Report Says Samsung Have Spent Enormously on Products Promotions in 2013

There is an old saying that you have to spend money to make money, and if there is any correlation between the two, than Samsung must be making an exorbitant amount of money.  Even knowing how large a company Samsung is – selling everything from a wearable smartwatch to your smartphone and tablet, to the SmartTV in your living room, to the side-by-side in your kitchen – they still spent a whopping amount of money on promoting their products. For the first time, Samsung’s promotional spending has topped their advertising dollars in South Korea, where competition is extremely intense among the smartphone manufacturers.

According to data based on its regulatory filings, Samsung sales promotional spending hit $888 million dollars through the first THREEE quarters of the year, which is up 38.7 percent from 2012.  We have not even made it through the holiday season – meaning that for the entire year of 2013, Samsung could easy topple $1 billion in promotions.  Sales promotions refer to marketing activities that include coupons, rebates, discounts, or other financial incentives – directed at both the consumer and the distributors or retailers. During the same period, Samsung’s advertising dropped to a measly $660 million during the same time period.



This data would confirm that Samsung is providing a number of incentives in their own country in order to raise sales figures as the competition continues to increase amongst their local and foreign competitors.  Samsung has released their Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 3, their Galaxy Gear, and other products this year and as the market starts to become saturated, a little promotional incentive might be all the consumer needs to make a purchasing decision.

According to data compiled by Kantar Media, Samsung was no spending slouch in the U.S. either, with $401 million spent in advertisements in the U.S. on TV ads, billboards, print ads, and internet advertisements.  For the second year in a row Samsung spent more than Apple, who ranked second with $333 million, and HTC took third place by spending $36 million. Anyway you look at it, Samsung has spent billions in advertising and promotional items – it is amazing how much they spent in their own country, especially when compared to their U.S. spending…I guess advertising agencies need to make money, as well!