Target Market Strategy
Getting a new product into the market can be a challenging task; and one has to have excellent product knowledge, creativity, imagination, determination and patience. Besides, the marketer must have the market information and this depends on the product type. He must also have psychographic information such as values, lifestyle, interests, attitudes and opinions, market behavior too are important. After obtaining this information, he assesses the attractiveness of each of the segments identified in the first stage and comes up with the group in which the firm will invest resources to turn them into customers.
After coming up with the target market, the company begins the process of supplying the consumers with goods or services to suit their different needs. This is referred to as positioning and is a very vital process in product introduction since the organization develops marketing strategies targeting the segments.
Introduction of V-Mobile
V-mobile is a smartphone that runs on an android operating system designed by V-Technologies and is poised to offer a cheaper alternative to the iPhone that has been dogged with several complaints. These range from dropped calls, non-removable battery, signal loss when held in a certain way, Apple’s unfair replacement policies and a wide range of minor problems. V-mobile has capitalized on these complaints to come up with this device whose design has been ongoing for the last two years and the company is now ready to introduce it into the market. It will become the latest entrant in the already congested smartphone market. Below is the process that will be followed to this effect.
Market segmentation
This will be the first stage in the introduction of V-phone to the market and involves dividing the market into segments that have shared meaningful characteristics with respect to this product. Mobile phone usage falls into three groups; communication, information and communication, the V-phone incorporates all of these functions into one. It is important to have information on the features that consumers need in their smartphones in order to satisfy both ends of the target market. Statistics relating to the mobile phone market shows that phone users no longer use their phones just for making calls, a majority of people surveyed prefer to buy phones that have their favorite applications such as internet access, camera, video capability and phone games. Internet access enables subscribers to enter a wider pool of applications at the press of a button, these include games, e-mail services, social networks, camera, music, video capability and game and application downloads.
Demographic information from related studies shows that persons within the ages of 18-29 are the most active category of phone users, they are followed by the 30-49 age group. To expand the market segment, we are in the process of entering a partnership deal with fixed telephony and broadband providers to build onto our clientele, based on the success of the Apple – A T & T deal.
Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior is also vital while segmenting the target market. It is quite evident that most smartphone users do not like their current phones; each has its own weaknesses and most of the users like to try out new products in the market. Therefore, convincing them to switch over to our new product will not be hard, these first users’ experience and judgment will in turn influence other population segments to adopt the V-phone. The first target will be that between the age group of 18- 35, research shows that the experience of these first users will influence the purchasing decisions made by others, it is therefore important that the product leaves a positive impact on them. Advertisement strategies aimed at this age group will be formulated. Another factor to consider is online purchasing; most consumers with web-enabled phones are using their phones to make purchases such as ringtones and apps. We can enter an agreement with the online service providers to supply our customers with these products at subsidized rates to cater for the segment that make financial transactions through their phones.
Market Segment analysis (18-35 years)
For the segment profile section, we shall look at the segment of those aged between 18 and 35, arguably the most active smartphone users and the most responsive to mobile advertisements (9%). Research conducted by Marketing Matrix shows that up to 33% of this segment are tempted to buy from adverts available from the mobile in comparison to 28% who said there purchasing decisions would be influenced by adverts on the internet. According to Consumer Behavior Report (April 2010), the said age-group is always the first to purchase new electronic products entering the market and are always willing to take the risks involved. Their main reason for buying smartphones is not communication, rather, it is a chance to explore new products and applications in the market and compete among pees on who owns the ‘coolest’ gadgets. However, males belonging to this age bracket are far more active than the females.
The research further shows that although females are as active as men on mobile media, they are less responsive than their male counterparts. This group is referred to as ‘cash rich time poor’ market segment.
Target Marketing Strategy
After identifying the market segments, we shall try to generate a profile of each segment. From an analysis of the market segments created earlier, it is evident that males who belong to the age group 18- 35 are the most active users and should be first group to be reached. The company will adopt a differentiated targeting strategy in an effort to capture the different market segments where it will produce phones with different features to cater for the different market segments. V-mobile shall manufacture phones with different features based on the target market, borrowing from the success of the iPhone in using this marketing strategy. Phones will have varying memory sizes and features and prices will depend on the size of the internal memory and features. However, features such as video, camera, television and internet capabilities are common to all phones. Market differentiation will begin from this stage. Phone models packed with more applications and with more storage capacity will be targeted towards the 18-
Reference list
Consumer Shopping Behavior. (2010). Smartphone Shopping Behavior. Web.
Solomon, M. R. (2008). Real People, Real Choices,th Ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall
Steele, M. S. (2008). Marketing Demographics of Cellphone Users. Web.