Euroset: Samsung only top smartphone maker to lose position in Russia

MOSCOW, Apr 15 (PRIME) -- Samsung was the only smartphone maker out of three leaders on the Russian market whose grip weakened in January–March, as the share of its sales in money slipped 0.9 percentage points on the year to 24.3%, Ulyana Smolskaya, PR director at retailer Euroset, told PRIME on Friday.

Samsung’s share in units dropped 1.6 percentage points to 20.6%.

“Samsung’s positions retreated despite the fact that the manufacturer launched its premium flagship Galaxy S7 this quarter. We can presume that without the new device the company would have been lower,” Smolskaya said.

“Taking into account the fact that the company launched its flagship Galaxy S6 in the second quarter of 2015, we can expect its share to fall deeper on the year in April–May. Samsung’s positions are hit by its orientation on a single channel of sales and an absolute absence of its goods in several big retail chains.”

The market share of Apple went up 6.4 percentage points to 33.3% in money and 2.9 percentage points to 10.4% in units as of the end of March. The share of Lenovo was at 6.7% in money and 9.0% in units.

In total, smartphone sales rose 33% on the year in monetary terms in January–March and 6% in natural terms, Smolskaya said.

The share of smartphones running on Android lost 3 percentage points on the year to 65% in monetary terms, but went up 2 percentage points to 87% in natural terms.

The share of iOS smartphones climbed 6 percentage points to 33% in money and 2 percentage points to 10% in units.

The share of Windows Phone smartphones decreased 3 percentage points to 2% in money and 5 percentage points to 2% in units.

“The market’s growth at the beginning of 2016 mostly resulted from an increase in an average price of smartphones, which had a certain negative impact on the consumer behavior. People have much less money now and are forced to buy smartphones at the expense of other savings,” she said.

Euroset started buying goods five months ago in the quantities allowing the retailer to influence price forming approaches of other sellers as well. “We speak about billions of rubles. Euroset cut prices of almost all goods by 5–50% on March 30. Naturally, the market was quick on the trigger and we’ve already seen several waves of price cuttings,” Smolskaya said.

“We analyze new prices of competitors, cut our prices more and will pursue this policy. We are ready to reduce prices for a long time, for months. Smartphones should be cheaper and more accessible.”

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