Marketing Plan for the Successful Entry of Apple Inc into the Indian Market - Essay Example

Marketing Plan for the Successful Entry of Apple Inc into the Indian Market Executive summary Marketing is a process whereby goods and services are made available to customers and at the same time the business acquire their profits. This paper discusses the marketing strategies of Apple Inc in the Indian markets. Apple Inc is a company, which has existing markets in India and they looking for strategies to re-enter the market around the places in India. Through research and observation it is clear that, the appropriate strategies they can use to market an existing enterprise is by using market penetration and product development strategies. The marketing mix, which includes the product, price, place, and promotion, is also discussed as a sub topic in the paper used to devise ways of creating strategies to market the Apple products in the forth-coming years. The key findings in the study are that Apple products are of high quality and hence sold at high prices hence attracts mainly wealthy customers. It is therefore recommended that the company strategize ways to reduce their prices to attract many customers. India is a developing nation and Apple Inc will benefit a lot by ensuring the new products they offer in the existing markets are of high quality and long lasting. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Role of marketing in Apple Inc into existing market 5 Marketing Strategies 6 Market penetration 6 Product development 7 Key elements of the marketing mix 9 Product 9 Pricing 9 Place 10 Promotion 10 Limitations 10 Product 10 Price 10 Promotion 11 Place 11 Conclusion 11 Recommendations 12 References 12 Appendix 1 14 a)Timeline for the marketing plan 14 Introduction Pride and Ferrell (2006) defined marketing as the means of communicating the costs of products or services in order sell to clients. Marketing is an activity, which involves ensuring that products are available to customers and in the process acquire profits for the businesses that offer the products. Hisrich (2000) stated that marketing activities are broad since they involve all the necessities needed to get a commodity from the manufacturers into the hands of the consumers. Marketing activities involves promoting the products and services to make people in the community know that they exist and they use strategies such as advertising, marketing communications and public relations to ensure that they reach many people. Marketers design products in a way that that makes them durable by using pricing and marketing research tools (Hisrich, 2000). To ensure that all customers are able to afford the goods and services, marketers set reasonable prices and make the products available in the market. The report in this paper is going to define and evaluate the role of marketing in the Apple Inc. responding to launching of new products and services in its existing market in India. The strategic options available for the company together with justifications why the competitive strategy was developed as part of the plan of Apple Inc. in India will be evaluated. The report will demonstrate how key elements of the marketing mix including creative use of the promotional mix for devising appropriate marketing activities for the coming years basing on the produced analysis of the marketing environment. Finally, the report will critically evaluate possible issues that might be experienced when implementing the marketing plan within Apple Inc and proposals on overcoming such barriers. Role of marketing in Apple Inc into existing market Apple Inc has existing markets in India and hence to attract the attention of the customers they have to use effective marketing strategies to continue increasing the financial state of the company and gaining other advantages of working in a foreign land. The Republic of India is a country located in Southeast Asia. India is considered as the second most populated democracy in the world with a population of about 120 million. Apple Inc needs to create a marketing department that include researchers, sales representatives, advertising agents, brand managers, customer service personnel and pricing specialists to ensure people in India are aware of the products in the market( Sandhusen,2008). The marketers have a task to understand the economic features of India and the competitive nature of other computer software companies in the market. This will enable the marketers to be a step ahead and therefore improve on the products that are not bringing profits in the company. The marketers have a role to identify the target markets and note the segments within the market that use the products more. The role of marketing for Apple Inc is to develop new products to provide for societies in India to ensure that they continue enjoying the products from the company. They need to improve their products with the trending new technology to ensure that they remain unique and ahead of other computer software companies like Samsung and Nokia (Morgan and Summers, 2005). Marketers have a role to ensure that customers enjoy the products of the company even with the daily changing technologies to avoid customer boredom. In order to enter the existing market in India, Apple Inc. marketing department has a role to understand their strengths and weaknesses to be able to continue with their services in India. This will enable them to build on activities that make them gain profits and work on eliminating their weaknesses in the new markets they invest in India. According to the writings by Doole and Lowe (2005) businesses need to establish environmental scanning for threats and opportunities to be successful in existing or new markets. The marketers need to audit the customers’ brand experience before introducing new brands to eliminate the weaknesses that did not satisfy the clients. In responding to the existing market in India, the marketers of Apple Inc. need to understand the competitors and their strategies and create a sustainable competitive benefit (Westwood, 2002). Marketing Strategies For Apple inc. to continue investing their business in India they have to develop suitable market strategies to achieve their objectives. Fyall and Garrod (2005) defined the Ansoff matrix as a strategic marketing planning instrument that connects a business marketing strategy with its overall strategic direction. There are four strategies used in seeking growth in the market, which include market penetration, market development, product development, and diversification. Market penetration and product development are the strategies used by companies investing in existing markets while companies investing in new markets use market development and diversification strategies (Stokes and Lomax, 2008). Market penetration Jayachandran (2004) defined market penetration as a growth strategy that is used where a company needs to sell existing products and services into existing markets. It is the process whereby the company pushes, its existing products in its current market segment (Forsyth, 2009). Apple Inc had already established their market in India and hence it is has existing markets in the country. To be able to increase their revenues, Apple Inc needs to increase the market share of their products that are currently in India by advertising, sales promotion and competitive pricing strategies. To ensure that their business is successful, Apple Inc needs to locate their markets to various new locations in India by penetrating through the towns they had never invested before. Advertising and sales promotion using various ways such radio, television, newspapers, and word of mouth will ensure that the people from the rural areas in India know about the products from the company (Lamb et al, 2009). Market penetration is a competitive strategy that will help develop Apple Inc. in India because as its objective is to secure supremacy of growth markets. The company therefore develops the existing markets by improving their products to satisfy the customers’ needs. Wymer et al (2006) stated that market penetration strategy is appropriate for Apple Inc. in India since it seeks to restructure a mature market by getting rid of competitors through assertive promotional campaigns, maintained by using a pricing strategy planned to make the market in India unattractive for challengers. Market penetration strategy seeks to boost usage by active customers by introducing loyalty schemes. Lamb et al (2012) defined loyalty schemes as rewards offered by a business to clients who frequently buy products. The customers are therefore given access to free merchandise and new products after they have registered their personal information with the company. Loyalty schemes encourage existing customers to continue buying products from the company hence increasing its revenues. The figure in Appendix 1 shows the timeline for Apple Inc’s marketing plan describing how they can plan their activities during the year to ensure that they capture all the segments they need to make their business successful. Product development Baker and Saren (2010) defined product development strategy as a process whereby a company’s focus is to introduce new goods and services into existing markets. New products are developed for existing markets to ensure that customers enjoy new variety of goods and services that come with new technology. Product development strategy is appropriate for Apple Inc. to develop its existing markets in India because the people in the country are already enjoying their products. Richter (2002) stated that this strategy requires the innovation of new competencies and needs the company to develop modified products, which attract the existing customers. Product development is done in environments with high competition among businesses and therefore goods need to be differentiated in order to attract more customers. Apple Inc is required to use product development strategy to develop into its existing markets in India to remain competitive and the best company in the region. To facilitate the development of new products, Apple Inc needs to be sensitive to the needs of the customers and be quick to change with the changing technologies. The ability of a company to change with the dynamic technology enables it to remain competitive since their customers are assured of products of high quality. Apple Inc needs to emphasize their research on applications that are suitable for various clients in different locations in India. For instance, those places where many people like using video calls should be distributed with iPhone 4, which supports that, and can, multitask. Research enables the company to understand the customer needs and the competitive features of the market (Ferrell and Hartline, 2011). Through research, the company will be ahead of others by coming up with new development projects that suit the customer’s needs thereby generating a sustainable competitive benefit. Apple Inc should emphasize the use of product development strategy be strive to be the first to market goods and services in India. Viardot (2004) stated that customers believe in the firms that advertise their products first in the market since that means that their brands are the best. Apple Inc. should supply their products in different areas in India according to the preferences of the majority of the people that use them. For instance, the products sold near institutions should include the Macbook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro together with iPhones and iPads, which have updated applications for students to use. In areas where the rich people inhabit should be have Apple TV, Apple iPhone 5 and iPad 4 with retina Displays as the customers in rich areas are prefer high quality products. Key elements of the marketing mix Ritcher (2012) defined a marketing mix as a combination of activities under a business control that can manipulated to achieve marketing objectives. They are the various choices businesses have to make in the process of bringing a good or service to the market. Mcdonald (2007) stated that there are four regulations in the marketing mix that include the product, price, place, and promotion. Product In the forth-coming year, the products of Apple Inc need to continue to be improved to remain of premium quality and competent enough to maintain the dominating position in the market. There are many innovations in India and it is developing at a high rate, Apple Inc should develop new strategies to remain among the top in the Indian market. Apple Inc needs to diversify the markets by providing applications that have an option that uses the Indian language; this will enable those from native places in India to be able to use the phones and computers from the company. Pricing Apple Inc needs to sell their products at fair prices to attract more customers in the forth-coming years. Luther (2001) stated that price is an important determinant for a product in the market. Apple Inc must therefore consider their pricing factor and set prices, which are competitive enough to confront other market competitors. To be successful in the future, the company needs to lower their prices to enable people in India who are low-income earners to afford their products. Place India is the second most populous country in the world. Apple Inc. needs to locate their shops at strategic places where many people can access the company’s products. Places like educational institutions, major cities, towns, and technological institutions attract many customers. Promotion In order to make the Apple Inc. products known in the whole country in India, the company needs to advertise their products through print media, newspapers, magazines, radio, and advertising through word of mouth. To encourage young people who use computer software and PCs the company can go to educational institutions and incorporate its products in their learning process and hence creating a large customer base in the market (Bradley, 2005). The company can use loyalty schemes in the future to make their customers buy more of their products. Limitations The possible issues that might be experienced when implementing the marketing plan in Apple Inc include the following: Product There is a big challenge in innovating Apple applications that can use the Indian language since the engineers of the products come from China and United States and do not understand the language therefore making it difficult to create the applications. Price The materials used to make Apple products are expensive and hence the prices for the products cannot be reduced. This situation lives the company with the option of focusing on the high-end customers who can afford the products. The figure in Appendix 2 shows how the high quality of Apple products affects the prices and its position in the market. Promotion The promotion strategies like the use of some advertising methods to reach the target customers rarely work since the customers could be busy in school or work and therefore not getting the messages about the Apple Inc products. The people who view the adverts are the poor people who cannot afford to buy the products. Place People who cannot afford the goods from Apple inhabit some places where the products are located and hence locating the shops in such a place is a waste of resources. This a big challenge because as much as many products are supplied in the market, there demand is low because the people living in the places cannot afford. Conclusion The role of marketing in a company is to determine what products and services customers need and providing for them. Apple Inc is one of the best companies in providing computer software, personal computers, and consumer electronics to the people of India. India is the second most populous country in the world and for Apple Inc to launch a new product in the existing market they need to use the product development and market penetration strategy to make it successful for their company. The company uses the marketing mix model, which includes the products, pricing, promotion, and place to devise an appropriate marketing plan for the business and identify challenges. Recommendations Apple Inc needs to ensure that their marketing department is flexible and sensitive enough to the needs and demands of the customers by doing research on what applications individuals enjoy since it is their role (Nash 2000). Entering in a an existing market is a important matter where the whole production depends on the marketing department, it is recommended that Apple Inc: Devise applications that incorporate the Indian language to encourage people who are not conversant with English to enjoy the products. Focus on schools, universities, and colleges in India where they use much technology. Lower the prices for Apple products in India to attract many customers. References Baker, J, and Saren, M. (2010). Marketing theory: a student text. London, SAGE. Bradley, F. (2005). International marketing strategy. New York, FT/Prentice Hall. Doole, I., and Lowe, R. (2005). Strategic marketing decisions in global markets. London [u.a.], Thomson Learning. Ferrell,C., and Hartline,D. (2011). Marketing strategy. Australia, South-Western Cengage Learning. Fyall, A., and Garrod, B. (2005). Tourism marketing: a collaborative approach. Buffalo, Channel View Publications. Forsyth, P. (2009). Marketing: a guide to the fundamentals. New York, Bloomberg Press. Jayachandran, S. (2004). Marketing management text and cases. New-Delhi, Excel Books. Lamb,W., Hair,F.,and Mcdaniel,D. (2012). Essentials of marketing. Mason, Ohio, South- Western Cengage Learning. Lamb,W., Hair,F., and Mcdaniel,D. (2009). Marketing. Mason, Ohio, South-Western Cengage Luther, W. M. (2001). The marketing plan: how to prepare and implement it. New York, AMACOM. Morgan, J., and Summers, J. (2005). Sports marketing. Southbank, Vic, Thomson. Mcdonald, M. (2007). Malcolm McDonald on marketing planning: understanding marketing plans and strategy. London, Kogan Page. Nash, L. (2000). Direct marketing: strategy, planning, execution. New York, McGraw Hill. Pride, M. and Ferrell, C. (2006). Marketing: concepts and strategies. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co. Richter, T. (2012). International marketing mix management: theoretical framework, contingency factors and empirical findings from world-markets. Berlin, Logos. Richter, T. (2002). Marketing mix standardisation in international marketing: an empirical investigation of the degree of marketing programme standardisation in German companies and its internal and external correlates. Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang. Sandhusen, L. (2008). Marketing. Hauppauge, NY, Barrons Educational Series. Stokes, D., and Lomax, W. (2008). Marketing: a brief introduction. [S.l], Thomson. Viardot, E. (2004). Successful marketing strategy for high-tech firms. Boston, Mass. [u.a.], Artech House. Westwood, J. (2002). The marketing plan: a step-by-step guide. London, Kogan Page. Wymer,W., Knowles, P, and Gomes, R. (2006). Nonprofit marketing: marketing management for charitable and nongovernmental organizations. Thousand Oaks, Calif, Sage Publications. Appendix 1 a) Timeline for the marketing plan Activity April May June July August September October Recruitment of sales representatives Sourcing for new markets to set up shops Introduction of new products in the markets Seeking advertising space in the newspapers,radio,and television Advertising Sales promotion Direct marketing Appendix 2 b) Apple’s product position in the market Apple products are of high quality and are ranked second in the smartphone market with a percentage of 13.2 percent share according to the second quarter in 2013 from the latest data in the market research firm. The Apple products are normally highly priced although the company has the best products for example iPhone 5costs US$207 while iPhone 4S model cost US$188,which is a very high price for the common people in the Indian society. High quality Low price High price Low quality Read More