``HelloSamsung aims at opening up another channel of communication with business partners, facilitating greater transparency in operations and increasing our efficiency in supply chain management with our dealers,'' says Mr K S Kin, MD, Samsung India.

According to Mr R Chopra, head of information systems, ``The USP of HelloSamsung is that it automatically updates information online, against conventional B2B sites that have batch mode updations.'' The company has earmarked Rs 6 crore for the entire digital e-company initiative to automate its work processes this year. The end target: achieving the company's initiative of becoming a digital e-company, with a digital range of products and e-management processes.

Samsung began its B2B initiatives with the launch of Glonets (linking its key vendors through its Global Logistics Network System) last year and Ascnet, linking its Authorised Service Centres (ASCs) with the head office.

This completes the loop as far as real time communication with its business partners is concerned.

Glonets is used to facilitate efficient purchase of requirements from international procurement offices and vendors in India, resulting in shorter business cycles and optimising logistics processes, thus minimising wastage.

With Ascnet the entire supply chain process has been automated. It allows ASCs to be in touch with the company on a real time basis. Besides ordering spare parts online the ASC can at any point of time know the stock position and order status of the spares. For consumers, Samsung launched its e-business site Samsunge-mart in February, which allows online purchase of products. The company has adopted a two-price online pricing strategy, by clubbing various regions for standardised prices. The company also has a B2C application for service needs. Customers can use the Online Call Logging application on the company site samsungindia.com for registering their service complaints, which are then followed up the company, referring them to the relevant regional service centre.

...hikes adspend by 15 per cent
Samsung India will channelise its hiked ad and promotional budget for calendar year 2001 to two additional areas: Road shows and online advertising. The company has increased its ad budget to Rs 85 crore, 15 per cent higher than last year's budget.

Samsung is for the first time sponsoring Channel V roadshows across eight cities till September 24, featuring artists like Sukhbir, Euphoria, Shaan and Mehnaaz. ``We decided to sponsor Channel V road shows because the concept and audience fit in well with our overall communication strategy,'' says Mr R Zutshi, vice-president, sales. The company will also sponsor Samsung Adventure One with National Geographic Channel, a series of fun events being held in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi between March 23-25.

After a limited burst of online advertising (mainly sponsoring of sites) last year, the company this year is expanding its online advertising, mainly targeting an NRI audience. It has identified women's, sports and youth portals for banner advertising. ``We are not expecting large returns from online advertising, but want to use it to direct traffic to the Samsung e-mart site,'' says the company spokesperson.

This year the focus of the advertising will move from educating customers on digital technology to communicating the benefits of that technology. Thus advertising will be more product-specific. New campaigns are in the offing for the entire range of products. With the air conditioners (`Ab garmi choo mantar') and Metallica TV commercials setting the ball rolling, print advertising for Plano CTVs and direct cool refrigerators will break this week, to be followed by TV commercials. While the Plano brand proposition is `true life-like images,' targeting customers ready to pay a little extra for technology, the Bio Fresh fridges are positioned on the freshness plank.