Samsung Console Marketing Pricing of the Samsung

Samsung Console Marketing

Pricing of the SamsunG console will be based on the pricing for competitive consoles. As noted, there are three main rival companies, offering a range of different console options. Kotler and Keller (2007) point out that the price of competing products is one of the most important drivers of the price of any new product. There are a number of pricing strategies for market entry -- penetration pricing and skim pricing among them (NetMBA, 2010). Penetration pricing is the strategy that Samsung should use for its new console. There are a couple of reasons for this recommendation. The first is that while the console is of good quality, it lacks the established brand and pantheon of games that the other consoles have. In addition, the new console is costly to produce, so the more volume sales the company can generate the more it can enjoy economies of scale, lowering total average production cost.

The prices of other major consoles on the market, according to Amazon are as follows: Playstation 3 is around $300; Xbox 360 is around $300 and Wii is around $180. The price of the SamsunG therefore will need to undercut at least the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. If Samsung can bring the price down between $199 and $229, the company should be able to achieve penetration pricing.

The marketing communication strategy must get the company's message to the consumers. At the core of the message will be value, particularly for families. A marketing communications strategy has a number of different components: advertising, public relations and social media being the three most important (Lindsay, 2009). The advertising strategy is essential to gaining market share -- the public needs to be aware of the product and all of the major competitors are marketed heavily. Samsung will need to invest heavily in response. The public relations strategy is also going to be important. A new console will generate substantial media response, from both mainstream media and gaming/technology media. As a result, media management will be divided into these two camps, with the gaming/technology media receiving a more sophisticated message than the mainstream media, highlighting attributes (graphics, processing, sound, etc.). The mainstream media messages will focus more on benefits (family entertainment, value) rather than attributes. The social media strategy will be sophisticated, encompassing all types of social media -- everything from blogs to Facebook to YouTube videos and Internet memes.

The distribution strategy is focused on two parts -- the domestic market entry strategy and the international market entry strategy. The domestic market for Samsung is South Korea. The company has exceptional distribution capabilities and strong brand loyalty domestically. Given that there are no Korean game manufacturers, the company can expect some competitive advantage in the domestic market, simply using its extant distribution and marketing channels.