Bus 620 Wk3 Marketing Paper

Retail Business Analysis

BUS 620 Managerial Marketing

Industry Forecasting

The Apple Store at the local mall was crowded with people, most thirty-something and older. A few senior citizens were actively engaged the sales staff, inquiring about the newly announced iPhone 4S. Grammar school kids played at the children’s table while parents investigated the latest offerings. In a community with wide ethnic diversity, the shoppers looked most Euro American. The prices were not bargain basement. Nothing was on sale. The products were purchased with discretionary dollars. Apple creates a “need to have” with its television and magazine marketing. One of the most powerful marketing ploys Apple employs is to withhold information about upcoming products and let devotees speculate about what is in the pipeline. Miles of column in magazines, blogs and Internet article are devoted to guessing what Apple will do and what is their next product. The lack of information coming from Apple’s One Infinite Loop headquarters stirs the pot and creates an unofficial marketing phenomenon to fill the void.

The new 4S iPhone was not released as the new iPhone 5, a tease for those awaiting the next quantum leap in phone technology. Presales of the 4S iPhone are astronomical. Every company wishes they had the same fervor over their newest release.

Implemented marketing strategies

Apple does not conduct target group studies. It does not use focus groups for its R & D and marketing research (Morris & Levinstein, 2008). The recently deceased Steve Jobs was the biggest arbiter of what was to come next from the Apple pipeline. Apple does not flood the market with new gadgets, year in and year out. Instead, Apple looks to hit a “home run” with their products. So new products are chosen wisely. From Jobs’ background in Eastern mysticism comes the think simple philosophy. Apple appeals to the Everyman. One does not have to know computer programming to get...