CES 2021: Meet Samsung’s new Bespoke fridges focused at millennials

After a growth in gross sales of fridges and cleaners throughout Covid-19, Samsung Electronics Co.’s residence equipment enterprise is waiting for the post-pandemic period by specializing in providing customized gadgets to youthful clients.
The South Korean big’s residence equipment enterprise, which accounts for nearly 10% of complete income, ought to report a ten% enhance in gross sales for 2020, Jaeseung Lee, president and head of digital home equipment enterprise, stated in an interview. Demand will proceed by the primary six months of this yr however gross sales will begin to weaken within the second half as soon as the financial impact of subsidies wane and other people begin getting again to regular life after vaccines roll out, in keeping with Lee.
“We are drawing up contingency plans as we expect a sales slowdown in the second half,” he stated at Samsung’s headquarters in Suwon. “There will be another new battle for market share. We will aggressively carry out new product sales for the second half and overcome challenges by providing differentiated products.”

Spurred by stay-at-home demand, the world’s largest reminiscence chip and electronics maker has benefited from sturdy gross sales of semiconductors that go into the whole lot from PCs and TVs to information facilities in addition to digital home equipment. Samsung’s residence equipment enterprise initially suffered from plant closures when Covid-19 unfold to Europe and the U.S. final yr however the firm swiftly adjusted its international provide chain to satisfy elevated demand for bigger fridges to retailer meals and for vacuum cleaners and washing machines.
Samsung slid roughly 1.7% in Tuesday commerce, after two classes of positive factors propelled by a strengthening reminiscence market outlook and information that Intel Corp. was contemplating outsourcing a few of its manufacturing.
Looking past to the post-Covid period, Samsung plans to focus on millennial clients who store on-line and like customized designs, Lee stated. Online gross sales rose 50% globally within the third quarter, whereas Bespoke fridges that may be custom-made in keeping with dimension, materials and shade — specialty fridges for kimchi are a preferred choice — accounted for greater than 67% of the Korean market final yr.
“Customers had few options among products made by a traditional manufacturing system,” stated Lee. “Our way of manufacturing has to be changed for the personalization of appliances. And that’s a big transition.”
Samsung Bespoke Refrigerator (Image Source: Samsung)
While the shift to order-based manufacturing will enhance prices, the corporate is betting that the technique will create gross sales alternatives, Lee stated. Samsung, whose Bespoke lineup additionally consists of wine coolers and dishwashers, is in search of to open up its manufacturing ecosystem to suppliers and furnishings studios in order that purchasers can have extra design choices. It plans to start out gross sales of Bespoke fridges within the U.S., Middle East and Europe this yr.
The division can also be pushing software program customization that may allow its residence home equipment to supply AI-based options to customers. While the corporate’s personal Bixby voice assistant is right here to remain, Lee stated Samsung is open to working with Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc.’s Google to attach their rival techniques to its devices.
With demand for sterilization and hygiene capabilities on digital home equipment rising, Samsung is contemplating making built-in water purifiers in addition to a brand new model of its Air Dresser closet for footwear, whereas strengthening the sterilization options in its air purifiers. At a web based occasion for the CES client expertise present this week, the corporate additionally unveiled a brand new robotic vacuum cleaner, referred to as JetBot 90 AI+, with three cameras with LiDAR and 3D sensors that may go on sale globally within the first half of this yr.