Strategic Marketing
Apple
Author
Marly Pena - SID s5040343
7032MKT_ Strategic Marketing
Convenor: Bill Merrilles
Word counting: 2500
1Executive Summary
Background
Market analysis
Market Segmentation
Market Oriented
Market strategy
Strengths and Capabilities
Swot analysis
Conclusions
Table of contents
1Executive Summary
2Company Background
3Market Analysis
4Market Segmentation
4.1Demographic Segmentation
4.2Behavioural Segmentation:
5Market Oriented
6Market Strategy
6.1Market Position
6.2Perceptual Map
7Strenghts and Capabilities
8Swot analysis
9References
2Company Background
Apple Inc was funded by Steve Jobs in 1976, the company started operations designing and manufacturing hardware devices, softwares, online services, third party digital content and applications.Jobs innicially focused his vision in creating products with impacable design, quality and most important, innovation.
The company had a massive successful jump positioning itself as the market leader in 2001 with the introduction of ipod, attracting millions of digital music players who bought the product and also downled their favorite music; by 2007 Apple had sold about 100 million devices and billions of music downloads from its itunes music store. and since, the company has grown dramatically. The following year Apple had the susccesful launch of the first iPhone in where the international company changed completely the perception of mobilephones worldwide with its amazing design and technology.
Soon after, Apple kept developing great produts incluiding iPad, and … needs more
3Market Analysis
Apple has a range of different products within its portfolio; this paper focuses on the smartphone iPhone. According to Statista, a total of 1.47 billion smartphone devices were shipped worldwide by the end of 2017, Although there was a decline of -8.5% comparing to the year before, It is projected that by 2021 the numbers will increase and reach 1.7 billion of shipped devices worldwide, this means that nearly half of the world’s population will own a smartphone and it is likely that the demand for these devices’ will increase accordingly(statista, 2018).
Year / Worldwide shipped divices (Billion units)2016 / 1.473
2017 / 1.472
2018 / 1.585
2019 / 1.642
2020 / 1.697
2021 / 1.710
In another hand, Acording to IDC(International Data Corporation) Apple experienced a small decline of shipped devices by1.3%from the previous yearin where iPhone volumes reached about 77 million of sold devices;however, Apple still positions itself as the market leader occupying the first place in the market of smartphones seller comparing to main competitors such as Smansung, Huawei, and Nokia. Overall iPhone lineup appealed to a wider range of consumers in both emerging and developed markets. Apple finished second for the full year in 2017 shipping 215.8 million units, up 0.2% from the 215.4 million units shipped in 2016(IDC, 2017).
4Market Segmentation
Based on the definition of Market segmentation which is “the process of splitting customers in a market into a different groups or segments”(McDonald, 2012), Organisations, therefore, divides their customers so they can potentially anderstand who customers are and what are their needs; In the case of Apple which seats as a premium and minimalistic brand that attracts specific type of market and that offers advanced technology products and services which requires additional costs, Apple’s segment comprises individuals who can and are willing to pay extra for its design and technology.
4.1Demographic Segmentation
This variable analyzes, gender, age, family size, income, education, occupation, religion, race and nationality, In the case of Apple, income and age have a big impact for customers’s decision making. The largest group age that purchases an iPhone are those aged under 24 years old, followed by people who are in the age between 24 – 34 years old who can be considered in the millenials category, the majority are men who hold a stable income(“Apple Consumer Insights and Demographics | InfoScout.co,” n.d.). This 21-35 year old group is the main target population for this market analysis, which highlights the potential for the company’s next strategy.
In another hand, looking into the Australian market, according to the ABS Census 2011, the projected number of households in Australia at 2016 was 9,241,497 increasing by 1.88% when compared with the number of households in 2011 (8,419,972). It is projected that by 2036 the numbers will reach 12,681,460 (1.59%) (ABS-Demographic), which means it is likely that the demand for smartphoneswithin the Australian market will increase accordingly.
4.2Behavioural Segmentation:
Apple is a premiumbrand that many people want, but unfortunetely not everyone can afford, the best customers for Apple tend to be younger and wealthier, so Millennials tend to be the next preferred targeted demographic after teenagers. Millennials are hooked into technology like no other generation, exploit the benefits Apple can provide, and this leads to more wealth for them and more sales for Apple. Needs more
5Market Oriented
It has been believed that Apple uses more a product orientation approach in comparison to market orientation, these believes come from their highly minimalistic designs and the high technology that Apple implements in their products, nonetheless, Apple isn’t only product orientated, they do care and listens carefully to its customers using market research. From a personal experience and as an Apple user I can assure that Apple stores and customer service is by far the best experience I had within the telephones industries. Apple technicians are impeccable trained in many different ways, for instance they can solve any issues with your phone and at the same time give you an amazing and friendly customer service
A company that is marketed oriented is a company that listens to its customers and do its best to give the customers what they want and need. Apple spends a significant time and money to please its customers; thus, apple has a newer version of its own portfolio of products even before some people actually thought that could be possible. Apple might have been more of a product oriented in the past; after Tim cook becoming the new CEO, the organisation has a stronger customer focus, In an interview with CNBC, Tim Cook states “For us, focusing on customer experience, making sure our customers are happy, treating them well, It means making the best product and we think that if we do those two things well, then the revenue and profits will come”(“Apple CEO Cook: Focus on customer experience, make the best products,” n.d.). This proves that Apple considers their customers as a major focus and that the company creates products thinking in what their customers want and need.
Apple Inc. uses an intensive market research as their building block to develop highly innovative products. Apple has built up a very strong brand attachment towards its customers, making sure that the customers are given the best products with the most stable and easy to use interface. They also make sure to have an edge towards their competition. In What the Hell is Market Oriented?, Benson Shapiro (1988) states that, “a company can be market oriented only if it completely understands its markets and the people who decide whether to buy its products or services.” They have continually produced products with their customers in mind.
6Market Strategy
6.1Market Position
Founder Steve Jobs’s stated “customers do not always know what they want until you show them” this is a very strong state where his marketing strategy is based on; Apple not necessarily look to waste marketing research to find people’s wants and needs, the organization prefers to make customers want to use their products based on the innovative and sophisticated products.
Apple uses mono-segment type of positioning and makes a positing appeal towards a single customer segment. The high technology organization positions itself as a premium brand offering services and products with advanced utilities that require additional costs. Hence, Apple targets people who have the desire to experience and pay extra for the high-tech and the minimalistic/sophisticated design that Apple offers.
The Unique Selling Point (USP) for Apple is “changing the world forbetter”(“Steve Jobs Think different,” 2013). Additionally, the current brand positioning is “all about the experience”(Rasyidah, Razak, Hamizah, & Zawawi, 2017).This highlight’s the fact thatApple focuses in giving a complete different experience to its customers by designing products with great technology and giving them the best customer service.
The fact that Apple developsand generates revenues from four different platforms such as Hardware Design, Software development, Digital Media and Publishing makes Apple a unique company in the market place. Apple does not compete in price with its competitors they rather concentrate in their unique value proposition, which is “Beautiful design that works out of the box with ever-small packaging”(“7 Key Strategies That You Must Learn from Apple’s Marketing,” n.d.). Apple also stands for its simple, clean and minimalistic design stating, “Simpler is better” they keep all products’ designs clean, light and easy to access.Moreover, Apple’s main smartphones competitors are Samnsung, Nokia and LG mobile.
6.2Perceptual Map
Figure1 shows the similarities between Apple’s main competitors in relation to price and High Technology. Apple competes fiercely with the international company Samnsung, the two brandshave higher standards in comparasion to the other competitors, they work under the premium model and targets similar demographic profiles. These two companies targets people with higher income and who are prepared to pay higher fees;however, they demand excellent standards of products. On the other hand, LG mobile is positioned as the lowest for both price and quality, LGtargets a group of population that are seeking to purchase low cost mobile phones and who demand basic level of technology and design, therefore in this case the main competitor for Apple is the also premium brand Samnsung.
A good example that reflects the perceptual map is showed in figure2, which displays the current prices (24thof March 2018) for smart mobile phones. As it can be seen, Apple iPhone 8 and Smansung galaxy offer the higher prices while Nokia and LG prices are much lower.
Figure2 – Smartphones current price – (Webjet, 2017)
Moving forward, Apple wants to remain in the high standard category remaining its to position as the market leader with the view of retaining its existing customers and attracting new ones.
7Strenghts and Capabilities
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8Swot analysis
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910. Conclusions
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11References
7 Key Strategies That You Must Learn from Apple’s Marketing. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2018, from
Apple CEO Cook: Focus on customer experience, make the best products. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2018, from
Apple Consumer Insights and Demographics | InfoScout.co. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2018, from
IDC. (2017). IDC: Smartphone Vendor Market Share. Retrieved March 17, 2018, from
iPhone X Puts Exclamation Point on Apple’s Pricing Strategy | Billboard. (2017). Retrieved March 18, 2018, from
McDonald, M. (2012). Market Segmentation: How to Do It and How to Profit from It. New York, UNITED KINGDOM: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.
Rasyidah, W., Razak, A., Hamizah, N., & Zawawi, A. (2017). Brand Positioning by Apple Inc. International Journal of Business and Management Invention ISSN (Online, 2319–8028. Retrieved from
statista. (2018). • Global smartphone shipments market forecast 2010-2021 | Statistic. Retrieved March 17, 2018, from
Steve Jobs Think different. (2013). Retrieved March 18, 2018, from
ABS-Demographic. Australian Demographic Statistics, Sep 2016. Retrieved from 2016?OpenDocument
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