Apple Industry Analysis

, among the most successful technology and electronics company and best in America. The Cupertino, California headquartered company majors in the development, design and selling of electronics and other technology products of software and online service provision. The hardware electronics produced currently by Apple are the iPhone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, the iPod media player, Apple Watch, Apple TV and the HomePod. The software products from Apple are its operating systems of iOS and MacOS, iTunes media player, Safari web browser, iLife and iWork suites, and other professional apps like Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro and Xcode. Online services offered are the iOS App Store, Mac App Store, iTunes and the iCloud. Apple, second largest phone seller and manufacturer after the South Korean based Samsung has seen great success from its incredible iPhone smartphone series.

The company employs over 100000 employees on fulltime basis with 499 retail stores in the world. Its famous iTunes store operated by Apple has become the world’s largest music retailer in history. Apple enjoys its unique brand loyalty from product differentiation and has over time been rankingmost valuable worldwide. Though it’s worth to note that the company experiences a number of criticisms from its competitors like its unethical labor practices, business practices like it’s the unfair competition it poses in the market and the source of some of its products. According to Khan et al. (961), the economic factor that Apple considers most is ensuring consumer needs are met and the products are affordable. This is done in consideration of other relevant and important economic factors which can be local to a specific nation and also the global economy by looking at a close analysis of the global and local economies.

Looking at the social-cultural factors Apple is always aware of the social trends and ensure its devices are on point by ensuring that they give friendly, portable and slick designs. Additionally, Apple always moves along with the technological trends by ensuring constant upgrades in both its software products and the hardware products. In Apple Research and Development (R&D) is the major driving force of the company which though in most other firms it may be classified to be a support activity. The support activities at Apple include logistics both inbound and outbound, customer service, and product design. The supply chain logistics at Apple are among the best are well designed and efficient with the ability to ensure timely delivery of products without unnecessary inventory cost which is an efficient competitive advantage at Apple.

The unique designs at Apple have ensured ease of use of its products with user-friendly interfaces which are elegant to ensure consumer satisfaction (Nwogugu, 171). With the focus on R&D culture developed by Jobs has been Apples biggest strength though it has increased costs of products. thereby should be the teenagers and especially the university and college students who have a great taste in technology and aware of the technological trends. Secondly is the business community and especially firms that need technology in running their daily activities. Finally, is the young generation and the adults who mostly need Apple products for recreation purposes. The technology and electronics market in the US is dominated by Apple leaving lesser market gaps to be a target market (Buckley & Mark, 539).

The target market for Apple is large for it is the entire world which is thirsting for new technology and the use of technology. Considering psychographic factors, the target market is middle and upper social class individuals and firms who are aspired for success through exploration (Buckley & Mark, 545). Price strategy According to Spann et al. (235), skimming price strategy for Apple products in these new markets will see great sales. With the recent launch of iPhone X, iMac Pro, 8th generation iPad, and the HomePod will see a great entry in the market regardless of the high costs for consumers will consider the unique features and the new designs. Then with the slow reduction of the prices over time will ensure that the market of Apple products is continuous and that it matches the prices of competitor products in the market.

This should ensure a careful language translation to avoid ambiguity in language and ensure local cultural beliefs and norms are not violated (Vahlne & Jan, 145). With Apple being well established its logo and brand will market it to these new cultures considering there are no clone products in the market. In expanding to these new markets Apple will keep its identity in creating a new store in the various nations where it doesn’t exist. From the results of the market research, Apple will offer products that fir the consumer preference in the local markets. With the local Apple Stores, it will allow the various consumers to voice their concerns about the various products from which products are adjusted to fit their needs.

Location of the Apple Store According to Blenko (76), the great location for the described target market would fit the Rio de Janeiro city in Brazil in South America. This location will be suitable for the city only has one Apple Store that is in the VillageMall making it unable to satisfy the growing market. The proposed Apple Store will be located in the BarraShopping mall, 4666 Das Americas Avenue in Rio. This is because of its strategic location next to the Siqueira Campos terminus and with Rio being a metropolitan city on the Pacific beach it has a very high population count hence many potential customers. With no big difference of the Brazilians cultures to those of US Apple will easily adapt to the new market and availability of local experts to run the store.

Additionally, use the social media and other relevant platforms to announce the launch and make the store location and products offered known to the Brazilians in Rio (Blenko, 113). Product Promotion Strategy To ensure that Apple achieves its key goal of making profits and remaining on top of the technology market there is a need for the development of a functionally efficient product promotion strategy. This strategy has to be based on the principles of operation in Apple and also uphold the due business ethics of product promotion and suite the local culture. For this reason, to market Apple, it will take different approaches topromotional mix of Advertising, Public Relations, Social Media, Sales promotions, Direct marketing and other approaches. In all these marketing and product promotion approaches, the message of the advert, the media and the approach used are what will determine the efficiency of product promotion (Fankuchen, et al.

Apple will take this approach right from the launching of this new Apple store by partnering with local media houses. With the help of the media house experts, suitable adverts will be developed and aired to the public. In addition, Apple will take its promotion messages to Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and Yelp. In this Apple will announce its entry in the market with the many products and services tobe offered at the store and also with the regular update will keep the customers of the store of new products and any offers on the prices. Having in mind the cultural elements of the Brazilians, Apple will ensure it has improved on the existing public relations between the locals and Apple.

With its established global market, Apple has the best competitive advantage over other local technology and electronic companies. The potential and existing customers of apple are always assured of standard and recent technologies with new innovative ideas and changes in the various products released regularly. With this market strategy in place, Apple is assured of a future in the market considering its unique competitive strategy and that it can achieve greater globalization. However, the company should be flexible enough to adjust to future market changes and to the local cultural differences and the different regional consumer preferences. References Blenko, David, et al. " Journal of technology management & innovation 10. Kaur, Balpreet, and Rishi Raj Sharma. "Impact of Viral Advertising on Product Promotion: An Experimental Study.