Global Marketing Management Apple Inc.

Question: Identify the market mix and other important factors such as SWOT analysis and integrated marketing mix communications of Apple Inc? Answer: Introduction Apple Inc. is an international American company that manufactures computer software, personal computers and consumers electronic products. The most important and well recognized product is known as iPhone. The paper will identify the market mix and other important factors such as SWOT analysis and integrated marketing mix communications. Product, place, promotion and price will be covered in the paper that will emphasize the benefits of the product successfully. SWOT analysis has been covered for strong opportunities followed with integrated marketing communications. Integrated marketing communication or IMC is considered to be one of the most important factors that contribute towards the successful business operational activities. The level of competition has increased and thus it becomes imperative to adopt and implement the best strategies for reaching out to maximum number of clients. 1. Current marketing situation I phone was introduced in the year 2007 which is multimedia supported and also marketed by Apple Incorporation. It has been introduced by the famous engineers who developed the touch screen and there are different models in I phone which has changed the world of mobile with the latest and specialized technology. With respect to strong demands, it is now available in almost all the part of the globe. (Macapplepod, 2008) Strong combination of internet network not only satisfies the needs of the customer but also increases their demands and expectations. It is the best match of communication and technology that creates awareness among customers. Target market of I phone is based on professionals, students, other users. The success of the company lies on the skills of Chinese market of mobile. Apple is known as the reputed leading digital asset based organization and smart phone provider. It is the one that generates both softwares and hard-wares. It helps consumers to exchange the contents and in the year 2012, the CEO of Apple said that they are excited with the sales of I Phone over 35 million and there is a sale of 12 million of I pads. (Armstrong Kotler, 2005) Pest analysis To increase the knowledge of Apples business potential and to understand the future market, there is a use of Pest analysis as below: Political factors: There are issues that cannot be controlled by the company known as war against terrorism, delegation to work and health impacts which can impact the sale of Apples product worldwide. As to decrease operating cost, Apple has outsourced in various countries such as China, Korea etc. If these countries require any political instability, it will spoil the likeness in front of consumers. Economic factors: The power of buying is based on worlds economic factors. With respect to the past, the rate of unemployment is very strong in various countries which decrease the sale of Apple products. The other reason was to increase in oil prices which cause inflation in the worlds globe. With the result of economic factors, the buying people negatively impact the sale of Apple products due to the increased price. Social factors: Two factors of Apple known as the design and quality are the forefront of Apple. The buying of luxury products increased with the purchasing power of consumers that risen in various market across the globe. It has the strong influence on Apple. Thus, Apple has increased from social factors as it has focused on modern lifestyle. Technological factors: Apple focuses on important benefit with respect to innovative products. The high amount has spent in the field of research and development that helps Apple to come in front of the new innovative products. Competitors analysis Apple is a huge industry that runs so many products and the competitors of Apple for cell phone products are Google, HP, Samsung, HTC and Nokia. The competitors analysis can be discussed with the help of Michael Porters five competition forces in the market. Rivalry: The Apple Company has focused on great job by offering technical support and creating customer loyalty with the production of Apple products. It also develops customer loyalty with the products purchase. It maintains the level of productivity with respect to superior products and it gains market share with low prices. Suppliers bargaining power: The suppliers bargaining power can decrease the profits of Apple by developing high prices for suppliers. The company focuses on new suppliers to decrease the bargaining power of suppliers and Apple can decrease the bargaining power through more competitive among large number of suppliers. Buyers bargaining power: The Apple Company meets the demand of their customers in terms of increase of market by various segments that come from age and income, etc. The other thing is that buyers are highly price sensitive and are free to switch to another retailer. The competition is also high and now days, it also attracts new customers. Threat of new entrants: To enter the companies in the market, there is a decrease of market share of Apple and company can manage the market share and increase of profit through brand differentiation and product with respect to strong marketing strategy such as competitive advantage. With respect to the company, it is very challenging for the competition of the company such as Apple which has a strong brand image and innovation and strong customer services. Substitutes: The threat of substitute might have two factors and the threat of substitutes can be decreased as much as buyers become loyal to the customers. There is no company that can decrease the ecosystem which has produced by Apple. People buy I Phone for its products for stability and it offers high capability to exchange the information. (Lamido, 2014) 2. Market analysis through a SWOT analysis Apple Company produces different products such as personal computers, networking solutions and software etc. The market position of the company can be measured with strong performance, it also increases the confidence of the investors and the margins of the company can be impacted by high competition. SWOT analysis Strengths: The major strength of Apple is the strong market position and customer loyalty which increases the ecosystem of Apple and also increases the competitive advantage. Apple has strong variety of software, products that are strongly connected with each other. It has selected the most pioneering company in the globe. Apple was the second valuable brand in the year 2012 and its brand value was 76.5$ billion. The experience of customer is associated with high quality that provides direct interaction to well known staff and increases brand awareness. Weakness: Higher price is the major weakness of Apple and there is a high completion in the market and the consumer of Apple products can be carried easily by its competitors at a low price. Low market share can create less influence in Apple. The gross profit margin is highest and the current margin will not be continued with strong prices and higher level of competition. Opportunities: The market share of Apple will increase with strong demands of iPad in the tablet market and this will be used as competitive advantage in Apple. The increase in the growth of mobile advertising is an opportunity and Apple allows different platforms for advertising. It also increases its services to I Cloud and software. Threats: The high technological change is the biggest threat of Apple and customers are used with technology and they want new products in very short span of time due to high pressure. Competition is very high and there is an increment of tax that impacts the growth of the company. The major competitor of iOS is known as Android OS in the mobile market and the availability of different stores will be the major threat of the company. 3. Objectives Apple has goals to make great products not only money. They make people excited to develop innovative products. It sets an aggressive objective for the first and second years of market: First year: It aims for 2% share of the U.S. phone market through unit increase of sales of 4,45,000. Second year: It aims to achieve 10% increase on sales. As per the research, the company has plans to increase its annual growth rate by 30% over the next five years and the market forecasts are higher than those of other industry analysts to increase by the end of 2015. (Fadaei, 2015) Thus the company measures the awareness to build adjustments to the necessary marketing campaigns. 4. Marketing strategy with details of the 4Ps Product: The product I Phone is really innovative and it is the most innovative design that involves product differentiation, branding and image positioning. Apple is active in new products development and it plays an important role in inferior products with specifications that customers demand. The I-phone portfolio range come with the I phone 3g and they have a group of products from a common product with different characteristics and distribution channels and pricing techniques and other important marketing mix. (Boone, 2014) Place: Place involves decisions that constitutes the channels of distribution and also it can be used by different outlets, transportation methods, levels of inventory etc. The main goal is to ensure the right quality products and services at the right time. This way, it manages strong customer relations in the market place. Apple has expanded and improved its capabilities of distribution by launch of new retail outlets with quality shopping venues. It has also developed high accessibility and increased the network of online stores. Promotion: It increases awareness of target media with the advantage to customers. Direct marketing, sales promotion, personal selling and advertisement have been the major tools to target the customers. It has strong tools of promotion where staffs are highly qualified to offer immediate promotion and clear support. Price: Price setting is the strong element of marketing mix where price decides the value that customers attain from the purchase of the product. Apple is a premium brand and price rarely fluctuates. Products benefit from fewer amounts of depreciation and the company increases the skills and capabilities with smaller price increases to vindicate the pricing decisions of Apple. (Pipada, 2014) 5. Integrated Marketing Communication issues Apple is one of the leading companies of the world that has specialized in the sales of various products and services to the clients. The company ensures to adopt and implement the best strategies through which the sales for the products can be increased. For this, it is necessary to adopt the best marketing proposes, through which the clients can be easily reached out. Through this method, the company attempts to regularize the market, and adopt an individual method that would cater the needs of the clients (Johnson and Scholes, 2002). Issues faced by the IMC It is necessary to adapt and implement the right strategies through which the communication process can be improved. For this, the company needs to analyze the preferences of the potential clients based on the information collected; the management has to draft the best strategies through which the changes in the marketing process can be implemented. Also, it is essential to understand the communication technique that needs to be adopted by the management. This is one of the most important factors that would help in accomplishing the task. Apple is well-known for the products that has been manufactured and sold by the company. However the problem arises when the management plans to extend the business activities. In this method, an attempt needs to be made for analyzing the type of marketing strategy that can be adopted by the company. Before discussing the details of the products, it is essential to analyze the market condition. This would help in implementing the strategy that will cater the needs of the company. In this process, it is essential to adopt the best innovative strategy through which the needs of the clients can be handled in the right manner. The method adopted for communication has to be effective, as this will help in reaching out to maximum number of clients at the same time. The challenge exists with the marketing communication style that has been planned to be adopted by the company. It is necessary to develop a term that would enable the company to understand the behavioral stages of the customers. This is quite essential to understand this phase, as the company would be able to draft the best possible policies that would approach the clients. The marketing campaign that has been intended to be communicated with the clients has to be impressive as this will capture the attention of the clients. Apple has been successful in doing so, but the problem arises at the time of selecting the best message through which the customers needs can be tak en care of (Kitchen, 2003). In this process, the below mentioned factors has to be analyzed a. Attention The whole purpose of IMC is to attract the attention of the clients. Thus the message that has been created for the readers has to be noticeable. This will help in attracting the clients, and specifying the features about the same. b. Interest - The message that has been intended to be shared with the clients has to be interesting. Unless this is not dine, the management wouldnt be able increase the sales. The message has to address the needs/preferences of the clients. c. Desire The integrated communication process or method has to be effective, as this will create desire in the minds of the customers. This is one of the most important factors that need to be considered at the time of planning for the advertising concept (Porter, 2001). d. Action - The promotional activities has to be effective enough, as this will help in increasing the sales. In this method, the customers are encouraged to buy the product that is being sold by the company. Some of the issues that ar e faced by the marketing companies at the time of drafting the promotional activities are mentioned below a. Analyzing the quality and quantity of information that needs to be shared with the clients. In this process, it is essential to select the best information that would attract the clients. b. Selecting the best communication method or channel as this will help in reaching out maximum number of clients. c. The message has to be precise as this will help in increasing the sales for the company. d. It is necessary to ensure that the message is not changed during the course. If this happens then it can change the term of the marketing communication that was intended to be discussed with the clients. e. The background and the other factors that would be useful in attracting the attention of the clients. Such factors have to be analyzed, as this will help in attracting the clients attention. This is one of the most important factors through which the sales and goodwill for the compa ny can be increased. In this process, it is essential to ensure that the language and the mode that is selected by the management to communicate with the clients are quite simple and understandable. This would help in improving the sales and client list. The selection of the channel is one of the most important factors, as this will help in retaining the clients. In this method, the selection has to be done after analyzing the objectives of the company (Percy, Rossiter and Elliot, 2002). Conclusion The marketing strategy and its selection play a key role in the development of the company. In this process, it is necessary to select the best methods through which the challenges can be handed. This has to be done so as to ensure that the right strategy is adopted for marketing the product details. The strategy has to be simple and effective as this will help in attracting the clients. The challenges involved in the process have to be analyzed and the corrective steps have to be taken as this will help the company to increase the sales. References Armstrong,G.,Kotler,P.(2005).Marketing:Anintroduction(7thed.).UpperSaddleRiver,New Jersey: Pearson Prentice-Hall Boone, L. 2014. Contemporary marketing 2011: Pricing concepts. Fadaei, R. 2015. Apple marketing analysis report: Apple Iphone case study. Academia.edu. Johnson, G., Scholes, K. (2002), Exploring Corporate Strategy, Prentice-Hall, Edinburgh, Katz, E. 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