Ch. 17 - Personal Selling and Sales Management

One of the most effective ways to attract consumers is by having sales promotions. This tactic tells the consumers to come into that specific location offering sales promotions. Once the customer has entered the store, it is know the employees turn to give their expert advice and knowledge in order to help the consumer out. The employee can  use anything to execute the sales, such as in depth tutorials on how a product works and giving. The employee should familiarize themselves to the customer so they can feel important, which is the next important factor. After the sales associate has gained the sale, the interaction between the customer and sales associate is what creates repeat visits from the customer. If the employee is very good at their job then this can lead to referrals from the customers. As a result, the sales promotions and retail store become positively popular.

Personal Selling

Apple uses different promotional techniques by using special short term methods to encourage people to respond or undertake their products. For example, they use money guarantees, purchase price and rebates.

Apple stores are very unique on each store layout design and structure, which is what sets them apart from all electronics stores. Apple displays all of their products so the consumers have a hands on experience, along with a clear intake on the environment of the store. Consumers are allowed to surf the web on any of the products, such as: the iMac, Macbook, iPad and iPhone. This allows them to experience different features and allows the consumers to get comfortable with Apple products. Ultimately, this is a major sales and promoting strategy, which shows Apple has good personal selling strategies.

Sales Promotion

     

In addition to the previous chapter about sales promotions, Apple uses advertising, public 

relations and personal selling. This way the marketing managers can execute the idea of using the method of sales promotions to increase the effectiveness of their promotional efforts.

Another aspect to take notice of is that Apple rarely gives out promotions and discounts on items. However, Apple does have special deals on specific months, such as back to school for college students. During the summer Apple has this program where they give you up to $200 off on a purchase either online or in store. They will also give you a $100 iTunes gift card. 

Rebates

Apple does not hand out many rebates on merchandise. They only do a follow up on certain occasions with special educational pricing (as said above).

If you choose to purchase a Macbook Pro for college, then Apple will give you a $100 iTunes gift card. They will do a quick in store audit to see whether you are a student or not by looking up your student ID card. This is an example of a rebate.

Sales Management 

Going back to "Chapter 14 - Supply Chain Management and Marketing Channeling Retailing" and my personal experience of going to the Apple store. When the associate encouraged me to purchase an attachment of insurance along with my iPhone, which was called "Applecare", she then quickly handed the brochure to her sales manager because she did not know much about the Applecare system. From there it didn't take long for the sales manager to execute the sell furthermore. He was proposing ways on how to maintain my product from any potential damages and providing me really good advice in general. This way he won't lose the sale.  He also kept on asking me if I found everything alright and advised me to buy a protective case so my phone is safe at all times. 

As you can see it is the sales manager's duty and obligation to fulfill my needs. He also helped his employees out who didn't know much about the Applecare system.

Ch. 16 - Advertising & Public Relations

Apple's success comes from quality made products for which they do tremendously good in sales margins all over the world. They do this by: excelling well with advertising, making the situation and outcomes in the advertisement as real as possible, and they put a lot of effort and time when they make their ads. The advertisement, which consists of 30 seconds to a minute in the ad campaign, captures the attention of its target market. The message affects consumers daily lives, informs them about new products and services, and recent new updates on products.

Some people think Apple does not need advertising, because Apple is already so incredibly known all over the world. However, becoming so successful does not happen overnight. Apple products just do not just sell themselves - no matter how excellent they are.

Apple may have absolutly great products and good ad campaigns, which can help elevate their sales, but Apple is actually strategically and aggressively pushing their products right at the consumers. They put a lot of thought, effort, time and money into the advertisement and public campaign. This allows the consumers to get drawn into their products.

Apple has had many ad campaigns in the past, but they are now geared towards photography. They take a lot of photos more of their current flagship product the iPhone 7. Furthermore, their motto for this ad campaign is "shot on iPhone".

Apple uses two major types of advertising:

1. Institutional Advertising: Apple uses institutional advertising to promote the corporation as a whole and its design in order to maintain the company's identity. Not to mention, their first advertisement commercial, which took place in the super bowl in 1984, showed Apple in a black and white themed event and promoted to the think different concept. Apple has definitely stepped up their game since then!
2. Product Advertising: is a procedure of communication about the promotion of a product, in an attempt to persuading potential consumers to purchase the product. advertisement usually requires payment to a communication channel. the general objective is to increase brand awareness. or to demonstrate the differences between product and competing products in order to sell them 

  

iPhone 7 billboard ad

Ch. 14 - Supply Chain Management and Marketing Channels Retailing

I will be discussing my experience I had at the Apple store. I went to the Apple store located at 103 Prince Street, SoHo New York.

FUN FACT! There are 486 Apple retail altogether stores in 19 countries. In New York there are about 21 Apple stores. 

I chose this location because the structure is quite unique. The building use to be occupied by the United States Post office. On the top of the building, the words, "United-States-Post-Office", still remains engraved.       

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Apple store in SoHo

The first thing I noticed when I walked into this store was the staircase inside, which was leading up to the second floor. This staircase was custom made in Germany with thick heavy glass panels. It looked stunning and amazing! With sleek modern design from floor to the ceiling, the store looked very clean and organized. It definitely was very attractive, which was a way customers could shop at ease and also take amazing photographs.

In my perspective, I did not feel like I was inside a store, but rather it felt like an art gallery museum displaying Apple products. It was interesting to see that the design of the store looked similar to the design of Apple products. 

Since this is an Apple store, it obviously sells everything is Apple. They had items such as: Apple watches, Macbooks, iMacs, iPad's and the famous iPhone. Recently, Apple came out with the iPhone 7 on September, which, currently, is doing tremendously well in sales. I saw this when I went this past week to pick up my dads iPhone 7.  

Like any ordinary customer, I was greeted by the sales associates right away. There were approximately 50 employees  working that were wearing grey solid t-shirts with the apple logo on it. All of the employees were assisting customers inside. I had an associate approach and ask me if i needed assistance. I replied "I will need assistance but in a few minutes time because I would like to explore around."

I went upstairs to test out the iPhone 7 Plus and I began to realize that all of Apple's products are on display, which means customers have free ability to play and test around with them. I also got to feel the weight of the phone, look at the different colours and look at the new features openly.  This is a benefit to customers because they get to experience, in real life, how the iPhone is. On top of that,  the employees are very knowledgeable and very professional. I over heard a customer being emotional because her Mac was giving her problems. She was trying to outdo the sales associate but the associate was very calm and handed the situation very professionally. The sales associate resolved the issue and gave her a tutorial on how to retrieve her files from her iCloud account. 

This is me holding the iPhone 7 Plus (display) in matte black.

There is a section at the back of the store called the "genius bar". This is where employees can teach you how to use your Apple product if you are a first time buyer. This is another tactic Apple establishes in order to create a close and long-term customer relationship.

   

Outside the SoHo Apple Store

My overall experience at an Apple retail store was great. I have had a positive time there. I spent about 35 minutes at the store and walked out the store satisfied with my purchase. While I was there, I applied the methods of the decision-making process (from the previous blog), which definitely helped me out. I witnessed good, ethical behaviours from the employees and professionalism handling certain customers. This experience showed me how to apply the principles of what we learn in class (marketing 101) and gave me an idea of how it feels like to be in a consumer's standpoint and retailer's standpoint.

Stunning glass stairs going up to the second floor.

Ch. 6 - Consumer Decision Making

One of the most important key factors to take into consideration is how the consumer makes decisions. People do not decide overnight what they are going to buy because there a lot of thought and processing need to occur. Another aspect to understand when a customer buys a product, is how they react and behave in order to make decisions. Decision making will help in understanding what best suits their needs and, in turn, also helps the company out to better serve in the modern market. When making a decision on whether to purchase something or not, the consumer will follow the "consumer decesion-making process" and go from there.

Consumers camping out in front of the Apple store to purchase the IPhone 7

When buying such expensive products and investing large amounts of money into it, consumers will generally follow the "consumer decesion-making process".

I have recently bought an unlocked iPhone 7 plus for my father on his birthday.  In order for me to purchase it, I used the following steps for my decision:

Needs Recognition - This is the first and most important part in the purchasing process. If there is no need of the product you want to buy, then there is no purchase necessary. This recognition happens when there is brief halt between the actual situation and the ideal desired situation. For instance, now a days electronics have become more of a necessity for consumers, especially the iPhone. This serves as a benefit to Apple because of its popularity, new innovations and sleek new design concepts. All of which catches the attention of many people. As a result this makes them feel that they are obligated to purchase the latest Apple products. 

Information Search - The second process is searching up information for the intended product they want to buy. The information can either be internal or external. However, when most people view on purchasing Apple products, they rely on internal information. This means majority of people rely on their experiences with Apple products in order to know if they will purchase from Apple again. Apple consumers become loyal to the company when their personal experience with Apple is a positive one. On the other hand, external information usually comes from advertisements and recommendations from other consumers (side note: Apple consumers are so loyal to the company that they will believe anything Apple advertises and recommends).

Evaluation of Alternatives - Apple is very popular and number 1 in the electronics business. Therefore, consumers use information to evaluate alternative brands in the product category. This can give the consumer a comparison between two different brands. 

Purchase -  The fourth step is purchasing. This is the process that Apple is an expert at. They gain huge revenue in sales up to billions of dollars each year on their new generations of products.  

Post Purchase Behavior - This is the final step consumers usually take in deciding on buying something. Consumers will have certain expectations and outcomes on their purchases. How well these expectations are met determines whether the consumer is satisfied or dissatisfied with their purchase. For instance, when we purchase a product we all have high expectations that must be upheld. When your expectations are not upheld, then that we were not completely satisfied with the product and service provided. As a result, the company may have potentially lost a customer. However, if the expectation succeeds and meets satisfaction, the consumer will be happy. They will remain a loyal customer and will definitely come back to make further purchases.        

        

Ch. 5 - Developing A Global Vision

Leading up to this blog, I have explained different ways on how Apple uses strategic planning and an overview of their marketing skills. In the same fashion, this blog will look at some Apple facts, show visual area of increased global abroad sales and look at how Apple is a part of a company with a global reach around the world (introducing their products to many countries worldwide as possible).

As Apple continues to grow, each year they are leaping forward and pushing their international sales strategy.

FUN FACT! Did you know, at the end of October of 2014 the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus were only available in 69 countries? Additionally there was a total of 115 countries and territories eventually planned for the end of 2014.

As we all know, the iPhone is the same design concept all over the world. Apple did not customize their iPhones in terms of feature and design. People may think Apple is taking the concept of "globalization" to aim and pursuit the one size fits all concept approach. This includes: systemized designs built on the iPhone across all regions, the same range of products for all countries and no visible customization (localization) with the exception of power source, pricing, and carrier specifications.

Apple's Revenue By Region

Another important factor to note is that Apple products have done great abroad. Apple products target price-sensitive growing markets. Their premium base product might not have fully established a customer base as of yet, but they have built the idea of increasing profit margins across the globe, both  locally and globally.

       

For Apple to have global vision, aim to be the best and be a company for globalization is a great strategy. Apple has over 479 retail stores in 18 different countries. For each individual store Apple follows a strict customer service protocol and outlook, which is tailored to each region. This creates smart strategic methods of being loyal and also being attached to their customers. As a result, the local staff at the retail chains in each region of the world uses a personalized approach to communicate with each of their customers. This method is very smart because not only is Apple expanding their company abroad, but they are converting people into buying their products using the locals as staff. Ultimately, this helps customers worldwide with Apple products in their own language and country.