Kindle Paperwhite - Marketing Success Evaluation - Example

Student: Tutor: Course: Date: Table of Contents 1Introduction 3 2Target market 3 2.1Demographic segmentation 4 2.2Geographical segmentation 4 2.3Behavioural segmentation 5 2.4Psychographic segmentation 5 3Marketing mix 5 3.1Product 5 3.2Place 7 3.3Promotion 9 3.4Price 10 4Competitive advantage 11 5Assessment of the product’s success 11 References 12 Kindle Paperwhite (Wi-Fi) Marketing Mix Evaluation 1 Introduction Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) is the second generation of paperwhite e-readers designed and sold by Amazon. Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) allows a user to read e-books, magazines, newspapers and other digital material sourced from Amazon online shopping site. Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) is the newest version of kindle in a list of some previously successful versions of the product. Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) is particularly unique as it features Wi-Fi and paperwhite high definition display that has antiglare features enabling readers to use the e-reader even in bright daylight. It was released into the market in September 2013 currently retailing at $119 dollars at the Amazon.com site[Ama131]. Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer headquartered in Washington USA. The company’s original idea was a bookstore but is much diversified into offering several consumer electronics, cloud computing services and providing a platform for unlimited variety of merchandise to be sold at Amazon.com[Ama133]. This report seeks to evaluate the success of Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) ’s marketing mix in the Australian market in light of satisfying the target market’s needs and wants. 2 Target market Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) is arguably the leading eBook reader in the market today building from the strategic advantage it enjoys of being an Amazon product. This ensures that users can as well get access to over 1000 books on the Amazon’s online shopping platform. The kindle is basically a device that allows one to read books and reading materials that are digitally encrypted. Apart from this, Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) allows one to access the books and materials online, look up meaning from an installed dictionary and from Wikipedia[Ama131]. The device is basically intended for any person who is interested in reading books and other materials regularly and in digital form. The market can then be segmented as below. 2.1 Demographic segmentation (Age) Books and literature materials are almost necessary fro all age groups but particularly for people between the ages of 5 and 70 years. Australians between these ages are likely to comprise the market for kindle e-reader. The middle ages of between 25 to 55 years are particularly very much into reading books and might constitute the bull’s-eye of Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) ’s target market in Australia. (Gender) The device is a consumer commodity without any particular connection to either male or female consumers. It can be used by Australians both male and females and thus both genders constitute the target market for Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI). 2.2 Geographical segmentation The kindle can be used by Australians from every state and therefore the whole of Australia should be considered a target market for Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) geographically for as long as there is a form of internet connectivity either through high speed internet or 3G network. 2.3 Behavioural segmentation Behaviour in terms of product market may take the form of the expectations that the consumer has in relation to the products ability to fulfil his/her needs. For an eBook reader, consumers might expect to get something that makes the reading process almost the same as reading a hardcopy book or even better. This means therefore that the reader retains as much energy to last long, has the ability to enable the consumer connect with internets resources such as online bookstores, dictionaries and maybe relevant social sites. 2.4 Psychographic segmentation One of the factors that can be considered in this form of segmentation is the target market’s lifestyle. The target market is basically comprised of people who enjoy reading books as a source of entertainment, inspiration or knowledge. It can also be of people who have to regularly read through books and digital materials as part of their work such as book reviewers, tutors. Students are also an important constituent of the target market. 3 Marketing mix A product’s marketing mix is comprised of four elements, all of which must complement each other to make the product successful in the market. They are; product, place, promotion, and price[Wal11]. The analysis below explains the elements further and highlights Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI)’s marketing mix in Australian market. 3.1 Product Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) is the product under evaluation by this report. The product is an eBook reader with enhanced features all intended to make reading of digital material a lovely experience. The product features include, 6’’ peperwhite display with built-in light and 212 ppi, 2GB memory able to hold up to 1100 books, cloud storage function, long battery life of up to 8 weeks, Wi-Fi connectivity, device weight is 206 grams. Apart from this product also has a smart lookup feature that allows one to look up words meaning and information from New Oxford American Dictionary and Wikipedia. The X-ray feature allows one to see all passages in the book mentioning relevant ideas, characters and topics without leaving the current page.[Ama131] The product is able to meet the target markets needs of accessing books conveniently and affordably from online bookstore, reading them using a device with reliable battery life, high definition antiglare display, and lookup meaning and more information without having to source for more devices or materials to do so. The fact that it can connect to public and private Wi-Fi means it’s a cheap option as one can download eBooks freely. Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) is a convenience product as one can opt to use a hardcopy book format instead of the eBook digital format. The value that the product delivers is to allow one read digitally encrypted materials including books. As such some consumers may not necessarily feel the need to buy the product if it does not fit within their budget. The most important attribute of the product is its ability to offer a good reading experience of eBooks by having good display in dark places and bright environments, long battery life and ability to flip through the pages easily. This is the core product but Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) also integrates with Amazon to offer more augmented products in the form of free cloud storage feature, connectivity to Amazon’s online bookstore, access to dictionaries and other resource sites and access to Goodread social network. From this attributes and the fact that this is the sixth release of the kindle family, it can be said that the product is a reputable brand that stands tall amongst its competitors. It is also worthy to note that the product is owned by amazon.com which boasts of being the biggest online retailer of eBooks thus giving the brand a strong backing in association with it[Ama133]. The product is designed to be slim, light and beautiful to offer convenience to the reader and also attractive to the eye with the Amazon logo beautifully encrypted on the back (Pierce, 2013). This kind of packaging makes the product unique and serves to increase brand strength through beautiful logos to identify the with the brand salience. This product is at the maturity stage of the lifecycle as it has to regularly upgrade into a new version to keep on attracting more buyers and retain the converted consumer. The new version has higher performance and probably has newer features. The previous version of kindle whitepaper is not so different from Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) but the manufacturer wants to make the impression of there being remarkable improvement (Pierce, 2013). The idea of product innovation is more adopted at this stage due to increased competition and changing consumer preferences[Sta11]. Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) is rivalled in the market by other brands such as Kobo Aura HD and Barnes and Noble’s Nook. 3.2 Place Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) is sold in Australia through retailers such as Readershop.com, Dick Smith and also through the amazon.com global site. The first two provide an opportunity to get the device within a short time but buying from the Amazon site the device can take like almost two weeks to reach the buyer in Australia[Rea13]. This distribution strategy is well suited for the target market as one can buy from the Australian stores although at a slightly higher price but get the product upon payment. The product can also be bought from the Amazon online store although it takes several days to reach the buyer. However it is slightly cheaper as compared to the prices from the Australian stores. The online platform is perhaps aided by the fact that Amazon will attract fewer costs in selling the product online given that the company already has an established online retail business with technical knowledge and experience in online business. Retailers such as readersshop.com and Dick Smith have presence in every city of Australia and thus meet the convenience need of the target market. A distribution strategy should ensure that a product reaches the market in time and offers support to the target market where required[Wal11]. Amazon online retail has been not effective in meeting this but Amazon stepped up the efforts by launching its kindle store in Australia towards the end of 2013 (Morris, 2013). This means the company is dedicating efforts and resources towards enhancing the efficiency of the distribution channel which has largely relied on retailers to offer support for the devices. The channel has also seen prices to have slight although impactful variations from online and physical stores. This is not good especially when competitors are eyeing to reduce kindles market share in Australia estimated to be 75% of e-readers owned by Australians (Morris, 2013). The kindle store also offers other augmented products to the kindle buyers such as a dedicated store for Australian bestsellers for the users to download. This makes shopping for books online simple and convenient to Australians further improving the efficiency of product delivery in the Australian market[Rea13]. 3.3 Promotion Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI)’s advertisements have been running on local TVs in Canberra including ABC, SBS and Seven Network. The adverts appear mostly in primetime hours in the evening when most of the Australians are at home at around 1900 hrs to 2200 hrs. The adverts are short themed Real People, Genuine Reactions. They feature the reaction of a few avid book readers upon sampling the all new Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) (Amazon, 2013). The adverts are further visible in the dailies such us in Sydney Morning Herald and the Verge technology magazine where they seek to advance the same them of the products appealing features such as the antiglare screen. The television adverts featuring ‘real people’ who are avid readers somehow put it like the company is not advertising its product but lets the products advertise themselves by allowing people to react upon handling the gadget (Amazon, 2013). This form of communication through motion media is able to present the reaction as it and is thus a powerful form of communication. The print media has a wider reach and a long life as compared to the 30 seconds TV adverts. This provides for a better opportunity to communicate the salient features of the product to the prospective buyer [Wal11]. Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) is very present on the social media platform where the company uses the platform to advertise releases in the kindle family the latest being Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI). The facebook page has 3.1 million likes and is very active with the administrator regularly interacting with the kindle fans to offer information, answer questions and popularize promotional events. Books on kindle stores are also marketed using the facebook page[Ama132]. Kindles promotions mostly focus on products features and not necessarily where to buy it or how much it is worth. However the Amazon site features links to reviews by popular magazines and dailies such as the verge where the price of $ 199 is noted as very cheap for such a great device[Ama131]. This promotion effort is quite appropriate for the product’s lifecycle as it seeks to consolidate kindles target market especially in Australia where a market share of around 75% is enjoyed by the kindle brand (Morris, 2013). This is characteristic of a mature market where a dominant player assumes market leadership and tries hard to maintain it[Sta11]. 3.4 Price Amazon kindles have been for long been retailing from the Amazon online store and not in brick and mortar stores in Australia. In October 2013 Amazon partnered with Dick Smith and Big W to deliver the product to Australians (Morris, 2013). At Dick Smith, the ad free version is going for $149 dollars but does not include accessories such as an Australian charger[Dic131]. The Readershop.com an online Australian retailer is currently selling at Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) at $259 this price is inclusive of an AC power charger, a car charger, extra USB cable and a DVD with 29,500 eBooks[Rea13]. The extra items bring about the price variation between the two retailers. The Kobo Aura is going for $188 at BigW online store and at $239 at Collins booksellers’ stores [Big13]. It is clear that the pricing of the two competing products is based on competition between them. Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) is priced slightly below the Kobo Aura probably to retain Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI)’s market share it may also be reflective of the product enjoying economies of scale from high production capacity. 4 Competitive advantage Amazon has taken a leading role in aiding the digitization of reading material by offering a high definition and quality product that offers readers in Australia a chance to enjoy eBooks and have the same experience as they would have reading the traditional book or probably been much better experience. The eBook has a high definition screen paperwhite screen that does not glare even in the sunlight and a smart look up feature that enables users to look up words meaning and information while still in the same reading page. It also offers an opportunity to link up with other book lovers on the Goodread social site to exchange experience and chat about literature related topics[Ama131]. Apart from this features, Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) is also able to download books from the amazon. Amazon being the largest online books retailer means that users have access to more than a million books. Being a product of Amazon itself, kindle users can be guaranteed of support whenever they experience any problem to do with the device and downloading hitches. All these factors offer a competitive edge over other eBook readers in the market. 5 Assessment of the product’s success A well integrated marketing mix should ensure that a product deliver to the target market value and satisfaction. If a company succeeds in achieving this, then it will have a chance to challenge competition in the market as it offers the consumers a chance to fulfil their needs and wants (Walker et al, 2011). Amazon has been able to provide a high quality high performance eBook reader that meets the expectation of the target market, however there is a section of consumers who feel that the product limits their option by deliberately reading Amazon defined eBook formats that can only be downloaded from Amazon online bookstores (Morris, 2013). This may work against the product popularity as competition heightens. The pricing of the product is modest and a value for money given that at $119 dollars one can get the Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) from Amazon online store[Ama131]. This price is very competitive compared to others in the market as the Kobo Aura goes for slightly higher price in Australia. The promotion seeks to position the product as a high quality device that offers a real and amazing reading experience. Amazon has also ensured Kindle Paperwhite (WI-FI) is available in Australia through brick and mortar as well as online retailers such as dick smith and Readershop.com. This ensures that the product reaches the Australian target market in time so that the target market can get it conveniently and at reasonably affordable prices. References Ama131: , (Amazon, 2013), Ama133: , (Amazon, 2013), Wal11: , (Walker, Gountas, Mavondo, & Mullins, 2011), Sta11: , (Stark, 2011), Rea13: , (Readershop, 2013; Dick Smith, 2013), Rea13: , (Readershop, 2013), Wal11: , (Walker, Gountas, Mavondo, & Mullins, 2011), Ama132: , (Amazon/Facebook, 2013), Dic131: , (Dick Smith, 2013), Big13: , (Big W, 2013; Collins Booksellers, 2013), Read More