Marketing Analysis: Comparing Nike and Apple Strategies Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of marketing techniques employed by Nike and Apple. It begins by describing how marketing strategies are used to promote products within both organizations, focusing on techniques such as market penetration, market development, product development, and diversification. The report then explores the limitations and constraints of marketing, considering legal and regulatory factors. It also examines the role of market research in developing marketing plans, including primary and secondary research methods like questionnaires and competitor analysis, and how it contributes to strategic decision-making. Furthermore, the report details customer targeting strategies, including segmentation, and culminates in the development of a coherent marketing mix (product, price, promotion, place) for a new product, the iPhone 5s, highlighting its unique features and pricing considerations. The report utilizes SWOT analysis to assess Nike's market position and concludes with a comprehensive overview of marketing principles and their practical application in real-world business scenarios.

Introduction to Marketing

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1Describe how marketing techniques are used to market products in two organisations........1
P2 Describe the limitations and constraints of marketing...........................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P3 Uses of marketing research to contribute to the development of its marketing plans...........3
P4 Use marketing research for marketing planning....................................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
P5- Explain how and why groups of customers are targeted for selected products....................5
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................5
P6 Develop a coherent marketing mix for a new product or service.........................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
.........................................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
In the modern time period, marketing plays important role in every organisation because
with the help of this easy to attract high number of customers towards company and their
products and goods. Moreover, marketing is an concept it includes several activities such as
advertising, branding, promotion etc. (Anda and Temmen, 2014). This research project will be
discussing about different marketing techniques, which helps to increase awareness of company's
products in external market place. In the addition of this, limitation and constraints of marketing
will be discussing in appropriate manner. Also coherent marketing mix will be produced for a
new product of an organisation. This research project NIKE as an organisation has chosen,
which sells sports products and goods.
TASK 1
P1Describe how marketing techniques are used to market products in two organisations
Nike is an American multinational corporation that is involved in the design,
development and worldwide marketing and selling of sporting equipments such as running
shoes, tracksuits etc. Nike also sells accessories and unique footwear that attracts the eyes of so
many people including celebrities (Clayson and Haley, 2013).
Apple is a Multinational Corporation that is known for the sales and design of computer
electronics, computer software and personal computers. In recent years, apple came out with
products such as I pads, I phones etc. These products became very popular in a short period of
time thus giving apple an upper hand over its competitors.
Marketing technique is the overall marketing plan that is designed to meet the needs and
wants of customers. There are four main marketing techniques which are: Market penetration,
market development, product development and Diversification.
Market penetration: This is an activity that an organisation takes in order to increase the
market share of an existing product or promoting a new product. Nike sells their products in
stores and online (Gummesson and Mele, 2010). Their online market helps to increase the
number of customers because there are some customers that do not have access to Nike stores in
their local area. Nike promotes its products by allowing celebrities to advertise their products.
For example, Tiger woods’ advertises Nike products; this might help increase the awareness of
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the products, because he has a very large fan base. Nike can also increase the market share of
existing products by putting them on sale.
Market Development: This is when a company markets an existing product to a new
market. Nike recently opened a store at Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, the shopping
centre and store was opened during the London 2012 Olympics. There were a lot of tourists in
the UK during the period it was opened, this shows that their products were being sold to a
different market thus increasing sales.
Product development: This is where a business develops a new product to sell to
existing customers. Apple is always developing their electronic products. For example a new I
phone is released every year which has more features than the previous one thus attracting
customers and encouraging them to buy the product. Nike develops some of their products by
adding colours to them. For example Nike air forces are released every now and then but with
different colours.
Diversification: This is where a business markets new products to new customers. For
example, Nike recently released a new product called Nike + Fuel Band SE; this product can
count your steps and track the intensity of your work out etc. This makes it totally different and
unique from their previous products, therefore this product will attract new customers.
P2 Describe the limitations and constraints of marketing
The Law has changed in recent years; therefore businesses need to make sure that their
marketing activities are within the constraints of the law. They also need to make sure that they
are up to date with the changes in the law. There are so many laws and landmark rulings that
restrict a business from partaking in illegal activities. Examples of these laws are: Sales of Goods
Act 1979, Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, Consumer Credit Acts
1974 and 2006, Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000, and Data Protection
Act 1998 (Jones, 2010).
The Sale of Goods Act 1979 requires product should be as they are described by the
business, this prevents consumers from being mislead through false advertising. For example if a
business produces a product and says that the product can provide consumers with energy, the
product should be able do what the business says it can. For example Nike would be committing
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a criminal act if they were to advertise trainers as running trainers when the trainers aren’t
beneficial whilst running.
Consumer Credit Acts 1975 and 2006 act applies for businesses that selling their products
to customers on credit or businesses that lend money to customers such as Wonga, quick quid
etc. Business in these categories need to be licensed by the Office of Fair Trading and if a
customer has complaints regarding the services provided by the business, the Financial
Ombudsman Service (FOS) can solve this problem (Louviere and et.al., 2013). For example If
Nike was to offer their products to customers on credit; they need to give their customers regular
updates on their account such as an annual statement, so that customers do not fall behind on
repayments.
Data Protection Act 1998 prevents business from sharing a person’s information, in order
to protect customers. Only the Police and NHS are allowed to access people’s personal
information. For example Nike must make sure that they aren’t giving out people’s personal
information except is required by the police or NHS, this is important for a person’s safety.
TASK 2
P3 Uses of marketing research to contribute to the development of its marketing plans.
Market Research helps businesses to make the correct decisions by helping them to
understand the changing dynamics of its market. This might involves finding out about
customer’s interest, competitors and the overall marketing environment. Primary and secondary
research would be beneficial for Nike when planning their market because they are an
established company with a lot of competitors (Lynch Jr, 2011).
Primary research will benefit Nike because it’s the collection of first hand information.
For example, Nike may choose to hand out questionnaires in order to find out what customers
think about their product or service. Questionnaires are beneficial because it is a relatively quick
way to collect information, therefore Nike don’t need to waste time trying to obtain information
from various different sources. However, questionnaires might not be trust worthy because
customers may not have the time to answer the questions correctly.
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Secondary research will benefit Nike because it’s the collection of second hand
information, therefore Nike can find out about their competitor’s performance in the market
through various links such as newspapers, internet etc. This will enable them to know what kind
of what market their getting into, and also the type of competition they will face. Secondary
research will develop Nike marketing plans, because it can enable them to find out what style is
currently in fashion, and what customers are craving for (Malhotra and Malhotra, 2012).
P4 Use marketing research for marketing planning
(Source- SWOT analysis of NIKE, 2017)
Strengths Weaknesses
 Nike is the world’s no. 1 shoemaker. It
designs and sells shoes for a variety of
sports including baseball, golf,
cheerleading, volleyball, tennis and
football.
 Nike uses a “Make to Stock” customer
order which provides a fast service to
customers from available stock.
 The income of the business is still
heavily dependent upon its share of the
footwear market. This may leave it
vulnerable if for any reason its market
share erodes.
 The retail sector is very price sensitive.
However, most of its income is
derived from selling into retailers.
Retailers tend to offer a very similar
experience to the consumer.
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Illustration 1: SWOT analysis
of NIKE, 2017

Opportunities Threats
 There is also the opportunity to develop
products such as sport wear, sunglasses
and jewellery. Such high value items do
tend to have associated with them, high
profit
 The business could also be developed
internationally, building upon its strong
global brand recognition.
 Nike is exposed to the international
nature of trade. It buys and sells in
different currencies and so costs and
margins are not stable over long
periods of time. Such an exposure
could mean that Nike may be
manufacturing and/or selling at a loss.
 The market for sports shoes and
garments is very competitive.
Competitors are developing alternative
brands to take away Nike’s market
share.
TASK 3
P5- Explain how and why groups of customers are targeted for selected products
Nike is a very big organisation; therefore it will have a large target audience. Nike
specialises in sports wear such as trainers, tracksuits, bags etc. Nike produces football boots; they
can choose to target customers, consumers and businesses. For example, Nike can make football
boots for kids aged between 10-15years, so although the products were made for the kids, their
target audience will mainly be the parents, because they know kids might not be able to afford
the product. In this situation, the parents are the customers and the kids are the consumers,
because they are the actual ones using the product (McKenzie-Mohr, 2011).
Nike targets their group of customers through segmentation. Segmentation is all about
identifying common needs and buying behaviour within the market. It also allows an
organisation to develop plans, which will enable them to produce satisfactory products that will
fit the needs of the customers more effectively. Nike aims their products and goods at so many
different target groups of customers, such as parents, kids, sports men and women, Businesses,
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youths and Adults. Nike decides their target audience through the categories of segmentation.
The general categories are Geographic, Psycho-graphic, socio-cultural and demographic.
TASK 4
P6 Develop a coherent marketing mix for a new product or service.
Marketing mix consist of the 4ps which are price, promotion, place and product. These
are the ideas to consider when marketing a product such as follows :
Product: The product I have chose is the iphone 5s, the reason i chose this product is
because it’s a new product and also because its unique. It’s unique because of the features and
design of it. These are the factors that helps determine the quality of the product, because if the
features and design are nice, then it may attract customers (Molesworth, Scullion and Nixon,
2010).
Price: The price of the iphone is pretty high, however the prices varies depending on
many giga bytes you want on your phone. The price of an iphone 5s 16gb is £549.00, the price of
an iphone 5s £629 32gb and the price of an iphone 5s 64gb is £709. Despite the prices being
high, it wouldn’t affect the sales of the product because apples are a much known brand and also
the phone is of good quality which makes the price high.
Promotion: Promotion is all about how a business will raise awareness of its product.
During the release of the iphone 5s, apple advertised it on tv letting people know how good it is
and what makes it different from the other phones. They would have to use expensive type of
advertising because they are a global business with high profit figures. Also apple uses direct
marketing to get customers attention (Palmer, 2012).
Place: Place can be defined where customers go to purchase the product or service. In
apple case, they have provided apple stores in the United Kingdom. People can walk into the
apple store and purchase any apple products and also they can test out products in the apple
store. If there wasn’t an apple store, then customers wouldn’t bother buying iphone 5s because
there’s no place for them to test the product that they want to buy.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned this research project it has been concluded that, with the help
of several marketing techniques effectively completed marketing operations and activities. It has
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been defined, major limitations and constraints of marketing process which directly impacted on
business firm. In the addition of this, company's strengths and weaknesses has been analysed and
evaluated with the help of SWOT analysis method. Therefore, coherent marketing mix for a new
product of company has been produced in effective and efficient way.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Anda, M. and Temmen, J., 2014. Smart metering for residential energy efficiency: The use of
community based social marketing for behavioural change and smart grid introduction.
Renewable Energy.67. pp.119-127.
Clayson, D. E. and Haley, D. A., 2013. An introduction to multitasking and texting: Prevalence
and impact on grades and GPA in marketing classes. Journal of Marketing Education.
35(1). pp.26-40.
Gummesson, E. and Mele, C., 2010. Marketing as value co-creation through network interaction
and resource integration. Journal of Business Market Management. 4(4). pp.181-198.
Jones, B., 2010. Entrepreneurial marketing and the Web 2.0 interface. Journal of Research in
Marketing and Entrepreneurship. 12(2). pp.143-152.
Louviere, J., and et.al., 2013. An introduction to the application of (case 1) best–worst scaling in
marketing research. International Journal of Research in Marketing. 30(3). pp.292-303.
Lynch Jr, J. G., 2011. Introduction to the journal of marketing research special interdisciplinary
issue on consumer financial decision making. Journal of Marketing Research. 48(SPL).
pp.Siv-Sviii.
Malhotra, N. K. and Malhotra, N. K., 2012. Basic marketing research: Integration of social
media. Boston: Pearson.
McKenzie-Mohr, D., 2011. Fostering sustainable behavior: An introduction to community-based
social marketing. New society publishers.
Molesworth, M., Scullion, R. and Nixon, E. eds., 2010. The marketisation of higher education.
Routledge.
Palmer, A., 2012. Introduction to marketing: theory and practice. Oxford University Press.
Online
Introduction to Marketing Concepts, 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.mbacrystalball.com/blog/marketing/>. [Accessed on 16th August 2017]
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