SEOUL, KOREA—With only 7 months passed as President at Samsung’s Television and Home Appliance, Mr. Boo-keun Yoon’s latest move proved right, rendering his department much motivated following better-than-expected sales. The Korea’s largest IT maker acted, and customers reacted, leaving the whole industry paying keen attention.
In April, Samsung Electronics took on the Korean market with its new fridge line Zipel T9000. The world’s first 900-liter storage unit comes up with a four-door structure, dismissing a conventional two-door design. And its placement is somewhat revolutionary; its upper and lower part is for freezing and cooling storage respectively. Noticeably, the four-door fridge has two freezing units divided into several parts for many different uses, including the “T”-shape cooling department. The newcomer already caused a paradigm shift in the market.
According to the company, Zipel T9000 sells over 400 units per day. “It triples a number of Grande style models sold during the same period,” said a Samsung official. And this latest feat green-lights its international debut with an opportunity on the way.
Starting next month, Samsung Electronics plans to generate a positive reaction in the Middle East: a similar environment where people prefer a large cooling storage unit like U.S.- based customers. Soon its sales team will be able to carefully predict Zipel T9000’s marketability in the U.S. where only a slim chance of survival exists in tight competition; americans do not hesitate to brush things off. For now, Samsung bets on the premium fridge’s cooling space that looks cool enough.
Potentiality exists. Interestingly, preliminary market data show that some people still go for drawer-type freezing units; nearly 45 % of customers in the U.S. are likely to choose French-door fridges with bulk-type freezes, and 35 % is expected to bring home Zipel T9000. Samsung’s high official says, “We are weighing plenty of options. One of them is to replace its metal surface with stainless one.”
Samsung Electronics considers entering the markets that favors large capacity units: the Middle East and the U.S.. Then it will target Europe, China, and Australia where demand for the lesser capacity is a norm. For this, it may introduce 800-liter models. Zipel T9000’s assembling line at Kwangju, Korea is running at its full capacity to meet increasing demand at home.
