On May 13th to May 15th, Argentina hosted the Hot Sale 2024, a major online event to purchase electronic devices at discounted prices, organized by the CACE (Cámara Argentina de Comercio Electrónico). It aimed to sell new home electronic devices before the upcoming sports tournaments. Naldo, a major Argentine electronics retailer that expanded into TVs and also sponsors the national football team, offered up to 45% discounts on various products. In Latin America, legacy brands like LG, Samsung, and Sony have historically dominated the market. However, in recent years, there has been a significant influx of Chinese brands, reshaping the competitive landscape. Notably, Hisense and TCL entered a few countries in the early 2010s and have since established a strong presence. Others, like Konka or Xiaomi, entered towards the end of the 2010s. With a mix of legacy brands, Chinese newcomers, and local retailers' TV brands, which are the different actors offering Smart TVs in Latin America? How are new entrants competing with established brands in terms of product positioning? Samsung and LG offer the widest range of TV products in Latin America According to the above chart, Samsung leads the Latin American market with the largest number of TV sets available, with more than 400 different TV products. This dominance is also reflected in the TV installed base of the region, where Samsung holds 32% of the market, followed by LG with 12.8% at Q1 2024. The remaining 55% is distributed among other brands. Hisense and TCL are also prominent, offering a range of products that surpass those of Philips and Sony. However, Hisense is notably absent from the Brazilian market under its own brand. Indeed, each market in the Latin American continent is still highly localized and brands have used different approaches to penetrate each country. The emergence of local retailers and chinese brands in TV offers Argentina stands out with 25 distinct TV brands available, followed by Mexico and Peru (24), while Brazil shows lower diversity with around 15 brands. The high diversity of brands available in Argentina is also a result of the limited imports of these TV products into the country. International brands thus have to partner with local and established brands or manufacturers. Chinese newcomers often adopt strategies focused on competitive pricing and local partnerships to establish a foothold. Additionally, to mitigate the impact of tariffs and import duties, some brands may directly establish local manufacturing or assembly plants, as seen with Samsung and LG in Brazil, or TCL that also has a policy to directly buy stakes in the local manufacturer, acquiring 80% of Semp in 2016. Going further, each country in the region typically counts 1 or 2 local manufacturers partnering with...
