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Advanced Consumer Behavior
[Name of the Writer]
[Name of the Institution]
Word Count: 2094
Executive Summary
•The context of the report
This report will highlight the various aspects of marketing used and incorporated by the tech giant, Apple Inc., in its highly important strategies.
•The purpose of the report
The major purpose of this report is to have an overlook over the marketing strategies of Apple Inc. and find any loopholes, if present in them so that they can be rectified at an initial level.
•The major findings
The major findings of this report highlight that like all the other functions, marketing is also an important aspect for the consumer electronics producer and it focuses on marketing its products and services in a unique way.
•The conclusions
The conclusions section of this report summarize the various aspects of the marketing strategies of the company and highlights the important points within these strategies.
•The main recommendation/s
The recommendations provided at the end of this report encompass various areas in which Apple Inc. needs to improve its strategies so that it can become an all-rounder in the field of computer, laptops and smartphones.
Advanced Consumer Behavior
Introduction
Apple Inc. is a technology company that designs, develops and sells technological good and consumer electronics at a large scale. It deals majorly in computers, laptops, smartphones, online services, enterprise and online soft wares. Apple Inc. is an American Company with its headquarter located in Cupertino, California ("Apple Inc.", 2019). It is also a part of the Big Four group of technology which also includes Google, Amazonas and Facebook.
Background
2.1. History of Smartphones
The first closely related device to a smartphone was introduced in 1992 by IBM at the COMDEX computer industry trade show. It was named as “Angler” and developed by Franks Canova. Later in the last part of the 1990s, came the hybrid devices, which were considered the earliest mobile phones or “smartphones” that incorporated the basic mobile hardware with the PDA Oses in one device. In 1996, Nokia released the Nokia 9000 communicator and its updated 9110 model.
2.2. History of Apple
Formerly known as Apple Computers Inc., the technological giant was founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak On April 1, 1976, when both the founders made the first Apple Computer (Byrne, & Sculley, 1987). The company was formally incorporated in Cupertino, California, on January 3, 1977. For the first three decades, Apple kept sticking to the manufacture of personal computers like Macintosh, Apple II and Power Mac lines. IPod music player was introduced in 2001 and iTunes music store in 2003.
2.3. Review and Analysis of the Website
The products and services offered by Apple Inc. can easily be found on www.apple.com. ("Apple", 2019) This is the official website of Apple and here all the information about Apple products, services, and locations can be sought (Carlton, & Annotations-Kawasaki, 1997). Moreover, the viewers can know about the prices of these products and even can purchase them online at this site. Overall the website is very user-friendly and easy to use and understand.
2.4. Analysis of the industry and Competitive Environment
As Apple Inc. deals in a many highly competitive product categories, like smartphones, tablets, laptops, mobile payments, smart watches, application software and enterprise soft wares, it has a high number of competitors in the market. This competition is extremely fierce and rigorous and Apple knows it very well. The big tech giant has an idea that its competitors are not going anywhere for a long time and thus accepts the fact that its competitors are the main threat to its growth and progress.
2.5. Target Audience
The target audience of Apple Inc. is not limited to some specific group of people or some particular nation. Geographically, the target market of Apple Inc. consists of all the people living in the whole world (Weinstein, & Winston, 2016). Demographically, this target market consists of individuals of both the genders, i.e. male and females. Moreover, the target age group of Apple Inc. is between 18 years to 50 years.
2.6. Current or Emerging Consumer Trends
There are a number of current or emerging trends that have been introduced by Apple Inc. in its products that are proving to be very attractive for the customers. Some of these trends are:
Do not disturb while driving.
Peer Power: P2P payments through Apple Pay
Casual Connectivity: Homepod
Dedicated gaming mode: ARKit
2.7. Review of Existing Marketing Campaigns
Apple has some really intelligent marketing strategies that place it apart from its competitors and make its product stand out among all the other products in the market (Baltes, 2015). Firstly, Apple Inc. carefully recognizes the need for advertising and then places its advertisements over different platforms like social media and its website. Moreover, Apple does not overburden its consumers with information and only provides the important aspects of the product or the service which it deems prominent out of all the product line (Khan, Alam, & Alam, 2015).
2.8. Relevant Media Stories and Industry Sources
There are multiple stories and news that keep popping up in the media related to the various products and services of the tech market holder. The company itself keeps providing numerous news and updates, every other day, about its latest and upcoming products.
Customer Behavioral Insights
Growing Competition
Being a dealer in technology, Apple Inc. has already got a big deal of competitors who are providing a similar level of products and services but at an amazingly reduced cost (Linzmayer, 2004). And the race does not end here; there are a number of technology companies who are emerging in the global market place and making their place rapidly, which is surely an alarming situation for the computer and smartphone manufacturer.
Personal Preferences
Apple Inc. has got this unique quality of customer retention. The customers of Apple Inc. stay loyal to its wide range of products and services, matter how much-advanced products erupt in the market. Apple has always been a winner of customers' loyalties since the very beginning, especially in the case of Apple iPhone (Malone, By-Carlson. & Leah, 1998). Apple iPhone customers are so loyal that they still keep using the phone, even if its screen is broken. Hence, once a customer of Apple, always a customer of Apple.
Psychographic Profiling
The concept of Psychographic profiling or psychographic segmentation refers to the classification of a market according to the psychological needs of a specific type of customers. Apple products and services are equally liked and used by the individuals of every age group but the reason behind this liking is different in case of every person belonging to a unique age group. The younger generation likes Apple products due to its innovation and ever-updating technology whereas the older generation prefers to stick with the technological master's products due to their ease of use (Pisano, 2015).
Branded Stores
Apple Inc. not only emphasizes the technological aspects of its products and services but also stresses improving its customer's experience with the brand (Vasilić, 2018). Inc order to achieve this goal with its customers, Apple Inc. has introduced its special branded stores all over the world. These branded stores incorporate intelligent marketing techniques of placing the products open in the store. It allows the customers to try, check, use the experience the products themselves, in front of them and get the ultimate satisfaction out of these products (Machado, Cant, & Seaborne, 2014).
Control Over the Retailers
Apple’s products are supported by iTunes and the distribution of the hardware products is carried on by a number of retailers> sometimes this network of the retailers is so tightly knit together that they have competition within them that who sales the maximum number of Apple products. These retailers are closely located in the same geographical area and try to maximize their sales by keeping their branding stores more and more attractive and offering various deals.
Category Insights
Apple’s Current Marketing Strategies
As compared to the other technology brands and companies, Apple uses the minimum level of marketing. It knows that it has a strong and loyal customer base which isn't going anywhere until the tech giant keeps rolling out innovative and updated products (Ross, Beath, & Sebastian, 2017). Apple Inc's marketing strategies are also very unique in nature which makes the products stand out of the rest of the brands offering their products in the market (Ottman, 2017).
Apple’s various Events
The most prominent and successful method of marketing incorporated by Apple Inc. to advertise its products is marketing events. Apple arranges a huge marketing event every once or twice a year. These marketing events are usually headed or presided over by the CEO or the COO or of the company and are usually intended for a number of purposes. Firstly the tech master uses it to launch its new products in the market, secondly, the company introduces the audience to its upcoming products and services and thirdly, these marketing events are used to give various updates about the changes being made in the existing products or the innovations being brought (Pappas, 2016).
Keeping it Simple
Apple Inc. has this unique strategy of keeping things simple for its audiences (Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, 2015). The marketers working at Apple Inc. clearly know that overloading the customer with information about product, services, designs, packaging or any other thing may confuse them. So it lets out a controlled amount of information flow out so that every type of consumer or customer gets the information without getting confused.
Creating good Experiences, not just Products
As explained earlier, Apple Inc., not only focuses on providing quality and up to date products and services to its customers but also improving their overall experience related to the computer and smartphone producer as a whole (Shin, 2015). For this purpose, Apple Inc. focusses on the emotional aspects of the products, which may entice the customer, so that they may keep coming back again and again.
Product Placement Strategies
This aspect of marketing is closely linked with the emotional aspects of the products and customers. It triggers the feelings and emotions of the customer by placing it in such an order where they can easily use it and get the maximum experience out of it. Moreover, the company also takes the help of the social media influencers, in order to get a review from then over any social media platform.
Marketing Implications
Although, Apple Inc. Has outstanding marketing strategies and on a whole, it does not need any sort of improvement in its marketing strategies, but still, if observed at a specific level, there are some areas which can be improved in order to boost up the sale for the tech product master. These strategies will also be helpful in bringing back a small fraction of customers who have left the company due to these specific areas.
Streamline all its products like iPad, iPhone and Apple Watch Families.
Improve the prospects of Apple TV
Revamp the Battery Performance of MacBook Pro
Make iPods Alive Again
Professional Reflections
After viewing the whole marketing profile and structure of Apple Inc. only one world comes to the mind “brilliant”. The company utilizes its resources in an intelligent manner which puts the right amount of the information for the customer on the table; it neither floods its customers with the information nor keeps them craving for more updates, which is most probably the secret of success of its marketing strategies and overall products and services.
Conclusions
In a nutshell, it can be concluded that Apple Inc. is performing an outstanding job in the field of marketing. Where it has brilliantly captured most of the market for computers, laptops and smartphones, the technology producer and innovator has also won the loyalties of millions of its customers. Apple Inc. holds the unique characteristic of being the magnet of its customers, as once, they become the customer of the company, they never thought of leaving it. Perhaps the secret behind this outstanding quality was that Apple Inc. not only likes to take care of its products and services but also keeps focusing continuously over the improvement of its old and new customers. Another prominent aspect of the marketing strategy of the company is that it triggers its customers emotionally and makes them buy and use the product and service immediately. Hence, there is a lot to learn for many organizations out there form the marketing strategies and techniques implied by the company to advertise its products.
References
Apple Inc. (2019). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.
Apple. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.apple.com/
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