市场营销论文之Marketing-Plan-for-iPad

Marketing Plan for iPad1 Executive SummaryAs a famous company in the word, Apple has developed a new computer, the iPad, in a comparatively maturing market. Besides the dominance of Apples fame, the product can compete because it offers a unique combination feature at a value-added price. We has specific segmentations in consumer and business market.We are taking advantage of our strengths and opportunities sizeing the market and promoting our product. Depending on the detailed analysis of the environment, market strategy, market mix, our company can function well.The goal is to sell 3 million to 4 million in the first 12 months its available and to sell 8 million iPad in 2011.Whats more,the profit of selling iPad will gain 4.6 billion dollars for Apple.2 Situational Analysis 2.1 SWOT AnalysisSWOT analysis is an overall evaluation of the companys strengths(S),weakness(W),opportunities(O),and threats(T).As a new product,iPad has its own strengths,weaknesses,opportunities and threats.iPad has several powerfull strengths on characteristics,but the major weakness is lack of the local storage.The major opportunity is the wonderfull sales in areas such as medicine which owes to the ability to access software and files on other computers remotely.We also need to face the threat of higher competition from other computer makers such as Hewlett-Packard,Acer and Dell,as well as pricing pressure.Table 2.1.1 summarizes iPads main strengths,weakness,opportunities and threats.Strengthsu A thin,lightweight body with a powerfull battery.u Be capable of handling many of the tasks consumers deem important in netbooks.u All the procedures of iPhone can be applied on iPad.Weaknessesu Without camera,USB,and has no chance of changing battery.u Lack of storage.Opportunitiesu The demand appears to be diverse.u Make it to be a magical device with the ability to consume media in all its many forms.Threatsu Intense competitionu Downward pricing pressure. 2.2 Industry AnalysisAs a computer maker,of course,there are many other computer makers in the industry.Knowing the industry situation in detail is important for the company iPad is a new product,which is entering the industry.As a lightweight device,iPad browses the web and delivers media,may serve as an alternative to netbooks and pose a threat to PC makers.There are other computer makers such as Hewlett-Packard,Acer and Dell.Although the customer market is big enough in size,the kinds of computer makers are diverse. Whats more,all the other computer makers are busy working on its product to keep the position in the industry.So according to the analysis of industry,iPad need much more effort to keep its position in the market. 2.3 Competitive AnalysisAs we all know,there are many competitors in this industry.We need to provide greater customer value and satisfaction that its competitors do.So it is very important to analysis the competition environment.Key competitors include:u Hewlett-Packard.As iPad enters the market,the PC makers have much more pressure on the sales and price of netbooks and tablet devices.Hewleet-Pakard has excellently introduced a tablet ,it calls the slate at the dConsumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas.As a big company,HP has its advantages in the competition with other companies.HP will spend ten percent of its profit on studying strategies about producing new products.It has do much effort on the workers.All the workers who has been employed wont be fired easily.So the relationship between boss and workers are very well.The company respects its employees and admits achievement that made by its employees.certainly the company has a good working environment.Besides,HP has a good cultural environment,the boss pays much attention on culture of company. u Acer .According to considering the pressure and the analysis in the PC industry.A vice-president at PC maker ,Acer says the smaller computers will probably keep their place.Soifipad want to control the market,it will be a hard task.Whats more,Acer is working on a tablet product that will compete head-to-head with Apples iPad.And its due to be announced in the second half of 2010.u Dell.facing the new product of Apple,Dell says that they dont pay much attention on it.They think the iPad is a developed product based on the iPod Touch.But Dell also develops a new product to improve its position in the industry.Whats more,the new product of Adamo 13 is a lightweight device,which is the most powerfull product to Apple. And the product is faster than it is before.Although the competition is very strong,iPad can still carry out a definite image and gain recognition among the market segmentations.Also,offering an ability of consume media in all its many forms as a standard feature gives the product a competitive advantage. 2.4 Customer AnalysisIn fact,there are many different customers in the industry,so the number of customer is very large.As we all know,customers want to get value-priced product.But there is difference between individuals households,companies and government.consumers usually face a broad array of products and services that might satisfy a given need.from the figures 2.4.1 below,we can see the customer environment clearly. From the picture,we can see that,as a good product,iPad has a good customer environment in the competition with other products.At least,we need not to worry to mnch about the customer relationships.At the same time,it tells us that although iPad is a new product,it can satisfy the customers needs,wants and demands.Conducting consumer research and analyzing mountains of customer data is the key to winning the customers. 2.5 CommentsAccording to the analysis about the situation of iPad,in the computer industry,iPad has its own position.In fact,the name of Apple has being an advantage.Whats more,iPad has many advantages,but still has much pressure and weakness as well as challenge and opportunities.Although the competition is very strong,but considering the whole factors,we should not worry about the situation.Although we has done not enough in some aspects,but we can try to change the situation in the future.3 Marketing Strategy 3.1 Marketing and Product ObjectivesMarketing strategy is the marketing logic by which the business unit hopes to achieve its marketing objectives.As a product of Apple,iPad has its own great marketing objective.We are going to expand our markets,we will enter 9 countries in the whole word.But in the future,we will enter more countries.As for the product objective,of course,product objective is very important for a product.So the strengths and weakness are very important for a company.Both of them can affect the sales of a product.For iPad,it has its own strengths,which has been analysed in the SWOT analysis.It is internal capability that may help a company reach its objectives.However,the weakness,internal limitations that may interfere with companys abilities to achieve its objectives.The product goal is to sell 3 million to 4 million in the first 12 months and to sell 8 million iPads in 2011. 3.2 Market SegmentationMarket segmentation is the process of dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers who have different needs,characteristics,or behaviours and who might require separate products or marketing programs.Though market segmentation,companies divide large,heterogeneous markets into smaller segments that can be reached more efficiently and effectively with products and services that match their unique needs.The segmentation includes segmenting consumer markets,segmenting business markets,segmenting international markets.When segmenting consumer markets,we should look at the major geographic,demographic,psychographic and behavioral variable.Here we just list some kinds of them.u World Region and Country.iPad has many developed markets in many countries in the world.But the price and sales are different in different countries.Between the countries like North America,Western Europe,Middle East,China,India,Canada,we should put the countries which has common characteristics into together and make out one kind of strategies.u Student.Infact,iPad is a new attractive product.However,the student is a big market for iPad.we can define the students by their age,gender,income,education.As students, most of them are young,they are sense to the new technological product,whats more,iPad has many functions that will attracts them,like the games,movies.A product that is designed just for students can be developed.The most important is that iPad needs not be changed too much. That is to say,iPad can be separated for several kinds in the market.u Social Class.Different people use iPad for different reasons.For example,lowers,upper lowers,working class,middle class,upper middles,lower uppers and uppers has different useness to buy iPad.At the same time,the useness is vary because of the user status,user rates.For iPad,it sees the opportunities for the sales in areas such as medicine.doctor who to view patient records or X-ray images can do so from a device like iPad that connected remotely to another computer where patient files are stored.Whats more,iPad can be taken outside the office for work,which will help the people who need to work outside the office.So this is another market for iPad.The marketing segmentation are too complicated,it is impossible to detail all the aspects.But what matters is that when making strategy for company.It is necessary to segmenting the market in detail and do much market investigation,after all,market segmentation is a key step foe one company to achieve its goals. 3.3 Target MarketingTarget marketing means that the company begin to take measures to marketing base on market targeting.so the company should evaluate market segments and select target market segments first.In fact,a target market consists of a set of buyers who share common needs or characteristics that the company decides to serve.When selecting target market segments,there are target marketing strategies(Figure 3.3.1) to shows that companies can target very broadly,very narrowly,or somewhere in between.Target broadly Targeting narrowlyUndifferentiated(mass)marketingDifferentiated(segmented)marketingConcentrated(niche)marketingMicromarketing(local or individual marketing) As for iPad,because it is a new product in the industry.the is to enter the industry and keep its position first.Although iPad is very good,it has many advantages,but it still has many disadvantages at the same time.When it successfully enter the computer industry and gains profits,we can focus on differentiated(segmented) marketing,concentrated marketing and micromarketing.So iPad is a product that will apppeal to a large number of buyers.But we can see that iPad is not a product that has only common functions.Besides the common function that other computers has,it has more advantages than other netbooks and tablet devices.So iPad appeals to the differentiated marketing,even the micromarketing.In the concentrated marketing,there are a position for iPad too.The conclusion is that iPad is more or less satisfy the target marketing.What should be changed is that we should make up the shortage and try our best to improve the product as possible. 3.4 PositionPosition means to arranging for a product to occupy a clear,distinctive and desirable place relative to competing products in the mind of target consumers.Just like one positioning expert puts it,position is how you differentiate your product or company-why a shopper will pay a litter more attention for your brand.A products position is the way the product is defined by consumers on important attributes-the place the product occupies in consumers mind relative to competing products.So the right product position is important the sales of one product.Besides it is the same with our product.In position the product,we first indentify possible customer value differences that provide competitive advantages upon which to build the position.our company can offer greater customer value either by changing lower prices than competitors do or by offering more benefits to justisfy higher prices.But if our company promises greater value,it must then deliver that greater value.So we have to position our product begins with differentiation.Actually,differentiating our companys market offering so that it gives consumers more value.So our companys entire marketing program should support the position strategy.Considering the competitive advantages that iPad has and using product differentiation,we can position the iPad as the most convenient versatile device for personal and businesses use. 3.5 CommentsIn this section,the marketing strategy gives a clear looking at the iPad.we focus on the objetives,market segmentation,target marketing,product position.the detail analysis will help iPad hold the right market strategy and service direction,which is helpful for iPad.4 Marketing MixThe marketing mix is the set of controlllable tactical marketing tools-product,price,place,and promotion-that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market.Figure4.1 shows the four Ps of the marketing mix.PriceList priceDiscountsAllowancesPayment periodCredit termsProductVarietyQualityDesignFeatureBrand namePackagingServices Target customers Intended positioningPlaceChannelCoverageAssortmentsLocationsInventoryTransportationLogisticsPromotionAdvertisingPersonal sellingSales promotionPublic relations 4.1 ProductProduct means the goods-and-services combination the company offers to the target market.Product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention,acquisition,use,or consumption that might satisfy a want or need.As for iPad,we can have a clear understanding the product quality,product features,product style and design,the brand,the labeling,the product support services.Many people know that iPad is a product produced by Apple,and they have faith with the quality about our product.In fact,our products are really very good,which is known to the market.After all,quality has a direct impact on product or service performance.i Pad can last for a long time when it is working and it can be used for many years.iPad has its own product features style and design.Feature is a competitive tool fordiferentiating the companys product from competitors products.Being the first producer to introduce a valued new feature is one of the most effective ways to compete. Style simply describes the appearance of the product.Good design contributes to a products usefulness as well as to its looks.iPad is a lightweight device with the ability of handling many of the tasks which are important in netbooks.It is designed to provide access to e-mail,the Internet and digital media.Whats more,the small shape is very convenient for people to hold it in hand.In fact,Apple has done much well in the product support services,which is to say that iPad has developed a famous brand.If we make iPad known to the publics clearly,it has informed the first step of the marketing mix. 4.2 PriceIn the narrowest sense,price is the amount of money charged for a product or service.More broadly,price is the sum of all the values that customers gives up in order to gain the benefits of having or using a product or service.Price has been the major factor affecting buyer choice and it is one of the most important elements determining a firms market share and profitability.In the marketing mix,price is the only element that produce the revenue and it is also one of the most flexible marketing mix elements.Some managers view pricing as a big headache,preferring instead to focus on the other marketing mix elements.Smart managers treat pricing as a key strategic tool for creating and capturing customer-value prices have a direct impact on a firms bottom line.For iPad,when setting prices,we can take the way that value-based pricing.It is setting prices based on buyers perceptions of value rather than on the sellers cost.It includes toe types:good-value pricing and value-added pricing.u Good-value Pricing.Good-value pricing is offering just the right combination of quality and good service at a fair price.In fact, iPad is of good qualities,and we have offered good services.Its known to all that our product,iPad would not do damage to the eyes,it has a long life,has the ability of working for long hours once been charged.After you buying the product,we can repair the product freely in a period,and we have offer other good services.Whats more,we have good after-sale service policy as iPod.So the good-value pricing strategy should be a good choice.u Value-added Pricing.Value-added pricing is attaching value-added features and services to differentiate a companys offers and to support charging higher prices.iPad is a small lightweight device,which is the key value-added feature because it means that we should take more effort on the technology,we have put the Google map,calendar,e-mail into the device.Based on the effective and technology hardship, we should not worry too much about taking the value-added pricing strategy.Setting a price of $ 499,compared with about $ 400 or less for many kinds of netbooks,proved the value-added pricing strategy is right. 4.3 PlacePlace includes company activities that kake the product available to target consumers.Place is also an important element in the marketing mix.we have places like the Internet,the speciality stores.Today,we sell the product mostly in the speciality stores.But we can take many other ways to sell our products.The major is retailing and wholesaling.u Retailing.retailing includes all the activities involved in selling products or services directly to final consumers for their personal,nonbusiness use.there are many types of store retailers in the market.For example,speciality store,department store,supermarket,superstore,category killer.we can put iPad in the experience shop of our company.The place can appears in the whole places all over the world.Taking China for example,iPad can be sold in the supermarket like the Suning electrical,the coontries beauty appliances.u Wholesaling.Wholesaling is also an important place for the product.Wholesaling are all activities involved in selling goods and services to those buying for resale or business use.There are many types of wholers,like merchant,wholesalers,truck wholesales,broker and agents.Considering the functions of iPad,there should be a large market for it.Our companys goal is to sell its product and to gain profits.So taking the wholesaling as a place is right.What we need to do is that we should choose the right wholesalers.That is to say we should have a clear recognization about the wholesalers.so that we can gain profit enough. 4.4 PromotionPromotion means activities that communicate the merits of the produce and persuade target customers to buy it.Then,the promotion mix can help our company make a usefull promotion plan.Promotion mix(Marketing promotion mix) consists of the specific blend of adertising,sales promotion,public relation,personal selling and direct-marketing tools that the company uses to persuasively communicate customer value and build customer relationships.We can also use many forms of promotion tools.u Advertising.It is any paid form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion of ideas ,goods or services by an indentified sponsor.we should understand the advertising strategy.Advertising strategy is the strategy by which the company accomplishes its advertising objectives. It consists of two major elements: creating