Samsung mobile products become more popular in Kathmandu

Number of the showrooms and shops of the Samsung products, especially the mobile phone sets, have increased in Kathmandu, the capital city of the tiny beautiful Himalayan country. When one passes through New Road, the downtown in Kathmandu, and other major markets of city these days, he can notice new bigger white signboards with Samsung smartphone written in blue letters.  The number of service centers and café of the Samsung mobile have also gone up significantly.

Most youths and others who carry advanced type of mobiles including ‘touch’phones have phone sets of Samsung. “I always use Samsung phone,” says Kshitij Chhetri, a sales boy working at the People’s Plaza, one of the large shopping centres in Pako, the heart of Kathmandu. Next to his shops in the same floor of the complex are three showrooms and a service centre of Samsung mobile phones. Seeing the increasing popularity of Samsung mobile phones among the Kathmanduites, Ahmed Iftekhar opened a new showroom ‘Samsung Smart Phone Café’ in New Road about one and a half months ago.

“As most people started using mobile of Samsung brand not only in Nepal but around the world, I opened it,” he says. He was obviously true to say so as from a driver of public mirco bus to college students to young journalists could be seen chatting on facebook or listening music from the mobiles of the Samsung brand. In a well decorated showroom in the ground floor of a big complex he had beautiful sales girls to help him in his new business. “We have Mobile phones whose prices range from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 70,000 (1$= Rs. 85) and all types of customers visit us,” said one of the beautiful sales girls throwing an appealing  smile when this reporter approached her.

Shyam Acharya, who has been selling cameras and mobile phones of several brands in a shop in New Road claimed that in the recent months business of the Samsung mobiles surpassed that of Nokia. “Even most people visit us asking for the cameras of Samsung brand,” said the experienced salesman.

According to a salesman working at the main showroom of the Samsung Mobile located in the Kingsway, the demand of Galaxy, SII and SIII is high.

Indeed, when the prepaid mobile was introduced in Kathmandu about nine years ago, most of the people first bought Champ and CorbyII mobile sets of Samsung Company. But later the two cheaper mobiles were replaced by the mobiles of Nokia.

Now again, the Samsung mobiles have become popular, thanks to the launching of Smart phone. Besides camera and mobiles, refrigerator, microwave, washing machines, DVD, television sets and LCDs of the Samsung are also popular, especially among the affluent families. Kalpana Bhattarai, a sales girl of a Samsung TV showroom of Kingsway said that demand for LED and Smart TV was high in Kathmandu. On the second floor of the showroom is the show room of home appliances of refrigerators, microwave and washing machines.

Kathmandu has four showrooms of the home appliances of Samsung products with the latest coming into operation recently in Maharajgunj, Bhattarai said. But the shops and showrooms of camera and mobiles have mushroomed.

However,  no showroom of Samsung goods lies outside the capital city.  The showrooms of Kathmandu provide services to the clients of outside the capital city.