Samsung’s new Bespoke line: It's time of reckoning for device chief

Han Jong-hee, Samsung Electronics Co.'s vice chairman, has been in charge of the South Korean tech giant’s digital experience or DX division, which handles almost everything digital, for about a year and a half.

In December 2021, Samsung restructured its businesses to create two main pillars – the device solutions (DS) division, which included its mainstay semiconductor business, and the DX division, which combined its mobile and consumer electronics businesses into a single unit.

While President Kyung Kye-hyun was named to lead the DS division, Han was promoted to vice chairmanship and was given the task of taking Samsung’s home appliances business to the next level.

Now the time of reckoning has come.

The company plans to unveil a new Bespoke line of tailor-made home electronics goods by the end of this year – with the most significant change to its concept in nearly five years since the company first adopted the brand in 2019, a senior Samsung executive said on Thursday.

WITH BESPOKE, IT’S ‘YOUR HOME MADE PERFECT’

This time, the Bespoke concept won’t be just applied to the colors, materials and design of refrigerators, dishwashers, wall ovens and stovetops.

Consumers will be able to customize the internal configuration and functions of Samsung products to their liking.

“Just as people have different heights and body sizes, the composition and functions of desired home appliances also vary. Samsung is preparing highly customized products with more diverse options,” said the Samsung executive.

For example, with the current Bespoke refrigerators, users can only choose different numbers of doors, colors and materials.

A new Bespoke refrigerator, however, will let users make larger or smaller the sizes of the vegetable box and the beverage zone in the fridge as they want. They can also move around the position of the vegetable box and the beverage zone.

Starting with refrigerators, Samsung will broaden the new Bespoke concept to other suites of premium products, he said.

TO REPLICATE THE SUCCESS OF GALAXY SMARTPHONES

Industry watchers said Samsung aims to replicate the success of its Galaxy series of smartphones with other home appliances sold under its premium Bespoke brand.

The new Bespoke concept also comes as Samsung’s crosstown rival LG Electronics Inc. has been posting decent profits in its home appliance business.

Samsung’s visual display and home appliance business saw its operating profit cut by more than half to 1.3 trillion won last year from 3.6 trillion won in 2021.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, the division posted 60 billion won in operating loss – the first quarterly shortfall since the first quarter of 2015.

Analysts expect the division’s operating profit to rise to the 2 trillion won range for the entire 2023. But that’s still below the level seen two years ago.

During Samsung’s Bespoke Life media day in March, Vice Chairman Han said the company plans to beef up its premium Bespoke home appliance lineup to facilitate a quick turnaround.

Samsung’s Bespoke models featuring higher energy efficiency and connectivity as well as upgraded eco-friendly functions will account for more than half of its entire home appliance lineup in 2023.

“This year’s Bespoke product sales will be at least 50% higher than last year's,” Han said.

Write to Ik-Hwan Kim at lovepen@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.