Samsung leads market in premium home appliances

JAKARTA. PT Samsung Electronics Indonesia (SEIN), the local arm of the Korean multinational electronics company, claims that it holds the biggest market share in the category of premium home appliances in Indonesia.

Ryan Tirta Yudhistira, SEIN consumer electronics business director, said that Samsung became the country’s market leader in premium refrigerators and washing machines last year, with a market share of 67 percent and 40 percent, respectively.

“In 2014 we saw a lot of challenges due to political stability as well as slower economic growth,” Ryan told reporters at the recent Samsung Forum 2015, an annual event aimed at creating buzz for the firm’s new products, in Bangkok.

“Even though economic growth is predicted to reach only slightly above 5 percent this year, that is still an achievement as compared to the global economic situation and we are optimistic that we will be able to better penetrate our premium products in the country this year,” he continued.

Samsung also recorded an impressive market share in flat panel televisions last year that reached 36 percent, Ryan added.

Ryan also said that the firm’s market share in curved UHD (ultra high definition) TVs had reached 4 percent last year and that the company was expecting to see a jump in UHD market share to 17 percent this year.

“The growth of the country’s middle-income bracket is among the fastest in the world, which means people’s ability to spend is increasing rapidly and that is good news for electronic firms like Samsung,” Ryan said.

During the forum, which was held at the IMPACT Convention Center in Bangkok, Samsung unveiled several new products it plans to market this year, ranging from an 85-inch premium UHD TVs to a series of home appliances, such as its new side-by-side refrigerators and a dual-washing machine with a built in sink on top.

Samsung will offer this year three new series of curved SUHD TVs with sizes ranging from 55 to 85 inches in Indonesia.

Samsung has collaborated with Fox Innovation Lab to remaster multiple scenes from its film Life of Pi specifically for the SUHD TB, generating more vivid colors and lifelike scenes.

Samsung introduced the curved form television in 2014.

During the event, which was held on Feb. 12-14, Samsung also unveiled the NX 500 smart camera, a compact mirrorless camera with features similar to the NX1 mirrorless digital camera.

Samsung is set to market the NX1 in Indonesia next month to tap into growing market potential, with current market share of between 30 percent and 35 percent in the professional digital camera market in Southeast Asia led by digital SLR cameras (DSLR).

Following the NX1, the firm will launch four other mirrorless cameras in Indonesia this year. (Nadya Natahadibrata)