Samsung ties up with digital payment platform Benow to boost online to offline sales

As Samsung had a large retail network in the consumer electronics industry, this partnership will digitally empower retail partners across India, especially the ones in smaller cities and towns

Samsung India has expanded its partnership with a digital payment platform Benow to provide consumers across the country an option to buy Samsung televisions and other digital appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines and smart ovens online from their neighbourhood stores. The platform is designed to allow thousands of offline retailers across the country to sell Samsung consumer electronics products online.

As Samsung had a large retail network in the consumer electronics industry, this partnership will digitally empower retail partners across India, especially the ones in smaller cities and towns. Around 5,000 offline retailers selling Samsung consumer electronics products have already signed up and more are expected to join in the coming weeks. Claiming to be an industry-first initiative, it will allow local retailers to sell Samsung consumer electronics products online and go completely contactless, without making any upfront investment.

"The current O2O model that we rolled out last month has been truly successful. We are now extending O2O to new platforms with our partnership with Benow. Our partnership with Benow will not only enable consumers to purchase their favourite Samsung appliances from the safety and comfort of their homes but will also help our retail partners expand their consumer base and make them online-enabled," says Raju Pullan, Senior Vice President, Consumer Electronics Business, Samsung India.

Samsung will share details of the interested retailers with Benow, which will take on board the retailer and send a digital registration link on his/her registered mobile number. The retailer will have to verify the details, uploads his KYC documents and can go live instantly. On the Benow app, retailers will be able to create their online catalogue of Samsung consumer electronics products they intend to sell and then share the link to the catalogue with consumers through SMS, WhatsApp, and email or even through social media platforms.

Consumers can select the products of their choice from the catalogue shared by a particular retailer and place an order using the online link. This triggers a notification to the retailer who gets the details of the consumers on the Benow App. The retailer can then get in touch with the consumer, finalise the deal and generate a payment link through Benow. Consumers can choose from payment methods such as cash on delivery, credit card, debit card, easy EMI, etc. On completion of the transaction, invoice and charge slips are shared with both the consumer and the retailer.

On Samsung's O2O platform, 37 per cent of the demand is for televisions, driven by higher screen time while at home, both for entertainment and education, and 36 per cent of the demand is for refrigerators, whereby consumers are looking for higher capacity storage.