Channel Conflict at Samsung India

In mid-2014, Samsung Electronics, one of the leading mobile phone companies in India, said it would take only the offline retail route to sell some of its mobile phone models in India. Samsung’s announcement came in response to the threat from its dealers to boycott the sale of Samsung mobiles unless the company took action to stop the predatory pricing of its products on online sites. While its rivals like China-based Xiaomi and Motorola were busy selling millions of handsets online, the South Korean giant gave in to mounting pressure from brick-and-mortar retailers over predatory online pricing and decided to extend exclusivity on selling rights of 48 models, including its much-awaited Galaxy Alpha and Note 4, to offline retailers...