Samsung India on Thursday said that it has joined hands with Facebook to teach digital marketing skills to offline retailers across India. The company said that its initiative will aid its offline partners become part of the online ecosystem and communicate with a larger consumer base. Samsung said that the initiative will also aid consumers as they can access the product catalog and purchase devices from local retailers. The two companies are said to have trained over 800 offline retailers in the first phase with additional sessions being lined up in the upcoming weeks.
Digital Presence Through Facebook Ecosystem
Samsung said that the spotlight of the training was on enabling the offline retailers to develop a digital presence through the Facebook ecosystem of apps including Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. “Our partnership with Facebook is helping a large number of our retail partners go digital in a big way,” Mohandeep Singh, senior vice president of Mobile Business at Samsung India, said in a release. “By leveraging the Facebook training, our retail partners will be able to discover and target local consumers digitally.” Samsung said that the training sessions have enabled the offline retailers to further advertise their business and “build credibility” within the local community by setting up their pages on the Facebook ecosystem of apps. The company said that the offline retailers could potentially notice an increase in business activity as they identify more local consumers online. “With the changing environment around COVID-19, people are spending more time on digital platforms including the Facebook family of apps,” Prasanjeet Dutta Baruah, head of technology, telecom and new business at Facebook India, said in the release. “This has led brands to alter go-to-market models by adapting to changes in the value chain, rapidly digitizing key journeys. Facebook has partnered closely with key clients including Samsung on this journey.”
Samsung and Facebook Bank on Consumers Spending More Time Online
Samsung said that the training sessions will enable its offline retailers to create business pages and accounts on Facebook ecosystem of apps where its consumers are said to spend “a lot of time.” The company said that the consumers engaging with local retailers on social media platforms would remove the need for them to visit physical stores. Further, Samsung said that the consumers can order Samsung devices by reaching out to local retailers on the WhatsApp Business app of the retailer. “With our industry-leading digital skilling resources, we partnered with Samsung to skill their leading offline retailers, enabling them to reach out to consumers in their natural habitat of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp seamlessly, and helping the business adapt to the new normal,” Baruah said.
