An In-Depth Marketing Analysis Report on Apple Inc. (MKTG)

This report provides a comprehensive marketing analysis of Apple Inc., examining various aspects of its marketing strategies. The introduction highlights Apple's global presence and core business, emphasizing the importance of marketing in today's competitive environment. The report delves into a PESTLE analysis, evaluating the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors influencing Apple's operations. It further explores Apple's market segmentation based on geographical bases and discusses the role of the marketing mix, including product, price, place, promotion, packaging, people, and process. The report also addresses the importance of marketing in creating customers, identifying potential consumers, and satisfying customer needs. Finally, it analyzes stakeholder engagement and its impact on Apple's marketing, differentiating between stakeholders with varying levels of influence and interest in the business. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and implications for Apple's marketing success.

MARKETING
FUNDAMENTAL

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Task 1A............................................................................................................................................1
Task 1B............................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the study of management and exchange relationship. It is the process of
creating good relations with the customers and satisfying them through work. It is the most
important factor as it sees the customers which are the most important things for a business.
Apple Inc. is a multinational company headquartered in Cupertino, California. The main work of
Apple is designing, selling and developing electronic, software and online services. It is one of
the four main technology companies along with Google, Amazon and Facebook. There are
various marketing functions done by Apple to sell its product to the end user. Different stages of
marketing and the role of marketing mix in it is also given. Stakeholders plays a very important
role in the company and the report also include the impact of shareholders on the marketing of
the company. Marketing is very beneficial for company and no company can survive without
proper marketing. The world has become very competitive and it is very difficult for a Company
to survive without doing marketing of their products.
Task 1A
PESTLE analysis of Apple. Apple is a huge company and it also faces various problems
related to the different environments. Environments are:
Political Factors are those factors which are related to the government rules and
regulations. There are many times when due to election whole governing party changes and it
affects the business very much as new government bring new policies and procedures which are
comfortable for it. Apple is highly dependent on China as the manufacturing cost per unit is very
low here compare to American manufacturing. The change in political factors in china could
affect the sales of Apple as the prices of Apple products will increase. Another political factor
that is affecting Apple is that it has a accumulated a large sum of cash in bank accounts and due
to this the government is thinking to increase corporate taxation as there is income inequality in
the country. Political instability affect the sales and supply chain of a company to a great
extent(Armstrong and et.al., 2018).
Economic environment is related to both positive and negative environment that affect
the business of Apple. Various factors which come in economic environment are economic
growth of the company, inflation, deflation, unemployment rate and many more. Various
economic factor which can affect the marketing are inflation, deflation and more. Company can
exploit these opportunities and expand its business in different countries. Changes in exchange
1

rate also affects the profits of Apple as it will have to pay more for other currencies. The
competition has also affected very much as companies like Samsung and Lenovo offers premium
electronics in affordable prices compared to Apple which is costly.
Social Factors include all those factors which affect the company as a whole. They
include lifestyle, religious beliefs, income level of customers and more. Apple is seeing its
biggest market in future in areas like Africa where people are unfamiliar with these products and
in the future they will be spending the most in the products. Price of the product is also important
social factor that affect sales of the product. In places like Europe and United States people don't
prefer to buy expensive products as they think they are not worth the price. Due to its
manufacturing outlet in China many people in United states does not prefer to but these
products(Bjerke, 2018).
Technological factors are those factors which are related to innovation and up gradation
of company. There are many competitors of Apple who are waiting to duplicate Apple's product.
Apple launched various application and those same application with different names were
launched by other companies in a very short spam of time. The application did not remain unique
as there were other people also who were selling the same product. Apple must bring new and
innovative products in the market at regular time interval if it wants to give a good competition
to its competitors. Apple must secure its technology with securities as cyber criminals are
increasing every day (PESTLE analysis of Apple, 2019)
Legal factors include all the rules and regulations under which the company should
work. The company should follow all the safety guidelines so that there is no case of accident.
Apple should make all its product under the legal framework given by the government. Apple
depends on various products which are covered under intellectual laws like software and music.
So the company is highly unprotected to piracy and legal actions. Disobeying legal factors can
lead to fines and penalty for company. These fines and penalty affect the company very much in
terms of revenue and profits(Chen and Ann, 2016).
Environmental factors are related to the climate, nature and condition of the
environment. This factor affects the company very much as the environment today is changing
and companies need to have proper attention on various pollution and factors. The company
should take care of the environment very much. Apple is facing various problems in disposing
lithium batteries as there is no space for disposing them. Apple manufacturing plants which are
2

situated in China should be made in such a way that target of minimum pollution can be
achieved. The pollution done by all the companies will affect everyone in last and for removing
it proper measures must be taken. Increase in the cost of electricity will also affect the profits of
the company(Verhoef Kooge and Walk, 2016).
Market Segmentation of Apple:
Market segmentation of a company can be done on the basis of Demographical bases,
geographical bases and more. Market segmentation chosen hers is geographical bases. It means
that the market is divided on the basis of geography. There are many company which uses this
technique to divide the market. The market is divided on the basis of city, country, state, region
etc. Apple also uses this segmentation technique. The goods are divided on the basis of location
of the store. At a good location the company gives every product and the showroom made is very
good. Different stores are made at different places on the basis of demand of Apple product. If a
company receives very much demand from a particular location then it will definitely open the
store there(Jackson and Ahuja, 2016).
The role of marketing mix:
Marketing mix can be divided into 7P's of marketing. These P's are : Product which means the
product manufactured by Apple. Apple design and manufactures various products in the world.
In the starting Apple only had 14 products which could fit in any table. But with change in time
it started manufacturing different products and now there are very less scenario in which two
people have same Apple phone. Product is the main reason for which the company is established,
if the product is not good then company won't be able to survive in the market. Price means the
strategies used by the Apple for its products. The price strategy of Apple is high prices only for
its products. Price plays a very important role in the company and if the price is not right then
there will be less customers (Kasemsap, 2016). Place means from where the product will be sold
to customers. The company gave high importance to the place as it wanted to give importance to
retailers and giving good services to the customers. Place plays a very important role as every
loyal customer of Apple want that the company should be located in a good area. Promotion
means that the Apple should do various promotional activity so that the goods can be advertised
by the way of promotions. To increase market share of a product, it is very important for a
company to properly promote its goods and activities. There are various platform on which
promotion can be done and some of them are social media, newspaper, advertisement and more.
3

Without promotion people won't be able to know the products and services Apple offers.
Packaging means the goods should be properly packed so that the product remain safe as well as
it looks more attractive. Packaging plays a very important role today as people pick those
product which looks good today (Kwan, and et.al., 2017). People means the employees working
in the company. Apple appoints those people who are well educated, skilled and innovative.
People are the biggest assets of the company. Process means that the process used to
manufacture those products must be safe and good. The products of Apple are known for their
simplicity and they have factories all over the world following same process. The process must
be efficient and effective.
Role of marketing in creating customers
The role of marketing is very important in creating customers. Marketing of a products
helps a customer to know about the product. There are different ways by which marketing can
help the product as good advertising will increase the demand of the product, more people will
be attracted to the company, and profits of the company will increase. The marketing is
important to create customers as it helps the company in identifying potential customers. It is
very important for marketing to know that what are the needs and demands of customers. Apple
by the help of marketing and market research found out the demand which is prevailing in the
market. It takes the advantage of this function and introduce that product which will have
demand in the market and so the company will earn higher profits. Marketing helps the company
in targeting a group of people and it shows the way by which the target can be attained. Apple
has targeted the premium section of society(Lewnes, and Keller, 2019). It manufactures
products seeing the needs of these people only. Marketing helps the company in satisfying
customers. The company by seeing the result of marketing should produce right product and
service and these products should be available to the right customers and at the right time.
Marketing gives motivation to the company by helping it build a relations with customers.
Marketing identifies demand and with the help of technology and innovation, it produces goods
which are advance and it gives customers a chance to visit again. Companies should try to take
the market of others by fair means. It should launch new technology which can take the
competitors client as people are always thinking to take new technology (Lim and Greenwood,
2017).
Stakeholder engagement and their impact on marketing
4

Stakeholders are those people who are related to the project directly or indirectly. They
can be leader as well as the client. They have a very different perspectives and expertise on any
topic and they work in a very different environment and have different view in different
situations. Stakeholder impact is high on marketing. Stakeholders include all those people who
have interest in the company. It is not necessary that the interest is only related to the profit but
other interest can also be there. There are some stakeholders who have high influence on
marketing but have low interest in business. These are those institutions whose decision affect
the business but only then, when there objectives are not followed. They are not active in the
working of the business. They are generally advocates of the business(Mitra, 2016). Example of
these institution are Government, administrators etc. There are some stakeholders who have high
interest in marketing as well in the working of the business. These people are less as they have
some personal interest in the business. If these stakeholders are properly managed then it will
give profits to the company in the long run and good relations can be maintained with many
people. Example of these stakeholders are investors, project sponsors, senior management etc.
Now there are people who have low influence in marketing but are very much interested in
business. These people just have benefit from the company's profit and are not interested in the
marketing. They are the end users of the product or members of a community (Pike, 2015).
These stakeholders are just informed so that their continuous support can be taken. Now there are
stake holders who does not have any interest in business nor any interest in the marketing of the
business. But these people get involved in the business time to time and their relevance may
change from time. They are kept as backup with the business and are not left. These stakeholders
are generally those people who provide support services to business or services which are
complimentary. Engagement of stakeholder is very good for company as company gets an
internal support from the people working in it (Pryor Apple Inc, 2016).
Task 1B
The report taught me various things. The report is about the marketing strategies that can
be used to develop the business, various stages of marketing mix and various role which
marketing play for customers. I used information from various sources like internet, scholars,
newspapers. I got to meet new people while working on this report. The report gave a lifetime
experience top me. The company which I chose is Apple. It is a multi-national company which is
recognised all over the world. It manufactures various mobile phones, laptops and many
5

electronic gadgets. Apple is very good in different fields. The marketing sector of apple is very
efficient and effective. The company works under various rules and regulations. I got all the
information which is easily accessible from sources. Due to some contact I also got some inside
information related to the company. I got to develop various skills after doing this report. My
communications skills are improved, my knowledge is improved and I got to know various types
of people between the whole report. People are very shy today and they try to get all the
information themselves and they don't try to approach different people who are expert. I
approached various people and I got to know various things about Apple. Apple invest in many
fields and its maximum investment is done in Research and Development. The employees
working in Apple are very helpful and polite. They does not hesitate in giving answers of the
questions. I got to know about various P's of marketing. There are 7 P's of marketing which are
product, place, promotion, price, packaging, people and process. The company is affected by
various environmental factors which are very common in different business. Environmental
factors include Political , social, Economical, technological, legal and Environmental factors.
There are various problems which I faced in report like problems related to funding,
communication gap and more. Making a report is a expensive as well as time-consuming
process. My report was made in 5 weeks and I worked for many hours everday.
CONCLUSION
Marketing is the process of buying and selling of goods to customers. Marketing is now
not only confined to advertisement but also include various sectors in it. Marketing is a very
broad term and includes many fields in it like personal selling and all. There are many topics
covered in the report like stages of marketing and their roles in marketing mix. A company who
is not marketing today is goods is not able to work properly. Every company is doing to its best
to market its product to different parts of the world. There are many stakeholders who are related
to the company and how they are related is given in the report.
6

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Armstrong, G.M.and et.al., 2018. Marketing: an introduction. Pearson UK.
Bjerke, B., 2018. Alternative Approaches to Marketing Being a Business Entrepreneur. The
International Entrepreneurship: Trends, Challenges, Achievements, p.153.
Chen, C.M. and Ann, B.Y., 2016. Efficiencies vs. importance-performance analysis for the
leading smartphone brands of Apple, Samsung and HTC. Total Quality Management &
Business Excellence.27(3-4) pp.227-249.
Jackson, G. and Ahuja, V., 2016. Dawn of the digital age and the evolution of the marketing mix.
Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice.17(3). pp.170-186.
Kasemsap, K., 2016. The Fundamentals of Business Intelligence. International Journal of
Organizational and Collective Intelligence (IJOCI).6(2). pp.12-25.
Kwan, B.M.,and et.al., 2017. Stakeholder engagement in diabetes self-management: patient
preference for peer support and other insights. Family practice.34(3). pp.358-363.
Lewnes, A. and Keller, K.L., 2019. 10 Principles of Modern Marketing. MIT Sloan Management
Review.60(3). pp.1-10.
Lim, J.S. and Greenwood, C.A., 2017. Communicating corporate social responsibility (CSR):
Stakeholder responsiveness and engagement strategy to achieve CSR goals. Public
Relations Review.43(4). pp.768-776.
Mitra, A., 2016. Fundamentals of quality control and improvement. John Wiley & Sons.
Pike, S., 2015. Destination marketing: essentials. Routledge.
Pryor, T.R., Apple Inc, 2016. Control systems employing novel physical controls and touch
screens. U.S. Patent 9,513,744.
Verhoef, P.C., Kooge, E. and Walk, N., 2016. Creating value with big data analytics: Making
smarter marketing decisions. Routledge.
Online
PESTLE analysis of Apple. 2019. [Online]. Available
Through.<https://www.marketingtutor.net/apple-pestle-analysis/>.
7

8