STUDENT NUMBER:
830271
WORD COUNT: 846

Marketing & strategy - Assignment 2 PLAN – Apple.
My given task: Using the 4P’s framework assess the relative importance of each in the marketing strategy of a consumer firm of your choice.
My plan for the given task:
Introduction: For a business like Apple it is majorly important that once the marketing strategy has been developed, there should be a formula used to keep the business consistently successful. This strategy is used to adapt to all changes in a business like apple. I will be using this strategy all throughout my coursework to see how successful Apple is as a business. This strategy is known as the 7P’s, such as: product, price, promotion, place, packaging, positioning and people. As products, markets, customers and needs are changing rapidly, it is a must to continually revisit these seven Ps to make sure apple is on track and achieving the maximum results possible in today's marketplace. http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/70824
Product: Products are only bought for the benefits they provide to customers, therefore should meet the customers’ needs and expectations. A major focus for Apple as a business is its product life cycle, I will have to analyse ways in which they introduce new products and then get a rapid increase of sales, to the point where sales are reduced at their lowest peak. Then see what replacements are brought in to repeat this cycle to keep consistency of sales. All consideration will cover profit margins, competitions, advertising and my next focus pricing. I will also be concentrating on how Apple distributes their products and uses the system ‘Just in time’ when ordering products. http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/intro_Product.html
Prices: Within any product, cost must be taken into account for the price it’s charged at. The cost could include discounts, packaging and other indirect costs such as promotion etc. I will also be looking at what Pricing methods Apple use to interest buyers’ e.g. psychological pricing. Overall I will be seeing what Apple does to create profit on top of cost, whilst providing a price that customers are willing to pay and still be able to compete with competitors. http://www.tutor2u.net/business/gcse/marketing_pricing_strategies.htm
Promotion: Promotion is a technique that is used to persuade customers to buy a certain product. Amazon has many ways of communicating a particular product to the market, these combination of activities are known as the promotion mix. The promotion mix includes; advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, sponsorship and direct marketing. I will be concentrating on what apple do to make effective promotion, by interpreting who they aim their advertisement at and because of what purpose. http://www.smallbusiness.wa.gov.au/marketing-promotion-strategy/
Place: The location of any business is very important, reason being is that it’s rare for the producers of a product to then sell the product directly to the customers. It is more common for a product to get distributed to what’s known as the service side of a business such as Apple that sells their products in a store. I will be looking at where Apple stores tend to be located along with their choice of channel distributions for wholesalers, agents, retailers and internet. Each aspect will be focused on to find their role of intermediary. http://www.marketingteacher.com/marketing-place/
Packaging: Each product’s packaging should require its own distinctive design that customers can recognise it by.