Marketing channels for Apple mobile phones

Marketing channels refer to all enterprises or individuals that acquire ownership of a certain kind of goods or services or help transfer their ownership when they move from producers to consumers. Below are the marketing channels for Apple mobile phones that I collected and compiled by JY135. Welcome to read.

Apple mobile phone marketing channels

(1) Channels

1. Independent distributors

There are two *** in the country, respectively They are China Post and Telecommunications Equipment Corporation and Shenzhen Tianyin Company. These two national agents have established their own branches in each provincial capital city and municipality directly under the Central Government. They are Apple's designated channel agents in mainland China. The products they represent are exclusive. If a product is given to Shenzhen Tianyin Company, it cannot be given to China Posts and Telecommunications Equipment Corporation, and vice versa. Currently, these two companies are agents for a variety of Apple mobile phone products. Through their marketing networks, they can cover retail stores at all levels across the country, in cities, counties, and townships. These two companies are also the national agents for Nokia, Samsung, LG, Dopod and other products. Their distribution strength ranks among the top two in the country. Each has its own characteristics and is equally matched. Obviously, the launch of new iPhone products involves the issue of choosing an agent between these two major agents.

2. Large-scale retailers (DKR), also known as direct suppliers or direct customers

Apple products are sold by major electrical appliance retail companies in China, such as Gome Electric, Suning Electric, Dixin Electronics, etc., plus the largest electrical appliance retailers or mobile phone retailers in various places, total about 83 stores. These retailers have signed a direct supply agreement with Apple. According to the agreement, they can purchase goods directly from Apple without going through national agents. They enjoy greater price advantages and market support than ordinary retailers, but at the same time Apple has strict requirements and management on them. The intensity is very high. This type of customers are not exclusive to each other and basically do not involve the issue of channel selection.

3. Ordinary retail stores (KR)

Purchase products directly from the above two agents for terminal sales. There are currently 3,850 major KR customers in the country. After years of development, the mobile phone retail market is relatively mature, and the wholesale business of small wholesalers (KW) is very small. This article is incorporated into the KR customer category; at the same time, there are 78 authorized stores in the national market, which are also included in the KR customer category. For different product launches, retail channels and KR customer levels involve channel selection issues at different stages of the product life cycle.

(2) Channel Selection

1. Distributor Selection

In the agreement signed between the two independent distributors and Apple, the division of labor is slightly different. different. China Post and Telecommunications Equipment Corporation focuses on China Unicom operator products, while Shenzhen Tianyin Company focuses on mobile operator products. This division of labor was not obvious in the 2G era, but in the 3G era, since the market is not completely open, bundling with operators will bring greater market opportunities. The iPhone product is a WCDMA standard product and is supported by China Unicom network. In view of the relatively balanced channel capabilities of China Posts and Telecommunications Equipment Corporation and Shenzhen Tianyin Company, the agency rights are usually given to China Posts and Telecommunications Equipment Corporation, and if there are mobile standard products in the future, they will be given to Shenzhen Tianyin. company.

2. Selection of retail customers

There are two types of customers at the retail level: DKR and KR. DKR is a direct supply system with complete self-management, and Apple has a dedicated large account team tracking system with large digestion capacity. It accounts for about 30% of the company's open market sales and is the main channel for iPhone products to be launched. For DKR customers, the first batch will be covered and supplied based on strategic importance. Of course, the number of stores covered by the first batch of planned tasks for different customers will also be determined based on historical performance records and the analysis of the current situation by the sales staff of both parties. Although KR customers account for 70% of all open market channels, they have many, complex, chaotic customers, uneven sales volume distribution, and varying maturity levels. Therefore, for the iPhone, a mid-to-high-end mobile phone that focuses on social networking, KR customers have corresponding trade-offs. Based on the company's historical experience and iPhone product characteristics, the following methods are generally adopted:

① According to the company's CRM (customer relationship management) statistics, 3850 customers have retailed the sales volume of the multi-function mobile phone A31 or similar-priced mobile phone VL8 in the past three months. Customers with more than 5 units each or a total of more than 8 units sold will be the first batch of customers covered by alternative distributors.

②The channel department will contact the person in charge of the corresponding provincial agent, and then the sales representative of the KR customer in each city will finally confirm whether to give the store the sales right. At the same time, if other customers are qualified to participate, they can also be added to the system. With the continuous follow-up of market promotion, consumer awareness increases and retail prices decrease, consideration can be given to broadening the coverage of KR customers.

Channel selection is generally planned and formulated by the sales operation department three weeks before the product is officially launched. After feedback is completed two weeks before the launch, it will be confirmed by the national general manager, and will be forwarded to channels, retail, and market along with other sales plans. , finance and other functional departments are ready to implement.

Marketing strategy of Apple mobile phone

(1) Experiential marketing

Experiential marketing refers to the way that enterprises use methods such as allowing target customers to observe, listen, try, and try out , a marketing method that allows customers to personally experience the products or services provided by the company and actually perceive the quality or performance of the products or services, thereby motivating customers to recognize, like and purchase them. This approach aims to meet consumers' experience needs, uses service products as a platform and tangible products as a carrier, which is conducive to the production and operation of high-quality products and shortens the distance between enterprises and consumers.

With the advancement of material civilization, consumers are more concerned about their psychological and spiritual satisfaction. And experience can be said to be the economic provider that represents this level of satisfaction. Fierce market competition has accelerated the spread of technology, and the goods and services provided within the industry have become increasingly similar. This convergence of goods and services obliterates the personalization that goods and services bring to people. For this reason, unique feelings and experiences become even more precious. iPhone seizes this demand of consumers and vigorously promotes sensory and thinking marketing strategies. By deeply exploring the unexpressed potential needs in people's hearts, it perfectly combines its unique sense of design, ease of use of technology, creativity with fashion and pop culture. Together, they create the unique temperament and consumer aesthetics of Apple products.

1. Product sense: humanized operation experience

The appearance design of Apple products is simple, fashionable and in line with modern aesthetics. Take iPhone4 as an example, it has a very modern streamlined appearance and smooth and simple design style. The appearance lines are extremely simple. There is only one home button in the entire operation interface as manual control, and the rest are touch screen operations. The appearance of the entire body gives people a stylish and cold modern feel. When operating the machine, you can really feel its humanized operating interface and steps. Therefore, users of all ages can feel the warmth, kindness and human touch brought by its operating experience when using iPhone. Consumers get a brand new all-round experience in sight, hearing and touch.

2. Experience store senses: open shopping environment

Novel products require novel carrying methods to be delivered to consumers. Apple positions its store concept as "adding color to life" and understands store opening as a business of creating experiences so that customers come for shopping and leave with excitement. To this end, Apple abandoned the traditional retail industry's rules and regulations on store design, location selection and employee decision-making rights. In terms of store design, Apple learned from the Four Seasons Hotel (experience: the traditional way of thinking can only produce traditional ideas, and it is necessary to break out of the traditional norms of the industry to seek new inspiration). The store design is simple and elegant, using only stainless steel and glass. and Scandinavian flooring in three materials for decoration. The store makes full use of sunlight and space and welcomes customers with an open attitude. Therefore, customers will naturally experience and contact the products.

3. Thinking and experience

Thinking marketing appeals to intelligence, arousing customers’ surprise, interest, concentrated or dispersed thinking on problems, and creating cognitive and problem-solving experiences for customers. . In the entire history of consumer electronics, perhaps no other brand has been able to arouse the excitement among consumers, the electronic product industry, the communications industry, and even the entire business community in many fields, from products to marketing to industrial chain construction, like Apple. think. In 2007, Apple's iPhone was sold out after only six weeks on the market. When he was named the best product of 2007 by Business Week, Jobs said: "Apple has returned to its roots and needs to start innovating again."

And it is accompanied by a promotional plan for thinking marketing, with the slogan "Think Differently" as the advertising slogan, featuring Einstein, Gandhi, Muhammad Ali, Richard, Branson, John, Lennon and Yoko Ono, etc. "Creative geniuses" from different fields are the protagonists of the advertisement.

Apple’s new product launch conference is an important means for it to think about experience. Whenever there is a major product release, Jobs will formulate a clear, specific and unforgettable title for the speech about the new product. To spark curiosity among listeners, readers and consumers. For example, at the iPhone launch conference, "Today, Apple re-invented the mobile phone"; when the iPod was launched, "Put 1,000 songs in your pocket", it was concise, specific, and the benefits were clear.

(2) "Hunger Marketing" Model

The so-called "Hunger Marketing" is to influence the selling price of the terminal by adjusting the volume at both ends of supply and demand, so as to achieve the purpose of increasing the price. Although the operation of hunger marketing is very simple, set a popular surprise price to attract potential consumers, and then limit the supply, creating the illusion of hot sales when demand exceeds supply, thereby increasing the selling price and earning higher profits. However, the factor of “brand” runs through the entire operation of hunger marketing. First of all, its operation must rely on strong brand appeal. Because of the "brand" factor, hunger marketing will be a double-edged sword. If the sword is used well, it can create greater added value for an already strong brand; if it is not used properly, it will cause damage to the brand and reduce its added value.

Apple’s hunger marketing consists of two stages: delay and limited edition. At first, they just revealed the news about the launch of new products, and then blocked the news and avoided talking about it, making customers feel extremely "hungry" (the more unknown things are about to come, the more urgent people want to know the truth), the so-called " "Curiosity killed the cat" refers to this kind of human nature. For example, Apple kept all the details of the iPhone secret for 30 months before it was officially released. This strict confidentiality system is to control the intensity of the market's hunger for new products. Apple makes consumers and the media hungry for information about it - from speculation and conjecture about the iPhone's industrial design to the implementation of its business model. Before 2007, the outside world only knew that Apple was preparing a mobile phone product, but Apple itself kept silent about it, and any information related to the iPhone was deliberately hidden. After the iPhone information was announced, Apple did not try its best to describe all the functions and advantages of the iPhone like other similar mobile phones; nor did it conduct a large-scale publicity in the hope that consumers would come to buy it. Instead, it chose to slowly and slowly provide information about the iPhone bit by bit. It was revealed that almost every promotion has a lot of suspense to whet the appetite of consumers; coupled with Apple founder Stephen's magical language description, everyone has an extreme desire for this new product. This method of revealing a small piece of new information every once in a while allows the discussion and popularity of the iPhone to continue to be maintained and improved, and people continue to exchange opinions and compare information. Successfully using the power of consumers to create free advertising for the iPhone, Apple's strong brand appeal has attracted both existing customers and potential consumers.

(3) Word-of-mouth marketing strategy

In marketing, word-of-mouth marketing means that companies develop certain strategies while investigating market demand and providing consumers with the products and services they need. The word-of-mouth promotion plan allows consumers to automatically spread good reviews of the company's products and services, so that people can learn about the product, establish the brand, and strengthen market awareness through word-of-mouth, ultimately achieving the purpose of the company selling products and providing services. In other words, through users' word-of-mouth publicity network, information spreads and spreads like a virus, using rapid replication to reach thousands or tens of thousands of audiences. By providing valuable products or services, "let everyone tell everyone", and letting others promote you, you can act as "marketing leverage". On the Internet, this kind of "word-of-mouth communication" is more convenient. Since this kind of communication is spontaneous among users, it is almost a free online marketing method. Apple's word-of-mouth marketing is one of its main magic weapons. It gradually cultivates long-term customers by cultivating consumers' cultural identity. The key points of Apple's word-of-mouth marketing are as follows:

(1) Develop unique product value. Each of Apple's products combines several advantages that competing products do not have - ease of use, functionality, scalability, etc., thereby providing unique value to consumers.

(2) Create a correct product image. Apple's products not only perform better than competitors, but also integrate art and technology to make the products more beautiful in appearance, making consumers keen to carry them around and even show them to friends. This marriage of art and technology has upgraded Apple from a single computer manufacturer to a brand manufacturer with multiple competitive products.

(3) Select the appropriate target group. Apple's products usually target two groups of people who are most sensitive to word-of-mouth marketing: one is the so-called "pioneers", who are young, restless, curious consumers who like to try new things; the other is the so-called "pioneers". One type is "early adopters," that is, consumers who are always looking for new products to improve their personal and business lives. The latter is larger than the former and also serves as a bridge between the product and the "early mass users."

(4) Stimulate consumers’ interest and desire to purchase products. Apple's successful integration of art and technology gives its products an aura that can arouse consumer interest, and this effect is usually amplified by the product's early launch. The product's halo, early launch, and limited supply can transform consumers' interest into purchasing desire and enthusiasm for the product, thereby creating contagious consumer behavior and word-of-mouth communication, helping the product to quickly spread. Cross the "tipping point" and expand into the mass consumer market.

(5) Maintain the popularity of word-of-mouth communication. Apple has successfully maintained word-of-mouth buzz by providing consumers with hints about upcoming new products and holding early launches for next-generation iPods, iPhones, and even new products.

The lessons and inspirations of Apple’s mobile phones for Chinese mobile phone companies

(1) Pay attention to consumers

In summary, Apple pays more attention to consumers’ attitudes and needs. Compared with Chinese companies, when faced with customers with problems, most of them choose to avoid them; some even simply let users go online to read FAQs on their own. Therefore, it is necessary for Chinese companies to communicate with customers, research and explore their needs, and then use their feedback to make products more satisfying to consumers. Only in this way can we grasp the psychology of consumers, win their favor, and bring more opportunities for corporate development.

(2) Pursue simplicity, individuality and differentiation

Most domestic mobile phones have a software interface, with dozens of menus and buttons listed on it, filling the screen. This kind of software with complex functions and cumbersome interface cannot bring a good user experience. This requires our country's mobile phone companies to innovate and look for individuality and differentiation. Otherwise, the market will be filled with homogeneous products without characteristics. In today's fiercely competitive market, without your own innovation, personality and differentiation, it will be difficult to win the favor of consumers, and sooner or later you will be eliminated by the market.

(3) Establishing effective sales channels

At present, foreign brand products are also establishing sales channel models similar to domestic brand products (national general distributors underwrite sales), indicating the localization of domestic brands. The advantage has not been lost. To this end, we should consolidate our original sales channels. At the same time, attention should also be paid to the construction of new channels that are gradually becoming the main force in the market, such as cooperation with mobile operators and hypermarkets. In addition, the existence of large-scale retail terminals provides opportunities for domestic mobile phones to explore the primary market. It not only allows domestic mobile phones to quickly enter the primary market, but also at low cost. For mobile phone hypermarkets and mobile phone chain stores, they must take advantage of their localization and personnel advantages to establish efficient sales channels by directly supplying large-scale retail terminals, providing promotional personnel or conducting in-depth training for store promotional personnel.

(4) Pay attention to marketing

Apple’s success is not only due to its near-perfect products and strong brand effect, but also to its unique marketing art. Because Apple firmly believes that its good intentions will not be in vain and consumers will appreciate it. Therefore, our country's mobile phone companies must not only focus on the product itself, but also pay attention to its marketing strategy, so that customers can truly feel your product and make consumers feel and buzz.

Expanded content

Is it dangerous to expand the capacity of Apple’s mobile phone?

How to expand the capacity of Apple’s iPhone?

If you want to say it is very simple, just take out the memory of the original machine and replace it with a new large memory.

However, the risk of replacing the memory is very high. It is easy for ordinary people to replace the memory and kill the iPhone.

Is it dangerous to expand the capacity of Apple mobile phones?

First of all, it is not recommended to expand the model under warranty, because this will void the warranty. It is generally recommended to expand the capacity after the warranty is over, or for models that are not under warranty by the National Bank itself.

If the skill of the master is not high, your iPhone is prone to problems, such as being unable to turn on, etc. The memory you replaced may be different, which may affect the reading speed of the phone. After replacing the memory, your iPhone It is more fragile. If it falls on the ground, it may cause the iPhone to not turn on.

Risks of Apple’s activation strategy. If Apple changes its activation strategy and restricts third-party expansion devices, your iPhone will not be able to be activated. Therefore, it is recommended that you keep the original hard drive and replace it if necessary.

What kind of models are not suitable for expansion?

It is not recommended to expand the capacity of models below iPhone 5s. Expansion does not make much sense. Models with underlying diseases are not suitable. Models that have been overhauled or dropped are not suitable for expansion. No matter how the overhauled machine is done, the motherboard needs to be heated. These models may be broken as soon as it is heated.

If Apple’s iPhone capacity expansion is successful, it will be very satisfying. It will cost less money and get more memory. But you also have to bear corresponding risks. For skilled masters, capacity expansion is basically not a problem. Why don’t we still recommend iPhone players to buy second-hand phones with expanded capacity? You can buy native large memory at the same price, and there is no need to take risks. The expansion machine can be used normally without problems. Once a problem occurs, the whole machine will basically be scrapped. Safety and reliability cannot be guaranteed.