Essay: Marketing Management For Changing Consumer Preference Strategy.

Discuss about the Marketing Management for Changing Consumer Preference Strategy.

This report focuses on the marketing strategies of the nominated product which is iPhone X and the competitive product which is Samsung Galaxy S8. The report aims at providing a clear view of the different marketing strategies and the tactics which are implemented by both the companies, on their targeted audience. The main purpose of this report is to formulate a marketing strategy which will help in changing the preferences of the targeted audience from Apple iPhone X to Samsung Galaxy S8. This report understands each aspect associated with these products which help in preparing an effective new marketing strategy. The report follows a process and commences with a research on the target market and the value proposition of the products, iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S8.  The second step is to understand the goals and objectives of the company and the product. The report concludes with an understanding of the marketing mix, which includes all the 7P’s. The analysis is conducted with an approach to build a new marketing strategy which will help in changing the preference from the nominated product to the competitive product which is iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S8 respectively.

The Roy Morgan Value Segment is a tool which has a great potential and aims at dividing and identifying the target markets in a more accurate and meaningful way (Kolberg, 2007). This Roy Morgan Value Segment looks beyond the normal factors of market segmentation which are demographic, geographic, psychographic and behavioral. This process also includes various different factors which provide with an accurate market segment.

The nominated product iPhone X targets the audience aging between 18-35 years, and tries to attract the people who live an extravagant lifestyle and like to stay up-to-date. They enjoy an influential social life and always participate in some gregarious activities. According to the Roy Morgan Value Segment, the iPhone X targets two segments, which are the “Something Better” segment and the “Visible Achievement” segment (Davari & Strutton, 2014). These segments possess, the habit of imitating the celebrities and gaining respect from others by means of expensive products, in a way exhibiting their power to the people. These segments focus on increasing their earnings and utilizing them in an extravagant manner. The iPhone X is a cell phone which is mostly bought by elite people and those who have a good financial status. This cell phone has a reputation for being a futurist, daring and is the most expensive phone of the year 2017. The cell phone is ultra slim, with a new all-screen design feature, along with a great camera and a face-scanning technology. All these features target, the people who have the habit of imitating big personalities and enjoys to show off their power, which are the main traits of people belonging to the “Something Better” and  “Visible Achievement” segment (Luca & Suggs, 2010).

On the other hand, the competitive product which is the cell phone Samsung Galaxy S8, in the context of the Roy Morgan Value Segment, targets the people who belong to the “Socially Aware” segment. This phone is for people belonging to the middle-class and the high-class category. The target audience of this segment ranges from the student category to the famous businessmen, all come in this segment (Naik, Raman & Winer, 2005). They have a huge market scale, ranging from the age of 16 to 45 and even above it. A person belonging to this segment is well educated and well informed. They have an intellectual approach to life and thus makes investments which are smart and beneficial in all aspects. This segment enjoys latest technologies and systems. The Samsung Galaxy S8 targets this segment with some of its new features like the Bixby assistant, Dex Dock feature and the new gear VR headset. These are some of the few features which are more likely to attract people who are intellectual, competitive and believes in setting new trends. These qualities are the key traits of people belonging to the “Socially Aware” segment (Sohail & Mahmood, 2001).

The value proposition is a marketing statement, which focuses on the benefits which a customer will enjoy by buying a product or a service, from a specific vendor. Value proposition highlights the qualities of a product which will attract a potential customer. Value proposition mostly aims at showing a customer why the product is more useful than the other products in the same category (Voina, 2004).

The brand ‘Apple’ is considered to have the best value proposition plan and with their every product they get better. The main focus, in all the iPhones, is to build something which is not like all the other cell phone but to have distinctive features. In the case of iPhone X, the company created a portrayal of it is to be the coolest cell phone of the year and with many futuristic additions (Abdullah, 2018).  The Apple’s basic focus on the value proposition of iPhone X comes from the pressure it imposes on the sleek body and the new easy access to the phone with the aspirational quality which the iPhone X offers its customers.  The Apple offers other new features in the iPhone X, justifying the price which the company is charging. The main strategy which the Apple follow, when building their value proposition is, that they don’t focus on the specific features of the cell phone. Apple emphasis on the experience which a customer will gain after using an iPhone. The iPhone X launch was the most exciting launch in years (Devi Prasad Kotni, 2014).

The brand Samsung has received a massive success over the years due to its powerful value proposition. After the failing, of Samsung Galaxy S7, the company launched the Samsung Galaxy S8, with a bigger and better approach, which will help the company regain their credibility back. The company emphasized on the new features in the Samsung Galaxy S8 along with the sleek design of the phone. The company imposed focus on the specific features, which have never been a part of any other Samsung phones like the Bixby feature and the facial recognition technology. All these features, are the key factors of the value proposition, which justifies the increased price of the Samsung Galaxy S8, which helped in attracting and convincing the customers (Dominici, 2009).

The value proposition is thus a very important marketing strategy, as it informs the customers about the different aspects of the product, which helps in forming a comparison with their competitor’s product and further helps in informing the customer, that which product is better between the nominated and the competitive product 

The following table explains the goals and objectives of Samsung Galaxy S8, which has to be looked after, for the next three years, that is, from 2018-2020. These goals will serve as the driving force to bring improvement in the marketing strategies every year to achieve the company’s objectives (Srivastava, 2012). These goals are also set, with the focus that the customers will change their preference from the nominated product which is the iPhone X to the competitive product Samsung Galaxy S8. 

According to Civi, the strategies which are created for the effective implementation of the marketing process can only be conducted if there is adequate planning. This planning requires a proper study, which should be conducted on the proper implementation of the marketing mix. The 7P’s are the crucial factor which requires the attention and discipline, to change the preference of the targeted audience from Apple iPhone X to Samsung Galaxy S8. The following are the marketing mix of the Samsung Galaxy S8.

• Product:Samsung Galaxy S8 has improved by introducing unique features, with a faster processor and a better battery backup. The cell phone has many new features which have never been included before in any of the Samsung products, as it is the most focused cell phone which the company has manufactured till date (Dempsey, 2017).
• Wider screen:There is an increasing demand in the cell phone with a bigger screen, and the company has fulfilled it by providing with an extra wide screen which is 18.5:9 in ratio with a 570 pixels per inch density. It is wider than any of the other cell phones in the same category. In comparison to the Apple iPhone X, the screen is wider in iPhone X than Samsung Galaxy S8, but its pixel per inch density is very less, that is 458 pixels per inch density.
• Bixby: The Bixby assistance will inform you about the latest weather and the many new updates related to the sports or any other field. But the main work of Bixby is to take commands through voice, it also facilitates with the information about any product and where you can buy it, just with a simple use of the camera. In Apple iPhone x, the voice commands are mainly taken by Siri, which many times requires repetitive attempts of voice-overs, as the iPhone X misses a couple of times.
• Better Battery:The Samsung Galaxy has worked on its battery, due to the issues which were faced in the Samsung Galaxy S7. The Samsung Galaxy S8 has a non-removable 3000 mAh battery with 11.55 watt-hours. In comparison to it, the iPhone X has a battery which is a non-removable 2716 mAh battery with 10.35 watt-hours (Dempsey, 2016). 

The Samsung Company should follow the marketing strategy of ‘spray and pray’, which will have a bigger impact on the target audience.

• Price: The iPhone X is an expensive cell phone which is affordable by the high-class people, who have a huge financial status. But the Samsung Galaxy S8 phones are placed at a reasonable price which may be a bit higher than its other products but is lesser than the iPhone X. The prices are kept reasonable, so they are affordable by the middle and high-class people. This is due to the big range of target audience of the Samsung brand. The Samsung Galaxy price mix, is a very crucial for the marketing strategies as the services which it is providing the customers are equivalent or even better in comparison to the price which the other companies are charging. The pricing strategy which the company should follow should be between the skimming price strategy and the economy price strategy (LaPlaca, 2007).
• Promotion: The promotional strategies of the Samsung and the iPhone X are completely different. Samsung approach towards promotions is very aggressive, with the new schemes, which are continuously updated and broadcasted through the local media. Their connection with the print and electronic media is so strong that they use it effectively for informing the customers about each and every bit associated with their product, which they did with the Samsung Galaxy S8 too. Their promotional activities have conquered the social media too, with regular posts related to the Samsung Galaxy S8, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. The iPhone X also have a strong approach but lacks behind when compared with the company Samsung. Also, the iPhone X was not promoted through the means of local media, print media and the electronic media on a large scale. The Samsung should conduct the promotional strategy of “push and pull”, which is a great strategy for any product, as it helps in receiving immediate feedbacks (Lindgreen & Anthony Di Benedetto, 2017).
• Place: The products by Samsung are launched all over the world, including both the developing and the developed countries. But the company has a strategy of focusing on the developing countries more than the developed countries.The Apple has an opposite approach to it and follows it even while launching the iPhone X, where their main targeted customers belonged to the developed countries. The Samsung Galaxy S8 has made the developing countries a key factor in their marketing strategies. The company should use the strategy of channel marketing concept, which has three parts, sales and service segment, retailer and the distributors (Wiens & Corcoran, 2014).
• People: The iPhone X targets the people who belong to the elite class and they believe in showcasing their power through means of expensive products. The Samsung Galaxy targets the people who are working individuals at a pay near to $600 per month and also targets the students and the business professionals. The Samsung Galaxy S8 focuses on the people who are intellectual and they believe in good investments. The Samsung should surround itself with the right people who are paid fairly, as the people working in the company are also a big part of the marketing strategy (Korkeamäki & Takalo, 2013).
• Process: The Samsung Galaxy S8 will be launched all over the world, but the company has decided to introduce it initially to the Asian countries and then the rest of the world. The Apple gives the Asian countries the last preference when they plan to launch, their any new product. The iPhone X will hit the Asian market months after it is launched in the rest of the world.
• Physical Environment: There is a physical environment which is associated with any product and services which a company offers, in the form of guarantee and warranty cards too. Both the products are sold with both these cards, but the issue with iPhone X is that they don’t consider the cards if the cell phone is bought from any other country (Arruda-Filho, Cabusas & Dholakia, 2010). 

The marketing mix, informs about the different strategies which are conducted by the Apple and the Samsung. They have a very different approach towards their audience and have built strategies surrounding them.

• The marketing mix proposed above gives a clear comparison between both the nominated and the competitive product. This comparison is drawn to provide the customer with a bigger view of both the products by covering each aspect in detail, which the customers mostly ignores.
• The proposed marketing mix gives a deeper view into the value proposition of both the companies and the comparison in the prices which are being paid, is a definite and a strong point for a customer to switch from iPhone X to Samsung Galaxy S8 (O’Brien, 2013).
• The information about the physical aspect of the products clear an aspect which is not usually discovered and it informs the customers that they are provided with the needed security which the Apple is failing to do.
• The promotional strategies have the biggest impact on the customers, in deciding which product to buy. With the Samsung huge range in the promotional aspect, including even the local media, is a great attempt which will help in switching the customer from iPhone X to Samsung Galaxy S8, as they are increasing their brand awareness (Tucker, 2009). 

Conclusion

The marketing management strategies, which have been proposed are the one which will help in the changing the preference of the customers. The Samsung Galaxy S8 is a better cell phone with all the features which are being provided, and the features are equivalent to the iPhone X, which has failed in the market due to the over-hyping of the product and then not meeting the expectations of the customers. This is the main reason why the Apple Company is closing its production and will again launch it in the future with some changes. The Samsung Galaxy S8 phones are fulfilling their promised value propositions and providing them with value for money product. It was due to the failing of Samsung Galaxy S7 that the company puts their entire focus on the Galaxy S8 and provided the customer with a phenomenal handset, which is excelling in all departments when compared with iPhone X. 

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