Compare and Contrast the Marketing Strategies of Two Major Brands, Apple and Samsung - Essay Example

Compare and contrast the marketing strategies of two major brands, Apple and Samsung Introduction According to Varadarajan 119), marketing strategy combines decision making efforts that influence an organization’s choices regarding market variables. Marketing strategy is important to any brand that aims to survive the competition. Planning and strategic efforts are carried out by each organization to ensure that they are able to cater to the growing needs of the consumer market and that customer satisfaction is maintained (Ferral and Hartline 2012, 1). It is effective marketing strategy which allows high-end electronic appliance companies like Apple to continuously come up with products such as iPhone, iPad, Macbook etc, that are popular among consumer segments (Ferral and Hartline 2012, 1). The uncertainty of the external environment provides greater motivation for a company, particularly ones operating in the high-tech electronic industry, to continuously innovate and develop high quality products. Development of marketing strategy enables evaluation of a company’s strengths and in turn allows an organization to capitalize on its strengths thereby providing a competitive advantage. Apple and Samsung, both virtually operating the same industry, employ their marketing strategy to survive the competition in the companies’ macro-environment. Availability of resources is an important aspect of marketing strategy for organizations operating in the electronics industry (Viardot 2004, 196). The fast-paced environment in the digital world necessitates the presence of ample amounts of resources in order to keep the technology updated. For Apple, continuous innovation in technology and the need to develop popular consumer products requires large amounts of both, human resource as well as capital for research and development (R&D). Such availability is vital to a brand’s image, particularly ones that deal in high-tech goods and services. Same is the case with Samsung where effective marketing strategy has allowed it to move its reputation to a premium electronics brand that has grown its market share tremendously. All aspects of marketing strategy including pricing, distribution, etc, play a central role in the delivery of consumer satisfaction with the product (Chang 2011). Marketing strategy altogether acts to provide consumers with a superior user experience. Today’s electronics industry is increasingly dynamic and the development of effective strategies and marketing plans are important for the success of organizations that operate in the growingly competitive environment. Speaking about Apple and Samsung, that nearly operate in the same industry, are direct competitors of each other with technology acting as a significant factor in the success and failure of both. With such fierce competition, it is their unique marketing strategies that allow both organizations to retain its customers and expand to greater customer segments. Differentiation strategy Lancaster (1979), in his book, describes differentiation as the presence of “invented differences” through elements such as product names, and so on. Differentiation between products and brands allow products to be distinguished from each other based on unique attributes and also allow consumers to identify between similar generic equivalents. Branding is one method of introducing differentiation between different products from rival companies. As Nisen (2013, n.pag.) writes in his article, Samsung has a completely different strategy, as opposed to Apple, where it focuses on providing customers with not only an iPhone alternative but that which is distinguishable on the basis of its large touch screens. Samsung has introduced its smart collection of products which includes sports equipments, heart rate monitors, and small cameras. Such a differentiation allows its customers to see Samsung, not as an Apple alternative, but as a brand which has its own identity. So, differentiation plays a vital role in changing the game for any organization and Nisen (2013, n.pag.) suggests that though Samsung’s products are quite differentiated, it should move beyond just wider screens and marketing efforts. Apple, on the other hand, has superbly differentiated its products with the presence of creative yet user-friendly interface. All Apple products are prefixed by the alphabet “i” which gives it a unique identity which cannot be imitated by other competitors. Also, the presence of a classic design and the iOS as a consistent operating system on all Apple products, has provided with sufficient differentiation from Android or other operating systems working on rival products. Apple’s unique differentiation strategy, to a large extent, has allowed it to retain its loyal customer base and to reduce threats of substitute products (Daft 2010, 68) Both reliability and product quality, as differentiation strategies, is a source of competitive advantage for companies however these are not sufficient in the growingly competitive environment (Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson 2006, 131). With every other competitor striving to produce high quality products, differentiation is not enough to provide an organization with market leadership and cost advantage. Focusing strategy Focusing strategy involves the development of specific capabilities and resources that are meant to cater to the needs of specific consumer groups through implementation of committed efforts to satisfy customer needs (Kotler 1994). Apple has incorporated special accessibility options into its products along with the iOS operating system that is built to respond to human senses such as voice, hearing, physical and motor skills, and literacy and learning (Apple 2014a, n.pag.). These set of features allow Apple products to be used by consumer segments with special needs also. Not only this but the company has also dedicated support service that is available for people facing trouble with the iOS features. In the development of such technologies, Apple has employed innovative thinking and design superiority. Some of the accessibility features include facetime, assistive touch, and voice over. Also, Apple has also introduced iOS for special education where students with all kinds of learning abilities can join to learn from the Apple Education feature which is transforming classrooms beyond the traditional setup (Apple 2014b, n.pag.). The providence of such convenient features for all its customers by Apple has involved the use of good focusing strategies where the disabled customer segment has not been ignored but has been catered to with special sensory features. Samsung also has its own focusing strategy which is imminent in its Galaxy series of products. The camera in all the Galaxy products includes a panoramic view while taking camera shots, a feature which is novel in its presence on smartphones and other compact technological gadgets. The panoramic photo involves the capturing of a series of photos that have been “stitched” together as though they are naturally continuous (Samsung 2014a, n.pag.). With this feature the screen size is no longer a limiting factor as wide stretched photos can be taken with the panorama feature. Apart from this, Samsung cameras come with the zoom feature that is able to zoom up to four times the normal picture with the Samsung galaxy camera having a zoom capacity of ten times (Samsung 2014b, n.pag.). Moreover, the zoomed image has a sufficiently good quality that is relatively less pixelated and distorted. Low Cost Strategy Low cost strategy mainly involves the maintenance of customers and products through competition based on price by means of efficient operations (Olson and Slater 2002). In low cost strategy, organizations try to keep the costs to a minimum so that operations are carried out based on low costs thereby allowing the company to offer lower prices for its products in the market. When trying to maintain low costs, market usually focus on the distribution channels so as to cut down inefficiencies in the system and enhance the output (Slater and Olson 2001, 1056). The iPhone 5c phone is a great example with Apple trying to attract customers with a lower buying power by introducing the iPhone 5c which has a plastic body and is hence relatively cheaper (Apple 2014c, n.pag.). The system inside the phone is also a relatively dumbed down version with no touch identification or fingerprint sensor so as to reduce costs and to capture the customer base that has a lesser buying power. By doing so, Apple has not eliminated the lower customer segments and has managed to gain a share of their wallets. Samsung has also made efforts to attract customers with varying buying powers by introducing the same smartphone designs with varying prices, that is to say, lower prices on mini models of the same Galaxy S serie, such as Samsung Galaxy S4 series which includes the regular phone and mini version (Samsung 2014c, n.pag.). The lesser priced models are usually ones with lesser features and quality as compared to their high priced counterparts but are equally attractive in terms of design and convenience. Both companies, Apple and Samsung, have introduced lesser priced market offerings to the different market segments in order to capitalize on the share of revenue offered by each segment. Conclusion As pointed out by Dickson and Ginter (1987, 1), market segmentation, differentiation and strategy are essential marketing activities revolving around products so that the competition is handled to sustain any particular organization’s survival. Apple and Samsung both have different marketing strategies which they employ to survive in the competitive environment. Being close competitors in their offerings, Apple and Samsung have a collection of strategies including focusing, low cost, and differentiation which they use to make their products more appealing to the market. By developing and implementing their marketing strategy, both companies aim at attracting and retaining consumers by providing them greater value. References Apple, (2014). Apple Accessibility: iOS. [online] Available at: https://www.apple.com/accessibility/ios/ [Accessed 13 Jun. 2014]. Apple, (2014b). Apple Education: Special Education. [online] Available at: https://www.apple.com/education/special-education/ [Accessed 13 Jun. 2014]. Apple, (2014c). Apple iPhone 5c Design. [online] Available at: https://www.apple.com/iphone-5c/design/ [Accessed 13 Jun. 2014]. Chang, S. (2008). Sony vs. Samsung. 1st ed. Singapore: Wiley. Daft, R. (2010). 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Successful Marketing Strategies for High-Tech Firms. 1st ed. Norwood: Artech House. Read More