Marketing Plan of Apple Inc Company

Apple’s Financial Overview The Apple Company has enjoyed stable growth over the last five years with the highest growth rate recorded in the year 2011. Reflectively, the company’s revenues have steadily increased from 48,678 million dollars in 2009 to 170,910 million dollars by the year 2013. Fortunately, the company has not experienced any loss over the five year period.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Plan of Apple Inc Company specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The profit for the company has increased steadily over the half decade period with the highest profit recorded in 2012 at 68,662 million dollars. The stock prices have also been on an upward trend with the highest price recorded in 2012 at 644 per share. From the above overview, it is apparent that the Apple Company has experienced steady growth over the years, despite the serious economic meltdown of 2009 (Google Finance, 2013). Th is is summarized in appendix 1. Current Marketing Situation Consumer segment The Apple retail model targets user consumers who form the majority of its market catchment. Since this target group frequents Apple distribution store, Apple will be in a position to conveniently direct the customers to their designated delivery points and stores without having to directly deliver the products. The company should merge the strategy with advertisements since this group of consumers has access to social media. Due to exposure to information sources such as new papers, television, radio, and magazines, product announcement through these avenues will come in handy. Decision on the best product relies on information feedback after multiple exposures to different competing products. As forecasted in the market research, this strategy will be successful towards dominance as it offers a variety of options to consumers, while at the same time, maximizing benefits of economies of scale to the compan y (Jobber, 2012). Business segment The Apple Company may partner which medium businesses retailing products similar to those of its competitors. This strategy will expand its market and make it easy for customers to access the products.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In order to attract this segment, the company may offer free delivery, delivery products on credit, and series of discount on the basis of the sales volumes achieved by these retailers. When properly implemented, the company is likely to counter the Samsung strategy of reaching the customers through proxy retailers (Jobber, 2012). Targeting Apple Company is currently the leading Personal Computer (PC) retailer in the global computer arena and offers some of the latest and most advanced personal computers and smart phones. Every household consists of potential customers of Apple Company since computers and phone s have become a daily necessity. Recent studies indicate that the majority of this population recognizes the need for affordable, efficient and reliable PC. Thus, the most attractive segment to enter for the company would be a business segment to make the product easily available to the customers. This strategy will steadily expand the company’s market in all the continents without having to incur the cost of renting retail premises. Besides, the company will be in a position to micro manage its operations from a single distribution point (Jobber, 2012). Positioning Strategies In the overcrowded global market for PCs, product positioning is directly linked to the success in the short and long term, especially for the Apple products. In order to achieve the desired goals, Apple should position itself to emphasize the difference between its products and those of its competitors. In order to diversify market operations, Apple Company should continue to create multiple brands thr ough its innovative team in order to keep the company ahead of the other competitors such as Samsung, Nokia, and Motorola. This will create an environment of own competition and blocked other competitors from encroaching into the company’s local and global market (Jobber, 2012). Product Review Product development entails the innovation process aimed at modeling the existing product or improving on it to balance with the changing preferences of the customers. As a result, the older version will be phased out of the market as preferences change (Apple Inc, 2012). As a matter of fact, Apple is the leading company in the PC industry in terms of design and innovation. The company is associated with new innovations and attractive designs that appeal to their customers across the world. The Apple Inc Company has benefited from this strategy in terms of market expansion, especially among its early adopter customers.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Pla n of Apple Inc Company specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Specifically, through product development, the Apple Inc Company has been in a position to optimally exploit opportunities available in the innovation market segment and has gained a significant share in the mobile PCs market at the global level (Jobber, 2012). Competitive Review The 5Ps of marketing mix is defined by Product, Place, Price, Promotion, and People as part of market segmentation. The Apple’s iTunes, iPhone apps, and iPad apps give the company a competitive advantage over its competitions since the company is in a position to create a barrier for its competitors by proliferation the products. For instance, this strategy was beneficial for the Apple Inc Company when it became the first company in the world to provide online music services through its creative iPod and iTunes products. As the first in the online music service, the company reaped from the first m over advantage and expanded to countries such as China, UK and South Africa (Apple Inc, 2012) Apple’s strategy in marketing its products relied on the assertion that â€Å"products don’t just perform, they actually exhibit behavior† (Jobber, 2012, p. 34). This exhibits the nature of niche marketing by focusing on utmost premium quality that customers demand or may not know that they require at that time. The company emphasized on creating trends and affordable prices. Apple’s iPad and iPhone series have become a symbol of status and culture across the global PC industry (Apple Inc, 2012).Moreover, the company may enter into strategic partnership with other companies to advertise its products. In order to boost the revenues for the company through increased market share, it is vital to review latest market data on customer preference in the market segment. Thus, through effective advertisement, the target segment is projected to increase their purchase of the Apple products. Channel and Logistics Review The company has developed a highly structured marketing distribution channels that operate independently of the mother company. As a result, the company has been in a position to capture the fastest growing markets such as France, the UK, China, and Japan, where the innovative and stylistic design of Apple iPhone 4 has become a household name.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More As a matter of fact, Apple Company’s stores have improved on their performance to $19.1 billion as of the year 2012. The establishment of many stores outside America has pushed the revenues of the company by 17%. At present, â€Å"the Apple stores are a key part in major cities. There is a community effect that’s quite powerful† (Jobber, 2012, p. 28). The product development variables at the Apple Inc Company are connected at the central point of strategic planning which encompasses costing, speed, quality, flexibility, and dependability that create a smooth continuous operation tracking model that operates like computer from one segment to another in the competitive PC industry. Therefore, the major part of the success puzzle for operations management strategy delivery operates on the periphery of the soft skills involving the timeless vision of organizational principles, defining value of the business, determining requirements, clarifying the vision, building teams, mitigating task, resolving issues, and providing direction as incorporated in the operations management system of Apple Company (Jobber, 2012). The corporate strategies of the company are based on production, marketing, human resource, and efficiency monitoring units that are distributed to meet the global business standards. Apple has been able to open an average of 40 stores per year across the world since 2003. This is a clear indicator of growth in the company’s market share. This has been made possible through the introduction of the unique iPhone brand that has won the heart of customers across the world. Through modification of the iPhone brand of the Apple Company products, the company has been declared â€Å"the fastest international roll out† (Apple Inc, 2012, par. 21). Through this, the company’s revenues have grown by 32%. In the year 2008, the 3GS iPhone introduced by the company became available in more than 64 countries within three months (Apple Inc, 2012). This was possible due to the presence of an organized market distribution channel. Appendix: Apple’s 5 year Financial Performance Years 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Revenue 48,678 65,225 108,249 156,508 170,910 Profit 23,678 25,684 43,818 68,662 64,304 Profit Margin 23.2 24.1 25.2 26.3 24.1 Growth Rate 4.3 48.1 45.3 34.1 32.6 Stock Price 213.95 326.66 426.70 644.00 549.42 (Source: Google Finance, 2013) References Apple Inc. (2012). Business Application Development. Retrieved from https://www.apple.com/business/ Google Finance. (2013). Apple’s Financial Performance. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/search?q=nasdaq:aapltbm=fin#scso=_tF4TXZbUJ8qwrgSG4KPABQ2:0 Jobber, D. (2012). Principles and practice of marketing.New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Publishers. This essay on Marketing Plan of Apple Inc Company was written and submitted by user Greyson R. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.