Kathy Gibson reports – Samsung has appointed Mitsumi as a distributor for its mobile products in South Africa.
The two companies have an existing partnership in the rest of Africa and the Middle East, but this is Mitsumi’s first foray into the South African market with a telecommunications brand.
Manoj Changaram Patt, head of business unit at Mitsumi Distribution, explains that Samsung is one of the distributor’s top brands in the markets it operates in.
Mitsumi is now on the ground in 35 countries, representing 60 brands and working with more than 10 000 partners.
“Mitsumi builds a strong infrastructure in each of these countries,” says Patt. It distributes from 30 warehouses across its footprint.
The distributor has built a strong logistics infrastructure in South Africa over the last four years, he says, having addressed the rest of Africa from its Johannesburg infrastructure.
Samsung and Mitsumi hve been working on bringing the mobile products to the local market for the last eight months.
Together, the two companies aim to develop a reseller model that will open up new opportunities for the Samsung brand in both the B2B and underserved markets.
“Our distribution model is pure distributor play,” Patt says. “We do not have a retail business at all, and we do not engage with any customers.
“So we can guarantee reseller the protection they need to pursue and build a project.”
Justin Hume, vice-president of Samsung Mobile for South and southern Africa, believes there is a big opportunity for partners.
“Research tells us that South African consumers spent R130-billion on durable electronic goods in 2025,” he says.
At least 50% of that spend went on smart devices and wearables, with Samsung coming out as the brand of choice.
“So South Africa is not only an emerging opportunity, but the trust is already there,” he says.
Currently, most of the local market sits with a formalised mobile operator supply model, Hume explains. “This leaves huge gaps, especially in underserved communities.”
The partnership with Mitsumi seeks to plug this gap, while also addressing the reseller-led B2B opportunity.