AMB359 Strategic Marketing Report - WordPress

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!!!!!!!!!AMB359 Strategic Marketing Report!Students:HaiXin Linn9255176QiWen Zhaon9249877XinYue Linn9245413Yi-Shen Tseng n8933251!!!!!!!!!!Tutor: Hilary Neill!Tutorial time: Friday 3-4 pm.!Date: 20/05/2016!Word Count: 2116!

Table of content1.0 Executive summary. 12.0 Analysis: Understanding the market 22.1 External and Customers Analysis .22.2 Competitor Analysis . 22.3 Market/Submarket Analysis .42.4 Environmental Analysis and Strategic Uncertainty .52.5 Strategic objectives . .53.0 Execution Strategy . 63.1 Outdoor Advertising . 63.2 Bloggers Actions . .93.3 Cooperating with Plaza Premium Lounge . 103.4 Budget . 113.4.1 Implementation Timetable .113.4.2 Budget table . .124.0 Conclusion . 135.0 References . 14!!

1.0 Executive summary!The purpose of this report is to examine the current and potential Australian market forMicrosoft’s Lumia phones and recommend some strategic approaches for the company. Thisreport will analyze the current situation with a marketing audit, including the external andinternal analysis, strategic objectives and executive tactics.!The major finding of marketing audit is that the target market of Lumia 950 XL isprofessionals and people who prefer using Windows system rather than iOS and Android.Major competitors like Apple and Samsung have been taking up the majority of smartphonesales, in order to increase Lumia’s brand awareness, marketing strategies like outdooradvertising, online presence and partnership with Plaza Premium Longe will be outlined inthis report to better promote Lumia phones and gain market shares. The primary objectiveswhich these strategies will overcome include increasing the market share in the Australianmarket, expanding brand awareness and obtaining customers satisfaction throughout a year.The budget is AUD 500,000 and it would be allocated well in advertising implementationand media channels.1

2.0 Analysis: Understanding the market2.1 External and Customers AnalysisAn external analysis will be deliberately commenced for Lumia along with customersanalysis to help define the present and potential opportunities in terms of the diverse needs ofspecific groups of customers.!Based on recent sales records, the Australian smartphone industry is in the process ofmaturing and stabilizing, combined with the higher cost of premium models, about 1 millionunits were sold in 2015 (Telsyte, 2016). Microsoft has made the decision to put Lumia in thehigh-end market and presents another level of smartphone with Windows 10 system. Theprice of its latest model Lumia 950 XL has been fixed at the same level as iPhone 6S and 6SPlus. Microsoft 950 XL is targeting at business people who can afford premium prices andthose who are in favor of Windows system.!According to Fakhrutdinova, Fakhrutdinov, Kolesnikova, & Yurieva, (2015), Lumia isespecially popular with people who used to own a Windows Phone or Nokia phone. They arelikely to find the Windows operating system efficient and convenient, and they wanted toupgrade it to Windows 10 which offers better Microsoft services than others. In addition,customers who are currently using Windows software on desktops or laptops are expecting amatching handset experience to maximize use and efficiency. Therefore, Lumia shouldmaintain a solid cooperation with Microsoft as a software supplier and a technologycontributor.!2.2 Competitor Analysis!2

!Graph 1: Market share held by smartphone operating systems in Australia, adapted from KantarWorldpanel @ Stabsta 2016, retrieved from s the graph 1 is shown above, the smartphone market share in Australia is apparentlydominant by the Android (52.6%) and iOS system (41.2%) by January of 2016, accordingly,major brands like Samsung and Apple are considered the major competitors for Lumia.!In order to maintain their competitiveness and sales growth in the ever-changing market,Samsung focuses on developing their technological advantages and building up customers’brand loyalty (Teimouri, Fanae, Jenab, Khoury, & Moslehpour, 2016). However, the averagebattery life and mediocre interface in TouchWiz have always been the subject of criticismamong users. On the other hand, Apple did a great job in leveraging the iOS system bycreating a platform for delivering the personalized mobile experience (Cuthbertson, Furseth,& Ezell, 2015). Besides, each year newly launched iPhone models help obtain enormousattention and contribute a great amount to Apple’s annual profits. The old models of iPhone3

will be sold at a discount price at the same time. This pricing strategy allows both old andnew iPhone products being the best-selling items on the market at all time (Smith, 2012).!Apart from Samsung and Apple, there are other brands like HTC and Huawei who have anincreasing influence in the smartphone market with innovative technology like long batterylife and low prices, which may also affect Lumia’s sales (Broughall, 2016). However, thisthreat from smaller groups can be turned into an opportunity for Lumia to take share and gaincompetitive advantages.!2.3 Market/Submarket AnalysisUnderstanding the attractiveness and dynamics of the market has a considerable influence ontarget markets and decision making toward Microsoft (Elg, 2007). With respect to thereinforcement of relevance to current and potential participants, Lumia promotes the servicesand vision on smartphones owing to the Windows 10 operating system which is well-knownas a useful software that is functional, easy control and available on different electronicdevices (Singh, 2014). For example, the Office 365 and the OneDrive on Lumia is allowingpeople to conveniently work anytime, anywhere (Microsoft, 2016). In addition, Lumiasmartphones with high quality photographed function, like Lumia 950 XL has 20 MP sensor,allows users to capture even in poor lighting conditions (Microsoft, 2016). This technicaldevelopment of camera function creates a noticeable attractiveness of Lumia, which isconducive to strengthen the relevance to consumers who are interested in photography (Wee,2015).!There are three alternative channels for Lumia to distribute its devices in Australia.Specifically, the first Australian Microsoft’s retail store was launched in Sydney in October2015, and it is aiming to provide attentive and efficient services to every customer and intendto establish long-term friendly relationships with them (Quinn, 2015). Moreover, one of thekey success factors toward Lumia is selling smartphones online. Microsoft’s online store withthe well-designed page and detailed product information becomes a significant channel forpeople to purchase Lumia devices widely in Australia (Fenech, 2014). Furthermore,telecommunication carriers (Optus and Telstra) are recognized as Lumia’s distribution4

channel in Australia, cooperating with the leading mobile-services providers is beneficial forLumia to expand brand visibility and market share (Yoo, Lee, & Rowley, 2008).!2.4 Environmental Analysis and Strategic UncertaintyThe objective of the environmental analysis is to examine critical factors that impact on thedevelopment and improvement of Lumia. As to consumer trend, the lifestyle of businessmenmay influence on Lumia’s marketing strategies (Eikhof & Haunschild, 2006). For instance,there are a larger number of people work everywhere with their laptops, and one of thecommon presence is most businessmen using the waiting time to work in the departurelounge (Brodkin, 2013). Therefore, the new Lumia smartphones running Window 10 are ableto offer those businessmen with more qualified service— “The phone that works like yourPC” (Microsoft, 2016).With regard to the technological trend, there is a good opportunity for Lumia since cameraphone is gradually becoming dominant in the mobile phone market (Hjorth & Pink, 2014). Interms of Lumia 950 XL, its noticeable camera function that “asymmetric key cryptography”which creates an innovative feature to make tangible benefits for consumers and keep up withthe intense competition (Lu, 2016). Besides, an emerging market - smart watch applies theclose related and similar technology to smartphones. If smart watches can be operatedindependently without the support of smartphones, the prospect of smart watch industry ispromising and profitable, which could be a threat to smartphone industry (Lyons, 2016).!2.5 Strategic objectivesStrategic objectives stand for the goals that Microsoft dedicate to achieve. In relation to theSMART goals setting, there are three both financial and non-financial objectives areproposed for Lumia to increase the market share in Australia smartphone industry over thenext 12 months (Kovac, 2005):!!5

Objective aspectObjective contentMeasurementMarket shareIncrease a market share of8-10% in Australiansmartphone market.The market share rate Lumia smartphones sales/Total Australian smartphonessalesBrand awarenessExpand the brand awarenessamong general population.To record the sales volume.Design survey research andCustomer satisfactionand retentionGain customersatisfaction and retentionratings of 90%.displace to customer both in storeand online (emails and socialmedia platform.)!!3.0 Execution Strategy3.1. Outdoor AdvertisingIn order to increase market share of Lumia, it is crucial to adopt wide advertising tactics toexpand brand visibility. As brand awareness can provide a host of competitive advantages(Aker et al., 2014), it is crucial to create and maintain customers’ awareness of Lumia, whichis also because brand awareness is highly related to information search process, onesignificant process of customers’ purchase decision making (Kishi, 2007). Specifically,customers will be immediately aware of Lumia brand when making smartphone purchasedecision if advertisements of Lumia can be easily accessible in the public (Solomon et al.,2013). To this end, outdoor advertising is needed to be conducted with two specific actions:effectively using billboards and transit advertising. As figure 1 shows, 46% of respondentstrusted billboards and other outdoor advertising, which means it can be effective to usebillboards and transit advertisements to gain more awareness from potential customers andconnect to the word-of-mouth and spread brand-related news faster.6

!With the use of Goa solutions, which provide billboards selections in the Brisbaneparticularly, two illuminated billboards can be placed at 2 locations in Brisbane where mostpeople and cars pass to reach more awareness and attention (see table 2). It can be efficientand effective to use these billboards to spread the Lumia’s brand name and offers to widetarget population, thus for Lumia 950 XL, it will be a good way to highlight its competitiveadvantages in camera function and big screen used. Also, as Goa has been leading the marketfor over 30 years, with 85% of SEQ reached every week (Goa, 2016), it is highly possible toexpand awareness and impression of Lumia’s products.Table 1. Billboards illboard1Central station(platform 1),Brisbane CBD6.00m*3.00m17,714Billboard2Annerley Rd, CornerStanley Street6.40m*2.88m7,786Price (AU per week)Period 195 4 months(June-JulyandNovember 250 December).Specifically inJune andDecemberSource: Goa Australia. www.goa.com.au. hello@goa.com.au!Another action is to use buses as advertisements placements. With the use of online solutions,two positions have been chosen: “super side” which across the particular width of the bus and“bus interiors” meaning interior signage (see figure 2).7

!This compelling design size of “super side” can help the message leap out go the traffic andthe screen and interior signage can help to convey the message to those who spend time inbus and its effectiveness sometimes outperforms advertisements on passing traffic (TransitAustralia, 2016). The advertising panels can be installed on the main CBD buses in threemain cities: Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane (see table 2) to achieve large scale engagementand brand visibility. These outdoor advertising actions are effective and efficient becausewhen it helps to build brand recognition when customers are exposed to Lumia’s innovativeadvantages in camera function and big screen as advertising messages, and next time they cancorrectly recall the brand when given a cue (keller, 2003), which may eventually contribute tohigh level of awareness that positively affect customers’ purchase decision making. As toconsumer habits, Consumers are spending less time at home, outdoor advertising still playsan role in the development of brand-customers relationship (Wilson, Baack & Till, 2015).However, there are some downsides remain. Advertisements placed in billboards and busesare limited in words, content and design, thus it is difficult to deliver the whole productconcept and detailed information (Leonado, 2011).8

Table 2. Transit Advertising Detials.Location/routeSuper side- Melbourne Citytrams:!Route 1 tram, !Route 3/3a tram,!Route 5 tram!Route 6 tram.!- Sydney CBD busesM10, 389, 610 whichfrom University ofNSW CBD campus toThe Star (Casino).!- Brisbane Bus 300,302,196, 322 whichacross the Businesszone.Bus interiors- Melbourne Citytrams:!Route 8 tram,!Route 16 tram,!Route 64, 67 and 72tram.!- Sydney CBD bus610, M61, 489, 607x.!- Brisbane CityExpress Bus 138, 60,61, 66, 333, 412.Price per panel(plusinstallation fee)Period 370 28 weeks in June toDecember. 63.75Source: Billboards Australia. sales@billboardsaustralia.com.au. www.billboardsaustralia.com.auSource:

Major competitors like Apple and Samsung have been taking up the majority of smartphone sales, in order to increase Lumia’s brand awareness, marketing strategies like outdoor advertising, online presence and partnership with Plaza Premium Longe will be outlined in this report to better promote Lumia phones and gain market shares. The primary objectives