The Wall Street Journal reports that Samsung’s Galaxy S5 sales are below expectations. Within the first three month after its launch, 12 million units were sold, nearly 4 million fewer than the s5. Sales were 40 percent less than projected.
In the United States, where Samsung has the biggest market, sales actually increased. It was markets such as China’s where sales were down over 50 percent.
Samsung overestimated how much stock would be needed, much like Amazon did with their Fire phone. Samsung had to increase advertisement spending to get rid of the units that were “piling up in warehouses.”
Last month, the company responded to huge decreases in Samsung s5 sales as well as overall profits, promising to “fundamentally reform” its smartphone portfolio. Their operating profit has been down by 60 percent and income from sales has been 20 percent smaller compared to this time last year, meaning Samsung is spending more to generate less revenue. LG and Lenovo have experienced opposite results.
The WSJ also cites inside sources, saying that Samsung is considering making changes at the executive level. Mobile chief co-CEO JK Shin may be giving up his position to join the TVs and Appliances department. The rumors have not been confirmed.
Samsung Chairman, Lee Kun-hee, who was involved with the company’s rise since the ‘90s, suffered from a heart attack in May and has been ill ever since. His son, Jay Y. Lee is believed to be his successor. The illness will be the reason for any management changes replacing the chairman.
Samsung Stock experienced huge declines between August and late October. The last two days of October, however, showed huge spikes that counteracted most of the losses since August.
With the holidays coming up, Samsung s5 sales could increase, especially with their enormous Black Friday price cuts at Best Buy and Target. Even if more units sale these next few weeks, it’s going to take a lot more for the company to make up all they’ve lost in their recent downward spiral that started in June. 2015 could be Samsung’s “fundamentally reform” year to change things around.