010, driven by
premium, side-by-side refrigerators.
Steeped in rich cultural assets and unique French identity, French consumers are
picky and difficult to please for consumer electronics makers. So what did
Samsung do differently?
"The secret is localization," said one employee at Samsung's French unit.
Samsung tried to blend its products into everyday life for the French, who
cherish the arts, savor food and wine and enjoy outdoor cafes for socializing.
One example of such efforts to blend its products into French life is an art
exhibition it hosted last fall. The Korean company held an art show at the Petit
Palais museum, reviving the minute details of well-known paintings, such as La
Joconde, on the screens of Samsung's 3-D TV sets. The art show drew 600,000
visitors in the first month.
Samsung also tried to tune into the traits of the French people, who place high
expectations on design, which is not an exception for electronics products. With
a relatively low rate of the English language spoken in the country, overseas
companies were also expected to put an extra amount of efforts into taking their
global market products and tailoring them to suit the needs and the tastes of the
French.
"Samsung products are of high quality in general, but I think its design appealed
the most," Kim Seok-pil, who was appointed head of Samsung's European unit in
January, told reporters.
When Samsung prepared to launch its first proprietary mobile operating system
called 'bada' platform in June, the company initiated its ecosystem -- the whole
environment around a smartphone encompassing developers, applications, consumers,
manufacturers and mobile carriers -- by focusing their resources strategically on
the most downloaded applications by local consumers.
By concentrating on a few killer applications in the French mobile market, such
as the French version of the Yellow Pages and applications for navigating art
museums and getting information about concerts, Samsung was able to expand the
number of bada applications from nothing to more than 2,000 in six months, it
said.
Samsung sold about 1 million bada-running Wave smartphones to French mobile
operators. About half of the Android-based smartphones sold in France are made by
Samsung, it said.
The company's localization efforts did not stop with its products and marketing.
Most of the employees at the French unit are local hires who began to see Samsung
not as a foreign company doing a business in France, but as their own company.
"We are very proud of Samsung," said salesperson Grioute, who is one of some 500
employees at the Samsung France unit. Only 11 of them are Korean nationals.
Along with Samsung products' ascent in France, interest also peeked in Korean pop
culture and history. The state-owned France 2 TV channel aired in January a
special series on the Asian country introducing its history, economy and culture.

French people's association of the Samsung brand with Japan, however, still
leaves something to be desired.
Madame Leclercq, 76, said she recently bought a Sony TV set because her old
friends talked about Sony, adding that she did hear about Samsung, but was not
sure about its origin.
"Is it a Japanese brand," she asked. "In France, Sony had been talked about for a
much longer time."
"Some people still think Samsung is from Japan, but for those who seek Samsung
products, it doesn't matter which country it is from," said Grioute.
ylee@yna.co.kr