Bye Bye Consumer Sales In Japan

In South Korea, Samsung Electronics Co. said Friday it had stopped selling flat panel televisions and other consumer products in Japan, citing poor profitability. Samsung has emerged in the past decade and a half as a global force in consumer electronics, taking on and even beating Japanese rivals in places such as the United States and Europe. "We judged direct sales to individual consumers are less profitable than business-to-business sales," Lee Eun-hee, a Samsung spokeswoman, said of the reasoning behind the decision.

Samsung will sell flat screen computer monitors directly to businesses and will continue to sell components such as memory chips and liquid crystal displays, she said. The company will also keep supplying mobile phone handsets to Japanese telecommunications company Softbank Corp., she said. Since 2004, Samsung has produced LCD panels at a joint venture with Sony to meet strong demand for flat screen TVs, which has soared in recent years as consumers have switched to the sleeker versions.

Analysts, who emphasized that the move would have no impact on Samsung's bottom line, said the dominance of Japanese manufacturers on their home turf meant the company faced serious marketing and brand challenges despite the quality of its products.
I think that Samsung should continue to sell the products that do well in Japan, but when it comes to flat screen TVs, maybe it will be a good idea to not target in Japan.

This article can be found in the Washington Post entitled, "Samsung Stops Consumer Sales In Japan."