The Product Mix Strategy for Google, Facebook, and Amazon - Case Study Example

E-Marketing al Affiliation) The product mix strategy for Google, Facebook, and Amazon Traditionally, the marketing tactics applied in the implementation of objectives and strategies are based around the elements that constitute the marketing mix. Several methods exist in approaching the marketing tactics, but Google, Facebook, and Amazon adopt distinctive approaches that enable them to maintain a competitive advantage in the internet market. One approach applied by all the companies is the use of customer driven tactics that affect both the services and design provided by each e-commerce site. The marketing mix comprises of 4Ps that represent the price, product, place, and promotion. This is an essential component of implementing any marketing strategy by each of the above practitioners. However, with the extension of the 4Ps to envisage 7Ps, there was a better reflection of the market with the inclusion of people, processes, and physical evidence (Chaffey, 2009). Therefore, the product mix strategy is the total number of product lines that consumers enjoy from a specific company. Google provides industrial services as a form of its products. Some of the services include the provision of an advertising platform and the search technology service. Their products are categorized into business, advertising, and Google store solutions. The company uses the List price strategy, in order to determine the prices of its products. Prospective consumers are offered with the basic price or the normal price. In promotion, Google offers its search results with no accompanying advertisements, which attracts most users. Google applies the expansion strategy as the major product mix strategy. The internet is Google’s place, where it offers the consumers the ability to utilize their services online. Being the largest search engine the company ensures that it makes its brand name the core product. The fundamental features of the products that Google produces meet the needs of the consumer. Positioning of the company’s product in the internet market is the main source and determinant of the profits enjoyed by the company. For instance, it acquisition and partnership with a part of Yahoo has made it to have a market share of over 80 percent. Therefore, the position of Google as a company is the image that its products project. This image is compared to the competitive products and other products offered by other competing companies (Fernandes, Gouveia & Pinho, 2012). Facebook came into existence in the year 2004. Since then, the company has grown to be the largest social internet connectivity site that connects many people around the world. Consequently, Facebook maintains its role as the leader in social connectivity, and uses its quality to attract more consumers. It offers social networking services, where users get to create accounts and be able to connect socially through the platform. Facebook has its place over the internet and people can access it even through their mobile phones. In promotion, especially through mass customization, Facebook allows the use of economies of scale to offer the tailored versions of its products enabled by technology. In pricing, Facebook has been free since it was started, although it engages in slight advertisements, in order to gain in monetary terms. Unique branding has been the mainstream product mix strategy for the company, as customers enjoy homogenous but customized products. Amazon is the largest e-retailing company in the world (Deighton & Kornfeld, 2013). This site provides a platform for customers to order and buy diverse products online. Since its conception, Amazon has enabled many customers to voice their opinions concerning different products acquired by them on this site. Amazon bases its success on advertising and marketing on behalf of suppliers. This business model represents a collaborative filtering tool that enables customers to assess the buyers of certain products, in comparison with the prices offered by different sellers. Amazon’s product marketing mix is the expansion strategy (Fernandes, Gouveia & Pinho, 2012). Given the large number of suppliers advertising at Amazon, the company has expanded its original mix by increasing the depth and the number of lines from which customers have a variety of products. Although the lines are correlated, Amazon has released a number of products that further emphasize the company’s expansion strategy. Examples of the products include the kindle, games, DVDs, and books. Amazon has its place over the internet, where it enjoys an online presence. The company promotes itself through the web based advertising platform, in addition to the use of billboards and search engine optimization. In pricing, the company has different prices depending on the kind of product the customer is willing to purchase. This is regardless of weather the customer needs a new or a used item. The prices involved are competitive in nature. As depicted above, the three companies apply the positioning strategy as the core strategy that defines the success of each company. In my opinion, Google is the most successful company in terms of market share and utilization of marketing strategies. This is despite of the fact that Facebook records the highest average number of hours visited by each user weekly (Deighton & Kornfeld, 2013). This indicates that each company has invested more in the core product that formed the basis of its existence. On the other hand, the expansion strategy by Amazon seems to be the solution to the loss of revenue due to its previous concentration on positioning strategy. Consequently, Amazon is planning to release smart phones that will enable it to compete in the technology world, as e-retailing has become extremely competitive despite the company holding the top position globally. The most successful strategy, therefore, amongst the three companies is the positioning strategy applied by each company in reaching out to the corporate advertising sector. This is because of the unique attachment that the consumers gain from using these platforms for their specific purposes. While Google maintains its brand as the best search engine, Facebook bases its image on the social networking experience it gives to users. On the other hand, Amazon uses its brand image as the online retailer to maintain its success. Therefore, the dominant strategy is the positioning strategy. Next big step for Apple Apple’s decision to invest more either in the advertising markets or in the online retail market will be decided by a myriad of factors. However, internet connectivity has brought more opportunities for such companies to capitalize on the vast markets. Apple rides on a distinctive brand name. Many Apple consumers have an attachment to this product due to the unique features provided by the innovation of the company’s products. It would be a disadvantage for the company to invest more in the advertising market. Consequently, the target markets for Apple products are the more technology savvy consumers. In previous years, the advertisement of Apple products on relevant media provided the company with a competitive advantage (Deighton & Kornfeld, 2013). However, the cost of advertisement would be expensive given that many potential Apple product consumers use separate channels to purchase and access their products. Online retailing is growing at an alarming rate, with online sales accounting for a bulk of the total retail market sales. Apple should consider online retailing, as many electronic product consumers have shifted consumption trends to order for products online. The ease of access to the online market enables Apple to set up online shops that are accessible from the comfort of potential consumers. Such online marketing sites as Amazon and eBay make it easier for the company to advertise online. Online retailing allows Apple Company to reduce the overhead costs that were previously associated with marketing and setting up expensive retail premises. It allows the company to invest more in customer experience and marketing by reducing the costs involved in hiring qualified staff to oversee customer relations. This provides an opportunity for Apple to standardize its prices across all markets, hence relieving the consumers of the pressures associated with buying products from suppliers who often hike the prices. Internet connectivity provides an opportunity, through online retailing, for companies to widen the markets. The competition encountered by Apple in the electronics industry is attributed to the growth of technology. However, if Apple decides to invest more in online retailing, the company will expand the markets beyond the local consumers. Through this expansion, the company may discover strong demands for its products in other countries. In addition to that, the expansion of markets enables Apple to respond to each consumer by targeted marketing and customization of communication through the different languages offered in the company’s website. Apple Company, on the other hand, must take into concern the website costs that come with the decision to invest in online retailing. In as much as it provides more opportunities than advertising marketing, the cost of setting up an attractive website is not cheap. The target to expand the sales volume requires a quality website that envisages a variety of criteria. The infrastructural costs will include the costs of furnishing the physical space for operating the online retailing centre (Chaffey, 2009). In addition to that, the company should have a warehouse in which the goods are stored before disbursement to the online buyers. The exploration of the internet keeps producing a myriad of challenges to internet users. The security of doing online businesses threatens to subject many consumers and businesses to fraudulent activities. The growth in online retailing attracts attention of criminal organizations. Online retailing for Apple Company may be just as profitable as it may be disastrous to the reputation of a company that has based its success on building a dominant brand name. Fraud and insecurity can lead to consumer dissatisfaction, hence creating many legal implications for the company. Nonetheless, online retailing provides more opportunities than investing more in advertising market for Apple Company. Comparison of Google and Facebook in the advertising market In the past ten years, the desktop searches dominated by Google have continued to drop. Similarly, Yahoo Searches have lost substantive market share. The change in trends indicates the exodus of internet users to less complicated and informal sites. With the increase more mobile devices with better internet connectivity, the markets continue shifting for Google. The specialized vertical searches from mobile devices and desktops have continued to transform the search and advertisement markets. The social network sites such as Facebook enable consumers to view the activities of prominent consumers who often influence the buyer’s decisions. Over the past ten years, the growth of Facebook advertisement has exceeded the growth in Google advertisement. This is because of the growth of the internet users spending time on Facebook. The growth of new technologies that block the Google ads limits the use of Google ads by many advertisers. This adversely affects the Google results in the advertisement despite the continuous innovation of Google to avoid this risk (Chaffey, 2009). Efforts by Google to initiate a personal account like Facebook to avoid the risk of index spammers are not as successful as expected. Index spammers damage Google’s reputation further causing dissatisfaction amongst many consumers. Facebook continues to attract many people holding customized personal accounts, hence limiting the distinct position held by Google as a major online advertising destination. Facebook, for that matter, will have an upper hand over Google. This is because of the informal advertisement structures that attract many young entrepreneurs as opposed to the structures set by Google ads. In addition, the advertisement prices of Facebook are lower than of Google due to the low overhead costs incurred by the company, hence attracting more price conscious cooperates. Facebook continues to grow, considering the fact that it has only 4,331 employees in comparison with those 53,546 of Google (Deighton & Kornfeld, 2013). The above trend depicts Facebook as a company that has many underutilized opportunities, and has potential for expansion. In conclusion, the internet has revolutionized the nature of doing business globally. The case of Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook dissects the several facets that have accrued with the growth of internet as a marketing determinant. Therefore, many online stores keep transforming the customer experience (Chaffey, 2009). References Chaffey, D. (2009). E-business and e-commerce management. Harlow, England: FT Prentice Hall. Deighton, J., & Kornfeld, L. (2013). Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. Harvard Business School,60(513), 1-18. Retrieved from http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators Fernandes, R., Gouveia, J., & Pinho, C. (2012). Product mix strategy and manufacturing flexibility.Journal Of Manufacturing Systems, 31(3), 301-311. doi:10.1016/j.jmsy.2012.02.001 Read More