Assignment Sample on BMG575 Business Research Method
Literature review
Differentiation strategy’s effectiveness to create additional value in business
Differentiation strategies are the unique approach to the business model to provide distinct items to the consumer with potential value and higher quality product features to align with the consumer requirements. However, differentiation strategy may be outlined with a broad and focused differentiation strategy to gain superiority over the market with better profit margins and consumer reliability over the offerings. The organizational production of the distinctive items is frequently revolutionized for growing customer trends and market evolution to place itself in a better and unique position where no other product in the market substitutes it. Moreover, the differentiation is the set of design patterns of the product to distinguish it from the competitor’s offerings where consumer liability towards the product will increase authentically. Apple Inc. has continuously revolutionized its products and added unique features to keep itself afloat in the market with distinct features to gain market competitiveness along with customer confidence. iPhone, ipod, Mac book, watches, and smart TV are some products of Apple which are evolved through differentiation strategies to grab the market share and make a profit with a smart touch of innovation.
Further, Apple not only offers exceptional and unique products or services to the customers it also come up with a special image to distinguish a consumer from the crowd which turned the customer into worshippers (Aliekperov, 2019). An organization may adopt a differentiation strategy based upon quality difference, innovation, responsiveness, emotional salience of a product, availability of spare parts, accessories or peripherals, technology up-gradation, superior service and product price along with the pricing system. Differentiation strategy will help to yield additional value to the organization with customer loyalty and increased margin with a multidimensional approach (Refer to Appendix-1). On a specific note, Apple Inc has taken a pricing strategy for the iPhone product which has gained psychological difference in consumer behaviour since the products’ first inception and helped to keep increasing the profit margin over the years with the updated versions of the product. The continuous development of products along with Research and Development (R&D) efforts made the company product earn value and reliability from the consumer more definitely. The mode of product innovation and differentiation has changed the business aspect of the company with increased market performance and consumer demand.
It enjoys the 80% industries operating profit compared to only 15% sale of industry units which evaluates the additional value by customers with a multilevel product differentiation strategy (Takakuwa, 2019). More relatively, the responsiveness of the company with after-sales service and in responding to consumer psychological desire has benefitted the company. Many consumers feel proud of having an iPhone which differentiates the brand value from other company products and helps to achieve sustainability (SANDA, 2018). The company has garnered a huge reputation due to the product’s performance along with distinctive features which made the company prediction successful with innovation and responsiveness to gain wide popularity throughout the globe. The unique offerings from differentiation strategy made Apple Inc grow and achieve additional value from consumer trust and reliance and kept the organizational mission and objective more ostensible.
Apple’s differentiation strategies to gain market competitiveness
Apple’s differentiation strategy is most often witnessed as the pricing strategy which is far higher than the competitor which implies the better quality and technological incorporation in its product and genuinely outperform the rivals. It has conveniently used strategic marketing and distribution of products with much hype before the product launch to stimulate the consumer interest and buying behaviour more intrinsically. The company used a generic differentiation strategy based on broad differentiation which incorporated key features and latest technologies in the product to stand far ahead of the competitor. On a specific note, it is used to minimize the discount to wholesalers and set premium prices to keep prices consistent over the market to reinforce the perceptions of product value and maintain profitability (Lu, 2017). Differentiation is the key process for successful marketing, competing and enhancing the sustainable competitive advantage over the market operation where marketing strategy gains the consumer interest and influences the buying behaviour more appropriately. The out of the box thinking of Apple made it possible to gain market profit over the year, be it the product design, looks, colour, image, accessories, small packaging or initiative of innovation and many other forms which own the heart of consumer and lured for repeated transaction (Referred to Appendix-2).
Apple has introduced its own store to sell the products which also connected directly to the consumer and secured the position in the music market with a 70% market share with unrestricted use. Apple relied upon the internal resources and capabilities with differentiation strategies to achieve the market competition with organizational cultural value and brand reputation (Cardoso,2017). Product variation and technological touch made the Apple product more unique and reliable in the consumer market which has popularly attracted young customers withstanding the evolving trend. Apple has integrated the intimation of software, hardware and operating system to compatible with other products and enjoy the product specification louder with the multi-dimension product range and dynamic behaviour of the company (Tien et al., 2019). It has been noted that the innovation and creative ideas to connect the consumer specifically in market choosing made the revenue of the company higher than the competitor and achieve the far long success in long term investment in product design. The latest design of the product is more engaging and no other company product has a stand beside the features which also shows the companies analysis of the external market is formidable and extensive to offer to brand new things in an updated version of the product. On the contrary, Apple watch is able to provide ElectroCardiograms(ECG) and commonly helpful for telemedicine which is a type of medical service that shows the innovation progress of the company to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage in the market (Ahmed et al., 2020). The technological advancement and initiatives for market needs need to be mentioned as the differentiation strategy of the company to successfully get a competitive advantage from the business rivals as Samsung, IBM, Huawei and other contemporary technology companies (David et al.,2018).
Common differentiation strategies which have helped for improving brand loyalty
It is very important for an organization such as Apple Inc to understand the importance of differentiation strategy for maintaining the brand loyalty of the existing customers as well to capture the new customers from other competitive brands around the world. Differentiation strategy may be defined as the services or product which differentiates the company from its similar competitive products from the major market rivals (Zhou et al., 2021). Apple Inc have major competitors in the market few of them being Samsung, Google, Motorola, LG, Lenovo, Dell and Sony. However, in the market Apple Inc has a stronger grip due to the factor of differentiation strategy and with the help of the marketing team of Apple. The research and development team of Apple Inc have developed unique services and functions for the products of the company which have helped Apple inc to differentiate all its products from its customers which ultimately have resulted in the customer satisfaction (Oyenuga et al., 2021). Moreover, the customers who are satisfied with the products have shown their brand loyalty towards the products which have helped the organisation to reach its maximum potential as well as dominate the consumer market in the present market scenario. The marketing team of Apple mainly rely on two specific strategies to attract their customers which are product placement and positive reviews of the products which creates a buzz around the product.
Apple has always highlighted product placement through the hands of celebrities especially in talk shows which have created a brand value for the Apple products and have led to their success throughout the years. Furthermore, the positive reviews from credible critics have also added to their benefit in attracting new customers as well as maintaining their present customers. Apple Inc have always avoided the pricing wars and have emphasized their Unique Value Proposition (UVP) which is their unique designing and packaging which itself provides a competitive advantage against its market competitors. Moreover, Apple Inc have always projected themselves as the top products in its class which have attracted customers to buy it irrespective of its pricing even if it’s higher than the market competitors (Zhang et al., 2020). Apple have always maintained simplicity over their marketing and their products which have also attracted the customers attention to keep using them over a longer period and with ease. Apple has maintained user friendly products which have been favourable for usage for customers of all ages. The user-friendly interface of Apple products has helped the company to retain all its customers and maintain their brand loyalty toward the company and the products.
Aiming at the emotion of the prospects has also been one of the differentiation strategies used by a company in order to maintain their appeal to their customers. Emotional connection may be referred to as one of the major differentiation strategies used by an organisation as aiming on the emotions of the customers is highly beneficial in retaining the customers and for maintaining the brand loyalty of the customers (Edeh et al., 2021). Apple Inc have always focused on being a part of their customers’ emotions and being a part of their joy and happiness which have helped the company to develop a strong emotional attachment for their products to the customers. Building a community of the customers may also be termed as one of the most unique differentiation strategies which has been perfectly implemented by the Apple marketing team in order to develop a special connection between all the consumers of the products. Building a separate fan base and a community of Apple users also have helped the company to gain new customers as well as to remain connected with all the old customers and maintain their brand loyalty.
The influence of differentiation strategy on the market share
It may be stated that a successful brand differentiation strategy has a positive impact on building customer loyalty for that particular brand irrespective of factors such as price. Differentiation strategy always has a positive impact on the market share of any product is defined and identified through its USP’s or the Unique Selling Points which attracts new customers and maintains the existing customers (Petrova, 2020). The marketing team and the research and development team are the two teams who are responsible for the creation of unique services of a product as well as presenting the unique services to the customer to fulfil their needs. It may be opined that with larger value and sales volume on differentiated products or services a company may attain a larger market share than its other competitors (Danso et al., 2019). The differentiation strategy and the market share have always shared a positive influence which has resulted in gaining higher market share for Apple than its leading competitors. The differentiation strategy has built a community for the customers of Apple which have increased over the years gaining more and more customers around the world. Market share may be generally defined as one of the basic objectives to measure the performance of a product or service (Keiningham et al., 2020). Any organisational performance encompasses few basic areas of a company’s outcomes such as market performance and financial performance. Both the performance are the direct factors of understanding the market share of any product or services.
A market share of the product may be conceptualised or measured in terms of users, unit sales, unit purchased or currency sales. Differentiation strategy helps in increasing all the measurements which ultimately increases the market share of a product (Paul, 2019). Similarly, it is observed that over the years Apple Inc have increased in market shares within the electronic consumer products worldwide majority of which is due to several marketing strategies which have attracted and increased the number of users worldwide. Since the inception years of Apple the revenue of Apples have increased significantly and similarly the market share of the company have also increased many times adding to the supremacy of the company in the consumer electronics market (Refer to Appendix 3). Furthermore, the products of Apple have maintained its dominance over other competitors in the similar product brackets which have increased their market share in several products in the industry. Apple inc have products such as, iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac which are all market leaders in their specific segments which have benefited Apple to maintain its market share over the last decade (Refer to Appendix 4).
Technology and innovation changing the differentiation strategy
Apple has consistently updated them in terms of providing technology and innovation into their products to satisfy the customer needs and expectations towards their products. The technology and innovation of an organisation has a direct and positive impact on the differentiation strategy as the marketing team designs the strategy based upon these technologies and innovations in order to attract new customers as well as to maintain the customer loyalty of the consumers (Semuel et al., 2017). Apple Inc. has always pioneered the development of new technological advances such as iOS, iPad OS, Mac OS and several other innovations in the form of iPad and iPod. All these innovations have partnered with the differentiation strategy and have developed a grand experience for the customers which have helped the organisation to achieve its goal in dominating the consumer electronics market. All the customers around the globe have one factor in common which is to enhance their experience while using a product or service. Apple Inc has performed very well in this aspect as they have continuously provided new innovations and latest technology which have been greeted with a positive response by the brand loyal consumers as well as new customers (Onufrey and Bergek, 2021).
The marketing strategy in the form of product differentiation have helped Apple Inc to maintain their lead in the industry as well as to dominate the market share in all the segments in which Apple has operated over the years. Moreover, the technological advances by the research and development team have helped the marketing team to reach the benefits in attracting the customer’s attention and to maintain their brand loyalty. The innovation and technological development have always been a deciding factor in the consumer electronics industry to be the dominant force in acquiring the market share (Liu and Gima, 2018). It may be stated that Apple has always been the leader in bringing new technologies over the years through their early Macintosh to iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac which have helped them to maintain their popularity among the consumer level and to control the market share. Innovation and technology have helped Apple Inc to utilise their productive differentiation strategy and grab the void and opportunity in the market and utilise it to gain maximum profit and market share in the industry. On a contradictory note, the innovation and technology have not only appealed to the customers but have also developed new usage for the technologies which may be used by the consumers in their day to day life making it easier for them to achieve their desired satisfaction.
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