Samsung is providing lending facilities to around three lakh customers every month to help them purchase Galaxy smartphones through its Samsung Finance+ programme. Given the increase in the number of people availing loan facilities since January, revenues for Samsung Finance+ have increased twofold to Rs 500 crore a month from Rs 250 crore per month earlier.
“As of now, 50,000 retailers in the country have adopted Samsung Finance+. It was launched 36 months ago and today around three lakh consumers buy through Samsung finance in a month on EMIs. Almost Rs 500 crore revenue comes from the business that we do from Samsung Finance,” Raju Pullan, senior vice president, mobile business, Samsung India, told FE.
The finance option can be availed by customers for buying any Galaxy smartphone. Samsung has 30 devices in the Galaxy portfolio and through initiatives like this, the company wants to create strong entry price points for consumers. “We are covering more than 14,000 pin codes in the country and 4,245 cities. Almost 50% of these consumers, availing Samsung Finance+, are new to credit,” Pullan said. As a result, the company has been witnessing an improvement in its average selling price.
The lending programme was developed in India at the Samsung R&D Institute India-Bangalore. The programme was formed after assessing market requirements, designing product features, running limited pilots to validate the concepts and building a data-driven, scalable multi-sided lending platform which can meet the demands of a market like India.
Samsung is also undertaking a trade-in programme, that gives special benefits to people who want to upgrade to a new 5G smartphone. The company has recently launched five new smartphones, of which three are 5G devices. On the back of new launches, the company wants to increase its market share in the mid-range segment (Rs 20,000 to Rs 45,000) to 40% from the current 25% by the end of this year.