How Samsung built a smarter retail strategy

Imagine a world where businesses back every decision with solid data, test every initiative before launch and achieve success by design. This is the world Samsung Electronics America (SEA) envisioned when it partnered with Mastercard’s Test & Learn® platform. SEA, the U.S. sales and marketing subsidiary, is a leader in mobile technologies, consumer electronics, home appliances, enterprise solutions and networks systems. For more than four decades, SEA has driven innovation, economic growth and workforce opportunity across the United States — investing over $100 billion and employing more than 20,000 people nationwide.

As one of the world’s leading technology companies, SEA had multiple objectives. It needed to reduce in‑store costs and validate employee training programs.

It also wanted to understand how new retail experiences were impacting customer behavior and revenue. These exciting, immersive formats reflected SEA’s ongoing push to bring innovation into the retail environment, but they introduced new variables that had not yet been measured or fully understood.

To support more strategic decision‑making, SEA sought a way to assess the historical performance of campaigns and strengthen future planning. The need for a more efficient, data‑driven approach to managing complex business analytics and guiding decision‑making was clear.

Enter Mastercard’s Test & Learn® platform. Designed for speed, scalability and  accuracy, this cloud‑based platform helps measure incremental impact and turn ideas into winning strategies. SEA could conduct independent data evaluations, test new concepts and refine organizational processes through structured business experimentation. Teams were able to seamlessly upload data to generate timely insights, using the platform both independently and in collaboration with Mastercard’s expert consultants.

The results were transformative. 

SEA tested operational planning strategies, as well as a set of training programs. The platform validated their approaches, enabling them to confidently expand the initiative based on strong performance.

In 2024, SEA completed 47 analyses using Test & Learn®. Building on these results, the partnership with Mastercard has continued to expand across SEA teams.

Whether working independently or with Mastercard consultants, SEA continues to benefit from the flexibility and versatility of the Test & Learn® platform. Companies that want to make faster, data‑backed decisions should consider working with Test & Learn® to validate ideas, refine strategies and make business decisions with confidence.