Samsung’s new digital initiative enables over 20,000 offline retailers to sell Galaxy phones

Samsung India on Thursday announced a unique initiative that will allow consumers to buy Galaxy smartphones from offline retailers by booking online. The company has partnered with Benow to let customers in India buy Galaxy smartphones from their local stores online.

The company believes that the new digital platform will also help thousands of offline retailers become part of the online ecosystem and reach out to a larger base of consumers.

Over 20,000 offline retailers have already signed up for the digital platform that enables consumers to buy Galaxy smartphones online from their neighbourhood stores, Samsung said in a statement on Thursday.

How the new digital platform from Samsung works

Samsung’s new digital platform to enable offline retailers to sell Galaxy phones to consumers has an app in the core. The company to enable a dealer to become part of the new digital platform, Samsung shares the details of the dealer with Benow.

Following this, the dealer gets a link on his/her mobile number. The dealer then registers for the platform and downloads the Benow App. This is how offline retailers were on-boarded.

Then, offline retailers on the Benow app can make an online catalogue of Galaxy smartphones. Notably, the catalogue can be edited to add newer models.

Once the catalogue is ready, the dealer shares the link with customers via email, SMS and WhatsApp. Samsung adds that the dealer can also share the link on his/her social media channels.

Once received the link, the consumer can browse the entire catalogue of Galaxy smartphones through the link shared by a particular dealer. To order a new phone, all the consumer needs to do is place a request via the online link.

The moment a customer places an order, the dealer gets a notification. The dealer then checks the Benow app to get customer details. Post contacting the customer and finalising the deal, and the dealer generates the payment link through Benow.

The customer has the option to select various payment methods (cash on delivery, credit card, debit card, easy EMI, etc.) to make the payment.

Upon transaction, both the customer and the dealer get digital charge slips. The dealer receives the Galaxy smartphone delivered to the customer.

The new digital platform from Samsung allows consumers in India to tap their local dealers to buy Galaxy smartphones online. It also helps Samsung’s large number of offline partners reach out to their local consumers online.

Announcing the new initiative, Mohandeep Singh, Senior Vice President, Mobile Business, Samsung India, said, “Our partnership with Benow is part of our broader online to offline (O2O) strategy and is aimed to provide benefits of both offline and online platforms to the consumer. With this new platform, our consumers will be able to browse, select, order, pay and receive their Galaxy smartphone from the comfort of their homes. This will ensure that our consumers don’t have to step out to a physical store at a time when Social Distancing is the new normal. At the same time, the new platform enables thousands of physical retailers to connect with local customers online.”

―Times Now