South Korea's Samsung Electronics has ceased consumer electronics sales in Japan despite the group's huge success elsewhere in the world, a company spokeswoman said Nov. 9. Samsung's Japanese subsidiary stopped taking new orders from retail customers for products such as flat televisions via the Internet at the end of October, she said.
Sales at retails shops had already ceased last year amid a tough fight against Japanese rivals in their home turf. "We had been offering our group's best products in the Japanese market where customers are strictly selective and top companies are jostling each other," the spokeswoman said.
"It was something like test marketing (of cutting-edge products) but the need for that has weakened given the recent trend of simultaneous launches of digital products across the world," she said. The company also wants to concentrate its development resources on North America, Europe and emerging countries such as Brazil, she said.
Samsung Japan started consumer electronics sales in Japan in the 1980s with online sales launched in 2000. Its main business is semiconductors and electronics components sales to Japanese corporate customers. Retail consumer electronics sales accounted for less than one percent of its 2006 sales amounting to 1.1 trillion yen (US9.7 billion).
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2007
