Samsung Electronics Co. seeks to expand presence in Europe and North America by building retail clout

Samsung Electronics Co. became the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world mostly without help of its own retail stores. The company has been dealing with a bunch of new competitors as well as with the anticipation of slowing growth. That is one of the main reasons why the company is now seeking to increase its clout among customers by extending its retail presence in two of its largest markets – Europe and North America.

The companys executives said for The Wall Street Journal that Samsung is planning to triple its stores located in Europe, currently 31, in the months that are yet to come. In addition, the company is said to be planning to open 90 kiosks within big box retail chains Best Buy Inc. and Future Shops in Canada by the spring of 2014. Samsung Electronics Co. has joined Best Buy in the U.S. in order to start 1,400 “store-in-store” kiosks.

The retail push of the company takes place amid the increasing pressure set on the smartphone market by a bunch of new handset manufacturers. The latter are currently focused on selling cheap handsets based on the Android operating system of Google Inc. The fierce rivalry on the mobile market, which is the main source of profits for Samsung Electronics has become the reason why its fourth-quarter profit growth sharply decreased.

The company does not provide details about its smartphone shipments. However, according to the Wall Street Journal, analysts estimates show that Samsungs sales were anywhere between 85 and 87 million handset units during the fourth quarter, which means the company gets almost one third of the global smartphone market share. However, in North America (Canada and the U.S.) Samsung still falls behind Apple Inc.

According to the research firm IDC, 42% of the smartphone market during the fourth quarter of 2013 belonged to Apple Inc., compared with 26% held by Samsung Electronics Co. IDC also reported that in Canada Apple had 44% of the market share, while Samsung had 27%. In Europe, however, Samsung takes the lead over Apple with a 39% market share during the fourth quarter of the year, compared to Apples 19%.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd rose by 0.78% in Korea to settle the session at KRW 1 295 000, marking a market capitalization of 190 trillion KRW.