The battle for top mobile phone vendor in Kenya is one interesting fete as each OEM strives to assert it’s position as market leader. As of October 2013, Samsung Electronics East Africa now commands 49% of mobile phone sales value in Kenya . This is according to Market Research Company GFK. Out of the over 26 million worth of sales made in October Samsung nears the 50% mark with Nokia second at 23%. Tecno comes third with 9% with the rest (LG, Huawei, Sony,Alcatel, Bird and Forme) barely hitting the 5% mark.
Christmas is a good moment for Samsung which has been on a steady rise for the last 6 months since May. Just like it has been doing on the global scene, Samsung not only takes the lead in sales value but also comes menacingly second in units sales in Kenya. Out of the 379000 devices sold in the month of October, Samsung sold 29% with Nokia leading at 30%. What’s interesting is that with the 29% of device sales, Samsung gets 49% of sales value in the country. Samsung Electronics East Africa COO attributes this to two of their hero devices.
“The Samsung Galaxy S 4 and the Galaxy Pocket make the bulk of the devices contributing hugely to these sales figures,” Mr Ngeru said adding that the two devices plus the current global brand aspiration drive which has made the Galaxy a wanted brand to be associated with by consumers. “When I look around everywhere I can’t keep count of Samsung devices in Kenyan’s hands and I am happy for my team,” added Ngeru. According to Ngeru, Safaricom, the largest of the four mobile carriers has also played a huge part with the free data offers.
Kenya has been undergoing a reversal situation where sales tax was re-introduced in mobile phone sales and this was expected to have an impact in the consumption of the devices. But this seems to be different as mobile phones have gone on to become an integral part of life on consumers in Kenya.
