Phillips’ Target Market Is Geared More Towards Thirty-Something Families and Seniors as Opposed to Pre and Post College

As it appears, Phillips’ target market is geared more towards thirty-something families and seniors as opposed to pre and post college graduates and people in their early twenties. Pricing is a big factor when consumers are looking to purchase a product. A single bulb of the HUE personal wireless lighting system costs on average $60.00. A starter pack costs upwards of $185.99 on Amazon.com and only comes with three bulbs and the bridge that can control up to 50 bulbs at a time. Realistically to put a bulb in every room of a small house would cost around $400; that being 6 bulbs and the bridge that controls them through a wireless router. This may not seem like a lot of money to some people, but to a family starting out with monthly bills and a mortgage, this may seem like a heavy investment. Seniors living on a fixed income may view this product as unattainable due to the high startup cost and possibly not having the technology to make the system work. Faced with buying four regular light bulbs for $3 at the dollar store and having money left over, or buying one Phillips’ HUE bulb for $60 and having to worry about paying other bills, the choice may not seem so hard to make.

In every market there will be competition. Phillips is facing stiff competition from both Samsung and LG when it comes to lighting. While the Phillips’ HUE system is more comprehensive than the Samsung or LG systems, it is also more expensive and suffers from the problem of having a hub work the bulbs instead of an app that uses wifi in the home. Samsung is making a play for simplicity in the hopes that consumers will choose their product over the other two. Their bulbs, which cost around $32, are controlled by an app that is compatible with 64 bulbs at once, 14 more than the Phillips’ system. LG’s product, the Smart Lamp has a 10-watt bulb that can be controlled by an app available for Android and iOS. While this method is similar to Samsung, the price and simplicity are more appealing to...