Samsung Receives Innovation Vendor of the Year Award from Sears

April 2002 -- Samsung Electronics America Inc., a leader in digital consumer electronics products, has been named a Partner In Progress for 2001 by Sears, Roebuck and Co., one of the country’s leading retailers. In addition, Samsung was honored with an Innovations Vendor of the Year; a rarity for a first time Partners in Progress winner.The Partners in Progress award is presented annually to a select group of vendor companies that supply Sears, Roebuck and Co. with quality products and services, from apparel, appliances and tools to marketing, transportation services and technology. Sears bestowed the award this year on fewer than 110 of more than 10,000 suppliers who competed for this award in 2001. Samsung was recognized in particular for its robust market share in the DVD category, spearheaded by the multi-format DVD-V1000 that was introduced in 2001.

Sears’ Innovations Vendor of the Year Award is given to vendors that have shown Sears the most innovation in programs and products during the year. The DVD-V1000 was also a contributing factor to this honor, as was Samsung’s HDTV Game Day promotion with Sears and CBS. Marking the first full season of college football broadcast in HDTV, the joint Samsung-Sears Game Day promotion involved showing a digital broadcast each week of the regular season on a Samsung HDTV in all of Sears' full-line stores.

DJ Oh, President and CEO of Samsung Electronics America and John Homlish, Director of National Sales of Samsung Electronics America, were honored on April 9 at an event hosted by Sears Chairman and CEO Alan J. Lacy at Sears headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Begun almost 20 years ago, the Partners In Progress program recognizes sources that make significant contributions to the growth of Sears businesses and the creation of new ways to better serve Sears customers. The winners were selected from nominations submitted by Sears’ employees who purchase goods and services for the company.

Commenting on the award Mr. Oh, said ”It is a great honor for Samsung to be named a ‘Partner in Progress’ by Sears. We value our partnership with Sears and strive to support it with innovative, award-winning digital convergence products and powerful retail programs. We are privileged to accept this coveted award.”

Past winners include GE, Whirlpool, Hewlett Packard and Sony.

About Sears, Roebuck and Co.
Sears, Roebuck and Co. is a leading U.S. retailer of apparel, home and automotive products and services, with annual revenue of more than $40 billion. The company serves families in the U.S. through Sears stores nationwide, including approximately 870 full-line stores. Sears also offers a wide variety of online offerings accessible through its Web site, www.sears.com.

About Samsung Electronics America, Inc.
Headquartered in Ridgefield Park, NJ, Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (SEA), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., markets a broad range of award-winning, advanced digital consumer electronics and information systems products. The SEA organization oversees the North American operations of Samsung Telecommunications USA, Samsung Electronics Canada and Samsung Electronics Mexico. Please visit www.samsungusa.com for more information.

About Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, and digital convergence technology. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., with 2000 sales revenue of US$27 billion, is one of the world’s top electronics companies. Samsung Electronics employs approximately 64,000 people in 89 offices in 47 countries. The company is the world's largest producer of memory chips, TFT-LCDs, CDMA mobile phones, monitors and VCRs Samsung Electronics consists of four main business units: Digital Media Network, Device Solution Network, Telecommunication Network and Digital Appliance Network Businesses. Samsung was recently named one of the world’s Top 100 Brands by BusinessWeek magazine.

SOURCE Samsung