The Samsung Best Performance Award for the year 2015 was awarded to Cellular Services – Samsung Brand Shop.
Seychelles was chosen ahead of Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Mauritius, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Madagascar, and several other African countries in the East Africa region for the most consistent growth in the market for the past two years.
The award was presented by the president of Samsung Electronics East Africa (SEEA) Jung Hyun Park on February 16 at the Samsung Global forum in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
During the award ceremony Seychelles was highlighted as a consistent partner with relentless focus on market domination and market growth across all segments of the Consumer Electronics (CE) business.
Cellular Services managing director Raja Ramani said compared to the previous years and last year they grew over 85% overall in market placement.
“It shows the very strong confidence that consumers in Seychelles have in the brand, and that the quality of products that Samsung manufactures is quite modern and acceptable in terms of standards. It also shows the commitment of our staff and the after-sales service team – the commitment that they have in ensuring maximum customer satisfaction,” he said.
Mr Ramani said currently Samsung is placing a lot of emphasis on energy efficiency.
“Almost 80% of all appliances that Samsung sells in Seychelles are very highly energy efficient,” he said.
He also noted that Samsung only had one shop at Le Chantier Mall when it all started in 2010 and has eventually opened others at the Orion Mall and Eden Plaza. They have recently acquired a bigger shop at City Mart and it is about 500 square metres. Mr Ramani noted that it is “the largest electronic outlet in Seychelles”.
The company also has about 25 employees.
“The growth that we have had ever since we started is evident by the award that we have received in terms of market capture with Samsung. We’ve had good customer feedback, energy efficiency and also the value for money in terms of price versus value of products,” he added.
He said one of the main reasons they have been able to achieve this is because of the economic policy of the Seychelles government.
“Foreign exchange is easily accessible at the moment so we can import any product that’s required. There is no customs duty on electronics equipment so it makes it much cheaper whereas in other African countries they have up to 25% duty and on top of that you have to pay 15% or 18% value added tax (VAT) which makes the product more expensive in those places. We are also engaging the government to try and remove the VAT on energy efficient electronic products, so if this is successful then these products will become more affordable to consumers,” he said.
Mr Ramani explained that the new Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge mobile phones will be in Samsung stores by this week.
The product with the highest sales is the air condition and the company has said it will be targeting inverter air conditions this year as it saves up to 45% of the electricity bills which costs below R8,000 inclusive of VAT.
“We are pushing it more this year so that the Public Utilities Corporation spends less on fossil fuels to be able to generate this kind of electricity as air conditioning consumes a substantial amount of electricity in Seychelles,” he said.
Other products such as refrigerators and washing machines also have the inverter technology which means they also save energy.
Their main focus in the next couple of years would be that any product which Samsung brings into the country will be the best product at the best price with the highest energy rating and good after-sales service.
Source : Seychelles NATION