PROJECT REPORTON

MARKETING MIX

INTRODUCTION OF MARKETING MIX

Marketing mix is a business tool used in marketing and by marketing professionals. It is a set of actions, tactics that a company uses to promote its brand or product in the market. The term Marketing Mix was developed by Neil Borden who first started using the phrase in 1949. “An executive is a mixer of ingredients, who sometimes follows a recipe as he goes along, sometimes adapts a recipe to the ingredients immediately available, and sometimes experiments with or invents ingredients no one else has tried."

Definitions: According to Philip Kotler , “ A marketing mix is the mixture of controllable marketing variables that the firm uses to pursue the sought level of sales in the target market.”

According to Neil H. Borden,” The marketing mix is the set of marketing tools that the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market.”

TARGET MARKET OF DELLDell Currently Target Two Markets:Large To Mid-size Business:1. 36 to 50 year old2. Upper Middle To Lower ClassConsumers, students, small home office:3. 18to 35 years old4. Middle class

TYPES OF MARKETING MIX

MARKETING MIX

OF

DELL AND APPLE

HISTORY OF DELL

Dell first logo from 1984 to 1989 Dell traces its origins to 1984, when Michael Dell created PC's Limited while a student of the

University of Texas at Austin. The dorm-room headquartered company sold IBM PC-compatible computers built from stock components. Dell dropped out of school to focus full-time on his fledgling business, after getting about $300,000 in expansion-capital from his family. In 1985, the company produced the first computer of its own design, the Turbo PC, which sold for $795. PC's Limited advertised its systems in national computer magazines for sale directly to consumers and custom assembled each ordered unit according to a selection of options. The company grossed more than $73 million in its first year of operation.

COMPANY BACKGROUND

NameIndustries served

Geographic areas servedHeadquartersCurrent CEORevenueProfitEmployeesMain Competitors

Dell Inc. Computer hardware, Computer

software, IT consulting, IT services Worldwide U.S. Michael Dell $ 63.07 billion (2012) $ 3.49 billion (2012) 110,000 Apple Inc., Samsung Electronic Co.,

Ltd., Lenovo Group Limited, Hewlett-Packard Company, Sony Corporation, Fujitsu Limited and many others.

Vision statement :

It’s the way we do business. It’s the way we interact with community. It’s the way we interpret the world around us- our customer needs, the future of technology, and the global business climate. Whatever changes the future may bring our vision – Dell vision – will be our guiding force.So Dell needs full customer satisfaction. In order to become the most successful computer company, they need the newest technology and loyal customers.

Mission Statement :

Dell’s mission is to be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the best customer experience in markets we serve. In doing so, Dell will meet customer expectations of :. Highest quality .Leading technology .Competitive pricing.Individual and company accountability.Best-in- class service and support.Flexible customization capability. Financial stability

MARKETING MIX OF DELLProduct:Dell believes that, ‘Marketing is not about providing products or services, it is essentially about providing changing benefits to the changing needs and demands of the customer’.Dell designs, develops, manufactures, markets, sells, and supports a wide range of products that in many cases are customized to individual customer requirements.A few examples of products for individual and professional customers are Dell Precision workstations, Dimension desktops, and Latitude notebooks.

Price:Pricing strategies usually change as the product passes through its life cycle, because there is constrains on the company’s freedom to price a product at different stage.The main objective of Dell is to produce the low price and profitable PC for the customers.For the above reason Dell’s product pricing reflects the affordability of the local consumers.Because Dell products are so customizable , the price is largely dependent on the options and services added to the product. Dell is undercutting competitors in price to rapidly gain market share.

Place:Place is also known as channel, distribution, or intermediary. It is the mechanism through which goods and/or services are moved from the manufacturer / service provider to the user or consumer.Dell has been able to affect the location strategy aspect of its marketing campaign.As Dell’s products are always available at the nearest dealer’s customers develop trust for the “local Dell” thereby achieving the objective of gaining their trust in Dell products and services, and forming a large and diversified consumer base.

Promotion:Another one of the 4 P’s is promotion. This includes all the tools available to the marketer for ‘marketing communication’.Dell in the past have not concentrated on extensive marketing campaigns but these revolutionaries in 1999 when Dell changed its tactics by engaging in extensive marketing campaigns.Dell markets its products primarily by advertising on television and the Internet, advertising in a variety of print media, and mailing or emailing a broad range of direct marketing publications, such as promotional materials, catalogs, and customer newsletters.Dell has recently started promoting its products through retailers like Best Buy, Staples, Wal-Mart, GOME, and Carrefour.

People:

People refer to all people directly or indirectly involved in the consumption of a

service, example employees or other consumers,

Physical Evidence:

Physical evidence that related to the environment in which the service is

delivered, and the tangibles that help to communicate and perform the service, and

Process:

Process is the delivery and operating systems of procedures, mechanisms and flow

of activities which services are consumed.

HISTORY OF APPLE

-1976: Steve jobs and Stephen Wozniak found the Apple Computer Company. -1977: Apple introduced- first personal computer designed for mass market. -1981: IBM introduces the PC- Apple’s first form of competition. -1984: The original MAC is put on market $2495. -1985: Steve jobs resigns from Apple. -1986 to 1990: Apple endures near financial crises as sales steadily decrease. -1991: First power book ship- Apple becomes standard bearer in portable market. -1997: Steve jobs return to Apple as interim CEO. -1998: IMAC hits market $1299. -1999: Airport debuts on I- book- sets off an industry-wide wifi craze. -2000: Steve jobs become CEO. -2000: Present- Apple continues to release new products and updates to previous products. -2011: Steve jobs dies.

COMPANY BACKGROUNDNameIndustries servedGeographic areas servedHeadquartersCurrent CEORevenueProfitEmployeesMain Competitors

Apple Inc.

Computer hardware, Computer software, Consumer electronics, Digital distribution

Worldwide

U.S.

Tim Cook

$ 156.508 billion (2012)

$ 41.733 billion (2012)

72,800 (2012)

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Amazon.com, Inc., International Business Machines Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Google Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Dell Inc., LG Electronics, Lenovo Group Limited, Hewlett-Packard Company, Sony Corporation and many others.

Vision statement: Man is the creator of change in this world. As such he should be above systems and structures, and not subordinate to them.

Mission statement: Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing, portable digital music and mobile communication experience to students, educators, creative professionals, businesses, government agencies, and consumers through its innovative hardware, software, peripherals, services, and Internet offerings.Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phones with its revolutionary iPhone and App store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad

MARKETING MIX OF APPLEProduct: • Portable Computers – including Mac products such as Mac Book Pro, iMac, • Accessories – including Magic Mouse, Keyboard, Led Cinema Display.• Wi - fi Based Stations - including Airport Express, Airport Extreme, Time Capsule.• Developer – including Developer Connection, Mac Program, iPhone Program• iPod – including iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano , iPod Classic.• iTunes – including movies, TV shows, audio books, games Price:• Peripheral products – including Printers, Storage devices, digital videos and cameras.• Apple is a premium brand computer that does not attempt to compete on price. The company has reduced

prices after some initial product launches. It uses skimming and premium pricing strategies.• The Apple iPad is priced at a minimum of $499.• The Apple Mac Book costs $999.• The Apple Mac Book Pro is priced at $1199.• The Apple Quick time Pro for Windows costs $29.99• Apples iPad pricing strategy includes the flexibility to lower the prices if consumer response dictates such

action. This would be consistent with a similar $200 price cut on the iPhone in 2007.

Place:Apple service providers are certified technicians, who complete regular Apple training and assessments, and offer repair services, and exclusive access to genuine Apple parts.They are located in Asia/Pacific, Africa, the Middle East Europe and Latin America.Apple has over 200 retail stores worldwide including the US, UK and Canada. Apple recently opened a new retail store in Shanghai China.

Promotion :Apple, Inc offers special discounts on refurbished Macintosh computers, iPod Nanas, and the 8GB iPod Touch. In each case a 1 year warranty is included on the all products.Apple, Inc authorized Training Centers are located throughout the U.S. each provides instruction in Mac systems, Mac OS X, and Apple’s professional applications. A wide range of certification exams and courses offer innovative learning opportunities for IT and creative professionals, educators, and service technicians—delivered exclusively by Apple Certified Trainers.

The Apple Consultants Network website provides a search tool allowing visitors to locate nearby certified Mac product consultants in the U.S, Canada, and a number of international locations

People:

People refer to all people directly or indirectly involved in the consumption of a service, example employees or other consumers like Stephen P. Jobs is the Chief Executive Officer of the Executive Board at Apple, Inc. Non Executive Board Directors include William V. Campbell, Millard S. Drexler, Albert Gore and Author D. Levinson. Key Senior Management team members include Timothy D. Cook, (COO), Jonathan Ivey, (Industrial Design), Ronald B Johnson (Retail), Robert Mansfield Mac Hardware Engineering), Mark Paper master (Devices Hardware Engineering),

Some certified Apple service providers offer additional services beyond repairs and parts such as such as data transfer, data recovery, upgrade services, and onsite deployment and installation.

Physical Evidence: The Apple logo has evolved from its original depiction of Sir Isaac Newton under a tree to the memorable rainbow apple to the present blue Apple with a bite taken out.

Process: Apple converts new customers and secures their loyalty through a corporate emphasis on customer service. Apple seeks to attract its target market through bold public relations events (such as the MacWord Expo) as well as advertising imagery which borrows from contemporary modern art. Apple has expanded its distribution channels in recent years including the addition of WalMart

COMPETITORS ANALYSIS OF DELL

The Competitors of dell include Hewlett-Packard , Compaq ,Gateway AND Lenovo.

An indirect competitors is found in the form of a strengthening core of vendors that provide parts to-do-it yourself users and small business that build and upgrade custom computers for home users and for small office & home office users.

COMPETITORS ANALYSIS OF APPLE

In addition, apple competes with Microsoft in many areas of the personal computers software industry.

Apple top three hardware competitors are dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM.

Apple’s direct competitors are Google , Samsung , HP .

TARGET MARKET OF APPLE• College and University Students: These students

use Apple Inc. products such as iPad’s ,MacBook’s ,iPhone etc to quickly record notes. These notes are kept organized in their devices.

• Business People : Apple targeted the business people also. All Apple devices such as iPad’s, iPhone’s, MacBook’s etc, have a business quality that is very useful. In addition, sending documents is easy and organized.

• Teenagers: Teenagers are considered one of Apple Inc. target markets. Teenagers use iPod’s for many reasons. Some of the reasons are to socialize with friends, listen to music. There are so many gaming apps that appeal to them.

• Adults: iPhone’s are useful to adults for their everyday needs such as phone calls, map directions, internet connection, documents and cameras.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF DELL

• Growing demand for Smart phones and tablets

• Profit margin decline on hardware products

• Slowing growth rate of the laptops market

• Intense competition

• Expand services and enterprise solutions businesses

• Obtain more patents through acquisitions• Strengthen their presence in emerging markets• Tablet market growth

• Commodity (computer hardware) products

• Poor customer services• Low investments in R&D• Weak patents portfolio• Too few retail locations• Low differentiation

• Brand name valued at $7.5 billion• Product customization• Environmental record• Competency in mergers and acquisitions• Direct selling business model

Strength weaknesses

Threatsopportunities

SWOT ANALYSIS OF APPLE

• Rapid technological change • 2013 tax increase• Rising pay levels • Android OS growth• Competitors move in online

music market• Price pressure from

Samsung over key

• high demand• Emergence of the new provider of

application processors.• Obtaining patents through acquisitions• strong growth of mobile advertising• growth of tablets & laptop

• high price• Incompatibility with

different OS.• Decreasing market share.• Further changes in

management• Defects of new products• Long term gross margin

decline.

• Customer loyalty combined with expanding closed ecosystem.

• Apple is leading innovator in mobile device technology.

• Strong financial performance.• Brand reputation• retail stores• Strong marketing and advertising teams

strength weaknesses

threatsopportunities

COMPARISON OF DELL AND APPLE

BASICS DELL APPLE

PRODUCT Dell offers customizable desktop and laptop computers allowing pricing to be dependent upon components included

Apple on the other hand has multiple base choices and few upgrades within these choices to expand their variety

PRICING STRATEGIES

Dell desktops and laptops cost is less than the apple . Dell lowest start off at about 400-500 dollars

Apple desktops and laptops cost is more than Dell .Apple’s lowest pricing laptop ranges from 900-1000 dollars

CONT’D.... Basics DELL APPLE

MARKETING Dell was the first computer to provide direct marketing to their customers . Dell recently expanded their sales locations to include WALMART and BESTBUY

Apple handles the task of placing its products in the market by offering those products worldwide. This is accomplished through online stores, retail stores, direct sales, third parties.

Operating System Dell use windows operating system of Microsoft and also use open source Linux based operating system in computers.

Apple use its own proprietory Mac operating system in computers .