Marketing Strategies and Analysis: Samsung vs. Apple in MKT00720

This report provides a comparative analysis of the marketing strategies employed by Samsung and Apple, two leading brands in the smartphone industry. The report begins with an introduction that outlines the scope and objectives, followed by a discussion section that presents findings on each company's marketing intelligence, market segmentation, and overall marketing processes. The analysis delves into Samsung's strategies, including its focus on budget-conscious shoppers, extensive advertising, and channel marketing, contrasting these with Apple's emphasis on technological superiority, brand equity, and a loyal customer base. The report highlights the competitive advantages of each company, examining their strengths and weaknesses in areas such as product innovation, customer loyalty, and distribution strategies. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, emphasizing the importance of brand equity and customer loyalty in the premium mobile manufacturing market and the sustained brand advantage of Apple. The report is based on academic literature and case studies, providing a comprehensive overview of the marketing dynamics of these two tech giants.

Running Head: MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLAN
Marketing Strategy and Plan
Student’s Name
University Name
Author’s Note

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
2. Discussion....................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Findings.................................................................................................................................3
2.1.1 Samsung..........................................................................................................................3
2.1.2 Apple...............................................................................................................................5
2.2 Analysis.................................................................................................................................6
3. Conclusion...................................................................................................................................7
Reference List..................................................................................................................................9

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1. Introduction
This report will make an analysis of the capacity of the marketing strategies as well as
marketing process involved with brand development of the two reputed electronics brands,
Samsung and Apple. Making a comparison of the marketing aspects of the two organizations,
the marketing intelligence of the two organizations, in context to the early concepts like
marketing intelligence, market segmentation and so on would be done. The two organizations,
Samsung and apple are largest names in manufacturing and distributorship of smart phones all
over the world. Previously, there was the domination of organizations like Nokia as well as
Motorola in the market of electronic and especially mobile phones. After the launch of the
iPhone in the year 2207, apple took over the consumer market. However, the marketing case
study makes it evident that after the introduction of the Galaxy series of Smartphone in the year
2013, the competition became stiff for the Apple. The unique features of android twinning with
the massive scale of advertising of Samsung created a buzz in the market of smart phones all
over the world and as such Samsung had almost taken over iPhone in order to become the largest
and probably the biggest brand for smart phones in the world.
2. Discussion
2.1 Findings
2.1.1 Samsung
Samsung have had a well framed position in the smart phone market because of the
fourth quarter of the FY 2016 that helped the organization to earn market share of 18.5%. This
market share has been on the rise, since then as the company has been entirely focused on the
budget conscious shoppers (Boscor 2016). The marketing intelligence of Samsung is evident in

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the announcement of the Galaxy S8 series so that they are able to hold on to the base of potential
high end customers. Again, in order to attract the customers, and enhance the attractiveness of
the customers, Samsung had announced the flat sales of the product lines of S8 and S8 plus, so
that the maximum interest of the customers can be aroused.
The market and industry analysis of Samsung shows that the factor that helped Samsung to attain
a greater market share is the extensive publicity of the skimming price and the most industry
competitive price. All the television advertisement and online video advertisement series of
Samsung had been promoting different technological innovations along with the aspect of price
competitiveness (Yun, Lee and Aoshima 2019).
Market analysis reveals that the Samsung smart phones stay at the top since the company
has been facilitating all kinds of customers. The companies have been using effective as well as
suitable strategies so that the smart phone sales can increase significantly in the market
(Almutairi et al. 2019). Analysis of market situations also show that the although the other smart
phone brands are trying to capture the market, the trend in which the new smart phone brands are
promoted, has been capable in attracting the teenagers, who comprise about two third of the
target customer base of Samsung.
The use of channel marketing is one of the most important industrial aspect of the
marketing strategy of Samsung. As a part of this strategy, the service dealers are only considered
for the purpose of corporate sales. Retailers who are incorporated in the technology chain need to
incorporate Samsung within their list. There are two major reasons behind this. Firstly, Samsung
is a globally reputed brand name, among all organizations who manufacture smart phones.
Again, Samsung is the only trustworthy alternative for the consumers who favor smart phones of

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flagship budget friendly brands. However, the distribution of products is the most appealing part
of the marketing strategy of the brand. The case study shows that in the most important cities
where the proportion of sales is maximum, the company develops their contract with single
distribution companies that are solely responsible for the product distribution all throughout the
city (Bakator and Petrović 2016).
There are several benefits of the abovementioned strategy. The first is less concentration needed
for the monitoring of the distribution channels. In fact, they also needs to pay less to the
distribution agencies, since at the time of placing the order, there are always discounts, available.
Along with distribution, the segmentation of customers of Samsung is also different from that of
Apple. On one hand, Apple depends on selective customer strength. However, they ensure that
the customer base is going to be very loyal. On the contrary, the companies like Samsung ensure
the customer base is broad (Miguel and Casado 2016). However, the loyalty level of customers is
much lesser compared to Apple. The customer base of Samsung is mostly comprised of
teenagers, young aged mobile users and other similar categories of users.
2.1.2 Apple
There are several competitive advantages associated with the competitive marketing
strategy of Apple. The first point of promotion is the superiority in development of technology
products. The iPhone as well as Macbook are the industry leading products because of the OS as
well as the technology used (Baron, Zaltman and Olson 2017).
The brand equity of Apple is also highest among all brands. The cult of high brand equity is
enjoyed by the company since a considerable period of time. Besides, unlike Samsung, the
collection of revenue over time has not been turbulent and unstable, over time. Brands like

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Samsung need successful marketing and promotional campaign so that they are able to generate
high proportion of sales. However, the sales margins of Apple have been constant because of the
high sales margins that the organizations. Apple has a large non-divergent customer base which
is not possessed by any other organization. Researchers like Gao et al. (2012), considers Apple
iPhone as cash cows for the organization. this is because, like iWatch or Macintosh, the iPhones
have also been unchallenged in the customer market. 50% of the market share in the electronics
market is consumed by these products. Distribution is another important aspect of the marketing
strategy of the organization. Talking about US, there are about 450 stores within USA, which
have the specialized Apple Genius Bar, where there are fully equipped devices that are able to
render help for any technical issues the smart phones of Apple.
2.2 Analysis
It has been observed that even after the handsome revenue collection of the fourth quarter
of the year 2016, the expected point in sales has not been achieved by the organization.
Analyzing, the customer reviews against the product offerings of Samsung and Apple, it can be
highlighted that the new Samsung models like the S8 and the S8 plus had been lacking the
modest upgrades offered in the latest iPhone series. although Samsung had a good financial year
in 2016, it is evident that the sales of iPhone were 20.3% which is 1.8% higher than that of
Samsung (Bakator and Petrović 2016).
Another most noteworthy point is that although Apple has also been emphasizing on the
product quality and the brand equity in their smart phones, after the buzz in sales of Samsung,
they were also pressured to deviate their emphasis on the internal Smartphone features and
exceptional technological features that were being offered by the brand (Al-Abdallah and Abo-

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Rumman 2013). Nevertheless, in this context, it needs to be mentioned that the factor of price
affordability had also appealed to the target base of customers of Samsung in addition to the
innovation in features. However, so far as Apple smart phones are concerned, the aspect of
technological innovations was the only fact that attracted the attention of the users. Hence, the
promotional ventures of Samsung have been more successful compared to the promotional
campaigns of Apple (Isoherranen and Kess 2011).
The market segment of Apple is also quite contrasted to that of the other mobile phone
brands like Samsung. They target the customers who have maximum empowerment from the
monetary perspectives. This includes the customers pertaining to the business class and
maximum service people.
The distribution strategy of the two brands is totally different. In the first place, the
distribution of Samsung is based on contract development with sole proprietors. This helps in
development of brand equity is respective cities and zones. In contrast, the distribution of apple
is based on providing the ease of access for the customers with eloquent whole product, so that
the customers also share the experience of a premium brand, at the time of shopping (Chang and
Liu 2012). In this context, Apple is supposed to get the sustained advantage, since the customer
base of the company is almost static and that is why, the convenience of purchase and added
benefits appeals more to them.
3. Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be stated that, brands like Samsung might have a distinguished
higher proportion of sales. However, that works or some specific cases when some definite
model of the company becomes exceptionally popular. In contrast, the sustained brand advantage

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is enjoyed by brands like Apple, which have a set of loyal customers. this implies that the brand
equity and brand loyalty are more crucial factors because of which, the marketing ventures of
premium mobile manufacturing brands like Apple have a high success rate.

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Reference List
Al-Abdallah, G.M. and Abo-Rumman, A.H., 2013. The effect of brand associations on customer
loyalty: Empirical study on mobile devices in Jordan. American Academic & Scholarly Research
Journal, 5(1), p.122.
Almutairi, M., Mehta, S., Al Rashidi, F., Villa, M.A. and Anggawinata, F., 2019. Analysis of
Samsung's internationalization process and the strategies implemented to generate an effective
positioning of its brand and products in foreign markets. Journal of the community development
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Bakator, M. and Petrović, N., 2016. Correlation between marketing strategy, product quality and
promotion on the mobile devices market in Serbia. Journal of Engineering Management and
Competitiveness (JEMC), 6(2), pp.67-74.
Bakator, M. and Petrović, N., 2016. Correlation between marketing strategy, product quality and
promotion on the mobile devices market in Serbia. Journal of Engineering Management and
Competitiveness (JEMC), 6(2), pp.67-74.
Baron, A.S., Zaltman, G. and Olson, J., 2017. Barriers to advancing the science and practice of
marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 33(11-12), pp.893-908.
Boscor, D., 2016. Marketing strategies adopted by Romanian smartphones producers. Case
study: Visual Fan. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Economic Sciences. Series
V, 9(2), p.31.

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Chang, C.T. and Liu, H.W., 2012. Goodwill hunting? Influences of product-cause fit, product
type, and donation level in cause-related marketing. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 30(6),
pp.634-652.
Gao, T., Rohm, A.J., Sultan, F. and Huang, S., 2012. Antecedents of consumer attitudes toward
mobile marketing: A comparative study of youth markets in the United States and China.
Thunderbird International Business Review, 54(2), pp.211-224.
Isoherranen, V. and Kess, P., 2011. Analysis of strategy by strategy typology and orientation
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Miguel, J.C. and Casado, M.Á., 2016. GAFAnomy (Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple):
The big four and the b-ecosystem. In Dynamics of Big Internet Industry Groups and Future
Trends (pp. 127-148). Springer, Cham.
Yun, B.S., Lee, S.G. and Aoshima, Y., 2019. An analysis of the trilemma phenomenon for Apple
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