Comparative Analysis: Nintendo Switch and PlayStation Marketing Report

This report offers a comprehensive comparison of the marketing strategies employed by Nintendo Switch and PlayStation. It begins with an executive summary outlining the report's objectives, which include analyzing the target markets of both companies and assessing their marketing mix strategies, encompassing product, price, place, and promotion. The introduction provides background on both companies, highlighting their market share and key features. The findings section delves into a detailed comparison of the target markets, examining demographic, psychographic, behavioral, and geographic segmentation. The marketing mix analysis explores the product offerings, pricing strategies (premium vs. competitive), distribution channels, and promotional activities of each company. The report also addresses segmentation, targeting, and positioning within the marketing planning process for both Nintendo Switch and PlayStation. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and provides recommendations, such as adopting cost leadership and differentiation strategies, leveraging social media for marketing, and focusing on innovation and new technologies to sustain a competitive edge in the gaming industry. References are provided to support the research and analysis.

Running head: PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING
Principles of marketing
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

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PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING
Executive summary
The aim of the report was to compare between the target markets of Nintendo Switch
and PlayStation and also ensure addressing the various components of the marketing mix
strategy including the product, price, place and promotions. The methods of research
included the use of marketing mix strategy while the data collection has been mostly
secondary research based. The results seemed to be accurate and provided insights about how
the companies segmented its market, targeted the audiences and positioned the products and
services to reach out to the audiences much comprehensively. Comparing both these
companies, in terms of all these aspects, it would be necessary to invest more, adopt new
technologies and remain aligned with the business values and ethics to sustain in the
marketplace.

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Table of Contents
Executive summary..................................................................................................................1
Introduction..............................................................................................................................3
Findings.....................................................................................................................................4
Comparison of target markets............................................................................................4
Marketing mix......................................................................................................................5
Product..............................................................................................................................5
Price...................................................................................................................................6
Place...................................................................................................................................6
Promotions........................................................................................................................6
Segmentation, targeting, positioning for the marketing planning process.....................7
Conclusion and recommendations..........................................................................................8
References...............................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The report presents about an idea about the comparison between two major companies
within the game industry regarding its marketing tactics and efforts put by Nintendo Switch
and PlayStation. The comparison will be made for the targeted markets and also for the
marketing mix strategy consisting of the product, price, place and promotions managed by
these two companies while operating within the business environment. Moreover, the topic
will also represent facts and information about how these two companies can manage
segmentation, targeting and positioning, thereby, ensure establishment of proper market
planning process too (Armstrong et al. 2014).
Nintendo Switch is a well-known company specialised in the production of good
quality video game consoles, both used as a home consoles as well as in the form of portable
devices. The various keys and buttons on the device have allowed people to enjoy handheld
style play and play variety of games, both offline and online through internet connectivity
and even as a local wireless ad hoc connectivity console. The market share for Nintendo
Switch is about 52 percent of all consoles sold worldwide. The market size is huge and the
company has sold over 50 million since the year 2017, which is huge (Ali and Talwar 2013).
The sales trends have shown gradual growth and the Switch has cerate dew scopes and
opportunities for the company to battle against its competitors such as the Xbox, PlayStation,
etc.
PlayStation has been known for its great quality gaming consoles, which has
revolutionised the way of gaming for people. It has a huge market share of 57 percent and
due to the large market size, the company has operated successfully and acquired customers
from different market segments quite effectively.

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Findings
Comparison of target markets
Considering the target market or audience, Nintendo Switch has targeted those people
who have been interested in the products as well as shared features and characteristics that
the company has aimed to serve or provide. The company segmented the market based on
demographic factors, psychographic, behavioural and geographic factors. Based on the
demographics, nowadays, people of young ages as well as the older individuals who are also
game enthusiasts (Salim 2014). Considering the fact that the Nintendeo Switch can be used
and played as a handheld device, thus allowing to play on the go, represent some major
unique selling positions targeted at the various segments of market. The people aged between
15 to 30 years of age has been targeted who are video games enthusiasts and like playing at
home and on the go.
Kind of similar to the target market of Nintendo Switch, PlayStation also has targeted
the segment of market consisting of people aged between 17 to 40 years of age. As most of
the games on PlayStation are rated as M for the mature audiences, so the targeted audiences
have also been the hard core gamers of any ages, who believe in gaming rather than getting
involved in other activities (Lancaster and Massingham 2017). Thus, the middle class and
higher class segments have been targeted as well while based on the psychographics, the
targeted market segments consist of Electronic Arts games, Ubisoft, Rockstar and Capcom as
well. The acqusitions of various products and services such as music, movies games, social
media, all available under one console has further made the company target as many
customers as possible and even allowed delivery of products that match or fit up to their
needs and preferences.

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Marketing mix
The marketing mix strategy is implemented by the organisations for the assessment of
products represented by the brand and its values while at the same time, determining the
pricing strategies implemented, places where the products are distributed and also
promotional approaches undertaken by the company (Lancaster and Massingham 2017).
Product
Considering the product component, Nintendo has introduced a new gaming console
that can be used on the go and also act as a portable device easily managed by the clients. The
business values and beliefs have been managed properly, which has transformed the entire
way of gaming at present and thus allowed the company to expand its business outside Japan
and all over the world. These products are different at the functional and emotional levels,
because these products have been preferred by gamers who could use it on the go and also
use it as a hand held device whenever they want, which ensured better accessibility and great
user interface too (Lee and Johnson 2013). There are home consoles such as Wii U, Nintendo
64, etc. and also the hand held devices including Nintendo Switch, which has helped in
meeting the different purposes of different market segments. On the other hand, PlayStation
introduced by Sony, evolved with time and the gaming consoles support high end graphics
for the video games and the enhanced processing power match up to the criteria and quality,
as promised by the brand to its customers. The frame rates are higher and also the console
supports video streaming of high resolution, which ensures meeting multiple needs and
preferences too. Based on the Levitts’ model, all the major components including products,
service and experience have been fulfilled with the help of these products and thus the value
for consumers seemed to be generic and expected (Washington and Serra 2018).

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Price
Considering the price component, the Nintendo Switch prices have been set
accordingly o as to ensure customer loyalty towards the brand and even consider them as
vital assets of the organisation who go for the most in-demand games available. The
diversified pricing strategy by Nintendo has helped in going through the entire life cycle of
the product, which further ensured delivering the customers with a great user experience and
adoption of new technologies (Camilleri 2018). Often the company has been found to adopt
premium pricing and at the same time, competitive pricing to set competitive prices to match
up with the rivalries in business. The average price range for Nintendo products range from
£20 to £40. The pricing strategy of PlayStation has set a higher price, when compared to its
competitors so as to deliver he product to the high end customers and thus the premium
pricing strategy has been followed, the Skimming of prices has helped in meeting the
anticipated demands of clients and ensured influencing consumers’ behaviours too. The price
range starts from £250 to £299 for PlayStation products (Andaleeb 2016).
Place
The Nintendo products are available on gaming stores, electronic retail chain stores
and also on the retail chains such as Walmart, Tesco, etc. The online distribution on the
online platforms has further raised the convenience for customers to gain access to the
products from all over the world. The places of distribution for PlayStation include
worldwide and thus the products are available at all Sony stores, because of in line with the
Sony brand. The products are made available on ecommerce platforms as well as on retail
electronic shops, which provided better accessibility for the customers (Schlegelmilch 2016).
Promotions
Nintendo followed aggressive marketing and promotions strategy and even applied
different ways to launch new products through offline and online channels. The promotions

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of products have been done by presenting console cases, t-shirts and free goodies along with
videos on social networks and social media channels, which complete the marketing mix
component (Ali and Talwar 2013). Sony’s PlayStation promoted its products by representing
taglines such as “The Ultimate Just Got Power”, “It only does everything”, “The Game Is
Just the Start. Start PS3.”, “Move into the action”, etc., which matched the game enthusiasts’
criteria. The promotions done online and also on televisions, newspapers and billboards and
on the social networks further improved the promotions efficacy.
Based on the analysis of marketing mix components, it could be understood that
PlayStation has been the most successful while applying the four Ps, because the
company has not only kept the product features innovative and offer multiple functionality,
but also the prices have been set competitively. Due to this, the products tend to be more
successful among the competitors while the availability of products in electronic retail chains
and also at the Sony stores, further enhanced the brand image and equity and ensured better
marketing efficiency too.
Segmentation, targeting, positioning for the marketing planning process
Nintendo’s segmentation approach is based on the segmentation or categorisation of
market by providing products of different types such as gaming consoles, electronic devices,
etc. for reaching out to different market segments comprising of the customers. Based on
demographic segmentation, the people of ages between 25 to 30 years of age have been
targeted, while the other segment consisted of people and casual gamers who like playing
games on the go. The targeted audiences have been identified in the previous section while
the positioning of products has been possible with the help of making the products available
on offline and online platforms such as the ecommerce platforms and the retail electronic
chains for better accessibility by the clients (DeSarbo, Blanchard and Atalay 2017).

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PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING
When compared to Nintendo, Play station’s STP approach is based on the gamers
segment and thus the main geographic segments of the company include the market in
Northern America, Japanese market as well as the European market. As the demographic
segments feature both male and female gamer, old as well as young individuals, PlayStation
introduced games and products targeted to those aged above 17 years, because of the most
games are rated 17+. The other games have been labelled as E and E+ for the young
individuals and teenagers, which has helped in targeting the multiple segments of market
quite comprehensively (Schlegelmilch 2016). The availability of products on Sony stores,
electronic retail chains and online platforms further facilitated the positioning strategy for
PlayStation effectively.
Conclusion and recommendations
Both the brands have applied the four principles of marketing and supported all the
components of the marketing mix strategy. Moreover, the application of these four Ps has
helped in targeting people properly, delivered the values and benefits, promoted the products
and influenced the buying behaviours of consumers largely too. Tis has not only enhanced
the level of accessibility for the customers to the products, but also has raised the brand’s
potential to attain high level of profit and competitive advantage in business too.
Recommendations
 It is recommended to adopt the cost leadership and differentiation strategies for
bringing something unique and differentiable from the customers, furthermore, set
competitive prices to influence consumers buying behaviours
 The involvement of social media platforms is recommended to raise the effectiveness
of marketing and promotions

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 Considering the targeted market consisting of mostly gamers, the companies must
target both middle class and premium segments of customers to generate higher
revenue in business
 Nintendo should focus on generic strategy so as to target alternative customers
 Also, consistent investments are required to facilitate innovation and ensure addition
of new technologies to the products for competing with the rivalries

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References
Ali, H. and Talwar, V., 2013. Principles of marketing. University of London: International
Programmes.
Andaleeb, S.S., 2016. Market segmentation, targeting, and positioning. Strategic Marketing
Management in Asia, pp.179-207.
Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S. and Kotler, P., 2014. Principles of marketing. Pearson
Australia.
Camilleri, M.A., 2018. Market segmentation, targeting and positioning. In Travel marketing,
tourism economics and the airline product (pp. 69-83). Springer, Cham.
DeSarbo, W.S., Blanchard, S.J. and Atalay, A.S., 2017. A new spatial classification
methodology for simultaneous segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP analysis) for
marketing research. In Review of marketing research (pp. 95-123). Routledge.
Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G., 2013. Principles of Marketing (16th Global Edition).
Lancaster, G. and Massingham, L., 2017. Direct marketing. In Essentials of Marketing
Management (pp. 279-297). Routledge.
Lancaster, G. and Massingham, L., 2017. Product and innovation strategies. In Essentials of
Marketing Management (pp. 92-135). Routledge.
Lee, M. and Johnson, C., 2013. Principles of advertising: a global perspective. Routledge.
Salim, N., 2014. Industri video game Jepang strategi persaingan nintendo wii vs sony
playstation 3 pada tahun 2007 2012= Japan video game industry competition strategy
between nintendo wii vs playstation 3 in 2007-2012.

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Schlegelmilch, B.B., 2016. Segmenting targeting and positioning in global markets.
In Global marketing strategy (pp. 63-82). Springer, Cham.
Washington, G. and Serra, J., Synergy Blue LLC, 2018. Dynamic placement of in-game ads,
in-game product placement, and in-game promotions in wager-based game environments.
U.S. Patent 9,940,785.