Samsung Ghana originally announced that consumers will be offered the opportunity to swap out their old mobile device for a new Samsung smartphone or tablet. Once swapped out, the consumer would then pay the difference for the new handset or tablet device. The company introduced the promo at the beginning of August; however, it has now suspended the promotion.
According to myjoyonline.com, Samsung has faced a significant amount of backlash from mobile phone dealers whose main stay is swapping old handsets for new or fairly used devices. Adding to this, dealers threatened to burn down Samsung branded stores Samsung – Adam Business reported. Representatives of other handset brands also questioned what Samsung was going to do with the different handsets they would be taking from users.
The intended promotion was set to run until August 30, 2014. According to myjoyonline, one industry player said Samsung’s market share has been declining lately because their main distributor, i2 Ghana, who helped them to get to number one on the market, has now taken on other brands like Huawei, Alcatel and LG for distribution.
Industry watchers have stated that they think the move by Samsung is purely a marketing strategy subject to consumers’ choice. “If a telco chooses to do an aggressive MNP campaign, their competitors cannot accuse them of unfair practice. In the same way competition cannot accuse Samsung of unfair practice. It is purely a matter of choice – it will deepen competition and ultimately inure to the benefit of the consumer in terms of price cuts,” one watcher stated.
Even with the occurrence of the backlash, consumers have reported that they welcome the move and want the promotion to continue across Ghana.
