Comparison of Apple and Fitbit's Marketing Mix

The assignment provides a comprehensive comparison of the marketing mix strategies employed by Apple Watch series 4 and Fitbit2. It highlights the differences in their product differentiation, pricing, promotion, and distribution strategies. The analysis includes an examination of the sales promotion, personal selling, advertising, and public relations tactics used by both companies. The assignment also references relevant literature on marketing theory and social marketing mix. A conclusion is drawn, stating that Apple's success can be attributed to its unique product offerings.

Marketing mix/4Ps

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Comparison of Target Markets – ................................................................................................1
The comparative study of 4Ps of Marketing mix of the two brands/products are -.....................2
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
For the growth of every organisation, marketing is important. Marketing mix is a set of
tactics that a company uses to promote its brand so that the customers get influenced and
purchase their goods (Marketing mix, 2019). This report aims at comparative an analysis of two
respective brands – Apple Inc. and Fitbit. Apple Inc. is an American MNC headquartered in
Cupertino, California. It deals with technology and designs software such as iOS, macOS and
hardware includes iPhone, iPad, the Apple watch etc. which it sells to its customers. Fitbit, Inc. is
an American company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Its products which are in
trend in sale are wearable bands and watches that measures data regarding fitness.
MAIN BODY
This assignment describes about the comparative study of all the 4Ps of marketing of two
products, that is, Apple watch series 4 and fitbit 2. The Apple watch 4 is the newest smart watch
in Apple series. It was launched on 12 September in an event in Cupertino, California. It includes
some features such as a new display, large screen, back made of sapphire crystal. The Apple
watch 4 series also provides health features including notifications regarding heart rates and can
perform electrocardiogram. Whereas Fitbit 2 is a fitness wrist band used to track the routine
activities such as track steps, floors climbed etc. Cardio fitness level, multi-sport tracking, GPS
connectivity, call, text etc.
Comparison of Target Markets –
Apple users and its fans are the target audience of Apple watch series 4. Business
professionals are also influenced by the smart watch as it has many features which are of their
interests (Strauss, Frost and Sinha, 2014). The Series 4 can be bought in a cell connected version
so that the user can stay tuned to the workplace even without carrying their iPhone. Battery life
of the watch is 18 hours. People of all ages are the target market of Apple watch series 4. The
younger users are targeted by the games displayed on iWatch through advertisements on
Television. Radio or Newspapers are the medium which describes the functions and simplicity of
iWatch to attract the old audiences (Kotler and Armstrong, 2015). Middle aged people will be
advertised by the means of Social media such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook etc. Apple
watch series 4 is a premium product which can be purchased by only the person living in high
society. It is luxurious, thus, the customer with high income can afford the watch so high income
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users will be targeted. Whereas, Fitbit2 entirely focus on the strategy of fitness. Nowadays, the
children are less active and the parents worry about their health and want them to exercise.
Fitbit2 offers reminders and inform parents about the activeness of their children (Stead and
Hastings, 2018). It also targets women's by tracking menstrual cycles and collects data at one
place. The activity band thus put information into wearable which help women to remind easily.
Fitbit2 is affordable by every segment of user and targets the market as a whole.
The comparative study of 4Ps of Marketing mix of the two brands/products are -
Basis Apple watch series 4 Fitbit2
Product/Brand Apple watch series 4 is the
newest smart watch designed
by Apple. These series
includes Expected element of
Levitt's model - a new display,
with the screen reaches the
corners of the product and
curve edges. The model is slim
with less volume. Speaker of
the watch is redesigned with
50% louder for better quality.
The back of the watch is made
with sapphire crystal and black
ceramic. The company also
added numerous health safety
functions to the series (Baker,
2016). For instance, it can
recognise if the consumer slips
or met an accident, the watch
make an alert that the user
wants to initiate urgent call. If
the person does not respond
Fitbit2 is a fitness wrist band
which measures the heart rate
of the user. It is available in
different colours such as
metallic grey, black, rose gold,
blue etc. There are several
functions which this band
performs. It has long battery
life up to 5 days. The watch
tracks steps and calories
burned. It helps the consumer
to stay active all the day. The
product contains Augmented
elements from the Levitt's
model, that is, the vow feature.
It helps the user to understand
the sleep quality in a better
way and wake up with silent
alarm. Fitbit2 enables to see
call and calender alerts so that
the consumer can keep phone
aside and can focus on the
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for a minute, the phone calls
automatically and text by
using the location to
emergency contact. Thus, it
satisfies the user and attracts
the customers to purchase.
targets. It has all the latest
characteristics and benefits and
price is comparatively low
(Shank and Lyberger, 2014).
Thus, the activity tracker is
liked and preferred by several
customers.
Price The price of the Apple watch
series 4 is high as Apple
designs only exclusive and
high quality products. The
company follows marketing
strategy which is clear and
based on differentiation. This
tool allow the industry to sell
the watch series 4 at higher
price than the competitors.
Apple has never used low
price policy to earn rapid
market share. Only at the time
of occasions, the organisation
provide minimum discounts
because through out the
product cycle, Apple manages
to sell the watch at high price.
The industry uses price
strategy as the brand stands at
first among its competitors by
keeping the price high. Also,
customers also ready to pay
more for the product. Thus, it
The price of Fitbit2 is
comparatively low because
the industry develops its
products by considering the
purchasing power of all
segment of customers. It focus
mainly on the activity trackers.
But the company has wide
variety of fitness trackers.
With Fitbit2, the firm also sells
accessories which focus on
interchangeable bands so that
small trackers can be inserted
into the fitbit2 bands. The
entity gives discount at regular
intervals on the activity tracker
so that more customers gets
attracted to the product.
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maintains brand loyalty.
Place Apple uses location strategy
and establish its stores at prime
location such as in major cities
or in malls (Baker and Saren,
2016). The company pays
attention on design of the store
with large size transclucent
glasses. Any customer visits
the store to purchase the Apple
watch series 4 are taken to
separate room for comfortable
seat. The workers of the store
give special service to the
customers. Place where the
product is kept should be neat
and clean.
Fitbit2 is available on the
website of the brand or can be
purchased online. Various
shopkeepers keep the product
in their shop and the customers
can purchase it from the
respective shops. Fitbit does
not own their shop.
Applications such as Amazon,
Flipkart etc. facilitates the
product and customers can buy
them by paying online.
Promotion Apple invest large amount to
promote its products in the
market through several
platforms. The company keep
searching for the right
platform where it can
showcase its products.
Promotional campaign can be
done so that the product can be
recognised by the customers.
Product Placement is the area
where the company is
traditionally active. It is also a
Fitbit promote their products
through the means of
Advertisement. The
organisation advertises their
product on Television through
small clips (Wasan and
Tripathi, 2014). The company
gives add in the newspapers or
in the magazines. Fitbit events
are also held at different places
where customers can come and
try the Fitbit bands.
Demonstrations are also
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part of advertisement where
product as well as brand are
displayed in many movies,
shows etc. for commercial
purposes. There are many
popular American shows in
which actors seen using the
Apple watch of series 4. The
several communication ways
that Apple is currently using
are sales promotion, personal
selling, advertising and public
relations. Apple uses these
following tactics to reach as
much as customers they can.
Promotion on billboards, TV,
magazines and also by signing
agreement with other
companies as well.
conducted so that pros and
cons of the activity tracker can
be known. Promotion can also
be done by the use of social
networking sites. These are the
medium which Fitbit uses for
its promotion.
CONCLUSION
The 4Ps of Apple and Fitbit2 are totally different from each other as Apple concentrated
on the strategy of product differentiation with high price in the Apple Watch series 4, Whereas,
Fitbit2 activity band concentrated more on health benefits like to measure heart rate, ECG and
help to be active all day. Both the companies uses marketing mix to capture large customer base
and build a brand image to achieve highest growth in the market. The brand Apple is more
successful as compare to Fitbit2 in marketing mix because of its uniqueness of the product, that
is,Apple Watch series 4. The specifications and features of the Apple watch series 4 is totally
new in the market which differs it from other competitors.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G., 2015. Principles of Marketing-Global Edition. Pearson.
Strauss, J., Frost, R. and Sinha, N., 2014. E-marketing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Stead, M. and Hastings, G., 2018. Advertising in the social marketing mix: getting the balance
right. In Social Marketing(pp. 29-43). Psychology Press.
Baker, M. J., 2016. What is marketing?. In The Marketing Book(pp. 25-42). Routledge.
Shank, M. D. and Lyberger, M. R., 2014. Sports marketing: A strategic perspective. Routledge.
Baker, M. J. and Saren, M. eds., 2016. Marketing theory: a student text. Sage.
Wasan, P. G. and Tripathi, G., 2014. Revisiting social marketing mix: a socio-cultural
perspective. Journal of Services Research. 14(2). p.127.
Online
Marketing mix. 2019. [Online] Available
through<https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/marketing-mix>./
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