The exit of Jeremy Senior the former Vice President of Consumer at Samsung Australia has the industry talking, from “Who is replacing him” to “why is he out” to retailers claiming that Samsung needed “fresh thinking” in the highly volatile TV and appliance market.
Senior a former Sony Australia executive was well known and not always for the right reasons, with his exit seen as a major turning point for Samsung, who is in a battle of their own, with Chinese brands in the TV market trying to strip share, and both European and Chinese appliance brands targeting them in the appliance market.
Samsung has an arsenal of new products coming in the CE and appliance market and their move into the B2b market is seen as a positive one by the industry as they look to hold onto their premium position in the market while also trying to go after volume.
While Senior was known for rubbing people up the wrong way including both staff and retailers, he was also caught between Samsung’s business strategies, where in one quarter they are chasing profitability and in the next volume.
Samsung has been a leader in the CE and appliance market for several decades, but it has come at a cost as the business aggressively chased down share and Vice Presidents spanning sales, marketing mobile and of late consumer electronics came under pressure with several quitting to take on senior roles in other organisations.
Discussions with senior retail executives reveal that Samsung is seen as a “critical” brand across CE, mobile and appliance with several now keen to see what the future holds especially as the market over the past year has become a replacement market.
One of the categories that Senior punted on was cooking via a deal with The Good Guys, while Samsung has good share in the US cooking market he struggled to get traction in Australia.
In the past Senior has delivered consistent growth for Samsung but it was over the past 18 months that his categories started to go “pear shaped” as one retailer described it.
The big question now is whether Samsung will promote from within as they did when Gary McGregor suddenly and out of the blue quit the role of Vice President of Mobile at Samsung. He was replaced by internal appointee Eric Chou Samsung Australia’s now, head of MX,
Another alternative would be to bring in an overseas appointee who has experience in a similar role within Samsung.
Currently Samsung is reshaping their business model along with archrival LG Electronics.
The reshaping of their business models comes as the market that Samsung in the past generated sales from is also being reshaped, due to people downsizing their homes, moving into rental properties with totally new younger markets emerging that in the past have owned an Apple iPhone but only purchased a Samsung TV.
Samsung’s past marketing strategies helped it become a major player in the technology industry.
In the premium market they were seen as being unique innovative, and adaptable with the manufacturing clout to make changes quickly as market conditions changed.
By offering a wide range of advanced products, Samsung is now moving to create an integrated ecosystem that improves the user experience and builds brand loyalty.
At CES 2025 their stand compared to previous years was devoid of product with the business now concentrating on products such as Smart Things and connectivity that any new appointment is going to have to be on top of.
Blending technology with lifestyle, while trying to make Samsung’s products a part of everyday life has to be a two way thing claimed one senior retailer.
“The only problem is that a lot of our target audience which is in essence is also Samsung’s target audience, are not tech savvy so pushing technology and connectivity when all they want is a great TV appliance or vacuum cleaner becomes difficult”.
“The Chinese are pushing basics; Samsung is way ahead of them in both the appliance and TV markets, so they have to be careful with their messaging” they said.
In the past Samsung Australia have shaped their marketing strategy around clear goals based on innovation, customer satisfaction while constantly pushing brand loyalty.
While they have driven innovation, and support sustainability, this has not delivered the sales that people like Senior wanted during the past 24 months.
While Samsung developed some localised marketing strategies, which included collaborating with local influencers Samsung Australia primarily relies on global roll out formats, branding and positioning to fight their battles with retailers demanding more incentive marketing dollars along with rebates that sometimes led to conflict for Senior and his team.
Now with Senior out this issue now is whether a local or an overseas candidate will get the nod for the top role, which has been described as an “incredibly difficult one”.
