l Sprint 11:15 PM Marketing plan part 1 You will select a Fortune 500 Company or
ID: 389545 • Letter: L
Question
l Sprint 11:15 PM Marketing plan part 1 You will select a Fortune 500 Company or you can create a product of your own to use for the entire marketing plan 3-4 pages You will use the company chosen for all four parts of your marketing plan 1. Describe the Marketing Mix (4 or 7 p's) 2. What is/are the company's competitive advantages? If they don't have any please describe why you think they don't. 3. According to the Boston Matrix, where do their products fit in the product classifications? 4. Describe how the company fits into their industry, including position, objectives segment, and structure. Such as the following Market Position Market Niche? Market Leader Market Follower? Market Challenger? Market Objectives National Growthh International GrowthExplanation / Answer
The company selected for profiling is Apple Inc.
Ans 1.
Since, Apple is a product based company, we are going to focus on the 4P of Apple:
1. Product: The product line of Apple includes iPhone, iPad, iPod, MAC, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Software, Add-on accessories, cloud services and digital content.
Further within these products, there are different SKU's that are being sold. e.g. MAC comes in desktop and laptop versions. The focus os Apple is on Electronic consumer goods primarily. Digital content includes music, books, videos, games, etc. Cloud services lets the customers to use this service to safely store their data.
2. Place: There are multiple places from where Apple is distributing their product. Primarily this can be an Apple owned store or parties who have been approved for selling Apple products. Some of the places are Apple owned stores, Apple website, Approves sellers, Telecom partners.
Consumers can either can walk into one of these stores or buy directly from the internet. For getting access to Cloud or Digital content services, they can get it online through iTunes and the App Store. Some of the authorized large chain sellers are Walmart and Amazon.com.
3. Promotion: Apple commmunicates with its cutomer base through multiple channels. Some of these include Advertising, personal marketing and selling, promotional activities for sale, public outreach.
Apple makes extensive use of social media to reach customers. This can be through Google or partner websites which promotes Apple products. Technology news websites are also one of the primary partners for Apple to reach wider and tech savyy audience. Public relations are made with the help of the employees who are working out of the Apple owned stores. Support team also empowers the organization to reach the customer or solve their grievances. Apple events, news releases are a major source of Apple's customer to get their hands on the latest information about Apple products. Apple is running programs like ConnectED which helps them cover their social responsibility index as well.
4. Price: Apple is primarily in Premium Pricing category. Apple products are generally expensive than any other counterparts from the industry. Apple has used the premium pricing category to differentiate itself from other organizations by giving the best of the services as well. Hence, a high priced product which can be difficult to sell is sold as soon as it is released because of the trust established in the market.
Apple also runs Free charge category in which it sells some of the products for free. e.g. Digital content, cloud services are free to some extent. But to have more services or more cloud storage, you have to spend on those products.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ans 2.
Some of the key competitive advanatges for Apple are:
1. Brand Loyalty: Apple has created such strong products over a period of time that anyone who is accustomed to using Apple product can not turn to any other product. It has been announced as the best leading brand multiple number of times even ahead of FMCG companies like PepsiCo and Coca Cola.
2. Innovation: iPhone, iPad, iPod were one of its kind products when they were launched. Innovation has been a stronghold of Apple. Apple has their own operating system which is more robust. The graphical interface is also company designed. They have kept the same operating system across their product lines which makes the usage easier for Apple product owners.This leads to customers buying add-pn products from Apple only.
3. Suppply chain: With factories in China and other low cost markets such as Malaysia, Thailand, etc., apple has reduced their supply chain cost as well. This they have done without compromising on the quality of the product. This has allowed them to put money into more value additon acitvites like innovation. Strict regulations are folloed for producing and shipping the products. More than 6 million people are working to make apple softwares. Thus, Apple holds a strong claim over its supply chains.
4. Premium Pricing: This can be a huge weakness if not done right. People tend to think a lot when the products are expensive and there are other options present in the market. But Apple has marketed its products in such a way that customers feel obliged to pay extra money for their services. This has become a benchmark in the industry as well.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ans 3.
Postion of Apple products in Boston Matrix:
Stars: iPhone is the star in Boston matrix. iPhone has 24.3% market share worldwide (Forbes Data) with a consistent growth rate (20% in last quarter of 2017-18, recorde data) over a long period of time.
Cash Cows: MAC is the cash cow. MAC holds nearly 12.5% market share as of July 2018 (Statista Data). Growth has been stagnant in this category even though recent data points have shown that MAC is on a rise.
Dogs: iPod can be categorized as Dogs. It has a low market share and their growth rate has also been in negative over a period of time now.
Question Marks: Apple TV has a very low market share but the growth rate has been high.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ans 4.
Market Position: Apple is the market leader in iPhone category. Othe product lines follow a different positioning. Like MAC and iPad are market challengers.
Market Objectives: Apple has relied on both National and International Expansion. Apple believes in ethical workplace as well with all the workers given a fair chance to excel in the organization. Workers are treated with dignity all over the suply chain of Apple. Apple is a leader in phone category while giving a staunch competition in Computer and Pads category. From the context of social responsibility, Apple provides a safe workplace for all its employees anduse environment friendly manufcaturing process. Apple is a customer obsessed organization. This can be proved from the fact that even after expensive prices of products, people still stick to Apple.
Segment: Apple has tried to enter the mass market with the launch of SE edition of iPhone. But ever since they have not come up with another such model to compete with low priced mobile market in the phone category. In a way it can be said, that Apple targets people insead of segments as to how they want to use Apple products.
Market Structure: It is a highly competitive market with no countable number of organizations. Apart from global comeptition from companies like Samsung, Lenovo, HP, Dell; there are also multiple local organizations across different geographies in different product lines.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.