Marketing Mix: Apple vs Fitbit

This report provides a comparative analysis of the marketing mix of Apple Watch series 4 and Fitbit Band 2 in the smart watch industry. It examines the target markets, product attributes, pricing strategies, distribution channels, and promotional activities of both brands. The analysis reveals that Apple focuses on a technologically updated, brand-driven target market, while Fitbit targets health-conscious individuals. Apple positions itself as sophisticated and innovative, while Fitbit emphasizes reliability and success.

MARKETING MIX

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Target Markets.............................................................................................................................3
Product.........................................................................................................................................4
Price.............................................................................................................................................4
Place.............................................................................................................................................5
Promotion....................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Marketing mix is a comprehensive part in analysing the positioning of a particular brand in
context of the product and services offered by them. It is a major contributor in the development
of marketing strategies and decision making of an organisation in context of the wider
environment (Sukchannimit, Rakrachakarn and Daengrasmisopon, 2018). The current report will
develop a comparative statement on the two most prominent competitors in the smart watch
industry i.e. Apple and Fitbit. The four P’s of the marketing mix and the target market of both
the products will be identified and evaluated.
MAIN BODY
Target Markets
The target market of any company signifies the customer segment for which the company
intends to market their products so that they can take maximum advantage of profits. For both
Apple watch series 4 and Fitbit 2, the target market can be defined as:
For Apple, the target market is quite literally anyone who likes or prefers to wear a watch
and is conscious regarding their health and fitness (Rieber, 2017). But more specifically, the
target market consumers of Apple watch 4 can be categorised as technologically updated, well
informed and brand driven consumers who have an income ranging from medium to high income
level group and appreciate the technological advancement and integration. Additionally, the
consumers who were already using Apple iPhones were the major targeted consumer segment
because of the ease and extra features that the Apple watch gives to the devices that are used in
their own context. The tracking capabilities of the watch, hold a major attraction point for fitness
freaks and business professionals.
On the other hand the Fitbit 2 has a more specific and categorised target market where
the individuals above the age of 30 are the majorly targeted population segment and the fitness is
the major marketed aspect (Pal, Funilkul and Vanijja, 2018). The overweight people, those who
are extremely particular about different aspects related to their health and regularly intend to
monitor their workout levels etc. Also, the college going graduates who are actively working on
their bodies and engage in gym activities regularly are the major part of the targeted market
segment. Therefore the Fitbit 2 targets majorly those individuals who are more conscious of the
kind of lifestyle that they are leading and like to track down their health related activities
regularly on a per minute basis.
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Therefore, it can be concluded that for Apple watch the target market is techno- friendly
professionals who are health conscious and for the Fitbit 2, the targeted segment is the health
conscious people only (Visser, Sikkenga and Berry, 2019).
Product
Both the products i.e. Apple Watch series 4 and the Fitbit Band 2 are different products
and these can be evaluated using the Levitt’s model and Aaker model which will help in
evaluating different aspects:
The Apple watch series 4 can be categorised into one of the three categories suggested by
the Levitt’s model and out of the three i.e. generic, expected and augmented, the Apple watch 4
falls into the last category of the augmented product where the attributes of the apple watch
exceeds the expectations that people had of the product. The dial of the watch is square and was
released on September 2018 with weight of 48 grams and 10.7 mm thickness. The watch has 16
GB storage and 448* 368 pixels and was available in three colours silver, gold and gray. The
Aaker Model can also be used to illustrate that amongst the five types of brand personalities, the
one to which the Apple watch series 4 belongs is the Sophistication personality where they are
upper class i.e. elite, and innovative as well (Tran, 2020).
Contradictorily, the Fitbit 2 is categorised in the expected category under Levitt Model
where the band delivers exactly what the consumers expected it to deliver. The characteristics of
the band were completely in accordance with the estimations that customers had after the Fitbit
original band. The band is the slimmest wrist band that is in a cylindrical tube manner and is
available in four colours which were black, blue, pink and grey. It is swim proof and can work
for all day along with the night hours as well. The brand personality of the Fitbit 2, as per the
Aaker’s model can be categorised as the one where it is competence personality i.e. the Fitbit 2 is
reliable, intelligent and successful as well.
Therefore, it can be said that Apple is more on the sophistication aspect with their
watches and Fitbit is towards outdoorsy and innovative aspect (Tuten and Solomon, 2017).
Price
Pricing is the key aspect in attracting the targeted market segment with the product that has been
developed for them and this can be done by choosing the correct pricing strategy.
Apple has positioned their product by selecting premium pricing strategy which is the
strategy for almost all the products launched by them. The cost of the product in UK starts at
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£399 and is available easily (Hadi and Valenzuela, 2019). The pricing of the product makes it
affordable only for higher income group people who are technology friendly because penetration
pricing strategy has never been used by Apple. The company never intends to capture a lot of
market segment because they are the market leaders and they adopted a market skimming
strategy where the newest technology is always pried higher from the competitors pricing
strategy. Fitbit on the other hand is more keen on exercising competitive pricing strategies where
the product are although priced higher than their competitors due to better brand positioning and
features but still they are not overly priced. Also, the bundle pricing strategy is the frequently
used strategy by Fitbit where they give some additional benefit with the main product. For
instance, the price of Fitbit 2 is £129.99 in UK with a plastic band but for a special edition
version the price charged is £149.99 (Rieber, 2017). In this manner, the company exercises
bundle pricing strategies for its products and while selling on online platforms, the price charged
is comparatively higher including the delivery costs as well.
Place
The element of place signifies the presence of the brand amongst the targeted customer
segment through different mechanisms i.e. how easily a customer can access the product (Mani
and Chouk, 2017). For both the companies, this analysis can be done in a different manner
identifying their availability separately:
The Apple has its stores located in all the prominent cities distribute all over the world
where the apple that can be easily accessed thus increasing its availability for the consumers.
Apart from this, there are number of authorised dealers that are associated with the company and
have the right to deal with the products of the company thus increasing product availability.
Lastly, the online distributors of Apple watch and other items through either such online e-
commerce websites or through the company’s own website also increase the target market of the
company where they can sell their products even in the distant locations spread all over the
world. The global renunciation of the brand has made it easy for the company to increase their
global presence (Park, Jeong and Kim, 2018). Fitbit, however, only uses two mechanisms where
one is purely online website mechanisms and the other one is where the wholesalers are sold the
company’s products who then further supply it to the retailers. There are no authorised sellers or
Fitbit owned stores for the watch. Therefore, for Fitbit, the major source of revenue is through its
online presence and attractiveness amongst the consumers.
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Promotion
Promotional strategies are necessary to make the consumers aware about the different
products that the companies are manufacturing and the different needs or aspects that such
products are satisfying (Pal, Funilkul and Vanijja, 2018). Promotional strategies help in creating
awareness regarding the product in the market in a following manner:
Apple uses extensive promotional strategies that are diversified in all the associated fields of
advertising, PR activities, social media marketing channels, traditional mediums of promotions
such as pamphlets, radio advertisements etc. Additionally, the technological assistance of
Google’s advertising platforms and conducting regular “Apple events” is a noteworthy inclusion
in the promotional strategies adopted by Apple. However, the Fitbit only uses online
promotional mechanisms as major source of its promotion strategies and focuses less on the use
of traditional media (Sukchannimit, Rakrachakarn and Daengrasmisopon, 2018). This is also due
to the targeted audience or customer segment which is more technologically oriented and
inclined thus increasing their online marketing activities.
Therefore, it can be said that the promotional activity scale of both the companies is
different in various aspects and considerations thus making their sale of products different from
each other.
CONCLUSION
The research conducted in the above report helps in concluding that all the four P’s covered
in the marketing mix are extremely important elements in estimating the brand’s or product’s
positioning in the market. The comparative analysis of the Apple watch 4 and the Fitbit Band 2
showed that the operating sphere of the both the brands was widely different from each other
despite belonging more or less to the same category of products. It was identified that while
Apple was more inclined towards the classier style, the Fitbit is more of a robust personality
type. Therefore, the analysis showed that Fitbit is not very well integrated in the minds of people
and there is still a lack of awareness regarding the product, while Apple has as usual developed a
wider market of consumers who are ardently loyal to the brand.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Hadi, R. and Valenzuela, A., 2019. Good Vibrations: Consumer Responses to Technology-
Mediated Haptic Feedback. Journal of Consumer Research.
Mani, Z. and Chouk, I., 2017. Drivers of consumers’ resistance to smart products. Journal of
Marketing Management. 33(1-2). pp.76-97.
Pal, D., Funilkul, S. and Vanijja, V., 2018. The future of smartwatches: assessing the end-users’
continuous usage using an extended expectation-confirmation model. Universal Access in
the Information Society, pp.1-21.
Park, K., Jeong, M. and Kim, K., 2018. Usability evaluation of menu interfaces for
smartwatches. Journal of Computer Information Systems, pp.1-10.
Rieber, D., 2017. Mobile marketing. In Mobile Marketing (pp. 25-45). Springer Gabler,
Wiesbaden.
Sukchannimit, S., Rakrachakarn, P. and Daengrasmisopon, T., 2018. FACTORS
INFLUENCING CONSUMERS’HARD DISK DRIVE PURCHASES IN BANGKOK,
THAILAND. AU-GSB e-JOURNAL. 11(1). p.2.
Tran, T.H., 2020. New product development of Applause.
Tuten, T.L. and Solomon, M.R., 2017. Social media marketing. Sage.
Visser, M., Sikkenga, B. and Berry, M., 2019. Digital Marketing Fundamentals: From Strategy
to ROI. Routledge.
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