Environmental Analysis and Competitor Comparison

Discuss about the Perspectives On Future Of Computer Tablets.

In the modern era of business, it has become essential for the organisations to make sure that they have an effective marketing plan for their business (Agrawal, Atasu & Van Ittersum, 2015). Strategies related to marketing must be based on the analysis of the environment around the business of the firm. Both competitor and situational analysis needs to be so as to have complete idea about the performance of the firm’s own product. It is also crucial for the firm to make sure that they have a clear understanding of the consumer’s buyer characteristics. Strategies like targeting, positioning and branding as well as marketing mix can help in increasing the effectiveness of the marketing plan. Apple Inc. is one of the biggest technology firms that are operational in all around the world. This report highlights the different aspects of marketing related to Apple Inc. The environmental analysis along with the competitor’s product comparison has been done. It also provides strategies of the company like the STP and marketing mix. Apart from this buying behaviour of the consumers has been showcased.

Apple is one of largest technological giants that are present in the Industry. It was established back in the year 1976. It deals in the business of designing, developing and selling of computer software, consumer electronics and other online services (Backer, 2013). In many of the products that are produced by this company, IPhone has been selected for the review as it has been one of the major products of the company and has played a major role in its success.

There are many types of changes that are going on in the marketing environment. Some of these changes that are having impact on the both consumers and marketer’s behaviour is as follows:

• Competition: There are many bigger firms present in the industry and they are posing threat to market growth of the company. This has forced the marketers of Apple to rethink about their marketing plans (Bergvall-Kåreborn & Howcroft, 2013). On the other hand it has empowered consumers, as they have lot of options to choose from.
• Changing trends: Since the trends in the market are changing at very fast speed and hence it has become difficult for the company to make alterations as per this changing trend. While consumers have larger options to make decisions as they can select product as per their requirement.

Apart from this there are many forces that are directly or indirectly impacting on the environment of the firm. They are as follows:

• Political: In many regions of the world political instabilities have been noticed. The changing policies and tax rules in various parts of the world has made business tougher for the multinational firms like Apple Inc. Governments have become very strict on the ways in which technology industry is performing as they have close watch on the non-ethical practices present in the industry (Cunningham, 2014).
• Economics: Another crucial factor that is influencing the marketing environment is the changing global economic condition. In many region of the world economic instabilities have been noticed. The downfall of the European market after 2009 and the slow growth of the American economy has made the successful marketing processes bit difficult.
• Social: Society has emerged with new set of demands. With the amount of options available with them, it has become crucial for Apple to make sure that they have made innovations in the products so as to have a successful marketing campaign.
• Technological: Both the technology with which this company is dealing as well as the production technology has changed a lot in the past few years. In almost every six months technology gets advanced by two times than what was present previously. Marketing has also taken digital means and making advancements in the technology is a costly affair hence they need to have proper selection of technology so as to have edge in the market (Love, 2016).
• Legal: A great sort of changes has been noticed in the legal norms of business. Firm like Apple which is has to deal with such a wide range of laws in different regions of the world has to comply with all these more carefully. This is applicable to marketing also where the false marketing can lead a company to facing of serious legal issues.

It is also crucial that a company understands its internal environment as they have the same impact on the business of the firm as the external factor had. SWOT analysis of Apple:

• Highly talented workforce especially in the department of research.
• Higher brand name in the market.
• Many disruptive innovations in the past.
• Operations in many parts of the world having such an excellent supply chain management (Gershon, 2013).
• Strong leadership and quick decision making process.

• In recent few years they have faced problems related to leadership decision making.
• Lower investment in direct marketing.
• Negative approach towards the masses population in the developing countries where people demand of low cost products (Foreman, 2010).
• Limited distribution network.

• They have higher chances to penetrate in the developing markets like India, Brazil where the per capita income of the country is increasing.
• They have opportunities related to distribution network expansion.
• Generation of new product lines.

• Many of the companies have imitated the product of Apple and now they are posing threat to the business of Apple Inc.
• They are facing competition from many technology players and their marketing campaigns have been aggressive.
• Changing operational demands at the production units especially related to human resource management.

It has become highly crucial for the firm like Apple Inc. which is facing tough competition from national and international players to make competitive evaluation (Interbrand, 2013). This competition is more intense in Mobile phone Industry where the Apple’s IPhone is facing competition from the products of Samsung and SONY (Al-Laham & Huth, 2011). Samsung’s note series and Sony mobiles have been a great challenge for the Apple’s IPhone business. A comparative review between the products of the companies on the basis of marketing mixes has been done.

Element	IPhone	Sony Mobiles	Samsung phones
Product	Product range includes various versions of IPhone. They are known for their innovative products as well as the simplicity in design. Their operation system is IoS which is highly smooth. Processing speed of their phone is very high. It is also having higher number of exclusive Apps.	They also have the different ranges of mobile phone working on various technologies. They are also known to have different kind of innovations in their products. Gaming consoles in their product have helped them in attracting larger consumer base.	Products include various smart phone series like Samsung Galaxy series. Quality of their products is very high and has a very simple and friendly interface. Its product comes with one year warranty. Most of its products work on Android operating system.
Price	They price their products on higher side. They also have adopted skimming pricing strategy. Their premium prices have become a matter of status for people. It adds to its brand value.	They have adopted three tiered pricing strategy. This helps them in making appeal to three market segments namely the lower economy class, the middle market segment and the higher economy segment. This company also like the other companies have adopted skimming pricing strategy.	They have incorporated Skimming prices and try to get a high value in the start before rivals can catch them. Once the phone gets older they immediately drop the prices.
Place	Due to their premium pricing strategy their stores are generally found in ‘A, grade cities. They also sell their products through online mediums like their sites and other e-commerce markets.	They have an excellent distribution network so as to make full benefit of the market. In many countries they have adopted distribution channel that is three tiered involving manufacturers, retailers and finally consumers. Apart from this they have also taken use of digital mediums for increasing their product sale. E-commerce market is one of the best places for their product sale.	They have two kinds of segment i.e. modern retail and distributors and other Sales and service Dealer. Here the sales and service dealers are involved in corporate sales while modern retailers of Samsung are very large in numbers. They have also taken online sites for conducting their business
Promotion	They do not believe in promotion through the traditional marketing processes. They have taken use of exchange offers to lure the consumers. They highly believe on the launching programs that help in creating buzz in the market.	They extensively believe on the promotional campaigns. They usually promote their innovations so as to influence the target section. Television and online advertisements are highly focused upon. They have also made so many brand Ambassadors for their products in different parts of the world.	This company believes in multiple type of marketing campaigns where they take use of several mediums like online space, tradition methodologies like hoardings, paper advertisements etc. It also offers discount strategy. It has used its brand name in TV advertisements so as to attract potential consumers towards their business.

STP and Marketing Mix Strategies

Consumer’s behaviour towards the product of Apple Inc. is very positive. Their consumers have a faith in the company. They have a confidence that they are buying quality product. They understand buying Apple’s product is a matter of prestige. This helps the company to increase their product sale as they have higher numbers of loyal consumers.

In considering of situational factor it is to be understood that the company spends a lot in the quality of their stores. This kind of facilities attracts the people towards their stores. Presentation changes the buying behaviour of the person. Psychological factors works very effectively for the Apple’s consumers as they understand buying of Apple’s product to be something that is more of a matter of prestige (Bajarin, 2017). The buzz in the market about the Apple’s new launches acts as a motivator for their purchasing decision making. On the other hand the socio-cultural aspect also impact on the purchasing decision making of the consumers. This can understand by the fact that the way in which a person wants to look in the society gets reflected back in their decision making. Person’s social background plays a very large influence on the buying behaviour of the consumers. Apple’s product generally attracts the people who are rich or have some status in the society.

There are various criteria’s according to which Apple does its market segmentation.

• Behavioural segmentation: There are large numbers of loyal customers present with Apple. So this segmentation includes hardcore loyals and switchers.
• Geographical: They have also segmented people according to the geographical area. This includes people in the international region or in density wise they have chosen urban region (Browning, Russolillo & Vascellaro, 2012).
• Demographic: They have segmented people according to the age (20-45 years), Gender (Male and female) and Life cycle stage (Bachelors and newly married), Income ( Higher and middle waged workers).
• Psychographic: Their segmentation includes people belonging from middle and upper class. They have also segmented on the basis of lifestyle like the Aspirers and Succeeder.
• Targeting: The segments that Apple has made for itself acts a target section for them. They develop their product keeping these targeted people in mind (Heracleous, 2013). Their targeted segments include appreciating quality, design, performance of technology services and products. Targeted segment comprises of individuals who are willing to pay extra for the high quality technology products and services.
• Positioning: They have positioned their products as a premium product. They have placed themselves as premium brand offering high quality services and products. This has helped them in their marketing program.

They offer many kinds of products that are capable of fulfilling the demands of their target segment. They have adopted product development strategy where their highly innovative culture as helped them in making of the products according to the demands of the market. Three levels of products includes the core products that is capable of attracting the consumers; actual product which includes features and capabilities, durability, design and the final level is augmented product which focuses on support aspects (Hosni & Lancon, 2011). For IPhone their core product is to keep in contact with one and at the same time being on call. The actual product includes simple design and logo of Apple on back. The augmented product includes its service called ‘Genius Bar’.

They aim to bring best experience to their consumers. Its product mix of IPhone includes width of 2.79 inches and depth of 0.30 inches.

They take use of skimming product strategy where at the time of the product launch the prices of the product is on higher side but as it gets older with time the prices falls down sharply. Apart from this they have also adopted premium pricing strategy that helps them in maintaining their brand image in the minds of consumers (Johnson, Li, Phan, Singer & Trinh, 2012). Their pricing strategy is not based on the competitor’s price or they do not price so as to win price war they set their own price based on the value that the product is offering to its consumers.

Consumer Behavior towards iPhone

Apple takes use of direct selling strategy for reaching to the clients directly with the help of their stores. Apple never provides discounts through its direct channel (Mallin & Finkle, 2011). Apple keeps its reseller pricing strategy stable and it is illegal to set dealer pricing. They are also offering their products through online storefront where they use minimal signage and crystal clear messaging.

Apple is utilising its distribution strategy in such a manner that they are using multiple channels so as to cover larger part of the market (Montgomerie & Roscoe, 2013). This includes direct and indirect sales and different distribution channels for different products. It helps them lowering the cost of channel and providing more customised selling.

Advertisements: Apple does not believe in advertisements using traditional and other mediums.

• Personal selling: They extensively use personal selling. For this they have trained and knowledgeable employees who have complete information about the product and customer service.
• Sales promotions: Apple never offers discount coupons but they offer gift cards, free delivery options for their online customers.
• Public relations: They take use of their Genius tool for maintaining healthy relations with their consumers. They conduct their launch programs that would help them in creating buzz in the market and they take reviews from their clients (Hoog & Strzempka, 2011).
• Direct marketing: They launch various kinds of direct marketing campaign that includes wide range of actions like visiting Apple.Com site or making product purchase online.
• Digital: They have a very good digital campaign where they promote their competencies and good features of their new products (Dudovskiy, 2018).
• Others: Apart from this they have placed their product at premium level. They do not believe in sponsorship or co-branding.

• People: They have employed a highly skilled workforce that is capable of doing extensive research and hence producing quality products (Tjosep, 2015).
• Process: They have adopted the process that is according to the strategies they have made and the demand of the market.
• Physical evidence: They produce products that are tangible and are according to the promises hey have made to their clients.
• Partnership: They have had partnerships with many smaller and regional firms that help them in extending their market reach (Javed, 2013).

Conclusion

From the above report it can be concluded that Apple is one of the technological giants and are performing in a very good manner. The environment of their business is having impact on their future business. They have enough of competencies so as to face the competition in the market. Companies like Samsung and Sony is giving them hard competition. They have a very loyal customer base that is influencing buyer’s purchase decision making. They have taken use of STP and marketing mix in a proper way so as to have competitive edge over the competitors.

Reference

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