Apple's Marketing Audit: Macro And Micro Analysis, SWOT, Competitive Analysis Essay.

You are required to produce a marketing audit for one of the following companies:

1. BMW
2. Apple
3. HSBC
4. Airbnb
5. Singapore Airlines

The purpose of this assignment is to produce a comprehensive marketing audit that would support a marketing plan. The audit will be produced for a company or brand and will focus on one market only. Students will be given by their tutor the choice of 5 companies, where they need to select one, and produce a thorough, well researched and comprehensive marketing audit. 

Select one company or brand from the list provided. You must produce a marketing audit report for this company / brand reviewing only one market e.g. UK, HK or Singapore. 

Conduct independent research using quality sources to provide the evidence to support your analysis. E.g. Mintel, Keynote etc.

This report will focus on Apple marketing audit and examine the internal and external factors that would affect their marketing approach and plan. The first part is Macro analysis, which influences the political factors as numerous of Apple parts are imported from diverse countries and it affects it drastically. In addition, government regulation on taxes imposed a VAT and this resulted in decline of sales. It influences economic factors as no. of parts of Apple phone, iPads, or Laptops, which is directly comparative to the economic condition in the country. Social factors as products have demonstrated to be effective in several beliefs because they are reliant on improvement of technology, which has been assimilated in almost all corners of the world. Technological factors as it moves as per the movements in the development of latest innovation (Al Fahad, Al Mahmud, Miah and Islam, 2015). They use state of the art technology to create the products and modernize the software from time to time. Environmental factors are important factor as organization safeguards that not all its waste products are reprocessed properly and which are not reprocessed that are inclined with safety measures in such a way that the surroundings is not exaggerated. Legal factors in combination with the functions of a enterprise are the main aspect as include lawful actions, government regulations carried out in specific limitations (Clarke and Boersma, 2017).

The second part is Micro analysis which analyse the internal environment i.e. consumers, suppliers, company, and competitors as this gives an overall idea about profit margin, immense competition, numerous players, moderate product differentiation, market share, and technological changes. Next discussion is on competitive analysis using strategic groups, which looks at player’s position in the competitive scenario that determine a company’s productivity, as well as the competitive changing aspects of an industry. It also reviews their closest competitors, which reveals the commitment towards growth and expansion of industry.  The last part is SWOT analysis, which will examine the company’s strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (Gonzalez-Padron, 2016).  

Apple Inc. is an American multinational establishment headquartered at Cupertino in California. Its popular hardware products are iPhones, iPads, Macintosh Computers, iPods, and Apple TVs. It was recognized by Steve Jobs, Ronald Whyne, and Steve Wozniak on April 1, 1976 and was amalgamated as Apple computers Inc. on Jan 3, 1977 to redirect its shifted concentration towards technology. It is the second-biggest innovation company by income after Samsung Electronics devices and the third biggest mobile producer after HTC and Samsung. On Sept 30, 2013, it surpassed Coca-Cola to become the most appreciated brand in the Omnicom Group’s “Best Worldwide Brands” (Gee, 2017).

It is known for its cutting-edge and creative genius in the field of innovation. It provides best in class items, which makes it exceptionally challenging for its consumers to switch over another varieties. Since last era, it has launched innovative products, which has improved the way technology manufacturing works. It has transformed the smartphone market with the iPhone, music player marketplace with the forms of iPods, an astonishing Mac Series, and iTunes (Thomas and Alluru, 2016).

Competitive Analysis

Arguably, a reasonable environment, which the business is operating, makes it strengthen in a high-tech product improvement to be at the top in the reasonable market environment. Comparably, HP and Dell are gaining of Apple in portable and desktop computers in the United States and universally. Moreover, it is facing aggressive competition with heavyweight producers such as Lenovo, Asus, and Acer. In 2015, it was at the 5^th position with orientation to global market shares. Faced with these rivalries, it needs to recollect the market shares to record gainful market shares in computer and other Apple brands. It is pursuing a broad differentiation approach by offering high eminence, personalized facility, and exceptional design. It shines in the areas of manufacturing design and focuses to convey a product that is both fashionable and at once ecological achievable and natural which resulted in success of company’s existing marketing strategy (Piao and Kleiner, 2015).

In the following, an effort has been made to describe the marketing audit of the company, micro and macro analysis, SWOT, competitive analysis, and Key strategic priorities of the same.    

This analysis covers the environment understanding study, which covers the influence of each aspect on the association.

Political Factors

Apple Inc. is a U.S created organization, but many of its pieces are imported from various nations comprising Ireland, China, and Korea etc. Consequently, the political aspects influence Apple extremely. Any variations into any administration influence the imports and exports and directly or indirectly, the share procurement is influenced. In addition, government conventions on taxes can likewise influence an organization, for example, recently the UK administration levied a VAT of 20% on microelectronics, and this bring about the decrease of electric sales, and the association was influenced. The political setting that the business works is favourable for its operations. Since it functions universally, the business still has to accept by the rules and principles of the nations that it is functioning (Huggins, Burger, Pretorius and Overby, 2016).

Since Apple is a quality product, so the no of parts of Apple headsets, iPads, or Laptops is straight relative to the economic state in the nation. If the economy were good, persons would acquire an ever increasing such types of high-class gadgets and if the budget were bad, persons would maintain a strategic distance from such types of comfortable products. Subsequently, as the downturn is reaching the end (as per the current scenario), individuals will have their funds left after spending in for their requirements and thus ensuing into the acquisition of quality products like Apple. It recorded more than 37.7% of its market shares from the U.S. and more than 23% and 21.26% in Europe and Asia-Pacific (Khan, Alam and Alam, 2015). 

Developed countries such as the US with numerous socio-cultural practices and civilizations encounter quick variations in way of life. Perhaps, these energetic lifestyles push producers of customer electronics to evaluate their products strategies. For example, some part of the populace prefers microelectronics with improved graphical features, others may have persuaded towards lighter and minor products with extensive battery life for comfort when travelling, others need consistent products for everyday activities, and others require new products esteem purposes. People approach towards products is remarkable because the company objects both low and high-end customers when advertising its products. To fulfil the customer tastes, the establishment deigns creatively products to match the customer’s tastes and preferences as this can influence accessibility and willingness of personnel to work (Chebolu-Subramanian and Gaukler, 2014).

SWOT Analysis

The US consumer microelectronics market is subjective by the quick variations in technology. Every other single year, incorporated trails, and in addition other significant electronic mechanisms become more competent, speedier, and inexpensive. This enhances the value of new consumer electronics. Furthermore, these vibrant innovation changes disorder the offer of prevailing products. For example, software and hardware mechanisms varies by leading producers such as Microsoft and Intel separately influences since the organization must modify its product expansion determinations to suit these innovative variations as well as to deal personalised understanding to its consumers. As apple is considered as the technological sound establishment in the world and products are seen as market leaders in the various segments (Latif, Hassan, Latif, Rasheed and Yousaf, 2014).

It states that the organization completely deliberates the influence that the corporation’s products have on the surroundings when been utilized and after they have ceased, been used. The establishment expresses that less material is currently been utilized in all phases of the products to ensure that the effects that the organization has to the atmosphere is limited to the minimal level possible. It ensures that waste material is to be recycled properly and are inclined with precautions in such a way that atmosphere is not affected (Bertels, Koen and Elsum, 2015).

Legal factors in combination with the elements of an organization represent aspects of government direction and rules that influence or relatively control the association in a country. The most fundamental phase of government regulations incorporates issuance of company documentation and taxes. Legitimate activities applied by a administration are intended to put restraints on all company undertakings being agreed out in a particular place. For instance, the UK government evacuated the permissible restrictions that confined the administrations from having unions amongst themselves. It includes especially the intelligent possessions attracts the legal impact of Apple. It makes sure that they retain all the patents complete and continues hostile for patents to battle the opposition (Charan, 2017).

The Establishment is devoted to conveying the best client involvement to its consumers through its advanced hardware, software, and services. The association corporate strategy affects its unique capability to project and build up its own operating classifications, hardware, application programming and services to deliver its customer’s items and resolutions with a creative design, superior ease-of-use, and consistent amalgamation (Jamil et al., 2015).

They consider a high-quality procurement understanding with familiar merchants who can deliver the assessment of the organization’s products and services significantly enriches its capability to fascinate and preserve consumers. Therefore, the organization policy also embraces constructing and escalating its own particular retail and virtual stores and its third-party conveyance system to successfully achieve more consumers and offer them with a high-quality sales and post-sales sustenance involvement. In addition, Apple considers consistent investment in marketing, research and development (“R&D”), and promotion is critical to the improvement and sale of advanced products and improvements.

This chart shows Apple’s newly released iPhones have enlarged in sales during its first week after being presented into the market.

Macdailynews, (2014) 

Political Factors

Apple retains capital resources at many of its suppliers’ conveniences and participates in stock advances at negotiated prices. This arrangement is convenient and retains Apple’s processes lean, but there are possibilities. The business’s purchase assurances can be as long as 150 days, and revolution moves quickly. While Apple constantly reviews these properties, with the step of technologies, regardless of whether finished products or constituents, can become obsolete. However, Apple needs to have some stock prepared to go, so when it comes to these sorts of contracts, suppliers have constrained power (Fallahpour, Kazemi, Molani, Nayyeri and Ehsani, 2018).

Apple products request to an assortment of groups with diverse demographics. Overall, its products are centred towards middle/upper-class consumers who are youthful-tech-savvy and have a greater willingness-to-pay for quality products. Their devices such as i-Pad are further being combined into the professional community due to their ubiquity and understanding with workers, who are often customers as well. The iPad’s exclusive app-based platform allows establishments to progress their own apps that cater explicitly to functions that they need performed (Chen and Ann, 2016).

The Main competitors of Apple are HP, Dell, Nokia, Sony, Ericsson, Toshiba, Lenovo, Samsung, IBM, Microsoft etc. They have struggled to tab the market share away from Apple. The research revealed that it produces a variety of smartphones and computer models as well as their particular equipment.  As apple tops the chart in product development, economies of scale and customer service but perform inadequately on dissemination channels. Then also, apple products are only accessible in particular provisions. Google, on the other hand, lists an average score on these four presentation pointers while Samsung has the most reduced positioning particularly according to the recent statistics and facts (Peng and Liang, 2016). 

(Aboveavalon,2017)

(Aboveavalon,2017)

As Fig 1 states that through diagonally it can be seen that Apple has been placed above Samsung and HTC. It interprets that it is the largest multinational technology company and they are bit lower than Apple in context of popularity and innovation. As Fig 2 states that, the consumer markets can be essentially divided into three groups. These are the low-end markets, which are stated by low-income consumers; the mid-end market considered by a mid-income level of customers; and the high-end market, which comprises of the high earners considered by high purchasing authority. Based on this explanation, it can be rightly perceived that Apple has embraced the high-value and high value marketing approach, which draws the high-end part of the consumer market. It has given emphasis on providing extraordinary High-quality products, proficient advice, and repairs on premium values. It is well known for its devoted and passionate customer base and centred on technological change and product innovation (Wang, Krasich, Bel-Bahar, Hughes, Mitroff and Appelbaum, 2015).

(Kathonewmedia, 2016)

As it can be seen from the above perpetual map, Apple is strongly associated with “high reliability” and “high-durability” as they are directly associated with terms further away, such as ease to use, innovation, high-tech, quality, fun, and young. It has proved from the above map that its reliability and durability is high from the other brands such as Toshiba, Dell, and Compaq. It also shows the position of the products in customers’ mind graphically into two magnitudes. It permits a company to enlighten how a customer perceives rivalry of the products relative to product of the establishment and taking the marketing activities. It has positioned itself as the smartphone of choice among many consumers as it offers a consistent product, modern design, evolution of the product every 2 years, and fits into any lifestyle. It has a branding strategy, which focuses on the emotions, which is their first priority (Iacobucci, Grisaffe and DeSarbo, 2017).

Economic Factors

However, Apple tops the register in customer service, product innovation, and economies of scale but executes poorly on distribution networks since Apple items are only available in particular stores. It is taking 93% of the earnings in the smartphone industry now. It is the only business making money from smartphones anymore (Kim, Park and Kim, 2015). It is always the leading light, but for a short while, it looked like Samsung was working to catch apple. Samsung’s share of the business’s profits is down to 9% as its returns crater. It is under attack from Apple at the high end with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus (Rogers and Lee, 2016).

Dell is majorly known as a manufacture of desk-based and mobile PCs. Rivalry between Dell and Apple began when the earlier launched a rival product Dell DJ that although carried in significant revenue, it still did not equal the success and standards of Apple iPods. It also not offers other products other than PCs and accessories. That indeed Apple remains most profitable phone maker by a wide margin (Cortez, Ikram, Nyuyen and Pravini, 2015).

1. Strengths-

• Advanced products-One of the fundamental assets of Apple throughout the years has been its advanced product offering up. Apple has displayed hit products that has been the significant asset of Apple. At first, it came with the MacBook, then the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad.
• Qualified management team– Through their innovative method to business, Apple has increased high involvement in the administration of business improvement and potential emergency that might emerge from such (Basole, 2016).
• Consumer attention –Apple constantly plans its products with an effort on customers while charge their mind in the prospect. They always attempt to visualize the things which even the customer has not envisioned yet.

2. Weakness-

• Focus on progressive markets– It was noted that Apple has specifically focused on consumers from progressive economies and this confines their comprehension of how to deal with a business in emerging and underdeveloped economies.
• High value– Their products are valued moderately higher than that of their rivals and this is a weakness because it confines their potential of expanding market shares of the overall industry because customers are more probably to purchase lower valued brands (Purkayastha and Sharma, 2016).
• Reliance on few products– Apple has only 7-8 items in its assortment in contrast to the different products that its nearest players Google and Microsoft have. Hence, there is a mutual request from Apple to rise its product selection.

3. Opportunity-

• Management– The managerial proficiency gained by the organization with respect to the administration of new advanced goods generates the right chance for business development as they can easily see off rivalry through product modernization.
• Financial competencies– Apple has increased huge monetary profit over the years through an improvement in customer faithfulness and repurchases.
• Technological development– In the technology business, scientific development is always an opportunity. And the one product we can presume to influence expertise to its best is Apple. It can be expected that more progressive MacBook’s, iPhone, and iPad are introduced in the approaching years.

4. Threats-

• Competitors– The PC and Portable media transmission market are particularly filed with deep-rooted brands that can contend with Apple in all façades and this is a very big risk since it reduced the probabilities of the company to attain higher market shares. Furthermore, their contending brands are estimated lower and this expanded likelihoods of customers substituting these brands for Apple (Gardere, Sharir and Maman, 2018).
• Potential new participants– It was made known in the cases that the probabilities of new participants are very much possible. This is a direct result of the ready accessibility of natural resources desired for creation and the relative simplicity at which new framework can be advanced because of rise in technological development.

Conclusion

Through the SWOT analysis, the key strategic significances can be concluded as following:

• Building ‘Least Good Products’- Minimum Viable Products (MVP), implies Apple frequently takes longer time to launch because it needs the basic innovation to be at a more developed level. This helps Apple with customer loyalty levels because there are less unpleasant edges. With this methodology, Apple hopes the opposition has not expanded too much of a head start with early launches. Apple itself defines this method as always directing to make the best products.
• AR keen glasses will be in Apple’s workshops now-  Apple has long repelled touchscreens on the Mac because of a usability disagreement that it is too tiring to embrace arms above a desk surface for extended periods, utilizing a smartphone or an iPad for AR has the same issue. Apple will introduce AR glasses once the knowledge balance is ready to make AR a better experience.

This report analyses the micro and macro analysis, competitive analysis and SWOT, which concludes that it occupies itself in operational and achievable marketing approaches which results in high customer loyalty level and more profit margins for the organization. Apple has been fruitful in generating a luxury and premium brand image by embracing just the right marketing mix tactics and policies.

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