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New Product Launch Part 2

Elizabeth Berger, Constanza Pierre, Diana Velez

MKT571

November 10, 2014

William Reicken

New Product Launch Part 2

The major objective of the analysis is to analyze and then critically examine market segmentation plans applied by Apple Company in comparison to the competitors dealing with mobile phones. Segmentation is defined as breaking down a big market to small groups with joint traits with the objective of delivering the market offers that meets the unsolved customers wants nearly as possible (Frank, 1972). A market (buyer) can be divided into many ways that include geographic, demographic, sex, income among others. Through segmentation, it is possible for an organization to meet the consumer’s needs easily sign the marketers know what each group of consumers’ needs.

The market can be segmented based on behavior of the buyers that is behavioral segmentation. The market is broken down based on buyer’s information, attitude, application or new product response (Wedel, 2002). Apple applies this division strategy very comprehensively by the entrepreneurs that result to switching of brands. Individuals do not share interests. Individuals interested in purchasing an iPhone have some preferences in products with high technology. Consumers will always choose the most affordable and convenient product. Apple products being easily portable and not big in size makes them become consumer’s choice. The company does not focus on markets instead their main interest is on individuals (consumers). However, the company has given the consumers the freedom to make decisions on ways they need to use the products and the location of using the products. These are the loyal customers who have faith in the products of the company. Consumer’s attitude determines his purchasing power (Krishna, 2013).

Demographic segmentation is another form of dividing market based on factors such as sex, age, size of the family, income, work, education; religion among others, clients can be grouped into various categories. Introduction of a certain brand into the market, income, age and sex are some of the factors that have effects on purchasing decision made by the consumer. For an instance, introduction of the iPhone 4s mainly targeted the middle-level earners who have the capability of purchasing a brand. Looking at the brands released by Apple it is clear that they are quality products, and that explains why they come with a high price tag (Richard, 2006). Consumers are motivated by the quality of the products. This means that they never compromise the quality of their products. The features that come along with the product are way too high, and it outlines what applicants can perform on their phones therefore t falls in innovations group.

Product Life Cycle

The introduction stage is the most expensive for the company. A new product has low sales with a small market. The cost is high for new product due to testing, development, and marketing (Kotler & Keller, 2012). Halo will plan to charge a higher price which will become the average market price. The consumers will be prepared to pay a higher rice to get the newest product in the database market.

The growth stage is a strong stage for sales and profit. This is the stage that the company benefits from the production, profit margins, and economic benefits (Kotler & Keller, 2012). Halo will have competitive prices, but they will be lowered by five percent of the competitor prices. This will allow Halo to have an increase in sales. Halo will also change the marketing approach to make the most of the increase in sales from the lowering of prices.

The maturity stage is the state that a company must maintain the market and an established product (Kotler & Keller, 2012). This is the most competitive stage. The advantage for the company at this stage is modifications and improvements in the product. Halo will improve their market and offer more features and use more innovative campaigns.

The decline stage is a stage when the product shrinks. The market becomes saturated as well as consumers switch to different products (Kotler & Keller, 2012). Halo will extend the profit of the product by moving production to a less expensive location. Halo will use alternatives in manufacturing of the product to increase profit. Halo will not sacrifice the quality; however the new manufacturing will increase help with profit margins.

Product Mix

The Halo will allow customers to store documents, pictures, videos, and movies. Although the Halo is similar to the many other products that are currently on the market, we plan on differentiated our product through pricing. This is called the depth of the product mix. The depth refers to the number of variations of the product (Kotler & Keller, 2012).  Companies like Apple’s Cloud, Dropbox, and other storage databases offer packages based on the amount of storage needed by the customer. Most of these companies offer three types of plans; we will make the Halo’s pricing cheaper to the customer and with more options for plan choices. This will give us a competitive advantage.

Entering a market, with well-known brands, like Apple’s Cloud, can be risky; however, there are customers out there that are not Apple lovers, and they are looking for other brands besides brands like Apple, because they are more expensive. Our goal is to capitalize on that. Our strengths will not only be our pricing strategy, but it will also include security and privacy for our customers. Because we are storing data, customers want to know they are protected against hackers and violation of personal information. We have spent a great deal making sure our customers’ information will not be compromised.

Another area of focus for our product is to increase our product width. The product width is the different types of products offered by the company. As of now, we only offer one product, anti-virus software. Customers can purchase Anti-virus software to ensure documents they are storing are not compromised. Our R & D department is researching possible products for the future. We are researching the possibility of co-branding with another company. We have discussed the possibility of having our product pre-loaded on cellular phones and having our product available through App stores, on phones and computers (Kotler & Keller, 2012). 

Positioning Statement

Our goal is to provide customers with quality service for storing all types of data, such as pictures, movies, music and documents. We are putting the customer in control by allowing them to choose from a variety of affordable packages. Halo prides itself in security and privacy, which is why our customers can rest assure their data is safe.

In conclusion, Halo will provide a product with a detailed target market profile with key buying behaviors and motivator for the consumer and organizational target markets. Halo will do this by managing each stage of the product life cycle and using the tactical plans outline for each stage. Halo will benefit by featuring new lines of product with differentiating characteristics. Our new positioning strategy will help Halo maintain the target market, provide guarantees for the product, and continue to motivate our consumers to make Halo purchases.

References

Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2012). Marketing Management (14th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Frank, R. E., Massy, W. F., & Wind, Y. (1972). Market segmentation. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall.

Krishna, A. (2013). Customer sense: How the five senses influence buying behavior. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Richard K. Miller & Associates. (2006). Consumer behavior. Loganville, GA: Richard K. Miller Assoc.

Wedel, M., & Kamakura, W. (2002). Market segmentation. Amsterdam: North-Holland.