Marketing Plan for Samsung Galaxy Note 2 - Report Example

Marketing Plan for Samsung Galaxy 2 s Executive Summary Samsung Galaxy 2 is a smart phone with extended functionalities that doesn’t only allow its users to communicate well, but also offers a wide range of services to its users. It is a compact cell phone, designed smartly to provide everything that a today’s cell phone user expect from his/her cell phone. With such extended functionalities, smart look and fancy GUI, this cell phone belongs to the top notch. In order to improve its sales, a wise marketing plan is devised that would not only aware the people about this product but will also be effective in increasing the sales. This marketing plan is devised after analyzing the current marketing situation including the competitor’s strategy as well as the current financial statistics. The current market scenario reveals that market is not a fertile land for Galaxy Note 2, as competitors like Apple, Nokia and HTC are leading the market and have a strong brand name as well as millions of loyal customers. After analyzing the current marketing situation a SWOT analysis of Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is done, on the basis of which future strategies and Action programs are devised accordingly. This marketing plan would throw some light on the future objectives as well as the issues related to it. It would also provide a detailed market strategy about product positioning, pricing, distribution strategy and Marketing research. Different frameworks are being used throughout the plan to come up with a more realistic and concrete plan, able to achieve its stated goals. CURRENT MARKETING SITUATION Current marketing situation of our product i.e. Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is not as good as it’s of the competitors. There are some lacks that are to be covered in this new marketing plan. In order to evaluate the current marketing situation in a better way, let us look at the factors that would reveal the workings of the current marketing situation. Financial Situation: In order to evaluate the current marketing strategy of the product, the best idea is to look at the financial situation. The financial situation is the best measure to reflect the achievements of the marketing strategy. Therefore, following is the table that will highlight the last five years financials of Samsung Galaxy Note 2. Analyzing the five year financial records of Samsung galaxy note 2, it shows that the current marketing strategy is not a complete failure; however, comparing it with its competitors like iPhone & Lumia, it certainly shows a lack (Kovach, 24). The growth of Samsung galaxy Note 2 is not as exponential as its competitor’s growth. In 2008, the growth rate went negative because of the global recession; however the marketing strategy again lifted up the sales and brought the profit margin up to 13% again. Observing the trends, the marginal growth rate in 2011 is tremendous, however this seemed to be declining, because of the fact that the competitors has implemented a more rigorous marketing strategy that would wipe out Samsung Galaxy Note 2 completely. Therefore, it is required to devise a new marketing plan, eliminating the flaws in the current marketing strategy, so that it could compete with the competitors in market. Market Description: The product that we are focusing on is Samsung Galaxy Note 2. It is a smart phone with extended functionalities like multitouch, Touchwiz UI protection, Gorilla Glass, 8 MP Camera, HD Video and Image Recording and Quad-Core 1.6 GHz Cortex A9 processor. Not only the functionalities of Galaxy note 2 is limited to these, but it also offers many other things to its users. It is a compact business phone offering email services as well as social media services, skype, messengers and viber. On the other hand, it can also be used for entertainment purposes like watching movies, listening songs, clicking HD photos and recording HD videos. The extra sensitive touch screen allows its users to enjoy stress free texting and amazing User Interface. With exotic touch screen display and extended features, users can enjoy the feel of using a luxurious smart phone. The quad core processor works really fast and gives a tremendous speed while using the applications, which is way beyond the expectations of conventional users. Apart from it the slim design of Note 2, it only weighs around 185 grams which allows its users to carry it easily without feeling a heavy object in their pockets. It is a compact smart phone offering a complete range of services that a conventional customer expects from a smart phone. It doesn’t have a particular target audience and can be used by everyone because it can be made an office assistant or can easily be transmuted into a juke box, according to the wish of the user. Whether the user is used to of using iPhones or Lumia, it is a perfect substitute to every smart phone, in fact the best of them all. Product Review: General 2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 3G Network: HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 HSDPA 850 / 900 / 2100 - N7105 4G Network: LTE 800 / 900 / 1800 / 2600 - N7105 SIM Micro-SIM Body: Dimensions: 151.1 x 80.5 x 9.4 mm (5.95 x 3.17 x 0.37 in) Weight: 183 g (6.46 oz) Display Type: Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors Size: 720 x 1280 pixels, 5.5 inches (~267 ppi pixel density) Multi-touch: Yes Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass 2 - TouchWiz UI Sound Alert types: Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones Loudspeaker: Yes and 3.5mm jack Memory Card slot: microSD, up to 64 GB Internal: 16/32/64 GB storage, 2 GB RAM Data GPRS: Yes EDGE: Yes Speed: HSDPA, 21 Mbps (N7100), 42 Mbps (N7105); HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE Cat3 (N7105 only), 50 Mbps UL, 100 Mbps DL WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot Bluetooth: Yes, v4.0 with A2DP, LE, EDR NFC: Yes USB: Yes, microUSB v2.0 (MHL), USB Host Camera Primary: 8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash Features: Simultaneous HD video and image recording, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization Video: Yes, 1080p@30fps, check quality Secondary: Yes, 1.9 MP Features OS: Android OS, v4.1.1 (Jelly Bean), upgradeable to 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) Chipset: Exynos 4412 Quad CPU: Quad-core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A9 GPU: Mali-400MP Sensors: Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer Messaging: SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS Browser: HTML5 Radio: Stereo FM radio with RDS (N7100 only) GPS: Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS Java: Yes, via Java MIDP emulator Colors: Titanium Gray, Marble White, Amber Brown, Ruby Wine, Pink, Blue - S-Voice natural language commands and dictation - Smart Stay and Smart Rotate eye tracking - SNS integration - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - Dropbox (50 GB storage) - TV-out (via MHL A/V link) - MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player - MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player - Organizer - Image/video editor - Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF) - Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa - Voice memo/dial/commands - Predictive text input (Swype) Battery Li-Ion 3100 mAh battery Stand-by: Up to 980 h (2G) / Up to 890 h (3G) Talk time: Up to 35 h (2G) / Up to 16 h (3G) (GSMArena, 2012) Competitive Review: The biggest competitor of Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is Apple iPhone 5. Apple iPhone 5 is a smart phone released by the Apple inc. after the tremendous success of its previous smart phone iPhone 4S. The products of apple with Mac OS have a reputable brand name and are widely known for their GUI. The exciting experience of Mac OS can also be enjoyed in iPhone 5 with some other additional functionality. The iPhone 5 offers a 4.0 inch large multi-touch display to its users protected with Corning Gorilla Glass which makes the experience of using touch screen smart phone more engaging. The OS used in iPhone 5 is iOS 6, upgradable up to iOS 6.12, whereas the CPU is Dual Core 1.2 GHz, which helps using the iPhone 5 at lightning bolt speed. Mostly iPhones are preferred over other phones because of the unique GUI of Mac OS. Apple iPhone 5 never lags and never troubles, regardless of whatever app is running on it. Apart from it, the iPhone 5 connects its users to the Apple store from where they can download a wide range of apps that would help achieving their goals with the help of their smart phone. In a nutshell, the apple iPhone 5 is a compact smart phone that comes with the functionalities beyond the conception of its users. Channels and Logistics Review: The channels that are going to be adopted for the distribution of Samsung Galaxy note 2 are the intermediaries working in the targeted countries. Intermediaries like wholesalers and retailers who have proven record will be used as the channels. It will make sure that the supply of Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is appropriate and meeting the market demand properly. The entire Supply Chain process will be monitored in the initial stages to minimize the logistics’ cost and to improve the efficiency of the supply. According to the Samsung’s Mobile President Jong-Kyun Shin, the sales of Galaxy Note 2 will hit the 20 million sales mark (Eadicicco, 2012). Therefore, it would be prudent to improve the logistics system, so that only the profits maximize not sales and the product is in reach to its ultimate buyers at the least cost. SWOT ANALYSIS SWOT analysis is a proven framework, which is commonly used to analyze the current standing of the product. It reflects about the proper insights of the product that how good is the product and what’s its current standing? It gives a good idea to devise the future strategies related to the product (Fine, 2009). SWOT analysis helps to know about the both the ends of the picture. It helps determining about the lacks which should be removed in order to excel. It also helps to find out a bunch of opportunities and to chalk out a plan through which those opportunities can be utilized properly (Pahl & Richter, 2009). Let us do the SWOT Analysis of our product, in order to look at its current standing and to find out what would be the future’s best strategy? Strengths: Some of the important and worth-mentioning strengths of Galaxy Note 2 are highlighted below: 1. The first and the most prominent thing that attracts its users is its Ultrafast CPU of Quad-Core 1.6 GHz. It gives an ultimate experience of using a smart phone which works as fast as like a notebook. 2. The battery of Galaxy Note 2 is removable and the users can change the battery easily, unlike iPhone 5 which doesn’t allow its users to take out the battery for any reason. 3. It comes in different colors which gives a wide range to the buyers to choose from, whereas, iPhone 5 only comes in two different colors i.e. Black & White. 4. A compact smart phone which is designed for business professionals as well as home users at the same time (Samsung, 2012). 5. The lithium ion Battery of 3100 mAh gives up to 980 hours of standby and 35 hours of talk time, which is far more than what a conventional user expects. Weaknesses: Coming to the weaknesses of Galaxy Note 2, the major weaknesses of Galaxy Note 2 are discussed below: 1. The price range in which Galaxy Note 2 lie is beyond the reach of majority of people, which puts a limit on its worldwide sales (Considering that its competitor has a strong brand name). 2. Slightly heavyweight compared to iPhone 5 3. Weak Distribution 4. Brand Awareness is weak Opportunities Following are the opportunities available to galaxy note 2 1. Significant increase has been seen in the number of smart phone buyers and Chinese market is the largest market for smart phones. 2. First mover advantage for introducing Quad-Core 1.6 GHz CPU in smart phone. 3. Increasing demand of smart phones in developing countries 4. Growing market for android and availability of millions of apps. Threats The major threats that are being faced by the Galaxy note 2 are highlighted below 1. Strong brand name of its competitor 2. Brand loyalty of its competitor smart phone 3. A large number of Chinese and Taiwanese new entrants offering smart phones at lower costs 4. Brand preference is comparatively low than the competitor. 5. Prices are to be lowered down in near future. Objectives and Issues Year 1 The primary objectives of Samsung for Notes 2 in Year 1 are: 1. To Improve the Brand Image and the Aura The competitor’s products have a reputation in the market because of the emotional feeling attached with iPhone 5. Consumers think that if they have bought an iPhone 5, they have bought something which not many people possess. Samsung has to infuse the same amount of perception into its customer pool so they generate a positive word of mouth which can be rewarding in its own right. 2. To Establish a Name in the Industry In China, Apple and Samsung leads the smart phones statistics ably followed by Lenovo and Huawei which are local brands of smart phones. When we consider Samsung on the whole, we observe that Galaxy has a market share greater then Apple iPhone 5 but one must understand that Apple iPhone, the only flagship product of Apple Inc. is alone competing with all the other product offering of Samsung and yet maintaining a market share of 6.9%. This market share of Apple iPhone 5 is the one that Samsung should look to acquire by means of Samsung Notes. If the other target market is targeted, then it would lead to brand cannibalization. For the first year, the sales figure in China should be estimated at 1 million headsets and Samsung should look to acquire at least 10% of Apple’s share. Year 2 Considering that Year 1 objectives are achieved, the primary objectives of Samsung for Notes 2 in Year 2 would be: 1. To Increase Sales In the second year, the overall focus should be on to improve sales in China. The expected market of China is the largest in the world now and would expect to have 90 million headsets shipped by the end of 2013 (Limin, 2010). Seeing this huge opportunity, Samsung Notes should be targeted to provide sales of 5 millions headsets. The expectation is that Apples sales will grow too and maybe they will come up with a new version of iPhone 5 but at the same time Samsung has to ensure that they are selling Notes 2 aggressively in the market. 2. To Focus at Brand Building Sales cannot be achieved without brand building and the importance of this fact cannot be over – emphasized. Samsung would need to do this step in parallel with sales. Customers should not feel they are just only buying a product, they should think they are buying a phone which differentiates them from others. Samsung should look to acquire 20% of Apple’s share in this year through Samsung Notes 2. Following are the issues which can be presumed since the market is a perfect competition, in case of Samsung Notes 2: 1) Adapting to Chinese market is different from globally marketing the product due to different norms and culture. 2) Chinese audience is tech savvy and is very knowledgeable about these products so a much focused strategy needs to be implemented. 3) There would be product distribution issues (to be discussed subsequently) since the channels would be new 4) This will be a niche market of buyers that Samsung will have to target 5) Brand cannibalization can also be an issue. It can be perceived that Samsung Notes 2 would eat up the market share of Samsung Galaxy series. Marketing Strategy The proposed marketing strategy of Samsung Notes 2 will constitute of: Positioning ‘To cater the demands and needs of modern Chinese audience who are technology and convenience lovers, Samsung Galaxy Notes 2 is an ultimate and exclusive choice for people who want the world to revolve at their fingertips. The phone that has everything to empower you and make you a leader for today and tomorrow’ Product Strategy The business objective of Samsung Notes 2 is clear. It finds an opportunity in a market where competition is fierce yet the economy is booming. It’s a niche product since people only with the above $3000 income can afford a $680 phone but since the Chinese economy is growing, there will be more and more people in the company who can opt for this phone (Hays, 2008). The target markets primarily are the business user who want convenience and want to fully make use of the technology but that doesn’t mean students or any other users cannot use this product (Sage, 2012). The selling point of Samsung Notes 2 is the convenience and ease of usage without a compromise on the technology and quality of the product. The product should be viewed as a distinguishing and differentiating product. It should have the class vibes about it and the users should think about it as a peep into the future of technology. The quad core processor ultimately leads the user to believe that Samsung Notes 2 harnesses the powers of future technologies. Comparing with its major competitors, there is still a feeling that some changes can be incorporated in design which will not only able to position the product better but will also erase the negative word of mouth. Samsung in its next design needs to make the phone weightless. It means that Samsung has to efficiently reduce the weight by half to market this product in the better way. Mobile weights are of primary concern to the users and this need to be improved by Samsung in the first iteration of design. Other thing that Samsung needs to improve is the amounts of pixels and resolution that needs to be improved. The competitor uses this factor against Samsung and grabs the market share. Apple for example has 50 more PPI’s than Samsung. Samsung doesn’t provides support for LTE networks which means that Samsung can look forward to incorporate this technology as well in future iterations. Pricing Samsung has to bear a huge cost for the production of these phones and since Notes is a new product in market. Samsung cannot naturally decide what price to set which enables them not to lose their market share. To start off with since the phone has a higher cost, a competitor based pricing strategy is recommended (Raju & Zhang, 2010). The rationale behind picking this strategy is the fact that it’s simple to price product through this without conducting expensive research in a market where the product doesn’t have a huge market share. This also means that Samsung won’t lose its market share to Apple or other competitor because of price. This way Samsung can tell its customers that they don’t have to worry about the price but decide on the offerings of similar products. Distribution Strategy The selected distribution strategy for Samsung Notes 2 is a hybrid of exclusive and selective distribution strategy. Local channels of selective intermediaries will be utilized. It a speciality product and for speciality stores, i.e. retail outlets of Samsung will have this product via exclusive distribution. For convenience and shopping stores, the product will be distributed via selective intermediaries. These intermediaries can be offered products on credit and rebates can be given to them if they reach a sales target. Marketing Communication Strategy The proposed marketing communications mix for Samsung Notes 2 can be as follows: A. Advertising: In this regard, TV slots should be bought while live telecasts of sports are going on. Chinese are sports fanatics and it will always be goof to pitch in the product during this time. Print Ads should also be published that are engaging and highlights important features. B. Sales Promotion: It can be used for distributors only if they achieve specific sales targets. Since this is a speciality product, offering sales promotions will dilute the brands image and aura. C. Personal Selling: This can be done by installing kiosks outside most shopping centres where a walk through and user experience campaigns can be launched. These campaigns can be advertised by targeting different clusters of target audience. D. Public relations: Since this is not a mass sell product, public relations other than press releases and web pages won’t come in handy. E. Direct Marketing: It will also not be a very useful marketing mix. This will integrate with personal selling activities and will compliment and cover it. Marketing Research Samsung should probably employ AC Nielsen services to help them find the right fragments on target audience in different geographies all over China. This will enable Samsung Notes II marketing team to specifically cater to the needs of the audience who have a high chance of buying the product. Action Programs Month 1 and 2 A creative agency will look after the advertising and personal selling mediums AC Nielsen will look after the marketing research endeavours for Samsung Notes II The marketing team and brand team at Samsung will liaison with distributors and other distribution and creative agencies Budgets The allocated budget can be divided into 3 main parts. 1. 35% of the budget should be allocated to distribution expenses, costs and other market factors that will enable a distribution infrastructure all over China 2. Personal selling will take 25% of the allocated budgets with advertisement taking up 15% of the budget 3. Out of the remaining budget, 15% would be allocated to direct marketing while the rest of 10% will be allocated to public relations and promotions Controls Several KPI’s or controls can be used for performance assessment. Deterministic and realistic market shares should be awarded to sales team and then at the end of year, sales team performance can be assessed. Customer Feedback will also serve as a control. In this retrospect, CRM’s team performance will also be evaluated. Feedback from distributors will also give insights about markets and sales team performance References Eadicicco, L. (2012, November 26). Samsung galaxy note 2 breaks 5 million in sales following us release date. International Business Times. Retrieved from http://www.ibtimes.com/samsung-galaxy-note-2-breaks-5-million-sales-following-us-release-date-899914 Fine, L. G. (2009). The SWOT Analysis, using your Strength to overcome Weaknesses, using Opportunities to overcome Threats. Createspace. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-SWOT-Analysis-Weaknesses-Opportunities/dp/1449546757 GSMArena. (2012, August). Samsung Galaxy Note II. Retrieved from http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_note_ii_n7100-4854.php Hays, J. (2008). Luxury Goods and Brands in China. Retrieved from http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=1889 Kovach, S. (24, October 2012). Should you Buy the Samsung Galaxy Note 2? Retrieved from http://business.financialpost.com/2012/10/24/should-you-buy-the-samsung-galaxy-note-2/?__lsa=097f-fb11 Limin, Z. (2010, July 10). Ordinary Chinese Divided on Luxury [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://english.cntv.cn/program/newshour/20101007/101526.shtml Pahl, N., & Richter, A. (2009). SWOT Analysis - Idea, Methodology and a Practical Approach. (1st ed.). GRIN Verlag oHG. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.co.uk/SWOT-Analysis-Methodology-Practical-Approach/dp/3640303032 Raju, J., & Zhang, Z. J. (2010, March 11). Introduction to smart pricing: How Google, Priceline, and Leading Businesses use Pricing Innovation for Profitability. Financial Times. Retrieved from http://www.ftpress.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1569334&seqNum=2 Sage, S. (2012, December 27). New Samsung Galaxy Note 2 ad Targets Business. Retrieved from http://www.androidcentral.com/new-samsung-galaxy-note-2-ad-targets-business Samsung. (2012). Samsung Galaxy Note II. Retrieved from http://www.samsung.com/africa_en/consumer/mobile-phone/mobile-phone/galaxy-note/GT-N7100RWXXFA Read More