Apple Target Market

Choose an established business (e.g., Target, Sears, Hewlett-Packard, Caterpillar, Proctor and Gamble, Patagonia) and describe their target market using appropriate dimensions (e.g., geography, age, gender, income, psychographics).  Who is NOT their market?  Why?

Apple has been a unique company that does not just target an existing consumer market, they create and expand their consumer market. Their target market is not a specific segment of consumers. Apples’ consumers are unique because they are technology enthusiasts and love innovative solutions to their digital needs. Apple, since it started to develop a brand name, has always come up with unique product. The marketing strategy of Apple is always unique as well. For example, most of the times, its products compete with each other rather than with other company’s products. For example, iPod used to play music its competitor, iPhone also had this same feature (“Target Market of Apple”, 2014). Apple has a well-defined target market focusing on consumer life time value (Kotler & Keller, 2006). This target market is not a specific segment, but unique users from different segments.  These unique users are loyal to iPhone, and may not easily be attracted by other companies, me among these users.

Apple is a company which has realized that they can maximize their profits by being innovative and always coming up with unique new features in their products. I think that this is what made them different from other companies since its establishment and advancement. Companies may engage in doing market research and knowing about consumer needs and then producing product accordingly. Nokia did the same by designing mobiles that addressed consumer’s needs (Väänänen-Vainio-Mattila, & Ruuska, 1999). But this strategy did not work for Nokia and they never retained their market share. In contrast, Apple brings a product to the market with unique features that consumers have never heard of, and makes it a need of the consumer. This has contributed to their increase customer base.

In my previous blog, I explained many loopholes in the sustainability efforts of Apple. But did these loopholes effect the mindset of their consumers in making a decision against purchasing Apple’s products. I don’t think so. Apple’s revenue from its different services increased by 24% in 2016 (Revenue, 2016). This is a huge jump for Apple. Apple’s customer base is on an increase and its consumers seem to be more concerned about the addition of innovative features to their products than the sustainability efforts that Apple is making. This might seem an unethical behavior on the part of Apple’s consumer’s but Apples seems to be taking advantage of it. Apple’s products are supper expensive. I say this from my personal experience. But there is no doubt about their durability and quality. In my opinion, consumers may set aside their emotions about sustainability and corporate social responsibility if they are 100% sure that the product they are purchasing is worth it. This is exactly what seems to be happening in Apple’s case.

References

Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2006). Marketing management 12e. New Jersey.