Mobile Phones Market: Marketing Plan - Research Paper Example

Mobile Phones and Plan Executive Summary Mobile phone market is competitive and ever changing. This means that marketers should keep formulating and implementing strategies that ensure that they survive in a turbulent environment. Consumers utilise different factors in choosing appropriate mobile phones, which include phone plan and type of phone. The three respondents choose different phones from their choices based on calculations available. It means few consumers make choices that cannot be supported by scientific analysis e.g. through the matrix calculations. Nevertheless, some of the factors that consumers based include the quality of features available, the cost of purchasing and maintaining the mobile phone, and applicability of the mobile phone towards their daily activities. Table of Contents Executive Summary 1 1.0 Introduction 4 2. Decision Matrix 4 2.1 Mobile Phone and Plan Options 4 2.2 Evaluative criteria 5 3.0 Application of Compensatory Decision Rule 6 3.1 Respondent 1 6 3.1.1 Respondent 1 Score 6 3.1.2 Calculation for Respondent 1 7 3.1.3 Choice by the customer vs. Choice based on calculations 7 3.2 Respondent 2 7 3.2.1 Respondent 2 Score 7 3.2.2 Calculation for Respondent 2 8 3.2.3 Choice by the customer vs. Choice based on calculations 9 3.3 Respondent 3 9 3.3.1 Respondent 3 Score 9 3.3.2 Calculation for Respondent 3 9 3.3.3 Choice by the customer vs. Choice based on calculations 10 4.0 Analysis of Choices 10 4.1 Difference in respondents’ rankings of evaluative criteria 10 4.1.1 Demographic reasons 10 4.1.2 Personality reasons 11 4.2 Different respondents’ choices 11 4.2.1 Demographic reasons 11 4.2.2 Personality reasons 12 4.3 Recommendations for marketers 12 5.0 Conclusion 14 6.0 References 15 1.0 Introduction Mobile devices and mobile phones have revolutionised how people fulfil their daily requirements (Mitomo, Otsuka, Nakaba, 2009). This new lifestyle that is always connected brings into consideration everything that an individual wants to accomplish, from shopping to business to entertainment (Sandor and Franses, 2009). For many marketers, mobile phones are new strategies and means in which they can promote their products while the manufacturers of these mobile devices understand that they operate in a competitive environment that incorporates changing consumer expectations and requirements (Petruzzellis, 2010). This also means that consumers employ different strategies in ensuring that they make appropriate decisions that leads in optimising benefits obtained from the mobile phones purchased or intended to be purchased (Hsi-Peng and Philip, 2009). Thus, the aim of this report is to analyse three customers that intended to purchase mobile phones. The mobile phones in question will have options and will be six in total. In addition, the customers (respondents) will be required to make their choices based on eight criteria. Information collected from these respondents will be utilised in formulating appropriate recommendations to be presented to mobile phone marketers. 2. Decision Matrix 2.1 Mobile Phone and Plan Options Option Name of the phone Features Price Plan Option Plan Option 1 Apple Iphone 5 32 GB 4G LTE Capable, Apple iOS, Wi-Fi, Touch screen, 8 Mps, GPS, 4.8 Display $750 Vodafone $30 plan for 24 months Plan Option 2 Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Smart Phone 4.3 AMOLED Screen, 16 gb, 8mp Carl Zeiss Camera, Windows 7.5 Os $430 Telstra $30 for 30 days Plan Option 3 Samsung GT-i9300 Galaxy S III 16gb 4.8 AMOLED display, HD resolution, 8mp, Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), Touch screen, Wireless network and USB 2.0 $700 Optus $2 days plan Plan Option 4 Samsung Galaxy S III 4G 16GB 3G/4g LTE connectivity, Android 4.0 OS, 4.8 inch AMOLED touch screen, 8mp camera, GPS navigation, Wireless and Bluetooth 4.0 $700 Telstra 40 for 30 days Plan Option 5 HTC One X 4.7 LCD, 8mp, Wireless and Bluetooth 2.0, GPS, Android $600 Vodafone $30 plan for 24 months Plan Option 6 Samsung Galaxy Note II 16Gb 5.6 AMOLED display, 8mps, 4G LTE, Wi-fi and Bluetooth 2.0, GPS, Android $960 Optus $2 days plan 2.2 Evaluative criteria Criterion Name of criteria Plan Option 1 Plan Option 2 Plan Option 3 Plan Option 4 Plan Option 5 Plan Option 6 Criteria 1 Display 4.8 AMOLED touch screen 4.3 AMOLED touch screen 4.8 AMOLED touch screen 4.8 AMOLED touch screen 4.7 LCD touch screen 5.6 AMOLED touch screen Criteria 2 Camera 8 mp 8 mp 8 mp 8 mp 8 mp 8 mp Criteria 3 Operating System Apple iOS Windows 7.5 Os Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) Android 4.0 OS Android Android Criteria 4 Wireless Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Criteria 5 GPS Available Available Available Available Available Available Criteria 6 Bluetooth Available Available Available Available Available Available Criteria 7 Colour Black White Blue White Grey Black Criteria 8 Storage size 32 gb 16gb 16 gb 16 gb 16 gb 16gb 3.0 Application of Compensatory Decision Rule 3.1 Respondent 1 3.1.1 Respondent 1 Score Criteria ranking number Criteria Weight/100 Phone & Plan 1 Phone & Plan 2 Phone & Plan 3 Phone & Plan 4 Phone & Plan 5 Phone & Plan 6 # 1 8 22 3 4 4 3 4 4 # 2 7 19 4 5 3 4 5 3 # 3 6 17 2 3 4 5 3 2 # 4 5 14 5 2 3 2 2 3 # 5 4 11 4 4 2 4 4 4 # 6 3 8 1 3 4 3 5 4 # 7 2 6 5 5 5 5 3 3 # 8 1 3 3 4 2 3 4 5     100             3.1.2 Calculation for Respondent 1 Criteria ranking number * Criteria Weight/100 Phone & Plan 1 Phone & Plan 2 Phone & Plan 3 Phone & Plan 4 Phone & Plan 5 Phone & Plan 6 # 1 8 22.2 67 89 89 67 89 89 # 2 2 5.6 22 28 17 22 28 17 # 3 6 16.7 33 50 67 83 50 33 # 4 3 8.3 42 17 25 17 17 25 # 5 4 11.1 44 44 22 44 44 44 # 6 3 8.3 8 25 33 25 42 33 # 7 2 5.6 28 28 28 28 17 17 # 8 1 2.8 8 11 6 8 11 14 Total   80 253 291 286 294 297 272 3.1.3 Choice by the customer vs. Choice based on calculations Respondent 1 choose phone plan 2 while the calculations indicates that the appropriate plan should be phone plan 5. This respondent may have based their decision on the price of the product since all other factors are similar and also the phone plan is similar. 3.2 Respondent 2 3.2.1 Respondent 2 Score Criteria ranking number Criteria Weight/100 Phone & Plan 1 Phone & Plan 2 Phone & Plan 3 Phone & Plan 4 Phone & Plan 5 Phone & Plan 6 # 1 8 3 3 5 5 3 3 5 # 2 7 6 5 3 4 4 4 3 # 3 6 8 4 4 3 4 4 4 # 4 5 11 2 4 2 5 3 5 # 5 4 14 3 5 1 3 5 4 # 6 3 17 5 3 3 4 4 3 # 7 2 19 4 3 4 3 3 3 # 8 1 22 3 4 4 2 4 3     100             3.2.2 Calculation for Respondent 2 Criteria ranking number * Criteria Weight/100 Phone & Plan 1 Phone & Plan 2 Phone & Plan 3 Phone & Plan 4 Phone & Plan 5 Phone & Plan 6 # 1 1 2.8 8 111 111 67 67 111 # 2 2 5.6 28 17 22 22 22 17 # 3 3 8.3 33 33 25 33 33 33 # 4 1 2.8 6 11 6 14 8 14 # 5 5 13.9 42 69 14 42 69 56 # 6 6 16.7 83 50 50 67 67 50 # 7 4 11.1 44 33 44 33 33 33 # 8 8 22.2 67 89 89 44 89 67 Total   83 311 413 361 322 389 380 3.2.3 Choice by the customer vs. Choice based on calculations Respondent 2 choose phone plan 5 while the calculations indicates that the appropriate plan should have been phone plan 2. This may be attributed to features that are available in this expensive option. 3.3 Respondent 3 3.3.1 Respondent 3 Score Criteria ranking number Criteria Weight/100 Phone & Plan 1 Phone & Plan 2 Phone & Plan 3 Phone & Plan 4 Phone & Plan 5 Phone & Plan 6 # 1 8 22 3 5 5 4 5 4 # 2 7 19 5 3 4 3 4 5 # 3 6 17 4 4 3 4 2 4 # 4 5 14 3 4 4 3 3 5 # 5 4 11 5 3 4 5 3 3 # 6 3 8 3 4 3 4 4 3 # 7 2 6 4 5 4 3 4 4 # 8 1 3 5 4 3 2 5 2     100             3.3.2 Calculation for Respondent 3 Criteria ranking number Criteria Weight/100 Phone & Plan 1 Phone & Plan 2 Phone & Plan 3 Phone & Plan 4 Phone & Plan 5 Phone & Plan 6 # 1 3 8.3 25 111 111 89 111 89 # 2 2 5.6 28 17 22 17 22 28 # 3 3 8.3 33 33 25 33 17 33 # 4 5 13.9 42 56 56 42 42 69 # 5 5 13.9 69 42 56 69 42 42 # 6 6 16.7 50 67 50 67 67 50 # 7 7 19.4 78 97 78 58 78 78 # 8 8 22.2 111 89 67 44 111 44 Total   108 436 511 463 419 488 433 3.3.3 Choice by the customer vs. Choice based on calculations The calculations indicate that the appropriate phone plan should have been 2 but the respondent choose phone plan 3. This may be associated to features and also the brand of the product. 4.0 Analysis of Choices 4.1 Difference in respondents’ rankings of evaluative criteria 4.1.1 Demographic reasons Demographic reasons influences on evaluation criteria of different factors that are related to a specific mobile choice (Petruzzellis, 2010). Specifically, social class and gender influences immensely on evaluative criteria and it is evident from male gender who belong to a higher social class appreciates technology and they tend to make choices based on their technology savvy capability. In addition, the environment and occupation of individual points towards factors that will be considered in evaluative criteria (Park, Kim and Lee, 2010). For example, mobile phones that are capable to support both personal and corporate email are appealing to the working class while those phones that have advanced messaging services are appreciated by college students (Tao, Fareena and Andrew, 2010). Generally, occupation and environmental concerns determines the approach in which an individual will utilise in ensuring satisfaction of the mobile phone. 4.1.2 Personality reasons The more the evaluative criteria available in a mobile phone may be associated with the price of that mobile phone. For example, a mobile phone may support numerous features is more expensive compared to a phone that has fewer features (Petruzzellis, 2010). Thus, an individual may peruse through a phone, analysing features available and make decision on applicability of the available features. 4.2 Different respondents’ choices 4.2.1 Demographic reasons Trends within the mobile phone sector may influence perceptions towards choosing certain brand of mobile phone. For example, consumers appreciate mobile phones with larger screen and better capability rather to the size of the mobile phone (Okazaki and Hirose, 2009). This is evident whereby marketers advertise mobile phones before they are available with the aim of consumers replacing their current phones rather than adopting. For example, when iphone 4 was in the market, Apple Company started advertising iphone 5 with the aim of consumers replacing their iphone 4 with iphone 5. 4.2.2 Personality reasons Consumers make decisions based on existing factors and capacity associated with the current mobile phone. For example, an individual may appropriate factors associated with advancement of technology such as better memory, built-in cameras, radio, colour displays and improvement in messaging services. This generally means that new features in a mobile phone may influence the intention of acquiring a new mobile phone (Park, Kim and Lee, 2010). In addition, an individual choice may be associated to brand awareness and how the individual appreciates the brand. An individual may appreciate Samsung phones and introduction of addition features on similar Samsung phone will make an individual acquiring it (Hanudin, 2008). Moreover, the relationship towards the brand may be attributed to customer care received from the company. Another important factor influencing an individual choice towards a mobile phone is service provider and contractual costs (Petruzzellis, 2010). Some companies offer different costs for texting, calls between networks and across networks, and free messaging between similar phones. These factors usually influence individual decision making towards a given mobile phone. 4.3 Recommendations for marketers Marketers should understand that there is increase in number of mobile phone manufacturers. These new manufactures have revolutionised the mobile phone market with phones that are capable to accomplish numerous tasks and these phones are scalable (Lin, Chen and Tzeng, 2010). Scalability is because an individual can access new applications and utilise it on the same phone without having the need of changing the phone. Some of the recommendations that marketers should factor in either designing or marketing mobile phones include: Cloud computing – Cloud computing is providing means in which information is stored remotely with easiness in accessing the information (Park, Kim and Lee, 2010). Since the requirements of consumers keep changing and some consumers may have huge data means that additional storage mechanisms should be in place. This is because the current consumer expects a market who delivers integrated and rich multimedia experience. Mobile applications – marketers should understand requirements of consumers are different when it comes to applications (Hanudin, 2008). It means marketers should be both responsive and engaging while designing the applications and the phones to ensure that it appeals the consumers. Previously, applications were simple but advancement in technology has resulted in chances in the way people appreciate mobile phones and technology. Importance of data – marketers should collect different information from consumers to understand what the customers appreciates and what are their preferences. Some consumers may appreciate quality camera on the phone while another may appreciate multitasking capability of a mobile phone (Park, Kim and Lee, 2010). Thus, marketers should collect these information, analyse the information, formulate, and implement a strategy that incorporates the analysed data. This will ensure diversity of consumers is factored in either marketing the mobile phone or design the mobile phone. Supply chain – Marketers should appreciate the importance of effective supply chain. Marketers can market the products, especially through Internet, and a customer may require the product in an environment in which there is no agent (Petruzzellis, 2010). This means the marketers should consider appropriate measures that ensure the mobile phones are delivered promptly based on expectations and requirements of the consumers (Hanudin, 2008). Customer support – Retention and loyalty of consumers usually reduces the cost of marketing. When consumers appreciate a product, the consumers become the agents of that product and they easily spread through word of mouth the experience associated with the product (Arruda-Filho, Cabusas and Dholakia, 2010). In addition, marketers should understand importance of effective and efficient warranties and guarantees, and thus improve the understanding and appreciation of consumers. 5.0 Conclusion Individuals across the world embrace the mobile lifestyle. This lifestyle comes in different form that includes mobile applications, form factors and intelligent network services that result in changing mobile use experiences, which contributes towards increasing the expectations of users. However, different consumers do not understand exactly what they want when it comes to choosing the appropriate mobile phone. Some consumers bases their choice on peers while others basis the choice on utilisation and capability of the mobile phone. This means that marketers should understand diverse views in designing and promoting the mobile phone to ensure that it receives more appeal. 6.0 References Arruda-Filho, E., Cabusas, J., and Dholakia, N. 2010. Social behaviour and brand devotion among iPhone innovators. International Journal of Information Management, vol. 30, no. 6, pp. 475-480 Hanudin, A. 2008. Factors affecting the intentions of customers in Malaysia to use mobile phone credit cards. Emerald, 31 Hsi-Peng L., and Philip, Y. 2009. Factors affecting purchase intention on mobile shopping web sites. Internet Research, vol. 19, no. 4, pp.442 - 458 Lin, C., Chen, C., and Tzeng, G. 2010. Planning the development strategy for the mobile communication package based on consumers’ choice preferences. Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 37, no. 7, pp. 4749-4760 Mitomo, H., Otsuka, T., Nakaba, K. 2009. A Behavioural Economic Interpretation of the Preference for Flat Rates: The Case of Post-paid Mobile Phone Services. Telecommunication Markets Contributions to Economics, pp. 59-73 Okazaki, S., and Hirose, M. 2009. Does gender affect media choice in travel information search? On the use of mobile Internet. Tourism Management, vol. 30, no. 6, pp. 794-804 Park, Y., Kim, H., and Lee, J. 2010. An empirical analysis on consumer adoption of mobile phone and mobile content in Korea. International Journal of Mobile Communications, pp. 667-688 Petruzzellis, L. 2010. Mobile phone choice: technology versus marketing. The brand effect in the Italian market. European Journal of Marketing, vol. 44, no. 5, pp. 610- 634 Sandor, Z., and Franses, P. 2009. Consumer price evaluations through choice experiments. Journal of Applied Econometrics, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 517-535 Tao, G., Fareena, S., and Andrew J. 2010. Factors influencing Chinese youth consumers' acceptance of mobile marketing. Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 27, no. 7, pp. 574 – 583 Read More