Samsung lets American try out products

Pop-up store in 5 American cities

Samsung may have been the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer, but Apple is still the market leader in the United States. The South Korean company controlled 27 % of the American smartphone market at the end of March, while Apple had 41.4 %. Samsung is slowly gaining market share though, as it managed to grow 0.9 %, while Apple lost 0.5 % compared to the previous quarter.

To speed up that process, Samsung is coming out with this daring marketing stunt in Apple’s backyard: After a first successful pilot in the Samsung Galaxy Studio in Manhattan a few weeks ago, the company opened another 4 pop-up stores in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Santa Clara.

Interested American consumers can test Samsung’s newest line of products, ranging from the smartphone Galaxy 5S and Note3 to the Gear smartwatch and the Gear Fit sports band, for 21 days. Samsung will even cover part of the communication costs and all the consumer has to do, is to pay a 350 dollar security, which will be paid back once the trial period has ended.

Test here, buy elsewhere

Customers cannot buy anything at these pop-up stores though, as Samsung (still) has no proper retail network in the United States, which is why customers are referred to stores nearby. “Our trial program offers consumers the convenience and accessibility to explore and test Samsung Galaxy products in their own environment, enabling them to experience the incredible things they can do with our products and make educated decisions prior to purchase”, Melissa McNutt, senior manager of Samsung’s experimental marketing division, said.

This latest marketing stunt is another step in Samsung’s attempt to entice people to switch to the South Korean brand. Samsung had only last year increased its American marketing budget 20.8 % to 1.7 billion dollars (1.25 billion euro), some 981 million dollars (721 million euro) more than Apple.