Market Analysis Assignment Analyzing Business Case of Apple Inc.

Question

Task:
Prepare a detailed and well-research report on market analysis assignment

Answer

Introduction:

The current market analysis assignment has selected Apple Inc. to work upon, which is an America based multinational company. In 1976, under the supervision of three people named Ronald Wayne, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, Apple was created and launched a computer kit as its first electronic product. Today, Apple is the world's largest manufacturer of various electronic products, smart products, computer software, hardware, online services and technology. It also won the title of the world's most valuable company in 2021 (Apple just became the first U.S. company worth $2 trillion, 2021). The various products of this company are famous for being unique. This report will discuss the company's SWOT analysis, PEST analysis, and information about its competitors in the global market. There will also be a detailed discussion of the company's product portfolio and four P's.

SWOT analysis: Apple's SWOT analysis is explained in detail here-

Strength- Some of the strongest areas of this company are:

Apple has been the world's most valuable brand for the past eight years, according to Interbrand (Li, 2021).
This company's product is very reliable in terms of advanced computers and technology.
Apple is very innovative in making products like the iPhone and iPad.
Apple is the number one most sought after brand in terms of quality.
They make products with an emphasis on quality keeping in mind the demand of the customer.

Weakness- There are some weaknesses also-

Apple's products are very expensive. So, their customers are limited to a certain boundary.
Apple never insists on advertising. They think their product is so popular that there is no need for advertising.
Apple's number of competitors is very low, almost none.
When someone buys Apple's product, no other software or technology works on those products.

Opportunities- For many years Apple has been doing business around the world with excellence. So, their customers do not use anything other than this product. Another feature is that they work with highly educated researchers, specialists and developers, so their products are unique. Apple has recently started working on green technology and this will be reflected in their products.

Threats- A large part of Apple's revenue comes from China. So, the Coronavirus has caused huge losses in the 2021 financial year (Gvili, 2020). Besides this, the Apple brand is being sold illegally in third world countries. By producing Apple's counterfeit products, they are selling at the price of the original product.

PEST analysis: The PEST analysis of Apple is-

Political factors- Each country has a different political structure that influences business. There is a lot of political influence in Apple's business because politics brings new opportunities. Also, good trade policies and stable political structures of developed countries are very helpful for business. Also, it gives them the opportunity to make products in different parts of the world (Zhang, 2017).

Economic factors- The economic structure of the company is affected by the economic factor. Currency fluctuations in different countries, tax systems, and fiscal policies affect Apple's foreign exchange rates in those countries. So Apple has to maintain different policies for business in different countries. Apple has to deal with the increasing growth of developing countries and the steady growth of developed countries.

Socio-cultural factors- Each country has different social characteristics and a different mentality. In that case, product sales may be affected by this mentality. To understand the market of different countries, Apple has to examine the culture, social policy, social life, domestic structure, etc. of that country. Apple's important social reasons are the use of mobile phones and social media, both of which are useful for Apple's business.

Technological factors- Apple is very advanced in terms of technology usage because most of its products depend on technology (Ali and Mohd, 2019). Advanced features of technology they put into their devices such as voice recognition and face scan, in this case, they are better than other companies. They also combine trends and technology to create better products.

Competitors: Apple has competitors in different fields, they are -

Smartphone sector:

Samsung- This Korean company is one of the top three companies in the world. It is an important competitor of Apple (Tien, 2019).

Huawei- Huawei is currently the number one company in the global smartphone market. This is another strong competitor of Apple.

Xiaomi- The company is considered the third-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world.

Computer sector:

Lenovo- This is a Chinese company. It is currently the world's number one computer maker and has a market share of 24.1%.

HP Inc.- Located in the US, the company ranks second in the world as a computer manufacturer, so it is a good competitor.

Dell- They are the third-largest company in the world in the computer market (Beyer, 2017). Like Apple, it also supplies high-end products.

Smartwatch sector:

Samsung: Despite having the same features, Samsung's watches are comparatively less expensive than Apple's which provide benefits like heart rate, calories count etc (Zhang, 2017).

Huawei: They also sell smartwatches with almost the same functionality at a lower price than Apple, that's why they are also Apple's tough competitors.

Fitbit: They are indirect competitors of Apple because they do not make full-fledged smartwatches.

Digital Services Sector:

Spotify: They are also known as Apple Music's competitors for their outstanding service as well as pricing strategy.

Netflix: Netflix can be mentioned as the strongest competitor of Apple TV plus. Apple is brand new to this platform where Netflix has been around for many decades (Aliekperov, 2019).

Google: Google is relatively new to gaming submissions, but since Google is providing identical services like Apple, it is also known as a competitor.

Product portfolio: First, the Mac (Macintosh), iPhone, iPad and iPod; these are part of Apple's product portfolio, all point to a series of bright and distinctive products. The designers of Apple Inc. are constantly innovating in the line of high-quality products. The innovative spirit of the organization has stunned the whole world. Apple's products have been upgraded step by step to become more advanced products. For example, the iPod, which was launched in 2001 and was only applicable to Macintosh OS, but the second generation was launched in 2002, which was also applicable to Windows OS. Some more features were added in 2005 to support audio as well as video in the iPod and increase battery backup, and in 2007 the newest generation was launched where the capacity of storage was increased.

Secondly, In order to maintain a panoramic view of Apple's product line, they consistently retain the general design, be it the iPod, iPhone or iPad (Moshrefi et al., 2020). For example, there is no separate submenu or another way in displaying menus on an iPhone, users can easily access the function they want to use directly and avoid needless bewilderment.

Third, the use of high-quality ingredients can lead Apple to the pinnacle of product development. An iPhone can only combine a 2-megapixel camera and this camera will be unable to satisfy any user while taking pictures, the moment people need to take pictures, the camera is prepared to focus on the object and gives complete amenities for photography.

Finally, the combination of hardware and software plays a key role in moving Apple's products toward success. For example, to enhance the functionality of the iPod, Apple develops software called iTunes, through which video and audio can be enjoyed on a computer (Subaramaniam, Ern-Rong and Palaniappan, 2021).

4 P's: The formation of a marketing mix is based on specific 4Ps variables of product, price, place and promotion.

Product: The company has been successful in attracting customers by launching new innovative products in the last few years (Hsu et al., 2021). Over time, Apple has sought to improve the quality of its products to meet the needs of global consumers. This product strategy includes both products and services. The product component of the marketing mix indicates that Apple is involved in the consumer electronics business.

Products include Mac, iPod, Apple TV, iPhone, iPad.
Services include Apple podcasts, iCloud, Apple Music, Apple Books, Apple fitness+, Apple Arcade, Apple News.

Price: Apple is considered a premium brand for maintaining the quality of its products. Apple never compromises with product price. They only target high affordability customers to maintain their brand value (Pooja, 2020). They never lower the price than competitors, their products are always expensive because they want to maintain the value of their premium brand.

Place: Apple continues to sell its products around the world. They continue to offer products both offline and online to meet customer demand worldwide. They have their own stores in different locations so that the customer can make direct purchases. They also sell products on online shopping platforms like Amazon and Flipkart and on their official websites.

Promotion: Apple uses various mediums for marketing their products such as online ads, billboards, TV etc. Apple uses both conventional and non-conventional methods to promote its products. They use mediums like social media and also promote from their official websites.

Conclusion: In conclusion, Apple Inc's success has skyrocketed as a result of Apple's product development, maximum use of technology and its extensive marketing strategy. As a foundation of success, the innovative products of Apple Inc. continue to evolve with a friendly user spirit as well as a general design style. Due to its success, Apple Inc. has managed a new fashion style as well as in some cases changed people's habits. Therefore, it is clearly reasonable to consideration about the success of the company that it is currently one of the most distinguished companies across the globe.

Reference:

Ali, N.H. and Mohd Rosli, R.A.H., 2019. Digital Technology: e-Content Development using Apple Technology. Malaysian Journal of Distance Education, 21(1). http://mjde.usm.my/vol21_1_2019/mjde21012019_5.pdf

Aliekperov, A., 2019. “Apple”–Up Or Down. International Journal of Innovative Technologies in Social Science, (6 (18)). https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/apple-up-or-down

Beyer, C.A., 2017. Optimizing shipping pricing on Dell. com on build to order notebooks to US consumers across customer experience, profitability and working capital (Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology).https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/111267/1003322279-MIT.pdf?sequence=1

Gvili, Y., 2020. Security analysis of the COVID-19 contact tracing specifications by Apple Inc. and Google Inc. IACR Cryptol. ePrint Arch., 2020, p.428. https://eprint.iacr.org/2020/428.pdf

Hsu, T.H., Her, S.T., Chang, Y.H. and Hou, J.J., 2021. The Application of an Innovative Marketing Strategy MADM Model—SIVA-Need: A Case Study of Apple Company. International Journal of Electronic Commerce Studies, 13(1), pp.33-68. http://academic-pub.org/ojs/index.php/ijecs/article/download/1972/433

Li, Y., 2021. Apple Inc. Analysis and Forecast Evaluation. Proceedings of Business and Economic Studies, 4(4), pp.71-78. http://ojs.bbwpublisher.com/index.php/PBES/article/download/2389/2187

Moshrefi, S., Abdoli, S., Kara, S. and Hauschild, M., 2020. Product portfolio analysis towards operationalising science-based targets. Market analysis assignment Procedia CIRP, 90, pp.377-382. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212827120302766

NBC News. 2021. Apple just became the first U.S. company worth $2 trillion. [online] Available at: < https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/apple-now-worth-2-trillion-making-it-most-valuable-company-n1237287 > [Accessed 17 December 2021].

Pooja, B.C., 2020. An Organization Study Report Of Apple Inc (Doctoral dissertation, CMR Institute of Technology. Bangalore).http://203.201.63.46:8080/jspui/bitstream/123456789/5785/1/MR1758%20-%20POOJA%20B%20C%20-%201CR19MBA61.pdf

Subaramaniam, K., Ern-Rong, J.L. and Palaniappan, S., 2021. Interface Designs with Personality Types: An Effective E-learning Experience. https://catalog.lib.kyushu-u.ac.jp/opac_download_md/4491654/618-627.pdf

Tien, N.H., 2019. International distribution policy comparative analysis between Samsung and apple. International journal of research in marketing management and sales, 2020(1), p.2. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nguyen-Tien-32/publication/338719419_International_distribution_policy_comparative_analysis_between_samsung_and
_apple/links/613c55f401846e45ef3e4a14/International-distribution-policy-comparative-analysis-between-samsung-and-apple.pdf

Zhang, Q., 2017. Research on Apple Inc’s Current Developing Conditions. Open Journal of Business and Management, 6(01), p.39. https://www.scirp.org/html/3-1530524_81309.htm

Zhang, Q., 2017. Research on Apple Inc’s Current Developing Conditions. Open Journal of Business and Management, 6(01), p.39. https://www.scirp.org/html/3-1530524_81309.html

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