Philips has released three ultra-thin bezel 15-inch LCD monitors, and the implication goes far beyond the new product listing itself-Huang Xia, director of Philips display market and sales, bluntly said, "From now until June next year, Philips will fully attack the mainstream market and strive to gain more market share"-this is the first time since last year that Philips has made a high-profile voice to the industry as an attacker; Samsung has released eight LCD monitors, which are 24 inches, 2 1 inch, 19 inches, 18 inches, 15 inches and10/inch. Shi Tao, its product manager, also made it clear that "according to the practice of our marketing operation, after the launch of new products, all kinds of products will be helpful.
In fact, rumors of "competition" between Philips and Samsung kept popping up a few months ago. Especially in the period of decline in Philips display sales, the saying that "dealers have defected and Samsung seized the opportunity to win over" has been circulating in the industry for some time. Judging from the actual situation investigated by our reporter, the above statement is somewhat sensational, but at least there is no doubt that in order to meet the needs of the market situation, the channel systems of Philips and Samsung are indeed undergoing adjustments and changes.
According to the data released by CCID Consulting, the market share of Philips monitors in China in 2000 was 24. 1%, only 3% lower than that of Samsung, and it was firmly in the second place. However, its market share in 200 1 fell to 16.68%, which was not only nearly 14 percentage points lower than that of Samsung ranked first, but also slightly surpassed by LG ranked third in 2000. (See figure P5 1 for details) Huang Xia once used "strategic retreat" as a reasonable explanation for the poor performance of Philips 200 1, but the reality that the market share gap between Philips and Samsung is widening is unavoidable. In this context, Philips, which is in a relatively weak position, used the opportunity of new product release to explain its desire to reorganize the mountains and rivers, intentionally or unintentionally revealing the meaning of challenging Samsung, and a thrilling competition may begin here.
Philips: Turning Channels into Layers of Infiltration
Philips' power is not sudden. Many people in the industry have found that since the beginning of this year, Philips Display's product promotion activities are in full swing, such as replacing the outer packaging of promotional color pages and formulating channel incentive policies-giving rebates to dealers who eat more vegetables, sending a receipt to manufacturers for every product sold, and Philips rewarding dealers according to the number of receipts. -These measures are "warming up" for its market offensive in the second half of the year.
Huang Xia believes that improving and perfecting the channel system is a key step for Philips to explore the market and strive for a larger share. Since June last year, Philips Display has made a series of improvements to the existing channel mode. After a period of fluctuation, Philips has basically completed the adjustment of channel structure. According to Zhang Jian, senior sales manager of Philips Display, Philips divides different regions of the country into A, B and C markets. Among them, the markets where the three general agents are located are Grade A markets, the regions where the subsidiaries of the general agents are located are Grade B markets, and other regions are called Grade C markets. Guangzhou Xima, Shanghai Daheng Mo Tian and Beijing Yihua are the general agents of Philips Display in South China, East China and North China, and all the general agents have enhanced their penetration into the regional market-they have branches in Shenyang, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Wuhan, Changsha, Zhengzhou, Nanjing, Hangzhou and other cities 12, and their main responsibilities are to radiate products to the surrounding areas; At the same time, Philips has set up nine C-level general agents in Chongqing, Guiyang, Qingdao, Dalian, Wenzhou and Fuzhou, and the manufacturers will provide advertising and marketing support for them. Huang Xia has a comprehensive consideration on the marketing layout of the domestic display market: "The A-level market such as Shanghai and Beijing has gradually evolved into a large distribution model, and the competition in the B-level market has become increasingly fierce. In order to win more market share, Philips Display must strengthen its coverage of the C-class market. "
On the basis of adjusting the channel structure, Philips will also strengthen publicity and offensive and implement integrated marketing strategy according to the different characteristics of regional markets. This time, in order to cooperate with the launch of new products, Philips put three newly released LCD products on the counter of the store and actively introduced them to the end users before the official launch. In the next few months, Philips will also train all levels of channels in product selling points and sales skills. According to the characteristics of the regional market, the training forms will be different, in order to reach an understanding with the channels in marketing strategy thinking and implementation.
Obviously, in terms of product strategy, Philips will increase the promotion of LCD monitors-but CRT monitors are still Philips' main business. "LCD products are the future of displays. Whoever can really master the production and sales of LCD will master the future-but in a short time, CRT products still occupy the vast majority of the domestic mainstream market. Only when the ratio of flat panel to LCD becomes 46% or 37%, Philips will consider the survival of CRT business. " Huang Xia attached great importance to the future, but he did not forget to base himself on reality. Philips can be described as "a red heart, both hands are ready" in terms of products.
Samsung: Take offense as the defense and step by step as the camp.
Backed by the strong capital and resource advantages of Samsung Electronics, after several years of development, the scale effect of product operation has become increasingly apparent-from 15 inch to 19 inch to big screen, from ordinary CRT, flat panel to LCD, Samsung covers almost every corner of the entire display market; On the basis of improving its product line, Samsung continues to subdivide the market and launch a series of products with differentiated functions to meet the individual needs of end users. Thanks to the long-term accumulated comprehensive strength, Samsung can become the leader of the display market in China for a long time.
However, Samsung's leadership position is not unchallenged. The "liquid crystal storm" that blew in the middle of last year has a strong momentum. Whether it is "sticking to it" or "following the trend", it is a headache for Samsung, which has a huge CRT product line but is unwilling to refuse the temptation of LCD. After careful consideration, Samsung decided to focus its sales on CRT monitors with absolute market capacity, and introduced several new LCD monitors as a timely move. Facts have proved that the strategy of "defending first, waiting for an opportunity to attack" is more effective-in the case of overall market depression, the share of 200 1 Samsung in China's display market has risen instead of falling, further consolidating its leading edge.
With the increasingly fierce competition in the display market and the maturity of LCD products, Samsung's strategy has become more and more impactful. Facing the aggressive market situation, Samsung believes that "the best defense is to take the initiative to attack", and in 2002, it made repeated moves in channel policy and product structure: at the beginning of the year, the channel structure of Samsung monitors increased to Qingdao, Zhengzhou, Nanchang, Urumqi and Changsha, and the number of regional general agents increased from 1 1 to16; In March, Samsung launched more than 20 new products, making its product models sold in the market as many as 40~50; In March and April, Samsung launched a "one family" activity for channel manufacturers, which strengthened the cooperative relationship between the two parties and enhanced the confidence of dealers in the market; In May and June, Samsung launched a new round of product offensive, and the proportion of LCD in its product structure increased.
Samsung not only pays attention to the strategic adjustment of channels and products, but also pays great attention to the comprehensive application of various marketing means-its marketing activities have a clear purpose, and it pays equal attention to accuracy and diversity in object selection. Li Liansheng, China manager of Samsung Display Marketing Department, told the reporter that a large-scale new product launch conference was held in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to promote new products and technologies; Holding a tour of college students mainly emphasizes that the target audience is the largest consumer group in the future display market; The industry user tour is mainly aimed at the promising industry market. Shi Tao, Samsung Display Product Manager, said: "Most marketing activities have achieved good results. Only college students returned more than 6,543,800 answers, and Samsung got many big orders on the spot at the meeting of industry users. " More importantly, through these activities, Samsung Display can narrow the distance with end users and channel partners, and at the same time enhance the confidence of dealers-under the joint action of market pull and dealer thrust formed by the activities, Samsung Display's ability to resist market risks is constantly strengthening.