Our latest ConsumerMetrix report suggests that Samsung is failing to capitalise on its leadership in the TV and mobile phone markets. Samsung is obviously a brand leader in each of these segments, but few consumers own more than one Samsung product, suggesting that the brand loyalty in TV and phones respectively is not transferring to other products. If we define a Samsung household as owning at least one Samsung TV, phone or PC (the products covered in this survey), we find that 80% of these households own only one of these products.

Another key finding is that 40% of current owners of Samsung mobile phones are likely to buy a Samsung phone next time round, while only 13% say they would buy an iPhone. By contrast, owners of Samsung TVs are equally likely to buy a Samsung phone as an iPhone (around 24% in each case).

We might well argue why owners of a particular brand of TV should necessarily be more inclined to buy a phone of the same brand – surely these products are unrelated and consumers are right in treating them independently? But that would suggest that brands have no influence in general across different technology products, which is difficult to believe. It certainly seems in this case that an improvement in communications with its TV customers could help Samsung fight off the threat from Apple’s iPhone.

David Mercer