Summary of Apple Case Study Analysis
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Introduction of Apple:
Apple Inc. is the most famous name in the technology sector, it is an innovative electronics manufacturer, which is giving benefits to the consumers and to the suppliers, and the company is using successful strategies in the market so the best results could be achieved. The company is successful because it efficiently establishes the target market, with the help of marketing mix and giving value to its customer’s company has become successful in the market.
From years Apple is maintaining its standard as it has the ability to recognize the need of the dynamic strategies, with the changing of the technology and environment, a company is able to maintain its standards and trying to reach the customer demands, through doing innovation in the products Apple is meeting the customer demands. Apple is offering cutting-edge products, which are best in the market and better than the competitors are. The products are at the top because a company is continuing towards growth and enhancing the customers’ life by expanding their product line. With the help of the strategies, Apple is fulfilling the demands of the customers, which are cohesive. Apple Inc. has loyal customers because the company is bale to satisfy their needs through using various sets of the strategies.
1.2 Apple Company Overview
Steve Jobs is a founder of Apple and incorporated the company 1977. The name of the company was Apple computer but in 2007, a company was renamed as Apple INC. Apple is an innovative computer with the communication solutions; Tim Cook is the present CEO of the company, as in 2011, Steve Jobs died. Steven Wozniak and Steve jobs produced the Apple I, the first Apple computer in 1967. Apple Inc. has strategically made it’s headquartered in California, Cupertino, the part of the infamous valley, which is known for the high technology based companies, moreover, they gave the skilled resource output. Apple has made its segment on the regional basis as soon as it realizes that it can provide value to the customers across the world. The company products are according to the demands of the customers; Apple has a wide range of application and products (Mittan, 2010). The company is meeting the consumer needs in multiple ways, as the company did researchers on the demands, make the products, so the customer should be brand loyal, and gain confidence. Apple products are designed so they can meet all communication needs, the products of Apple are Laptop, on-the-go tablets, operating system, personal computer, online store, and accessories etc.
1.3 Apple Market Opportunity Overview
Wozniak and Jobs saw the profitable opportunities in the market, which leads them towards passion and their products o not fails in the market, they were willing to produce more productive and successful products for their customers. Apple needs to stay competitive as it is in the technology industry, for the competitive and dynamic process the company needs to continue its research. There are two areas of the company, which is related to the external environment of the company, there are opportunities for the company dues to these areas example culture/social environment. Apple has the market opportunity as everyone in the market need to get the upgraded cell phone, in which there are no issues and if it has the superior fracture from the other cell phones. Regarding this, the life cycle of the Apple phones are very short because of the competitors do innovation. However, apple has a good brand name and quality to satisfy its customer and to get market opportunities.
Also Study: Business Outsourcing Benefits With Example of Apple INC
Apple has the stiff competition in the market as a brand Samsung tried to overtake the Apple in some areas but able has to sustain its competitive advantage and earning larger or greater market share is the technological industry. The competitive advantages that the company has cannot be easily imitated. While in the case if the cell phone the Apple has the resources for its workforce; workforce sis trained and able to the good idea or concept so the company can increase its market opportunities and the strengths (Jeynes, 2013).
External environment In the electronics industry, Apple is known as a prestigious company, which has the excellent hardware and software. The company has praised for the series of the brilliant computers and the iPhone family means all the smartphones. As Apple has power in both the hardware and software, so it is the competitive advantage for the company. There are few competitors in the market, as the Samsung has the better specifications than apple. Apple products continue towards innovation and as many of the consumers are satisfied with the current position of Apple in the market. There is the huge impact of the social environment on the success of the Apple, as the overall brand is seen as the symbol of high-status or cool dude. Apple devices have many applications that are specially designed after keeping the customers in the mind. Apple has developed the solid relationship with its loyal customers. The customers are satisfied from the apple because every new version, which releases, is according to the choice of the customers. Apple’s product life cycle is extended due to the existing modifications in the product. Samsung has various features, which attracts the customers, however, like Samsung, Apple does not have such attractive features. Samsung users can enjoy comforts but Apple users can also share the music, video, movies etc. with the iTunes, which is an existing feature. Apple uses exclusive use of their content, this is the reason they have the strong competitive edge in the market. Apple has many applications that seem interesting to the consumers like iMessgaes, iTunes, and Facetime, these are the features, which are only available to iPhone users. Many if the Apple user families have shifted now towards the android because it is easy to use and communication also become easy via android devices. In the social environment, friends and family mostly use the same brand because by seeing each other’s preferences and taste change iPhone is part of many families; many families prefer to use iPhone because of the interesting feature and applications (Khan, Alam, & Alam, 2015). Internal Environment Financial Analysis According to the results of 2015, Apple revenue has increased by from the $57.6 billion to $74.6 billion, it is the 30% increase in the revenue as compared to the last year. The positive growth has shown in the recent years, a maximum number of a consumer are attracting towards the brand Apple, as the customers are satisfied, the profitability of the company is increasing every year. The record of the phone, mac, and app store sales is also impressive, iPhone is considered as a leader in the market, as the records show the 74.5 million units sold out. Apple’s has much strength, among the strengths; its one strength is its skilled workforce, which is There is the diversity in the product line, which can be seen as the weakness. Apple has limited products; the most of the dependency of the Apple is based on the iPhones and iPads, which could be problematic in the future. However, Apple is continually giving the same products in the market and customers by a tire of such similar products one day. There are several opportunities for the Apple; as Apple is dependent on the iPhones and iPad, the tablets and smartphones may have the bright future in the market. The product line of the Apple has the all-in-one package, which can satisfy the customers and customer will not shift the other brands as they are getting everything in their desired phone. There are opportunities for the growth in the education market, by using the tablets, the educators have the ability to use the hardcopy books, and they can get a place to write an assignment and can collaboratively work with their teachers and classmates. Apple tablets can be given or used by the student’s of any country as the countries are focused on increasing the literacy rates. There could be advantages for the consumer or business market, as most of the firms are tend to use the technology in the business, however, Apple tablets can be used in every type of business for collecting and marinating the data or for the analysis (Tar, 2013). Apple has opportunities like smart wearable devices, which includes the smartphone watch, Fitbit etc. Health and fitness are growing as the people are more concerned about the health, so wearable items can be proved as the profitable opportunity for the Apple. Opportunities are there for the Apple in the developing market and industries, through the international growth and by giving benefits to the new businesses, Apple can earn the large market share, through expanding in the different markets or the countries Apple can continue its opportunity. There are threats from the Apple; the biggest threat for the company could be its pricing strategy because other android companies are giving same functions or software at the lower prices than Apple. The premium market strategy is working now in the market but maybe it is not work in the future if the country suffers the bad economic conditions. The social environment is not same around the world, as in U.S friends and family convince each other too but the new iPhone, in other countries social environment may not prefer this, so it could also be a threat for the company. In the developing countries, the people are not motivated to buy the products because they are happy using features but not the advanced features, however, the people of the developed countries want to stay upgrade with the time. Moreover, Apple needs to focus on the pricing strategies, and should adjust the prices for the benefits (Tar, 2013). There could be changes in the technology, political and legal environment across the world. There are many companies, wants to grow in the market, the lack of technology can make this thinking difficult, Apple Company can face threat regarding the changing environment of any country and may not get the desired results. Apple Inc. is the most famous and important brand when it comes to technology, Apple is focused on the characteristics of innovation and it is most important for Apple to satisfy its customers so the Apple does not follow the niche target market, they are focused on the age, gender race, geography etc. The Apple is focusing on providing the beats and satisfying the needs of the final customer, therefore, Apple is using the combined target market approach (Pride & Ferrell, 2015). Apple is also focused on the regional differences, it has the array of the products, and different customers are getting benefits in the different ways. Apple products are similar but they are different in many ways, but it combines when it has come to one market strategy. Apple is focused on innovation this is the reason it is an established brand, which has technological gadgets. Apple has reached its target market through the efforts like focusing on the marketing orientation strategy and focusing on the total company efforts, so the customers could be satisfied and printability could be attained. Apple products are expensive, they have brand equity and valued by the customer, therefore, the Apple products are designed to appeal the middle to upper-income consumers, the people who appreciated the product and feel a better user experience. The people or consumer, who can afford the premium products of Apple, just satisfies their psychological needs. While the needs like social and personal are also associated to it, when after using the premium product they feel satisfied. Apple has value because it is ageless, every age group could be attracted towards the product and can be appealing to all the generations, and people can use the phone for the different purposes. Customer’s loyalty and their passion too but the product is a great psychographic advantage, the brand give a sense of belongingness and consumers are satisfied with it; Apple has become the priority. The psychographic characteristics are related to the people who want to explore the technology like who are passionate in daily life and have recognized the benefits of using Apple phones. A music enthusiast from age 12 to 35 are using the product for 1000 items of the song, as they have recognized that it has the friendly-user software. Moreover, media designers are also attracted towards the product because there are editing programs in it and one can make own video or create music etc, as they have recognized that it is the easy process with Apple applications (Daft, 2014). Purchasing behaviors can be discussed as the limited problem solving, the customer who is loyal to the Apple, they just get satisfaction by using Apple phone, quality is the matter for them and they only get the satisfaction when they but the product. Apple has premium pricing so most of the consumer quickly decide that they want to buy the Apple product, families could also refer Apple products to each other as adoption is quicker than the and consumers frequently buy the product. Apple is using promotion and distribution strategies so the products can easily distribute to the retailers and people find convenience in buying the product. There is the variety of distribution that generates appeal to all ages and the groups. Some of the consumers enjoy the tech environment that is created by the Apple, other enjoy the convenience they get from the interact usage (Kotler, Burton, Deans, Brown, & Armstrong, 2015). Apple uses advertisements to motivate the consumer and to attract them with such amazing Apple applications; the recent acquisition of the Beats headphone is created to promote the cultural awareness and attract the younger generation to buy the product. The marketing mix is the marketing tool that a company uses to grasp their target market. There are 4p’s in the marketing mix strategy, the product, price, place and the promotion. Apple Inc. also focused on the 4p’s as they have the diverse product line. Apple Inc. makes a quality product and prices are set according to their audience, Apple has the good brand name so people will prefer to buy Apple products at any cost. They have set the strategies according to the area and by innovating their products they surpass the competition and they are at the top in the market (Jinjin, 2013). Also Study: Apple is able to establish the consumer loyalty as they are supplying the quality products; they have focused on the packaging. The brand is selling itself because the social environment is creating the situations in which people or consumers are willing to but the Apple products. The packaging is sleek and simple, which is attracting the consumers, the symbol of Apple on the packaging is all time favorite; Apple is striving to build relationships with the loyal customers. The product is focused on various strategies, based on the strategies product is successful in the market. The Apple is providing consumers with the range of the products example, computers, watch, iPod, iPhone, iTunes, software, warranties etc. Apple pricing strategy is very premium as no one can compete it on its price. Apple has targeted the audience who knows that what they are buying or purchasing. Apple has proved that they have targeted the audience very efficiently as they know their target audience and consumers get satisfaction after using the product. Apple has effectively worked with the prices of new Apple products as well, as a number of consumers are increasing every day. Example the price of iPhone starts from $99 to $699, the price of iPod is from $49 to $299, a price of the watch is from $349 to 12,000, the price of facebook starts from $999 to $2999 etc (Huimin & Hernandez, 2011). Apple is the emphasis on the R&D as it is the marketing communication strategy; the Apple is focused on creating the brand loyalty so the customer gets satisfaction. Apple has designed the amazing commercials so the customers get attracted towards the product, they do the market communication and Apple customers can buy the product online through the Apple stores. They have designed the promotional strategies so the consumers can easily buy the product; the products are easy to use. Apple uses the rigorous employee training, in which they are trained that how to deal with the customer, it is called as secret manual explaining. Online shopping via App stores, apple.com or iTunes is interesting and simple for any customer. Apple also uses the social media which represent more opportunities regarding the awareness of the product and services, that how a product should be used and what are its amazing specifications. The strategies are exactly designed to motivate the consumers; the tools used by Apple include Facebook, Myspace, twitter etc. Apple wants to connect with the maximum number of audience, with the combined blogs and communicating with the masses (Johnson, Li, Phan, Singer, & Trinh, 2012). The use of logo in the media is available by iTunes purchases by the advertisement commercials, billboards, magazines etc. icloud is also a tool that is used by the Apple for its consumers so the multiple Apple product simplify, and Apple comes to know that who is loyal to the brand and what product are in use. Apple retail stores are there across the countries, Apple retail stores are located in the shopping centers and in malls, and the advertisements are given on the internet and press releases. Markets ensure the traditional advertising and the public relation efforts so relationships get stronger, social media is the effective source that is used by the Apple to deal with its customers. Apple uses two types of distribution strategies in the organization that is indirect distribution strategy and direct distribution strategy. Apple has retailers as well as Apple has their own websites along with the building or shops where Apple sells its products to customers. Moreover, apple has mobile App called iTunes installed on all mobile phones by Apple. iTunes App is kind of vertical integration that the Apple has utilized by installing a hardware and software in mobiles. With the help of mobile phones Apps, apple has control over its final products. This control over products helps Apple to enhance their skills in quality control and in achieving overall goals of the company (those, 2015). Apple Inc. is selective about the products placement and distribution and has strategic plans for it. Apple releases its products first at their own stores and make sure about it and make sure that these products are then followed by the other big stores, products or mobiles phone providers and release internationally. With the help of effective strategies in product placement and distribution, Apple has gained the success because they give importance and attention to their products. Moreover, they have knowledge about their products, share this informative knowledge with the people, and answers the questions asked about the products by the customers. Distribution strategy points about the product are given below; Depending on products types and kinds, Apple has many different competitors for example, from a mobile phone point of view; Apple’s iPhone competitor is Android phones providers like Samsung, Sony etc. Apple’s iPad competitors are Tablets providers like Samsung and Apple’s iTunes competitors are Google play store. As Apple is achieving success with the help of technological innovation and improvement, the number of competitors is also kept on growing day by day and trying to bring in technology and innovation like apple to be a competitor (Fleisher & Bensoussan, 2015). Major competitors of Apple includes; Samsung, Nokia, Blackberry, Sony etc. These firms are competing with Apple with the help of marketing mix that is they are trying to bring in innovation in their products and services and trying to lower their price by providing quality products and trying to capture more customers with the help of product distribution and placement. In last, they are competing with the help of different promotional strategies (McBean, 2012). Marketing mix or four Ps that is product, price, place and promotion comparison is given below; Apple is known for different quality products that are; Apple iPhone and iPhone series, Apple iWatch, Apple iPod, Apple iPad, Apple Mac Book, Apple iTunes etc. Apple is bringing in innovational and technological advancement in these products continuously that force its competitors to bring in innovation and technological advancement in products to compete with Apple and to gain market share. Apple brings in innovation and advancement in products based on a form of the products, quality of the products, improvement in products, styles of the products, packing of products and providing warranty and guarantee of products. On the other hand, Sony also provides many quality products to its customers for example; televisions like Bravia series, LCDs, Camera Series, Audio and video products, Electronic components like Batteries, storage, hardDisks etc., computer and laptops and gaming consoles, smart phones and tablets etc. each product by Sony has its own quality, features and price and specifications. Samsung also has products and considered big competitor of Apple (GREENSPAN, 2015). Samsung offer products like Tablets, smartphones, Television, cameras, Washing machines, Microwave, laptops and printers, refrigerators etc. Products by Samsung are high-quality products and in the last few years, Samsung has performed well and has market share. In terms of finance, Apple has gained more market share as compared to Samsung, Sony and Nokia (Nielson, 2014) Prices of Apple products are high as compared to the Samsung, Nokia and Sony products. Apple is targeting high-class people and customers who are a big business man, successful professional and lead class people who can afford these products. Apple’s products prices are high because they are providing high innovative products, with high quality as well as style according to the demand of the people and customers. Apple Mac price is $1,299 Dollars and $1,599 Dollars based on the memory and storage capacity (Schneiders, 2011). Apple iPhone 6s price is $649 Dollars and iPhone 6s plus price is $749 Dollars. On the other hand, Sony provides Sony provides its Smartphone Xperia Z3 LTE in $679.99 Dollars, Sony Xperia M4 Aqua IN ALMOST 199.00 Dollars and gaming console like play station 4 in almost starting from #399 to $449 Dollars based on the specification and game. These prices are lower than the products offered by Apple. Nokia provides offer its customers like smartphone Nokia Lumia 650 in $119.00 Dollar, Lumia, 950 Xl Dual Sim in $649 Dollars and Nokia Lumia 950 Dual Sim in $549 Dollars etc. these products has their own specification. Nokia also offers windows phone to its customers that currently are not so popular than the Android and iPhone operating systems (Grünewälder, 2014). Apple uses two different type’s o distribution system in business that is indirect and direct distribution system. They have whole selling and retailing system for the products, they make sure the product first release from their own personal stores than from other products or service providers’ shops or building. They provide services to their customers online that are their customers can buy a product online from their site and s from other retailing sites like Amazon etc. Apple also has warehousing system for their customers that are near retailers and shops where customers can buy products easily. They have strong inventory management and transportation system. Their products are also available internationally and considered some of the best product worldwide. From the Sony point of view, they also provide goods and services with the help of retailing, personal stores, franchises etc. Their products are also available to the customer online and everywhere in the world. Sony also distributors all over the world, from Samsung point of view, they also offer products at their own personal website where people can order their products online, they provide products to their customers at their own personal store, they also retailers and distributors all over the world (Chang, 2011). They are considered as the big competitor of Apple in the sense of quality, product styles, price, availability and continuous technological innovation . Apple is promoting its product with the help of advertising, by building strong public relations, with the help of personal selling of products and with the help of direct marketing of products. for the purpose of advertising, they are using social media sites, newspaper, and print media for promoting their products. They are using television media for the purpose of advertising its product which is quite expensive and effective to attract a large number of customers worldwide. They are also promoting their products online on the internet at their own site or with the help of their distributors and retailers. To build customer relation they also organize events and provide sale promotions to their customers. Sony also promotes its products with the help of s television media, in the last few years, Sony is promoting its product online at social media sites and on the internet. They are also building customers relations by sponsoring different events and providing free gifts to customers on purchasing of Sony products. Nokia in the last few years largely promoting its windows phones with the help of advertising on television media so that they can attract customers but the demand of Android phone is increasing day by day the demand of windows phone in decreasing day by day. Even with the large-scale advertising, Sony is facing downfall in the last few years. From the Laptop and gaming console point of view, Sony is considered at no one place. The demand of gaming console by the customers is increasing day by day that makes them achieve the competitive advantage (Grünewälder, 2014). According to the demand of customers, the big competitors of Apple are Samsung and Google who provide Android mobile phones to customers. These competitors provide many different services and choices to their customers and customers prefer these products according to their demand, choice, need and purchasing power. People who cannot Apple phone, and want to buy a product that meets their demand and needs for buying alternative products like Samsung mobile phones, so they buy alternative product belongs to Samsung. Samsung exposed the most of Apple smartphone features in their own products that customer can buy at a low price as compared to Apple smartphone. Samsung keeps on exposing and revealing the basic and advanced features of Apple smartphone to attract more customers and to achieve competitive advantage. They are bringing in innovation and advancement in their products day by day and releasing a new smartphone in competition to Apple. Other competitors like Sony, BlackBerry and Nokia are far away and slower than Apple in bringing in innovations and advancements (Ireland, Hoskisson, & Hitt, 2012). Apple promotion and pricing strategy is slightly different from those of competitors like Google, and Samsung. These direct competitors are trying to compete with Apple by lowering the price of products and services they are providing. Lowering the price of products makes competitors attract more customers that are price sensitive. Competitors of Apple are also trying to attract more customers with the help of attractive sale promotions and with the help of discounts. On the other hand, discount on products by Apple is usually unheard by many people. Competitors of Apple are weak in the sense of distribution and placement of their products. Major competitors of Apple are acting reactionary to its products in the recent years. Some competitors like Samsung, Nokia and Sony are trying to become proactive and reactionary in the mind of customers and trying to become proactive and reactionary due the lower price of products in the mind of customers but this strategy has made them face the loss of market share and other disadvantages like high cost of promotion and advertisement. Competitors like Sony, Nokia and Samsung cannot achieve the sustainable competitive advantage just because of the competitive and imitative marketing strategy. Most of the brands by competitors are not as familiar and popular among people as Apple does. Apple is now increasing its interest to gain improvement in packing and packaging of goods and products and continuously taking part in providing ease to their customers with the help of locating its products on the shelf (Dilger, 2016). From the distribution point of view, competitors of Apple are weak. Apple has gained power in the effective distribution of goods and products. Apple has control over its distribution channels and these channels are cost effective to Apple. On the other hand, competitors of Apple are trying to improve their distribution channels and improvement in a placement of products but they may face a large amount of cost and money by implementing this strategy. In implementing, this type of strategy may make competitors of Apple compromise their quality and, feature or design of the product so that they can meet their overall cost (Jurevicius, 2016 ). Apple has some superior application features than its competitors like Samsung. Although Samsung in the last few years tried to imitate the features of Apple like Safari Operating system and became popular among its customers. Apple is well-known abbot the quality of its products among its customers. Apple provides high-quality products to its customers for example; they have high definition screen quality on their smart mobile phones and no one the in the smart mobile phone market (Nokia, Samsung, Sony) has this type of feature. Other products of Apple like Mac Book, which is a mobile computer, also helped Apple in achieving competitive advantage from Dell, HP, and Lenovo etc. Apple’s Mac Book is considered as to have high-quality picture features and have strong protection against any kind of virus related to computers and computer system. On comparing with competitors, no competitor can offer this type of virus protection feature in their products like laptops. iPod by Apple has an ability of online streaming of music, movies and books as compared to competitors, no competitor offer or have this type of feature in their products. Apple iTunes is considered as the fastest mobile app that can download more than 15000 songs in a minute. This App makes Apple earn profit of almost $34,000 Dollar per minute. This App created by Google like Google play store is applicable for android phones but are not applicable for Apple (Vogelstein, 2015). Technology is kept on increasing day by day and helping business to bring in improvements and innovations. Businesses like Apple with the help of technology are bringing in change, technological advancement and innovation in their products in the market. Apple is a big competitor of technological products in the market. Now the question arises that what makes Apple a big competitor in the technological environment. The main reason behind becoming a strong competitor in the market is that they have strong research and development department. Their management and employees have skills to study the technology, trends and demand of the people. it is the Apple that influences its competitors and forces them to bring in innovation and technological advancement in the products. Competitors of Apple that is Samsung, Sony, Nokia are trying to imitate Apple products and bring in products in order to compete not to bring in new technology that makes other to compete. This Apple has built the strong research and development department for their products and services. Apple has spent many years in researching and in development. Research and development department at Apple and strong marketing mix strategy of Apple influence, encourage and motivate people in Apple to bring in innovation and improvement in the company. In the last few years, due to technology and competitors, Apple faced, imitation from its competitors, but due to the popularity among people and customers, the imitation does not matter. Most of the customers cannot compromise quality on a price they prefer Apple products. Moreover, Apple products have gained popularity among the people around the world due to high quality, features, and style. They are targeting people who are high class and belong to lead class families that make Apple superior from others. In the current year, Apple has achieved almost 48% sales and earned a profit of almost $178 billion dollars that they can utilize in other opportunities and can utilize to bring in improvements in their product and services. Apple is continuously improving and increasing its products lines like mobiles, smartphones, tablets. Now the question arises what will be the next new product line or product in the future, will it have the same market as other products of Apple have. Apple will answer these entire questions in the future or in the coming year (Zylla-Woellner, 2013). As Apple is considered as the market leader in technological products, it is recommended for Apple to expand their business in new emerging markets so that more profits and revenues can be generated. Apple should open new stores in other countries of the world. Apple should minimize their prices and should minimize the price differentiation so that they can attract more customers and people around the world who are price sensitive and want high-quality products and services. Moreover, Apple should explore more retail channels so that they can increase their sales and can attract potential customers all over the world. This strategy will also lower risk of growing markets. Being a leader in technological products, Apple should maintain its position and quality of products so that brand reputation and loyalty of customers can be increased. To be a market leader, they need to bring in continuous improvement, developments, and expansion in their business. They should take part in the social corporate responsibility programs. This will minimize the effect of organization on an environment and will help a company to have a strong image and good reputation. Apple should maintain its strong and skillful research and development department that helps Apple to determine the new trends, demand wants of people according to the technology and make Apple bring in new innovative products for its loyal customers (Yami, Castaldo, Dagnino, & Roy, 2010). Apple has a mix of growth strategies that helps Apple to increase their interest with its customers. These strategies also help Apple to attract new customers. Apple is expanding its market and introducing new products to its customers that make Apple to increase their interest and focus towards the demand of customers in the right direction and to compete with its competitors (Schneiders, 2011). Apple is a company now for introducing new technology that takes its customers to experience new level for this purpose, Apple it using strong product development strategies for the business. Apple is increasing their interest to position their brands in the current market and trying to bring in new technological products for the customers. Apple has high-quality products and is offering these products at high prices, these high processes make Apple earn a lot of profits and revenues. Apple is providing its products to its customers at the places where they can buy easily like online shopping of products, products at retailers and big shops etc. These are major strategies that the Apple is following and using to attract more customers and to earn profits in large amount (Holmquist, 2012) Apple is trying to enter a new market like Tablets, Mac Book etc so that they can attract more customers and can earn more profits. Global markets increased the opportunities for Apple for growth and development. Apple can expand its business all over the world. Apple can expand its iBooks to different countries on expanding Apple can value its customers and education quality of customers. This is also a kind of social responsibility (Hartline & Ferrell, 2013). In this competitive world, Apple is facing many competitors like Samsung, Sony, Nokia, and Google. To compete with competitors, Apple is making effective strategies and plans and bringing in innovation and advancement in their products and services. Strategies to bring in innovation, product development, improvement in the business and high-quality products and services are making its customers more loyal. Strong research and development department and strong marketing strategies are helping Apple to target its customers in the right direction and helping to bring in improvement and changes in the business according to the change in technological environment. 2.0 Apple Inc. Situation Analysis
2.1 Industry sector description
2.2 SWOT Analysis of Apple:
trained. In the Apple, headquarters there are skilled workers, they are continually helping the teams, and the company is assessing toward the innovative and new thinking. The advantage to the company is that it is created by the Steve Jobs, this is one of the radon that apple is successful. The location of the stores is interesting and responsible to attract the crowd. Apple has the loyal customers because desired products are offered to them. Apple has motivated the customer to buy the products because of its uniqueness, the company has maintained the brand equity and image in the market, and Apple customers are willing to buy every new product because they trust Apple. Apple has the strong market and financial conditions they have a lot of capital for the growth. Apple has created the solid partnership with the suppliers through doing the direct investments strategically. Apple has significant growth rates and cash flows (Hasan, 2013).
3.0 Target Market Analysis of Apple
3.1 Demographic Characteristics of Market
3.2 Psychological Characteristics of the Market
3.3 Behaviors of the Target Market
3.4 Strategies Appealing to Market
4.0 Marketing Mix of Apple
4.1 Product Strategy (Product Mix)
4.2 Pricing Strategy
4.3 Promotional/ Advertising Plan
Apple Distribution Strategies
Apple Competitive Analysis
4Ps’ comparisons with competitors:
Product:
Price:
Place:
Promotion:
Strengths’ comparisons with competitors
Weaknesses’ comparison with competitors
Organization’s Competitive Advantage:
Recommendations and Growth Plan
Recommendation:
Growth Plan:
Strategies for Product Development:
Strategies for Market Development
Conclusion
References: