Samsung today introduced flexible payments plan for premium handset Galaxy Note 4 to increase update. This is in partnership with Barclays Bank in Kenya where users can now get the current flagship smartphone Galaxy Note 4 on interest-free loan.
“We are working with Barclays to get consumers to buy the much loved Galaxy Note 4 with interest-free loans with easy regular payments and this is the beginning of more and more future partnerships,” said Manoj Changarampatt, Samsung Electronics Director for Mobile and IT.
The plan is open to Barclays Bank customers who are also Barclay Card Credit Card holders and for the Galaxy Note 4 which sells for Kshs 75,000 will get a user paying Kshs 25,000 per month.
“We want to ensure that the Samsung galaxy device is a household name by making acquisition of premium devices easier on the pocket of the consumers by spreading out the payments interest free for them,” said Robert Ngeru, Samsung Electronics VP East Africa.
For the longest time Samsung India has had an edge where sales of high end smartphones increased when they introduced EMIs (Equal monthly installments) with the mobile carriers and it looks like the same is finally coming into Kenya. Manoj says that what commenced with the Galaxy Note 4 is expected to go into other devices and price segments for smartphones in the mid range upwards.
One thing that has been stopping a credit culture from growing in Kenya like in developed countries is a poor culture along the lines of credit, vendors want to play it safe. With this new plan both Samsung and Barclays are sort of safe from defaults since the users who access the Galaxy Note 4 loan are already in the credit system by virtue of being on credit card. And this makes for an easy way in to credit culture in Kenya. Should this succeed we could find more players looking to get consumers take in consumables on flexible credit.
Samsung has been on a growth trend in Africa compared to other global markets where competition from Chinese companies has eaten into the revenues of the company, this is not the case for Kenya and Africa as Manoj says. He cites an 11% year on year growth in sales and specifically in the Note segment, there has been no significant competition per se.
Samsung also announced that there will be a 4G version of the Galaxy Note 4 coming early next year into the Kenyan market alongside the launch of 4G LTE in Kenya. Other devices like the Galaxy A5 which is also going on sale this month are also 4G LTE capable to keep up with new developments.
