Analyze the Application of Marketing Decision Making in Various Fields

This assignment is based on a collection of research papers, articles, and books that explore various aspects of marketing decision-making, consumer behavior, and market segmentation. The papers cover topics such as mode choice behavior in freight shippers, fuzzy reasoning in decision-making, the importance of wine knowledge and involvement in wine tourism, green consumer market segmentation, and behavioral segmentation in the Australian wine market. Additionally, there are discussions on theories of the firm, multi-criteria decision-making methods for bioenergy systems, brand identity-driven decision making by journalists, and conceptual foundations of market segmentation. This comprehensive collection aims to provide insights into various factors that influence marketing decisions and consumer behavior, ultimately helping readers develop their knowledge in these areas.

Market Segment and decision making on Apple
company
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................3
TASK....................................................................................................................................................3
1. Brief description of the industry market for Apple Company and evaluate current trends. .......3
2. Describing the nature of competition in industry........................................................................4
3. Outline and examining the major market segments for Apple Company....................................5
4. Discuss the level of involvement of Apple Company primary segment .....................................6
5. Creating a positioning map for the market place by considering primary segment, its level of
involvement and the competition.....................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
Market segmentation is a procedure of dividing a broad customer segment into sub-groups
of consumers. Under this, it assumes that various market segment needed several marketing events
such as offers, promotions, prices etc. It becomes important part of organizations because in most of
the cases, buyers of the companies are non homogeneous groups. The reason of this is every
consumer is having diverse needs and requirements (Wede and Kamakura, 2012.). On the basis of
this, their preferences and buying behaviour becomes change. The present research is based on
market segment and decision making and to understand its importance, Apple Company is taking
into the consideration. Objectives that will highlight under the following study are brief description
of the industry market for Apple, nature of competition of the selected industry; examine the major
market segments of the cited company, level of involvement primary segment in decision making
etc.
TASK
1. Brief description of the industry market for Apple Company and evaluate current trends.
Smart phone penetration is on the peak just nine years after the launch of the first
touchscreen phone. The commercial and societal impact which smartphone had, no other personal
devices are able to do that. Upgrading mobile signalling to 4G technology has influenced sales of
smartphone and becoming very popular among the consumers. It is having a direct effect on the
sales of feature phones. Consumers using feature phones are very easily switching to smartphone at
a very low unit price in the recent years (Kantarelis, 2010.). The consumers are not giving priority
to the quality and not including it in their decision of purchasing. The market experts forecasts that
sales will continue to increase year on year and global slowdown will not affect it.
According to the leading market analyst GFK, the UK smartphone market will “ buck the
trend” over the next two years. GFK predicts that UK will overtake as the fourth most valuable
market this year. UK is bucking the trend a little bit as compared to the other market, majorly
because of the powerful economic environment and high consumer desire for the smartphone. The
market of UK also face a rush in 4G acceptance over the past 12 months. There has never been a
high requirement for quick, uninterrupted connectivity. The speed of mobile networks mean that
consumer's dependence on Wi-Fi will lessen until fixed line network speeds better. It is forecasted
that smartphones will not have the condition as tablets (Arunotayanun and Polak, 2011). The sales
of smart phones are likely to remain in the current phase. Globally, there have been some clear
sharp slowdowns but UK is neglecting the worst of that trend. The statistics show that in 2016 46%
of the users had an Apple iPhone. The current trends in this industry which Apple has to consider
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are described as follows:
 Almost half of the young age consumers aged between 18 to 24 access their phones in the
middle of the night.
 27 percent of smartphones have a fingerprint reader of which 76 percent are used.
 Only 2 percent of adults own smart lights and smart appliances and they still have not
connected their home devices.
 Almost half of the UK adults have access to at least one kind of connected entertainment
products.
 The use of 4G technology has gone more than double in the last few years, from 25 percent
to 54 percent.
 31 percent of people who use smartphone do not prefer making traditional voice calls in a
given week.
 The majority of users download 20 or fewer applications.
 By mid of 2016 almost two third of UK adults use tablets but penetration growth has gone
slow.
2. Describing the nature of competition in industry
The smartphone market has become very much competitive in the recent times. The
smartphone industry is at a turning point as smartphones are now more affordable and pervasive.
Industries are blending as market giants are coming in the competition directly. The major challenge
for the cited company is to withstand in the cut throat and intense competition and maintain growth.
As the ratio of smartphones to basic mobile phones is growing very quickly all around the globe,
consumers in UK are becoming highly addicted to this widget (Carlsson and Fuller, 2012).
Presently, about 50 percent phones in UK are now smartphone and this ratio is expected to increase
80 percent by the end of 2017. Smartphone market in UK is expected to grow till 2017 which is
forecasted to drive the market value too. Earlier, they were considered as enterprise devices having
a limited number of features on high prices. The market was hardly covered with very few
smartphone having very limited capabilities. They became popular in 2007 when apple introduced
its first generation which gave a whole new definition to smartphones. After that time, the global
smartphone industry has gone under a huge transformation with mostly modern technological
advancements having incredible features and capabilities (Hollensen, 2015).
Competition in UK smartphone will escalate more and the cited company will have to focus
on innovation. Successful economies would be able to survive in the tough competition and sustain
their growth for a long period. Most conspicuously, delivering what consumer desire will result in
the company's good turn. Prices of smartphone have fallen as the technology has become
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standardised. In developed market, the consumers are becoming more price conscious and a bit less
brand sensitive. Worldwide growth in smartphone sales is beginning to decline and there are signs
of market saturation in developed markets, however good growth has been found in developing and
emerging economies. Consumer demands have been arising for smartphones which can surf the
web and aids in a series of multimedia functions (Siegert Gerth and Rademacher, 2011).
Companies like Apple have been increasingly successful in providing products that are in
accordance with the needs of the consumers. This in turn has led to an oversize demand from
consumers all over the world. Customers are gaining benefits of the quick improvement in standard
technology . Affordability is the main factor so unsurprisingly the smartphone is a rarity.
Smartphone are becoming increasingly famous with many manufacturer looking to move in the
market (Finisterra Paco and Raposo, 2010).
3. Outline and examining the major market segments for Apple Company
The Apple company has been a brand in market which attracts a large number of people
towards its various products. The major and primarily used brand that has created a much hype in
market is its smartphone series. The company has launched its latest series of i phone 7 and i phone
7plus which was launched in September 2016. The smartphone of this series has many functions
with enhanced features of better camera quality, water resistant and so on (Akehurst Afonso and
Martins Gonçalves, 2012). The said company use to segment its target market on various basis
which are as follows:
 Demographic segment: The mentioned firm use to classify its customers into two segments
in this criteria. One segment includes all those customers who belong to high level of
income groups and brand loyal clients for company. They are big fans of the brand and use
to purchase various other products of organisation as well like ipod, macintosh, mc book
pro, ipad etc. They become very much use to of all the products of said company due to
which they always prefer the brand (Chen and Wang, 2010). Further, they become aware of
all features and become comfortable with it because of which all such brand loyal
customers are ready to pay higher price of the product. The another segment in this
classification belongs to middle to high class income group people who are able to purchase
new products came in market. The number of such consumers are more and also prefer to
purchase products that can give high quality.
 Behavioural: The next segment for mentioned company is based on social acceptance
oriented ones. In this segment, those customers are included who are mostly style and status
conscious. It is apparent that the products of Apple company are mostly very expensive
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ones which cannot be afforded by lower level of income groups. Hence, rich class people
use to purchase the products of this company so that they can maintain their social status in
society. They feel that this purchasing attitude will differentiate them among others and also
gives them confidence (Ingram,LaForge and et. al.,).
The target market for Apple company can be divided into two types which are primary sand
secondary segments for targeting customers. In primary target market mostly those people will be
targeted who are fond of latest techniques and prefer branded products. They can be termed as
premium target markets as well (Jin Gam, 2011). Further, on secondary basis target markets will be
youth who purchase more of gadgets that are latest and provide number of features to use it as a
style or fashion. In both of these segments, customers with high to middle level of income can be
included who are mostly interested in latest techniques.
4. Discuss the level of involvement of Apple Company primary segment
As per the segmentation of market, the primary target market for Apple are those who are
brand loyal or generally prefer to purchase the branded products. Besides this, the customers of this
segment usually prefer to have high features as well in the products purchased. In such conditions,
the decisions of said company will be highly affected. As these are the primary segments for
organisation, the involvement of such consumers also enhances (Famularo Bruwer and 2010).
Further, in such situations, the organisation will have to focus more towards providing better
features than competitive companies. It is also necessary for the organisation to be innovative and
creative while producing any new products. With this objective, the research and development team
of mentioned firm use to have a market study to collect more information on customer's demands
and needs. This is a necessary part of cited enterprise as this makes a base for company to make a
decision for launching a new series as per the needs of clients. Besides this, the management of firm
primarily focuses on several questions while deciding about new products to be introduced
(Böttcher, 2013). They use to focus on type of product company intend to launch on the basis of
market survey done by research department for assessing needs and trends in market. On this basis,
they decide the segment towards which more focus will be laid to target customers. As per this
decision, products will be launched in market and various marketing efforts will be planned. The
mentioned company believes that positioning of products play a vital role in success of brand.
Because of this reason, most of the products are made available by Apple in its official retail stores
and malls. This provided them to have a direct contact with customers and they easily identify their
needs and demands. This information is then used by top level managers in deciding about new
product's planning (Johnson, Ringham and Jurd, 2013). For instance, recently the mentioned
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organisation has come up with a new innovation by introducing wireless headphones. This
innovation was done by said firm due to correct analysis of market and identifying needs of
consumers. Because of this, the mentioned firm has always been on top position in smartphone
industries and all other markets. The quoted entity is able to identify in correct way the needs of
consumers because of which it has been able to successfully sell its products on higher costs as well
(Solomon, 2014). Moreover, the mentioned company has also proved that by focusing more on
customer's needs and demands organisation can attain large number of customers. Besides this, it
also helps in giving better outcomes by making more brand loyal customers.
5. Creating a positioning map for the market place by considering primary segment, its level of
involvement and the competition
The present positioning map of apple iphone shows its prsence in high price and high quality
market. As per the figure it is also evident that there are competitors of mentioned comapny who are
Samsung and Windows phone. This shows that cited firm is operating in highly competitive
environemnet as rival firms are also positioned at same place. It has ficussed on primary level of
segment which refers to customers who prefer branded products with high quality features. For such
consumers, price is a regardless factor because of which the company has also laid emphasis on
innovation and qulaity (Bush and Hunt, 2011). This has made the position of qupoted enterprise
different and higher than rival firms. Besides this, LG phone is also shown in this figure which is
placed in low quality and low price segment. Therefore, Apple needs to continue with its present
strategy of conducting market studies for making decisions and involve primaruy segment of target
customers in the same process. With this, the company will be able to compete against the rival
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firms as well as maintaining its customer base. In addition, the company can also focus on next
level of segment where target customers are generally youth who use to take interests in latest
gadgets. They prefer to have these phones so that they can keep themselves updated. The reputation
of the cited company as a leader in the smartphone market has begin to slip as rivals such as
Samsung, Sony eyc. Has become more steadily more impresive as solid iphone competitors have
introduced. The world of smartphone is a rapidly growing industry which sees a new gadget to be
launched every year. Apple's smartphone series is branded to be the ultimate competition. Apart
from the rival states above the new entrants like Xioami and Gionee are able of giving tough
competition (Eun Park and Xin Zhou, 2010). The samsung galaxy's performance is touted to be at
its best inspiteof the stuiff competition. It knows the mindset of its consumers and performs in
accordance with it. Sony is also in the race. It is seriously focusing on its hardware performance to
move forward in the ranks. The HTC one M9 is having the latest hardware and software whcih is
surely giving a tough competition to Apple. XIAOMI MI5 is dust proof as well as waterproof.
Currenty it is under manufacturing stage, it is cheaply prices to attract the attention of the customers
(Scott and Dey, 2012).
CONCLUSION
The present report has focussed on market segmentation of Apple iPhones and also on
decision making strategy of said company. The report has concluded that the mentioned
organisation use to primarily focus on customers who are more conscious towards brand and quality
of products. On this basis, cited venture use to launch its various products that are based on
consumer's needs and demands. Besides this, their major focus is laid on maintaining quality in
phones and providing enhanced features as well. Because of this strategy, the company is able to
make large number of customers beside the availability of phones on higher rates than competitor
firms of same industry.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Akehurst, G., Afonso, C. and Martins Gonçalves, H., 2012. Re-examining green purchase behaviour
and the green consumer profile: new evidences. Management Decision.50(5). pp.972-988.
Arunotayanun, K. and Polak, J.W., 2011. Taste heterogeneity and market segmentation in freight
shippers’ mode choice behaviour. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation
Review. 47(2). pp.138-148.
Böttcher, R., 2013. Global Network Management: Context—Decision-making—Coordination.
Springer-Verlag.
Bush, R.F. and Hunt, S.D., 2011. Marketing theory: philosophy of science perspectives. Marketing
Classics Press.
Carlsson, C. and Fuller, R., 2012. Fuzzy reasoning in decision making and optimization (Vol. 82).
Physica.
Chen, M.K. and Wang, S.C., 2010. The critical factors of success for information service industry in
developing international market: Using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach. Expert Systems
with Applications. 37(1). pp.694-704.
Eun Park, J., Yu, J. and Xin Zhou, J., 2010. Consumer innovativeness and shopping styles. Journal
of Consumer Marketing. 27(5). pp.437-446.
Famularo, B., Bruwer, J. and Li, E., 2010. Region of origin as choice factor: wine knowledge and
wine tourism involvement influence. International Journal of Wine Business Research.
22(4).pp.362-385.
Finisterra do Paco, A.M. and Raposo, M.L.B., 2010. Green consumer market segmentation:
empirical findings from Portugal. International Journal of Consumer Studies. 34(4). pp.429-436.
Hollensen, S., 2015. Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Ingram, T.N., LaForge, R.W., Avila, R.A., Schwepker Jr, C.H. and Williams, M.R., 2012. Sales
management: Analysis and decision making. ME Sharpe..
Jin Gam, H., 2011. Are fashion-conscious consumers more likely to adopt eco-friendly
clothing?. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal. 15(2).
pp.178-193.
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Johnson, L.W., Ringham, L. and Jurd, K., 2013. Behavioural segmentation in the Australian wine
market using conjoint choice analysis. International Journal of Wine Marketing.
Kantarelis, D., 2010. Theories of the firm. Inderscience Enterprises.
Scott, J.A., Ho, W. and Dey, P.K., 2012. A review of multi-criteria decision-making methods for
bioenergy systems. Energy. 42(1). pp.146-156.
Siegert, G., Gerth, M.A. and Rademacher, P., 2011. Brand identity-driven decision making by
journalists and media managers—The MBAC model as a theoretical framework. The International
Journal on Media Management. 13(1). pp.53-70.
Solomon, M.R., 2014. Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being. Engelwood Cliffs, NJ:
prentice Hall.
Wedel, M. and Kamakura, W.A., 2012. Market segmentation: Conceptual and methodological
foundations (Vol. 8). Springer Science & Business Media.
Online
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