Introduction to Apple
Apple Inc. is a multinational corporation headquartered in Cupertino, California, that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics and personal computers. Apple is the most valuable technology company in the world, with a market cap of $866B (Li, 2021). In addition to being the most valued tech company, it has maintained its position through excellence and differentiation at every turn. The company has built products that are sleek, efficient, and easy to use. They are attractive without sacrificing function or price point. Apple takes an ecosystem approach when deciding how to roll out new product lines and features; they offer an array of complementary services and content solutions to complement their hardware offerings, as well as user-friendly features like iCloud storage and automatic software updates. This holistic strategy makes Apple’s products more attractive than other alternatives on the market. Apple has been at the forefront of innovation, melding design, technology, and marketing to make some of the most popular products in the world. Since its inception in 1976, Apple has focused on providing the most innovative products for its customers. They are a global leader in consumer electronics thanks to their focus on innovation and commitment to quality.
Apple has made a name for itself in the market by creating innovative, state-of-the-art products that people love and are willing to spend money on. Apple offers products that are high in quality, easy to use, and designed to meet consumer demands. It has integrated many advanced technologies into its devices as compared to its competitors. Integrating technology into their products makes them more appealing and effective in performing activities on these devices like photo-editing, streaming videos, or playing games from iStore apps. This helps them create a unique brand image in the eyes of customers worldwide. They target specific customers based on their preferences especially when it comes to the price point of their products unlike competitors such as Samsung who produce a similar range of smartphones for different customers with different budgets.
The main rationale behind the success of Apple products is product development. Apple has made it possible for its customers to get access to all their work on different devices in one single platform. It offers its customers both hardware and software that makes it easier to carry out different tasks, create documents and manage them using the same device interface. The company offers various categories of products like iPhones, and laptops along with its operating system which includes macOS and iOS.
Apple has always valued its customers and their opinions when developing new products. This includes a willingness to listen, innovate, and change their products if the customers’ desires were not being met. In addition to this, Apple is known for having state-of-the-art technology which can cause them to be ahead of the curve in several aspects of technological development. Apple’s products are characterized by their high quality and uniqueness. Apple product innovation involves not only designing new products but creating a new experience for the user. The company follows a distinctive marketing strategy, referring to its retail stores. They offer outstanding customer service that stands out from other competitors, as well as providing valuable advice to purchase more products or accessories and acting as digital support with every Apple device the customer buys.
Critique on Current Issues in Marketing
So far, Apple has depended on user experience and product innovation as the primary marketing strategies. Experts and scholars believe that any business that can effectively deploy these tools can become successful. The obsession that Apple has with user experience and product innovation is understandable. As explained by Schröppel, Miehling, and Wartzack (2021, p. 254), the usability of a product alone will not ensures a good user experience. In this case, continuous product innovation allows Apple to have an additional selling point in its overall international marketing strategy. Apple is considered to be a luxury brand considering the comparative pricing of its products. Even so, the company has managed to become a mainstay in many markets across the world. The successful use of the user experience has allowed the company to build a strong brand. This relationship between user experience and brand strength has been explored by (Lee, Lee, and Choi, 2018, p. 8), who finds a conceptual connection between user experience, customer experience, and brand experience. This relationship emanates from the fact that user experience dimensions, including usability, positively influence customer experience, which consequently improves brand equity.
While user experience is not necessarily a new concept, it is currently one of the major marketing hot topics. According to Santoso and Schrepp (2019, p. 1), many software products developed today tend to be designed with the target users in mind. This means that expectations are high each time the company launches a product. Apple’s product launches are often major events as users line up to get a glimpse of how the next product feels and looks. Therefore, while the marketing strategy seems to be getting outdated, it can be argued that Apple has managed to keep reaping the desired benefits from the approach. Product innovation may also be following the same path as user experience. In other words, product innovation has become a common practice such that all competitors can hardly gain an edge when using this marketing strategy. Product innovation strategy is often used by tech firms to display their commitment to developing and offering consumers new products (Bouhelal and Adouka, 2022, p. 168). In the world of electronic gadgets, product innovation has become a norm, which means that Apple cannot claim to be competing along these lines.
Overall, Apple cannot continue focusing on product innovation and product development as the sole approach to user experience and the overall marketing strategy. However, this does not insinuate that product development has become obsolete. On the contrary, such scholars acknowledge that user experience is a critical factor for distinguishing products with similar popularity among the users. Therefore, Apple can continue its product development and innovation but it will not be adequate as a marketing tool. The rationale is that if one was to search for the most innovative products, Apple’s iPhones make the top five in the rank but there exist smartphones more innovative than Apple’s. As will be explained in the following section, the shift from product innovation to marketing innovation is a concept that is starting to emerge in literature as the path forward for marketers.
Changing Global Business Environment
The current literature on international marketing features some of the emerging concepts that have been embraced by businesses. however, the global business environment is changing and some of the strategies and approaches are increasingly becoming obsolete. Today, businesses are registering more success through different strategies, including innovative marketing approaches. The rationale is that the competitiveness of a business needs to be sustained for a prolonged period. The product development strategy had not been labeled obsolete, but scholars believe that this approach should focus more on creating value for sustained competitive advantage (Kuncoro and Suriani, 2018, p. 187). As explained above, Apple’s products do not always rank first in terms of innovativeness. Therefore, product development and innovation can only give Apple an edge for as long as their products rank among the top. This presents a problem for Apple since many tech giants across the world have the power to innovate and outshine Apple’s products in terms of design and usability.
The global market comprises consumers who have great awareness of the core issues that affect their purchasing behavior. Marketing innovation is gradually replacing product innovation, especially since marketing can be tuned to convey the messages that consumers want to hear. According to (Ungerman, Dedkova, and Gurinova, 2018), marketing innovation entails the search for new and creative solutions to marketing needs. In the case of Apple, the current and immediate need in its marketing practice is to sustain its competitive edge with its products. With the development of new technology, most modern businesses seek to integrate innovative media into their marketing practices. The concept of Industry 4.0 has become a buzzword in such fields as marketing, where its usage implies new digital tools for marketers. Social media is one of the interactive media used by marketers as they seek to achieve sustained competitiveness (Blazeska and Ristovska, 2019, p. 31). This global change means that such companies as Apple could easily lose markets to more innovative marketers despite having better quality, more innovative products, and greater user experience. Therefore, digitization in marketing should become one of Apple’s top priorities.
Marketing Plan
With the challenges facing Apple’s marketing strategy, a new marketing plan is deemed necessary for the company. The primary objective of Apple’s marketing plan is to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage for its products. The current situation for Apple is that rivals have developed adequate power to match and exceed that of the company in the global market. Using Porter’s five forces on Apple, it can be argued that the rivalry is high, same as buyer’s bargaining power and the threat of substitutes. Even though Porter’s five forces framework has been criticized recently (Isabelle et al., 2020, p. 28), it can be argued that it remains the best tool to examine Apple’s competitive position and develop the right strategies for sustained competitiveness.
The marketing strategy in this plan is the use of social media. As explained above, social media has become the go-to tool for modern marketers while shifting from product to marketing innovation. According to Blazeska and Ristovska (2019, p. 31), social media marketing does not require a huge financial investment. However, its design should ensure that user engagement with the brand is effective and that organic content from users regarding the brand is positive. The target customers should be the millennials since they are tech-savvy and have embraced social media. In terms of the marketing mix, Apple Inc. should find the best channels. In this case, an e-commerce platform is the best alternative since online shopping is increasingly becoming a norm. The current pricing strategy for Apple’s products should be sustained since it has helped retain the company’s brand position.
Overall, the marketing plan is built around the online marketing strategy, which encompasses social media marketing. The online strategy comprises such elements as keyword strategy, search engine optimization, paid online advertising, and social media strategy. Keyword strategy helps optimize website visibility while search engine optimization helps the website to show more prominently for the various keywords. The focus should majorly be on the social media strategy where product reviews and consumer feedback are easier to manage.
Application of Theory to Practice
Apple’s overall product strategy is to focus on high-margin, high-profit items that are differentiated from the competition. This strategy makes perfect sense for the company since it allows them to maximize profits at each stage of the product life cycle. For example, Apple sells its hardware at a very high price relative to its competitors and makes up for this by offering less expensive accessories and add-ons to boost their average selling price. In a similar vein, Apple focuses most of its innovation efforts on major new product categories that are intended to make money from consumers who are willing to pay more than others for a premium experience. This strategy has been extremely successful for Apple where they compete against other companies which have very different values when it comes to manufacturing products at high volume.
Pricing
Apple’s pricing strategy has been based on the “premium” price that it charges for its products. Apple decided to charge premium prices because of their belief that the value of products outweighs what consumers would pay for them, regardless of production costs. While Apple has taken a beating for its pricing strategy in recent years, customers do still pay higher prices for their products under the assumption that they will receive innovative and high-quality products.
Promotion
Apple’s advertising plan is innovative and has various goals such as improving brand awareness and increasing product sales. Apple has sophisticated advertising plans to include direct mail, print advertising, and online advertising (Stowe et al., 2021). The company has been at the forefront of technology in its advertisements and uses more artistic methods to sell its products. Apple’s current television commercial which focuses on its new AirPods may be a preview of future advertisements for the company showing even higher levels of high-quality sound coming from users’ devices. The company uses iTunes Radio as a way to promote its product. Apple believes that there are three main parts of an advertising campaign: attention-grabbing, getting the message across in an interesting way, and making sure that the campaign will be noticed by as many people as possible.
Place
Apple is a product-centered company; whose focus is to make the best products. Apple has chosen to use different distribution channels depending on the nature of the product, whom it targets, and for which market. Some of these channel types include direct sales people who would visit the business or customers’ place of residence, indirect sales that gives more importance to marketing by ordering through retail stores, online channels including websites and telemarketing, and lastly international channels which give them access to almost every country in the world.
Consumer Analysis
Developing a marketing strategy requires the consideration of several elements, including the wheel of consumer analysis, which consists of three elements: affect and cognition, consumer behavior, and consumer environment. Affect described how individuals feel products while cognition focuses on what people think about. Marketers need to understand customers’ feelings and thoughts to help develop better marketing strategies. Consumer behavior can be described as how people make their buying decisions as they seek to satisfy their needs and desires. According to Sheth (2021, p. 5), the literature on consumer behavior has evolved over time to cover more aspects of the decision processes involved in purchasing. From a simple focus on motivation research, consumer behavior now covers such topics as user experiences, mindful consumption, cross-cultural consumption, and shared consumption. The aspect of user experience is influenced by the affect and cognition element of the consumer analysis. The rationale is that the customers will develop feelings and start to think about what they went through while consuming a product. These throughs and feelings will then influence purchase intention, one of the key components of consumer behavior.
The third element of consumer analysis is the consumer environment, which influences the customers. The relationship between the customer environment and the other elements is that the environment affects the thinking process and, hence, consumer behavior. Developing an effective marketing strategy requires an understanding of a customer’s experiments, which might comprise sociological, family, and economic factors. The environment will dictate the consumption habits, which in turn informs the best choice of both the products and services to offer and the marketing approaches that will yield the best results.
The wheel of consumer analysis can be an effective tool for Apple to build its brand. As mentioned earlier, consumer behavior comprises such elements as user experience (Sheth, 2021), which can be used to enhance the brand image. In other words, customer behavior reflects the relationship consumers have with the brand, which means that all buyers who prefer a product have had good experiences with it. Today, the user experience offered by Apple through its products means it has successfully created trust among users who will keep consuming the company’s products. The first element of the wheel, affect and cognition, can be targeted by marketers to ensure that the consumers’ thought processes are associated with a positive brand image. Lastly, the consumer environment determines how the users engage with the brand. For example, consumption habits determine what brands are preferred due to the perceived value for the consumers.
Marketing Models: SWOT
Strengths
Apple’s strengths include designing, developing, and distributing mobile devices, computers, and related software; a large selection of hardware products, including iPads and iPhones; a first-class distribution network and broad selection of downloadable applications from the App Store; a loyal customer base of both consumers and businesses. The business model of Apple has been very effective in the luxury market because it gives customers more options for buying more products than their competitors.
Weaknesses
The weaknesses of Apple company are that Apple devices are expensive, and a lot of people use Android phones and not iPhones. Apple has limited features compared to Android-based phones, and the software that runs on it is not as stable. Customers who require more features in their phone may opt for an Android-based phone which can offer more options. The majority of app developers prefer developing those operating systems with a larger market share. Most users would prefer to use apps that suit their needs rather than what suits the company or developer’s marketing requirements.
Opportunities
The opportunities of Apple company are related to the high quality of products and the availability of a large number of applications that offer a wide range and variety of services. The major opportunity for Apple is its high growth rates in smartphones and tablets. Moreover, its strong presence in the global market has increased its sales. A lot of people desire to possess an Apple phone or tablet due to its excellent quality products. Furthermore, Apple will have to expand their products range from time to time and according to customers’ needs so that it can keep its quality at the highest peak level. Taking advantage of these opportunities will help Apple company in securing its position in the global market by increasing its profit margins.
Threats
Apple Inc. has faced several threats to its success in the past few years. Apple is under threat from a large number of competitors that create similar product lines, but most notably the iPhone faces increasing competition from Android handsets and other manufacturers. Prices for these products are constantly dropping, creating a race to the bottom. These threats have been linked to competition, economic cycles, and social factors, as well as behavioral changes taking place across the world. As such, it is evident that Apple needs to pay more attention to these factors to sustain its success.
Marketing Models: BCG
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) developed a model that classifies products as either cash cows, dogs, stars, or question marks. Stars are those products with high market shares and have potential for further expansion. Question marks are the products with a high growth rate but a smaller market share. Cash cows represent items with low growth rate and relatively large market shares. Lastly, dogs have low market share and low growth rate. The BCG matrix for Apple, Inc., is as illustrated using the figure below:
Conclusions and Recommendations
Recommendation
Apple is one of the most well-known brands in the world, but it has been facing challenges lately. Despite its successes and strong brand image, it may be on the verge of losing some market shares to its competitors due to several challenges that it is facing. To address these challenges and continue to offer innovative products in a highly competitive market, Apple should consider pursuing some new strategies that could ensure long-term success as well as stability for the company.
Apple has been successful in the fiercely competitive mobile phone market for more than ten years. To maintain its competitive advantage, Apple needs to continue to innovate and produce devices that are differentiated from competing smartphones, stay ahead of trends in wireless data services and pricing, adapt new operating system features quickly enough to be relevant to customers, decide what markets and customer groups to target and begin serving them, expand into new geographic areas, manage supply chain issues that arise with component shortages or shortages of materials used in its manufacturing process, keep up with rapidly shifting consumer preferences about which devices are cool and fashionable.
Growth Plan
Apple’s growth plan focuses on increasing market share, maintaining high profitability, and capitalizing on new product categories. The company plans to do this by investing in several areas: expanding its retail stores, increasing the number of licensing partners for its products and services, producing more content for its Apple Music service, and expanding into areas such as healthcare and finance.
Strategies for Product Development
Apple’s product development process is designed to maximize the probability of success. Apple uses lean, iterative methods and cross-functional teams to develop products in a short amount of time while keeping the quality standards high. Apple aims to keep a large number of options open and leave room for surprises at all stages of the process, which allows it to adapt quickly while staying focused on innovation. The company is aware of the need to focus and stay close to its customers throughout product development.
Conclusion
Apple’s focus on innovation, design, and marketing has helped make the company a leader in the industry. Apple has been able to maintain continued growth by focusing its business on a narrow array of products and services. The company is pursuing a strategy of offering customers compelling alternatives that deliver exceptional experiences. The key to Apple’s success is that the company has been able to create a unique role for itself in the market, and consistently innovate its products. In addition, Apple has an excellent marketing strategy and always keeps its customers in mind. Apple has a professional workforce that has proven itself over time and continues to improve on its strengths. On the other hand, Apple’s main weakness is its continuous innovation which makes it difficult for competitors to match their price points or their quality standards.
Reference List
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