British retailers found recommending Samsung smartphones over Apple's
A mystery shopper survey carried out in the United Kingdom found that Samsung's Galaxy S III was the most recommended smartphone among eight of Britain's leading electronics retailers.

Apple's iPhones are seeing fewer recommendations from British retailers than Samsung's offerings
The Telegraph reports that the survey, performed by Informa Telecoms and Media, looked at smartphone recommendations from sales attendants at John Lewis, Everything Everywhere, O2, 3, Maplins, PC World, Carphone Warehouse, and Phones 4 U. The researchers found that the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II were most often recommended, even though they've been on the market longer than Apple's new iPhone 5 and other handsets from Nokia and HTC.
The researchers asked attendants to recommend three smartphones or tablets from among their offerings. Only 3 and Phones 4 U recommended Apple smartphones, with both recommending the iPhone 5. Still, other manufacturers fared worse; Motorola reportedly saw very few recommendations, and Research In Motion's BlackBerry offerings were also snubbed.
In addition to attendant recommendations, the survey also scored manufacturers on whether smartphones were advertised in store windows or in-store. They found that Apple and Samsung products were just as likely to see window or in-store promotion, despite the discrepancy in recommendations.
In reporting their results, Informa noted that the higher rate of Samsung recommendations could possibly boil down -- in part -- to individual employee biases, including possible higher commissions on sales of Samsung phones. Samsung's greater range of smartphone options could also have an effect, as the iPhone is Apple's only smartphone offering.

Apple's iPhones are seeing fewer recommendations from British retailers than Samsung's offerings
The Telegraph reports that the survey, performed by Informa Telecoms and Media, looked at smartphone recommendations from sales attendants at John Lewis, Everything Everywhere, O2, 3, Maplins, PC World, Carphone Warehouse, and Phones 4 U. The researchers found that the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II were most often recommended, even though they've been on the market longer than Apple's new iPhone 5 and other handsets from Nokia and HTC.
The researchers asked attendants to recommend three smartphones or tablets from among their offerings. Only 3 and Phones 4 U recommended Apple smartphones, with both recommending the iPhone 5. Still, other manufacturers fared worse; Motorola reportedly saw very few recommendations, and Research In Motion's BlackBerry offerings were also snubbed.
In addition to attendant recommendations, the survey also scored manufacturers on whether smartphones were advertised in store windows or in-store. They found that Apple and Samsung products were just as likely to see window or in-store promotion, despite the discrepancy in recommendations.
In reporting their results, Informa noted that the higher rate of Samsung recommendations could possibly boil down -- in part -- to individual employee biases, including possible higher commissions on sales of Samsung phones. Samsung's greater range of smartphone options could also have an effect, as the iPhone is Apple's only smartphone offering.
Comments
Spifs and OEM kickbacks talk loudly. Apple does not play that game much. Samsung heavily.
If MS still wants to play in this game, they should consider it.
What do the British know anyways....
Samsung is now comfortably positioned to destroy Apple's future credibility. Sadly enough, all this happened in just six month's time while Apple (Tim Cook) was caught napping.
Possible higher commissions? Definite higher commissions!
See:
http://www.asymco.com/2012/11/29/the-cost-of-selling-galaxies/
Things to note from those charts:
A. Samsung's marketing budget per year is over 10 times Apple's.
B. Samsung spends more on marketing than Apple, Coca-Cola, Dell, HP, and Microsoft... all put together.
C. What kind of marketing? Well, more than half of Samsung's marketing budget is paying commissions. They spend massively more than Apple on advertising, but even their advertising expenditure is dwarfed by their commission payouts. All to make salespeople push Samsung regardless of what's good for the customer.
So keep this in mind when people parrot the idea that Apple's success is all driven by empty marketing...
IIRC, Apple pays commissions to its phone sales staff but not its retail staff. Of course, people who visit an Apple store or call Apple are already interested in Apple products. You can't say that everyone walking into a carrier store is already interested in Samsung. Until a salesperson is bribed to tell them the iPhone's not good...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Constable Odo
And so what if Samsung used cheater tactics? Samsung shareholders were the big winners and Apple shareholders were just bigger losers.
So what, you ask? That very much depends on whether you are interested in stock prices or in quality products. And, if you ARE interested only in stock prices, are you interested in the long term or in the easily-manipulated short term?
I want Apple to have a CEO who is interested in quality products and long-term stock performance. Not in playing the game of lies you say Tim was "napping" on. I say that because quality products matter to me, and I'd say the same if I were shareholder, because I'd be investing for the long term, not playing the silly, irrational quarter-to-quarter game.
And if you look at the numbers, you'll be surprised to see that Apple's market share is doing great, their profit share is doing better, and their buyer satisfaction numbers are simply untouchable.
First time I simply walked out at Bell (I believe they were out of iPhones and they thought that I wouldn't buy from then if I had to wait a couple days to get it at my door, but I have no proof of that).
Second store (Telus) they said the screen was small, I got frustrated and asked if they were told by their leadership to try and convince people away from the iPhone - and out of talking with the two clerks I understood that their company didn't really appreciate the way Apple did business with them (As in Apple taking care\supervising ALL marketing material, Apple handling customer support and after-sale which resulted in the carrier to "lose sight" of the customer). But the salespersons might just have been covering something else.
And lastly I went to a Futureshop thinking that no matter what they would say, I would simply answer "Look, will you sell me an iPhone or not?"... And I had to use it, but at least, at Futureshop, you know they have bonuses if they shift certain items, so I was expecting it... But from the carrier's boutiques, that felt odd.
Who is surprised by this? In the USA you often have to fight your way out of a carrier store to keep your iPhone that you request. Salespeople really push Android here. You can't blame them - the monthly fees are the same, the subsidized price is the same, but the wholesale price that VZ pays is hundreds less for Android phones typically. Some of that savings goes to the salesperson.
Quote:
Originally Posted by macxpress
What do the British know anyways....
Not to add an "s" where one is not needed?
In the US you don't need a survey. Just walk into a busy iPhone carrier (AT&T, Verizon) and ask them what they recommend or listen to what they recommend to others.
Maybe that money the retailers got from sammy is paying off. Next thing you will see is North Korea recommending Samsung knock offs to the People of NK.
Apple's choice then to prioritize margins over market share backfired: PCs eventually gathered enough market share that the Mac became practically extinct and software was no longer developed for it.
I'm not saying that it's what's happening to Apple right now; but if they're not careful, it could very well happen soon. Watch out for "Android first" apps.
Of course. Consider that most usage surveys show that iDevices get used on the Internet far more than Android devices. If the customer buys an iPhone, the carrier will actually have to earn its money. If they buy an Android phone, they collect the fees, but the phone isn't tying up the network.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer
It's called lobbying folks. Pay the retailers to recommend your product over the competition.
This should be made illegal, but instead they make unlocking while on contract illegal. Bonkers.