Ch. 15- Retailing

Apple stores where all apple products are sold are a group of chain stores which is owned and worked by Apple Inc. All of their stores are state of the art and have innovative appearances which make people naturally attract to the store and not get bored once you are inside. Since Apple has such a good reputation with products and the stores are so attractive, the stores have in fact turned into tourism sites. Apple Stores have so many people visit the store they have several features to help customers out.

They have ALL the Apple products on display and the costumers can actually use them with all their capabilities. They have a great amount of employees to help. Not to mention they give group tutorials to costumers on how to use Apple products for free. They also choose good locations for their store with 300 globally and 6 here in New York City. All of which are open till late and one is open for 24 hours. They also appeal to the environmentally responsible costumers by offering to email them their receipts for their products instead of printing one out for them. With all these steps Apple has taken for their stores they have the perfect "retailing mix" of the "six P's". One of the best things about the Apple store in my mind is their warranty system at the store. No matter which  Apple product you have gets damaged as long as the warranty is still good you can go to the store any time and immediately receive a new product. If that's not great costumer service I don't know what is.

Ch. 6 Consumer Decision Making

For a company such as Apple Inc. the main goal is to have consumers want and buy their products. In order for a company to achieve that goal greatly and consistently they have to know how consumers go about making decisions of choosing which products to buy. When a consumer goes about deciding what to buy they normally use the "consumer decision making process". It's a 5 step process that consumers generally go through when choosing a product to buy.

The first stage is "need recognition". When it comes to electronics such as the products Apple has the consumer has to establish the need for it. Most consumers find that need through "external stimuli" based on word of mouth about the popularity of the product. With the popularity of Apple products at an all time high its easy to hear from friends or associates how great, easy to use, and better the product is all around any other type of product. That generally creates the need for the product.

The second stage is "search for information" where consumers will generally search for information on the product. Consumers can search internally by past experiences and externally by listening to what the company says about their products which is "market controlled", or what friends say about their past experiences with the product. Generally consumers are internally happy with Apple products with past experiences. When Apple releases an updated version of a previous product current customers generally buy the new upgraded version. Apple has probably the best advertisement for their products because they advertise how much "cooler" their products are then the competition.

The third stage is "evaluate alternatives" where consumers look for other options for that product. But Apple is viewed to have superior products or products that are wanted more then the competition. So when it comes to phones, mp3 players, and laptops they set the standard for consumers.

The fourth stage is "purchase" where consumers feel like they've done enough to choose the product to buy. Which has been no problem for Apple lately because like I mentioned earlier the products are very popular. Here is Apple's Fourth Quarter Results

The fifth and final stage is "post purchase behavior" which is what a consumer expects from the product they just purchased. Depending on if the product delivers what they believe it would deliver then the consumer would be satisfied or dissatisfied. But judging by the amount of returning and new customers
Apple gets with its products consumers are generally satisfied.

Ch. 5 Developing A Global Vision

Apple is fast becoming a player in global markets due to the fast release of the iPhone. When the iPhone 4 was first released they announced that 88 countries outside the U.S will have the iPhone 4. Due to the faster release analyst believe that iPhone sales have peaked in the U.S. So this clearly shows the need for global revenue to Apple. It turned out to be the right move because Apple received 58% of its revenue from outside the U.S.

Apple meanwhile released the iPhone 4 at the same time in Germany, France, Japan, and the U.K. as the U.S. Where in France the iPhone market share shot up to 40.5% in the first  quarter from 11.5% in 2008. Apple depends on the foreign market to keep sales up. An estimated 55% of all iPhone sales are now made out of the U.S. which is 30% higher than the 25% it was two years ago.

Ch. 4 The Marketing Environment for Apple Inc.

Apple targets a general group of people. Everyone and anyone Apple feels there is a product for you. Like it says on their website "which Mac is for you?". Apple attracts all types of generations thanks to their iPods for musical entertainment. Their iPhone and iPad and Mac's attract the typical teenager, student, adult, worker group. The only thing is the cost of the products. Apple Inc. knows they have a product that's better and high in demand so they charge it. Which limits the group of people financially who could afford Apple products. Due to the pricing you would think that it would be among the middle class and above group of people who normally could afford such products. Back when the iPad came out there were people willing to pay a premium for it. But for PC users (picture above) where the technology generally cost less than Apple products weren't willing to do the same. But even with that Apple is made for everyone and to be used for every type of way. It even makes a concentrated effort to work with students. "A Mac lets students create amazing things"

Ch.3 Ethics and Social Responsibility for Apple Inc.

Apple Inc. reveals their carbon footprint and shows how they make changes with their packaging and recycling and processes to help the environment as part of their social responsibility. For the year 2011 Apple Inc. was responsible for 23.1 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. But 98% of that was from the product life cycle's such as manufacturing and transportation. 2% came from the actual facilities.

One of Apple Inc. main efforts for the environment is to provide products without toxic materials. The fact that Apple Inc. has accomplished this has put them years ahead of the competition.
Apple also wants to reduce the burden of transportation by using smaller packaging. By making the iPhone package 40% smaller then the original packaging in 2007 it allows more packages to ship and use less ships,planes to ship them.
Apple Inc. also works on energy efficiency with their products. Every single product from apple emits 1/4th of CO2 emissions that a regular light bulb emits. Also Apple is the only company that has every single product meets the Energy Star Qualification. There is a link on the Apple Inc. website that shows more about energy efficiency. http://www.apple.com/environment/energy-efficiency/

Apple has an environmental FAQS page. http://www.apple.com/environment/faq.html
Apple has an recycling program. http://www.apple.com/recycling/
Apple has an Supplier Responsibility page. http://www.apple.com/supplierresponsibility/

Apple also supplies the public with a report about their products and their products.
http://www.apple.com/environment/reports/

Ch. 2 Apple Inc. Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

Apple Incs plan for competitive advantage is to show how much better and compatible their products are. Not only compatible as in product to product such as your iPad can have everything from your Macbook on it. But how its compatible to the user. On the Apple Inc. website they have a "Why you'll love a Mac" section where it say's "which mac is right for you?" http://www.apple.com/why-mac/

They also have advertisements which show how Apple products are more fun for users than the typical products.

Apple Inc. Mission Statement

From the Apple Inc. Website:

 "Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad."