Wedding special: Samsung is running a wedding campaign called ‘Imagine the most memorable occasion’ to mark Valentine’s Day. Consumers buying a package at the Valentine’s Wedding Fair at Central Lat Phrao from February 13-19 will get a special discount of

Thai Samsung Electronics aims to double its share of the mobile-phone market to 20 per cent this year. The company's senior manager for corporate marketing Manatase Annawat said yesterday that to achieve the goal, the company would spend Bt600 million on marketing, three times more than last year and a revision of the Bt300-million budget planned earlier this year.

"We want to make more Samsung phones available in the market. We will advertise heavily so that people better understand Samsung phones," added managing director Kwang Kee Park.

Thai Samsung will roll out about 50 new phone models this year, of which 40 per cent will be middle and low-end models, to tap the mass market.  The items in the two ranges will be priced at around Bt4,000.

"Middle and low-range phones are the fast-growth segments," Manatase said.

Thai Samsung recently restructured its distribution channels by appointing SAM Corp as its sole distributor.

Manatase said Thai Samsung had earlier depended on several distributors, which also have their own retail shops and sell several brands. He said those firms had focused more on promoting the leading mobile-phone brand in order to make quick sales.

Thai Samsung's general manager for telecom business Chung Jun Kim said the company targeted to sell 1.6 million handsets this year, up from about one million last year. Premium phones will still be the main revenue contributor.

To improve sales, Thai Samsung this year will also roll out around 10 mobile-phone shops, which will sell only Samsung phones, Manatase said.

The company has suffered from competition from Samsung phones illegally imported into Thailand by some suppliers, who then promote them at prices lower than those available from Thai Samsung.

Sirivish Toomgum

The Nation