Apple Marketing Analysis - Case Study Example

Apple Marketing Analysis s Marketing Submitted: A1. Marketing Mix AnalysisMarketing mix analysis entails the elaboration of the four Ps as pertains to marketing: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Apple Company needs to know how to combine the four Ps so as to garner a competitive advantage against its competitors and hence increase the customer preference of its products and services. This further increases the revenues of Apple Company (Kunz, 2010, p. 1). Price; Apple being in a business that deals with technology and the advances that come with technology requires that it keeps up to date. But how will Apple keep up to date with changing technology and not escalate up its prices? As a marketing strategy, Apple has come up with pricing games which it has used to maintain a competitive edge in the business. To begin with, Apple has implemented the use of decoys. These are commodities presented in advance of the real commodity and their aim is to capture the attention of the consumer hence compelling the consumer to purchase commodities from Apple. An example is the iPod going for $399 yet Apple displays others being traded for $199 yet they do not exist, compelling the customer to purchase the $399 iPod (Kunz, 2010, p. 1). The other price marketing strategy utilized by Apple Company is the use of a reference range to market its commodities. This is aimed at showing the consumer the previous higher price and the current lower price that Apple is willing to sell the commodity. An example is that Apple can present an IPod at $100 and state it as 50% down from the previous $200. The consumer will find the current deal being offered by Apple better than the previous price and hence purchase the product from Apple instead of its competitors (Kunz, 2010, p. 1). Moreover, Apple uses bundle price as a marketing strategy as pertains to its prices. An example is a TV from Apple Company. It will be purchased for as low as $100, to play the TV, the customer will need to pay Apple through the purchase of a stereo, video and spares to use the TV (Kunz, 2010, p. 1). Product; Apple Company products change with the technological advancements since Apple Company has to keep at par with its competitors and provide the consumers with the latest technology. The current products which have been produced by Apple include: Apple TV, iPod, iPad, iPhone, iWork, iLife, Mac OS X, and iOS (Kunz, 2010, p. 1). Place; this entails the market niche of the company and especially where the company has its largest market share. Being based in the United State, Apple Company has expanded to involve other continents in the distribution of its products. It has been able to capture market in Africa, Asia, and America and also in the Middle East Europe. It has about 200 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, in bid to achieve its objective of supplying technologically enhanced commodities to the global community (Kunz, 2010, p. 1). Promotion; Marketing is anchored in promotion of a Company’s products and services to its consumers. Apple Company has gone a great mile in promoting its products which it accomplishes by the use of advertising in the electronic medium. As earlier foretold in the goal of Apple Company, it works in collaboration with the consumer prior to the launching of a product like emphasized in the decoy pricing. This is aimed at stimulating the consumers to expect a new product from Apple Company (Kunz, 2010, p. 1). A11. Stakeholders Analysis Stakeholders in marketing strategy illustrate the entities to which the organization is accountable to as pertains to its performance: customer, competitors, company, and community (Abila, 2010, p. 1). Company; Apple Company is a multinational Company in the United States that was founded on 01, April 1976. It is a company that specializes in the provision of technologically enhanced facilities to the global community. This is through the introduction of software, hardware, digital and also other electronics. Individuals who foresaw the genesis of this great company are: Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, and Ronald Wayne and the Company currently hold its headquarters in California, America, at Apple Campus Cupertino. It has a history of successful collaborations with other technologically supplying Companies. Its collaboration with Nokia made the latter the greatest smart phone company in the globe. The marketing strategy of the Company is anchored on the product and the consumer. Apple Company aims at inculcating group work so as to enhance the technologically prevalent commodities in the market. Moreover, Apple Company aims at launching these products for the distribution and the utilization of the consumer. The goal of Apple Company is to globally extend its products for the purposes of telecommunication, increase in technologically advanced products and personalization of computers like the recent iPod technology (Abila, 2010, p. 1). Competitors; Microsoft is the greatest competitor to Apple Company as pertains to technological advancement. While carrying out a SWOT analysis on Apple Company, Microsoft has been rated as the greatest threat as pertains to competition against Apple Company. Other personal computer generators like Toshiba, Dell, Allienware, and Gateway are also competitors to Apple Company. Airline networkers like Netgar and Cisco are also competitors to Apple Company as pertains to the networking world. Since Apple Company is also involved in phone services and downloading, its greatest competitors are Samsung and black berry. However, Apple has been able to prevail in the market since it has been documented to be in a position to give its customers what they need faster than its competitors (Abila, 2010, p. 1). Customer; Currently, the global community hungers for technologically advanced commodities that make work easier, faster hence, increasing their efficiency. This is the customer need that Apple Company embarks on and thus it is always curious to know what the consumer needs and hence produces a product that meets these needs. Moreover, the belief of the consumer is very important and Apple flourishes on the customers’ belief as pertains to the efficiency of its products. The values of a customer shape the behaviors that the customer portrays. Apple utilizes consumer behavior of desire to have advanced technology and thus fashions devices to meet this need (Abila, 2010, p. 1). Community; It entails the social perception of a Company. Apple is perceived as a Company that works in collaboration with other industries, it is client centered, and it effectively and efficiently meets the demands of the global community. This is evidenced by the societal loyalty to Apple and its long prevalence in the technological world (Abila, 2010, p. 1). A.111. Brand + Positioning Analysis Critically analyze the organization’s brand in terms of appearance, personality and reputation Apple was rated at number eight among the top ten brand names in the global brand category. This means that Apple has a way that it appeals to its consumers’ through the brand that it uses to identify itself and hence able to maintain a competitive edge against its competitors. Reputation of the Apple brand has been cited as its strength in Apple SWOT analysis since the company flourishes in the customer loyalty to the brand name. It is what other people think about the Company with reference to its brand name. As pertains to Apple Company, it is the third as pertains to branding in the technology world, preceded by Intel and Microsoft taking the lion share of branding. This illustrates that Microsoft compared to Apple has a greater reputation as pertains to their brands (Tariq, Ishrat, and Khan, 2011, p. 158). Appearance; entails the physical presentation of the company. With reference to the latest technology perpetuated by Apple, its appearance can be depicted as comprehensive hence efficient. This is as a result of iPod and iPhones that are capable of performing multiple tasks yet they are small devices that can competently be carried along (Tariq, Ishrat, and Khan, 2011, p. 158). Personality; this is the behavior that defines Apple Company to its consumers. Apple has a personality of high quality and durable products with its consumers. Moreover, it has a personality of efficiency in the provision of products to its customers hence garnering customer loyalty compared to competitors. Despite its products being expensive, they are of guaranteed quality hence a competitive personality brand (Tariq, Ishrat, and Khan, 2011, p. 158). Draw one positioning map with the organization, two customer segments, and two competitors In marketing, a positioning map is utilized in developing a strategy for products or services that are new in the market space. Subjective in nature, the map determines the conceived products quality compared to other products that are similar. PC Mac OSX Style Price Apple Company Dell Company HP Company PC-PC Phone customers According to the position map, Apple has products that are highly stylish with high tagged prices as compared to Dell and HP Company. There e exists high competition between Dell and HP companies. PC Phone customers are an important segment of the Apple Company. Even though they are served by other companies, they prefer Apple company products because of their better services. Mac OSX printer customers are a significant segment. Since Apple Company and HP Company serve the customers’ needs they are close competitors in the market (Tariq, Ishrat, and Khan, 2011, p. 158). References Abila, P 2010, Stakeholders Analysis, Web. 17 Feb. 2012. Kunz, B 2010, How Apple plays the pricing game. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. Tariq, M., Ishrat, R and Khan, H 2011. “A case study of Apple’s success with iconic iPod and iPhone,” Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Researchers in Business, Vol.3, no.1, pp.158-168. Read More