Marketing Mix for Apple Watch Edition - myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theMarketing Mix for Apple Watch Edition. Answer: Apple is the multinational company that deals with technological products such as mobile phones, MacBooks, iPods etc. it is the company that is headquartered at California. The company has started its operation in 1976 by selling personal computers as their first products type. After struggling to so many years, the company has made its position to what it is today. the company has high products range but the most popular products these days which is talked about the most in recent times is watch that is Apple watch (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 2012). Apple watch is the very smart watch that was officially announced in the year of 2014 but released in April 2015. Apple watches are the very unique products among all the products offerings by Apple. There are three different models that are present in the market for Apple watch that are Apple Watch, Apple watch edition and Apple watch sports. Target market for Apple Watch: Target market is that segment of the market that has been selected by the company in order to market its products. First of all, the company that segments that market as per the characteristics of the customers and then target the segment that is most relevant to the products that the company is offering (Boone and Kurtz, 2013). As far as Apple is considered, it has been analysed that the company is serving large of products to the customers but Apple watch is the product that requires the company to target a particular market as it is not a generalized product used by everyone. There are different basis on which the market has been segmented and thus each segment of the market from each of the division needs to be targeted. Loyalty: it has been analysed that Apple has many loyal customers and the company focuses on targeting those customers only. This is because they know that they have the capability to retain the customers. As the Apple watch can be liked to iPhone and thus the company can target the iPhone users to sell the watches. Geography: Target market on the basis of geography includes the elements such as region and density (De Wit and Meyer, 2010). As far as the region is considered, it has been analysed that Apple is targeting the market of developing as well as developed countries. The more market of the company is in developed countries only. In terms of density, it has been analysed that the company wants to serve the urban market with its products that is Apple Watch. Demography: In terms of demography, the segments are made on the basis of age, gender, lifestyle, income and occupation. It has been analysed that the target market for Apple watch in terms of age is 25-45. Males and females both are targeted (Heracleous, 2013). It has been analysed that Apple is the brand that is considered as the status symbol for the people and thus the people with high lifestyle and standards are majorly targeted by the company. In terms of occupation, the people who are professionals or are at material positions tends to but the products more. This is because these people have high income and the products of Apple are highly priced. Lifestyle and behaviour: The behaviour of the customers is also a criterion on which the company focuses on. It has been analysed that Apple wants to serve it loyal customers and do not focus on serving the different market range (Akana, et al. 2016). They just want to enhance the customer loyalty so that their customers cannot go anywhere. Positioning: Watch market: The market of smart watch is enhancing rapidly with high pace. It has been analysed that many brands are entering this industry such as Google, Samsung, etc. it is the industry that provides the market with high technology products that are used by a particular type of segment. Unique positioning of Apple watches: As far as the positioning strategy of the company is considered, it has been analysed that the Apple watch when launched first was positioned as the product for need. But as far as the new series of Apple Watch 2 is considered, this product is positioned as the style statement. Tim Cook suggested that Apple Watch can be wore whole day as it is newly designed to be a style statement. The two major words that are being used to position the new version of watches are style and taste. When the 1st series of the watches was launched, it was launched with a meaning of showing health and fitness details but now the series has been positioned as the style statement watch that also benefits the customers to have health and fitness details along with time description of course. Early adopters have used the products but it has been analysed that the mass that has been set for the products has not yet achieved by the company. Marketing mix of Apple watch: Product: The product that needs to discuss in this case is Apple watch. It is the watch that comes in different variations. Apple watch is the watch that performs multiple functions. It provides the customers with the benefits of having health and fitness details in their watch. It can link to the iPhone and the message and calls can be attended by watch only. The 2nd series of the watch also provides the benefit of being stylish (Raphan and Friedman, 2014). This is because the products have been positioned as the style statement among the customers. Apple watch has software installed in it that allows the customers to connect their phones to the watch. As far as series 1 of the watches is considered, it has some features like dual core variety and S1 processor while series 2 have S2 processor. Price: Apple watch is the products that are very convenient and functional. It is the product that is launched by Apple to be worn and not to be carried. It is providing many benefits to the customers and is high quality products (Jeyarajah, 2015). Because of high quality and range of functions, it is realized by the company that the providing strategy that needs to be sued is premium pricing. Prices are very high as compared to the competitor brands that have launched the similar products. High pricing or premium providing strategy allow the company to earn more profits and also helps the company to justify its positioning as the premium brand and the products as the style statement (Berthon, Pitt, Plangger and Shapiro, 2012). Even though the price of the products is high but the company has the confidence on its loyal customers that they will but their products. The brand name of the company and its quality is the competitive advantage for the company. Place: Apple is the international brand. The company serves the customers serves the customers in almost all over the world. The brand includes a very strong network and the distribution system that supports the company to deliver the product to the market. At the initial days of the launch of Apple watch the products was not available on the stores of Apple (Graham, 2008). The customer who wants to buy the products has to order the products from the online website. The individual has to call for an executive to install and fix the watch and provide the demo to how to use the watch (Dishman and Calof, 2008). Later one, the company found that it is very difficult process to be conducted and thus the company make changes in their distribution process. The company has selected different distribution network. The company deliver the Apple watch selected pieces through the Apple exclusive stores in the big cities of different countries and through some premium class retailers. Now the products a re available in almost all the stores. The company is also selling its products through website as well. Different mediator websites such as Flipkart, Myntra, and Amazon also sell the Apple products now. This has increased the reach of the customers to the products and also the availability of the products. Promotion: Promotion activities for the company are very important. This is because only launching the products is not enough (Danaher, Hardie and Putsis Jr, 2001). The products need to be marketed as well so that the products can be reached to the customers and the market gets aware of the existence of the products. In case of Apple, it has been analysed that the company not only market the products after its launch but also market the products before launching it into the market. Apple is the brand that is already very popular among the high class customers. It is the brand that positioned itself as the premium brand that is style statement of the people these days. Apple uses many types of advertising techniques in order to market the products like Apple watch. Some of the promotional activities of the company are: Advertising: the company use this method to market Apple watch through different media; advertising is the method that helps the company to show the visual or audio message to the customers regarding the products through different media (Fan, Lau and Zhao, 2015). It helps the company to be reminded by the people and also provide higher reach in the market. The company use the medium such as television and print media to post the ads in order to market Apple watch. Ad posted in Vogue magazine. Sales promotion: Sales promotion is also the method that has been used by Apple to sell Apple watch. The people at the Apple store are so much educated with the knowledge of technology and the features of the products that they can easily convince the customers to buy the products. This is strategy of sales promotion (Grewal, et al. 2014). Public relations: It has been analysed that the company also focuses on making public relation by conducting public campaigns that allow the firm to introduce the new products and its features before the launch of the products (Peattie and Peters, 1997). It has been seen that the customers wait for the launch of the products by Apple because the company make so much of pre promotion before the launch which makes the products already popular. This suggests that the customers are very much eager to use the products by Apple. Recommendations: Although Apple is doing great in the market and with the customers, but there is still some of the scope left for the company, where the company can improve its practices so that the customer value can be enhanced. Some of the recommendations for the company are discussed below: It has been analysed that the products of the company such as Apple watches facing some of the system problems after the update. This may be because of the bugs that are found in the updates. The company release the updates so frequently n their system that they remains with many bugs which can cause problem to the devices, the company should concentrate on making the system updates that are bugs free so that the device of the people does not get affected after doing the update (Shostack, 1977). This helps the company to develop more customers value as most of the customers are facing such issues. Pricing of the products that they company provide is very high as compared to the problem while the products or the Apple watch is not that much high in the quality. If the watches of other brands are considered they are also providing the same features with low prices (Chrysochou, 2010). Thus, customers find it easy to buy those products of other brands rather than Apple. Apple is just becoming the status symbol and losing the trust of the customers. 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