Principles of Marketing - Apple (Marketing Strategies) PDF

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MRK 1103 Principles of Marketing Project Word count: 2000 words

Table of Contents Part A..........................................................................................................................................3 Introduction............................................................................................................................3 Current Market Situation........................................................................................................3 Brief background information about the brand..................................................................3 Consumer product...............................................................................................................4 Part B..........................................................................................................................................5 Primary research.....................................................................................................................5 Marketing opportunities.........................................................................................................5 Segmentation and Targeting...................................................................................................6 Target customers.....................................................................................................................7 Application of marketing mix................................................................................................7 Proposed product................................................................................................................7 Proposed price....................................................................................................................9 Proposed place..................................................................................................................11 Proposed promotion..........................................................................................................12 References................................................................................................................................14 Appendix..................................................................................................................................16 Questionnaire Survey...........................................................................................................16 Survey Result........................................................................................................................18

Part A Introduction The following report has an aim to evaluate the market research, regarding the major principles of the chosen company and product. This report specifically focuses on examining the internal and external environments of the selected brand and the marketing concepts associated with it. Moreover, the Apple brand is selected for performing market analysis, in which the new product Apple Watch SE-2 is going to launch. In this manner, primary and secondary research will be conducted in the report. Similarly, the current market situation of Apple will be analysed with the assistance of marketing mix, segmentation, and targeting. Current Market Situation Brief background information about the brand In the year 1976, Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne, and Steve Wozniak have created a company through which they developed and sold personal computers named as “Apple.” All around the globe, Apple Inc. contains approximately 567 retail stores (Apple UAE, 2021). In general, Apple is categorised as an American Multinational company, which have its headquarter in California. The company is mainly famous for designs and features of the products, software, hardware, iPad, tablet, smartphones, personal computers, and so on. All the products of Apple comprised of special software, such as; IOS and OSX operating systems. Moreover, Apple is renowned as an expert in the electronic industry, as it has become a global leader in computer technology because of its unique products and R&D (Apple UAE, 2021 b). Remarkably, Apple has effectively achieved both internal and external economies by becoming number one in the entire industry, which has increased its brand loyalty and customer demands. Apple is categorised as the most valuable and efficient technology company in terms of brand value, which is around 612 billion U.S dollars (Statista, 2021). Similarly, in UAE, Apple is wellknown as a top brand, which has a huge customers demand, as people of UAE admires the iPhone, which is the special product of Apple.

Figure 1 Values of the top 20 technology brands

Source: Statista (2021)

Consumer product While performing a marketing mix, the product fills an essential role, as it provides benefits, features, functions, and uses of the proposed product. There are three highlighted levels of products: core product, actual product, and augmented product (Xia et al., 2016). In reference to the proposed products, i.e. Apple Watch SE-2, the core products are classified as the most important and basic needs of the customer. Thus, the core benefits of the Apple Watch SE-2 include health and safety alert services, advanced fitness features, exceptional design and performance, family setup, and optimized features for tracking workout routines. Similar to this, the actual products of the Apple Watch SE-2 are its design ( Foroughi et al., 2016), which is made from a stunning retina display. The proposed product will provide an antique and unique design along with thin and curved corners, which make it attractive for customers. Moreover, the proposed product will come in system-in-packaging, similar to the Apple Watch SE. Also, the product will contain packaging that has a heat rate sensor, which detects the customer’s heart rate and working minutes.

Apart from this, an augmented product of the Apple Watch SE-2 includes installation of every feature, on-time delivery of the products, i.e., within one or two days. Further, Apple will ensure the warranty of the Apple Watch SE-2 as well as provide customer care services to all the customers regarding the product. The strength of the proposed product will be affordable price so that a large customer base can easily purchase the Apple Watch SE-2. However, the smartwatch will notably be lacking a blood oxygen sensor and sleep tracking lags. Part B Primary research It has been analysed from the market research that Apple is a highly demanding brand in UAE, as 55% male and 45% female are currently using Apple’s products. The market research has indicated that Apple product is used in the daily life of people for different purposes. It has been demonstrated that about 95% of customers of UAE are using electronic gadgets of Apple and prefer to purchase just those products, whereas just 5% of customers are willing to buy products of any other brand. Similarly, the analysis showed that in UAE, around 95% of customers are satisfied with Apple’s products and want their favorite brand to launch more new products in the future. Further, it is identified that in UAE, Apple’s products are famous because of their highly capable and quality features. Regarding this, approximately 90% of customers are strongly agreed with this fact, which depicts that Apple is successfully satisfied their customers by providing the best designs and features of the products. Apart from this, it has been analysed that most people use Apple’s Smart Watch, which is the best electronic gadget in maintaining their health and diet measures in the current pandemic era. About 85% of participants were agreed that during the pandemic, the smartwatch of Apple assisted them in measuring their daily life workout routine, monitoring heart and breathing rate, and tracking their exercise measures. Similar to this, most of the participants strongly agreed that Apple’s new Smart Watch would be beneficial for them in every aspect. Since this would be manufactured with 7000 series aluminum material and advanced features. Accordingly, it has been identified that Apple is categorised as a renowned brand in UAE because the brand provides authentic and valid warranty of its products and facilitates customers with the best customer care service. The analysis showed that around 85% of participants strongly agreed that Apple’s new product, Apple Watch SE-2, with its additional features shown in the appendix, would be affordable compared to Apple’s

smartwatch series. Additionally, it has also been determined from the responses of participants that Apple’s products are manufactured in a way that reflects long-life battery life and health measure features. Similarly, about 95% of participants strongly agreed that Apple Smart Watch SE would be the best choice for them, as the product would be highly comprised with all features about their lifestyles, health, and diet measures. Nevertheless, people also like to purchase this Apple Watch SE-2 within the range of AED 1200. Marketing opportunities On the basis of market research, it is found suitable for the brand to consider product development strategy as the best marketing opportunity to sell more products and be more successful. According to Loredana (2017), marketing opportunities is a sales-accepted lead determines to sell a product that whether there is an opportunity or not ( Craciun & Barbu, 2014). According to the Ansoff Matrix, four basic growth opportunities are in the form of market penetration, market development, product development and diversification.

Figure 2 Ansoff Matrix

Source: Craciun & Barbu (2014)

In the current case, a product development strategy will help the brand use a new product in the existing market (Loredana, 2017). The data collected from market research depicts that consumers require new products. Thus, it will be suitable for Apple to connect with the consumers through new products, i.e. ‘Apple SE-2’. Following product development strategy, Apple will introduce a new product in UAE that is existing market as this will solve the

problems by creating the chances to increase sales. Adopting a product development strategy will also help to minimise the risk of costly mistakes since the targeted customers are existing markets.

Segmentation and Targeting Geographic: To successfully propose the product, the target market will be the United Arab Emirates, which uses Arabic as its national language. Moreover, the region contains hot and cold climates according to the seasons. Demographic: Mostly, youngsters are the target market of electronic gadgets in comparison to teenagers and old people. Likewise, for the proposed product, those customers will target whose age is between 20 to 40. Both men and women will target for Apple Watch SE-2, as this product will help both genders in monitoring their health and workout routine. Psychographics: To fulfil customers’ demand and enhance brand loyalty, the company will focus on the production of the new product Apple Watch SE-2, in which some additional features will be added, like; Always-on display feature and EGP application. Behavioural: In the people of UAE, heart and other diseases are very common, and people are also extremely health and diet conscious there. Therefore, the proposed product will help them in regulating their workout routine and watch their health routine via the ECG app. Target customers Based on the aforementioned analysis, it has been analysed that the company will use a product development matrix in proposing new products. The existing market of UAE will be targeted, in which Apple will launch a new product Apple Watch SE-2, which will particularly target youngsters and older people between the ages of 20 to 40. In addition to this, the proposed product will target customers according to their lifestyles and preferences about health and diet. Application of marketing mix Proposed product The product which will be proposed is Apple Watch SE-2, which comprises the best and fully-featured device for the customers. This product will be introduced by focusing on all the core benefits, such as; advanced sensors to examine moves and tracks during a workout,

ultimate fitness and health partner. Moreover, the product will also consider specific features, like; fall detection and emergency SOS, all-day battery life, noise monitoring, and optional LTE connectivity. In order to bring more customers and deal with the premium price issue of Apple devices, the proposed product will highly rely on the addition of the Always-on display feature and EGP application. The proposed product will make sure to consider the demand of customers regarding Smart Watches and will put additional features in the proposed product.

The proposed product will be the best choice for customers who have health issues or prefer to monitor their health condition on screen. For this, the proposed product will consider the

implementation of the ECG app in watches, so customers would easily facilitate and snapshot their overall health. The proposed product will design with thin borders of the stunning retina display; all the messages, notifications, workout metrics will display on the screen. Moreover, the proposed product will also provide the facilities of microphones and the latest speaker; this will facilitate customers with better sound quality for phone calls.

Proposed price Three standard and general pricing strategies have been used by marketers while proposing the price of any product, that is, value, cost, and competition (Ali & Anwar, 2021). Based on these three strategies, Apple will use the pricing strategy according to the demand and competition of the market. For proposing Apple Watch SE-2, the company will use a valuebased pricing strategy, as it will help set the price according to the market ( Levaggi & Pertile, 2020).

Figure 3 Pricing Strategy

Source: Ali & Anwar (2021)

With the help of value-based pricing, Apple will easily penetrate the market and develop high-quality products at a considerable price, along with efficient customer service. The foremost reason behind the selection of this strategy will determine as it assists Apple in generating profit and customer loyalty, as there is a huge demand for Apple’s product in the electronic market.

Figure 4 Value-based pricing strategy

Source: Levaggi & Pertile (2020)

While setting the price of the proposed product, several internal factors will affect the pricing strategy, such as; customer preference, product life cycle, cost, and features of the product. Same as market demand, market competition, suppliers and buyers demands, the economic condition of the region, and governmental issues, are categorised as external factors.

As the product will propose in UAE, henceforth, based on the market demand of Apple’s product, the proposed product will be between AED 1000 to AED 1400. Proposed place In order to propose Apple Watch SE-2, Apple will consider both direct and indirect methods of product distribution. Customers can be able to purchase Apple Watch SE-2 from the official stores of Apple as well as from the electronic and gadgets market of UAE. Concerning the distribution choices, intensive, selective, and exclusive are the three main types of distribution (Cheung et al., 2020). For the distribution of the proposed product, Apple will mainly depend on an exclusive distribution method, which will assist in selling the product via one or a few stores or shops. The exclusive distribution strategy will be beneficial in selling products by targeting specific customer markets (Matsui & Tsunoda, 2021).

Figure 5 Distribution Strategy

Source: Matsui & Tsunoda (2021)

For the successful launch of the proposed product, the company will focus on a pull strategy, which will effectively attract customers towards the proposed product. Considering the business of Apple, a huge amount of customer wants their product because of the long-life battery life and other effective features of the products. Comparatively, the price of Apple’s product is higher than the proposed product, which automatically attracts customers and

facilitates them to get similar features in Apple Watch SE-2, which they want to have in other watches. Proposed promotion In order to promote Apple Watch SE-2, different promotional channels and strategies will be used by the company, such as; advertising, direct and indirect marketing, and public relation. Since the brand has a large customer base, Apple Watch SE-2 will be promoted via social media marketing. For this, the Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube platform will be used as the brand will use the #hashtag campaign and my-story campaign.

Focusing on my-story campaign, all Apple product users will be allowed to share their stories via social media platforms. Moreover, the brand will be considered promotion through Youtube videos as this platform is considered the second largest search engine and can be promoted the products successfully (Iqbal et al., 2021)

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