LG G6 a flop? Low sales?
- Thread starter flyingkytez
- Start date
j_grouchy
Well-known member
- Apr 5, 2011
- 904
- 18
- 0
Well, at some point, advertising and marketing are almost redundant. Apple doesn't need to do much, so they can do targeted advertising. I rarely ever see ads for Apple even here in the US. When you own a certain significant share of the market and have tied people in to your ecosystem, the advertising becomes more of a "look how fun and cool we are" sort of campaign to make them look fresh and new and innovative. LG still doesn't have a big enough market share, yet they don't work very hard at getting it. The biggest drive I ever saw them do was when the V10 came out and they did the campaign with the actor Joseph Gordon Leavitt (https://www.ispot.tv/ad/AAHS/lg-v10-in-between-moments-featuring-joseph-gordon-levitt). Man, I saw that commercial at least twice a day for a while.
- Apr 17, 2012
- 32,273
- 23
- 38
MSFTisMIA
Well-known member
- Jul 11, 2014
- 268
- 0
- 0
Agreed. I see them occasionally, but they are there. Of course you see them more whenever a new product has launched but you do still see them.Complete opposite for me. Any major sporting event there are iPhone commercials.
And that's the thing. While Apple and Samsung brands have gotten iconic so you recognize their products easily, they still do ads. I barely saw any G6 ads here. So if you don't get the word out about your product, how is it going to sell?
Morty2264
Ambassador
- Mar 6, 2012
- 22,921
- 1,057
- 113
It's too bad, because I think a lot of people would really like the G6 if there was more brand awareness. Granted, in Canada I do see quite a few LG displays at carrier shops and phone kiosks; but as far as media advertising is concerned, LG definitely doesn't make a splash as compared to its competitors. I do respect Samsung and Apple, don't get me wrong; but their brand awareness is almost so prevalent and so "in your face" that I oftentimes find it annoying. However, that kind of awareness and advertising obviously works for them. Hopefully LG gets the recognition it deserves.
Stevenmc8602
Well-known member
- Aug 10, 2011
- 605
- 0
- 0
I see iPhone commercials quite a bit especially after a new launch (but that's to be expected) so it must just be regional if they don't see Apple advertisementsComplete opposite for me. Any major sporting event there are iPhone commercials
I do not pay much attention to phone ads. I know Motorola was quite enticing with their Droid ads back in the early days, but the next phone I even remember seeing advertised was the Galaxy S3.
There was the one than ran in movie theaters that was compelling because it highlighted a couple things that were new at the time - notably the blue color when everything else was black, and easy photo sharing. These are certainly not essential features and you could argue that much of the new fluff Samsung started pushing at the time was actually not even very useful, but they were compelling to the consumer.
That's the thing with marketing - specs do not engage consumers' emotions, and emotions drive purchases to a larger extent than does actual logic. Our emotions can be manipulated by good marketing, but specs are set in stone. How cool was the idea of touching phones to share pictures? Pretty cool. Would I ever do it in real life? Maybe once to try it. But it made me interested in the phone (I did not get one).
It's not just the quantity of marking, but also the nature of it. The GS8 marketing I am seeing is emotion-driven. They are constantly using those images of the phone displaying an image on a background of the same image, images of sharks, dancing, night skies, space, beaches, etc. They emphasize the sexy look. They use the phrase "unbox your phone" which in today's world evokes specific feelings, those of getting a shiny new toy. Everyone likes shiny new toys and having fun. The marketing is all about how this phone will make you feel, not whether or not it is a competent device.
There was the one than ran in movie theaters that was compelling because it highlighted a couple things that were new at the time - notably the blue color when everything else was black, and easy photo sharing. These are certainly not essential features and you could argue that much of the new fluff Samsung started pushing at the time was actually not even very useful, but they were compelling to the consumer.
That's the thing with marketing - specs do not engage consumers' emotions, and emotions drive purchases to a larger extent than does actual logic. Our emotions can be manipulated by good marketing, but specs are set in stone. How cool was the idea of touching phones to share pictures? Pretty cool. Would I ever do it in real life? Maybe once to try it. But it made me interested in the phone (I did not get one).
It's not just the quantity of marking, but also the nature of it. The GS8 marketing I am seeing is emotion-driven. They are constantly using those images of the phone displaying an image on a background of the same image, images of sharks, dancing, night skies, space, beaches, etc. They emphasize the sexy look. They use the phrase "unbox your phone" which in today's world evokes specific feelings, those of getting a shiny new toy. Everyone likes shiny new toys and having fun. The marketing is all about how this phone will make you feel, not whether or not it is a competent device.
muckrakerX
Well-known member
- May 23, 2013
- 449
- 0
- 0
LG just needs to bite the bullet and hire the ad agency that produces the Geico commercials. Even if people don't buy their phones, at least they will remember the commercials, and be aware that LG actually makes phones!
Most people - not Android Central posters - keep their phones for two years. People go into a store and they see at least 2 or 3 phones with 2X the storage and the latest processor which one will they want to be using for 2 years.
If you find 32 GB meets your needs for a 2017 flagship phone, good for you. My three year old flagship phone has 32 GB and I spend time cleaning up the storage. I have a 128 GB SD card but since the release of 6.0 SD card usage is limited. Even if you could run all your apps from an SD card I have found in the past seven years Android is more stable and performs better when Apps are kept on local storage. SD cards are great for app related storage and pictures.
Personally I think LG cheaped out with the NA G6 model. I also think the 6 to 8 weeks they gained by using a 821 chip led to a very insignificant number of sales compared to how many they are losing now. The biggest problem I believe is the lack of a major compelling feature, to me the only real big value prop is to appeal to people who don't like Samsung. Unfortunately now the new Motos and HTC 11 competes in that market.
From working in the industry for a few years I can confidently say you will be hard pressed to find anyone in a retail store questioning the processor, and alot of times storage of a device. You could walk into any retail store right now and ask every customer in there what processor any given phone has and I'd be shocked if you found more than 5% of them knew. Id be even more surprised if anyone even knew what the latest processor in either iPhones or Android was, or simpler yet, what version the US market uses (Snapdragon).
When it comes to storage, you will find a few that care but the majority of them base their purchase on price alone. Apple is a prime example. The smaller storage version sells more than any other version year after year. Android consumers are even less picky. They base their purchase on price, brand recognition and look. They rarely get into the storage discussion. Most of them dont care because of the sd option. Now with cloud storage and streaming music taking control, people care even less. The only reason an android company increases storage is to keep up with the competition as a marketing aspect. Its something else they can add to the sales media. Consumers in general do not care.
- Jan 28, 2011
- 3,368
- 0
- 0
With the V30's sealed battery, removal of IR blaster/2nd screen (maybe even DAC?) and curved screen yet alone the significant price difference, you just might. I even considered getting a 2nd V20 as a spare backup once the market goes all glass and sealed (it actually already has).
Then I guess me and everyone I know are unique. I work in the technology industry and have so for over 20 years. Many of my friends all work in tech and we are very influenced by specs. I am often asked about what tech people should buy. Even then, just about everyone who asks have already done some research. The internet is at everyone's fingertips and they use it today.
Maybe I live in a bubble but I don't know anyone who just goes out an buys something like a phone without doing some research. My teenage daughters when looking at new phones spend a lot of time researching.
As for storage, the Apple and Android markets are very different. The worst selling Samsung phone over the last several year was the S6 after they dropped the SD card support. The S5 was actually selling well that year. Samsung realized their mistake and changed course with the S7 and S8. HTC came out with a beautiful phone with M7, the phone had great reviews and was picked as phone of the year by many reviewers. HTC left the SD card off the US model and they were crushed in sales compared to the S4. HTC has not left the SD card out of any of their flagship phones since the M7. Pixel phones are very well reviewed, but have struggled in sales, I believe it is because of the limited storage options. These are just my observations.
For my needs, I travel a lot for business and a lot of this travel is international. Storage space is very important, I don't want to stream. Why use data when I can have my media on my phone when I want it no matter my connection options.
- Jan 28, 2011
- 3,368
- 0
- 0
A lot of sales are also influenced by the retail sales associate. If the customer doesn't know what he/she wants and they have X number of phones still on the shelf, they might push for that phone to get rid of it. You also didn't hear it for me but there's lots of bribing from manufactures to push their product (except for Apple as it already sells, and Apple ain't giving a penny to anyone even a homeless person). Sales associate gets special discounts or free products after completing a product training. I used to convince people to buy Samsung all the time and 70% of the time they choose Samsung over anything else.
FYI the micro SD expansion option was a top key selling point versus Apple/HTC. I'd tell them look you can get a 64GB SD card with Samsung while with Apple, you're stuck with 8GB/16GB or 32GB forever. Also I tell them the OS alone takes up 8GB so you're left with a small amount of space. Plus the quality of photos and videos has improved, so expect more space getting used up. (Former Best Buy Samsung Store Salesman). Retail associates rack up points/commission as well for adding on accessories such as microSD cards, reason why they're happy to sell Android/Samsung phones. Best Buy colleague said really don't make any money selling Apple.
When you say consumers don't care, they do, most of them (usually old folks) don't know any better. With photos/videos being the primary reason for storage space, people want more space. Most consumers no longer have a computer anymore, so the pictures and videos start to pile up. Their entire lives are on their phone's storage. I used to help people back up their photos and transfer them onto their new phones. I would see pictures and video clips of kids, grandparents, and family; takes a long time to transfer all those gigabytes. With a microSD, I just pop that bad boy into the new phone, makes everyone's lives easier.
Last edited:
That's the difference. You all work in technology and have an interest in it.
I can go to almost every one of my friends right now and ask them for specs on phones theyve had for at least a year. Not a single one can tell me anything except the maker of the phone. No clue about processors, storage, ram, screen type etc. My wife doesn't even know what storage option she has in her iPhone.
I worked at Best buy for a few years and people wanted "the phone from the commercial" or "the new iPhone". Then I helped with some training at an At&t store and was dumbfounded to find out how many sales people don't have a clue what they're selling. The customers were another problem all on their own. In the time I was there, the only questions a customer asked were "how much is this one" and "is this the newest one out".
People buy blindly on alot of things. Technology, cars, etc. They tend to look at cost and brand recognition as primary deciding factors. Drives me crazy.
LeoRex
Retired Moderator
- Nov 21, 2012
- 6,223
- 0
- 0
Yeah, we have a lot of selection bias here on AC... Even the most unapologetically clueless poster here is probably WAY beyond the average consumer. That person couldn't be bothered with the processor being used, or what type of screen, etc... You are right, most see a phone advertised on TV and get the one they think is cool... get the newest available version of the phone they have... or simply get the cheapest option they see in store that they think is good.
LG's failure was that they didn't blow a HUGE chunk of cash and push the phone down everyone's throats. If LG slapped G6 ads on anything and everything, got themselves a dedicated section of Best Buy... LG stores in every mall in the land, etc... Yes, they would have sold a ton more phones. But they didn't.
- Jan 28, 2011
- 3,368
- 0
- 0
Complete opposite for me. Any major sporting event there are iPhone commercials
I see those crappy "shot on iPhone" billboards. Sure, any phone could shoot pictures like that.
Mike Dee
Ambassador
- May 14, 2014
- 23,441
- 295
- 83
Lol SD cards have nothing to do with sales of different devices. Out side of the forums I've never heard of anyone passing on one phone for another due to storage options alone. 99%+ of consumers don't care at all.
- Jan 28, 2011
- 3,368
- 0
- 0
I passed on the Pixel because of lack of mSD card support. Samsung fans were outraged when they removed the mSD card on the S6. People are familiar with mSD cards thanks to Samsung for making it more well known on their phones. Sales associates always mention the mSD card support to customers if they are concerned with storage.
But you're sorta right too, the average person just takes selfies, surf Facebook all day long, and Snapchat friends every minute of their lives. I think built in internal storage should hold enough selfies.
Similar threads
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram