Samsung needed to leverage its brand value and perception as a quality device manufacturer to convince customers to purchase the Galaxy Fold after its initial troubles. The Galaxy Fold has been first released in its home country of South Korea where, unsurprisingly, the first batch of pre-orders quickly sold out.
This is the era of hype and Samsung knows it. So it has tightly controlled the supply to bring up demand and customers in Korea have responded. Local reports suggest that customers who weren't able to get a pre-order in are now paying 20 to 25 percent higher just to buy the Galaxy Fold from resellers. Scarcity is a tactic that is commonly used not only to drive up sales but to create hype around a product. The sneaker industry is perhaps the best at deploying this strategy.
Galaxy Fold is fetching quite the premium for resellers
The Galaxy Fold already has an air of mystery around it. It's unlike any other smartphone on the market. Customers haven't had any opportunity to actually go hands on with the device ever since it was unveiled earlier this year. Add on top of that the rarity of it even after being released and hypebeasts in Korea have responded.
Since the second round of pre-orders has not yet opened, some customers who were able to get one in the first are now reselling their units online. The Galaxy Fold officially costs 2.4 million won or $2,012 in South Korea. Resellers are getting up to 3 million won or $2,515 for the same device.
Samsung is said to have released between 1,000 and 2,000 units of the Galaxy Fold in South Korea last week. The second round of pre-orders is set to begin on September 18 with the units being delivered starting September 26. It will be interesting to see if Samsung employs the same strategy elsewhere.
