A few months back I saw an iPhone case which was a bottle-opener too! Being an MBA student, I wondered if I was the director of international marketing for such company, what global strategy I would use. Here are my thoughts:
4th quarter of 2011, Apple sold 37 million iPhones, giving it 23.9% market share in US.[1] Apple is aggressively expanding its market to China, Russia and other emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region.[2] As such, the consumer market segment for an iPhone Bottle Opener would closely follow the same regions. Although global-village is experiencing rapid social and economic changes, urbanization and westernization, not every culture and sub-culture within these regions would equally embrace our product.
1. US market – 50.9% of adults 18 years of age and over are regular drinkers.[3] Our focus would be young adults, male and female, ages 18-38, with emphasis on college students, college towns and corporations.
2. Chinese market – China is the second largest beer-producing country in the world. [4] A survey of college students in China revealed 78% male and 61% female alcohol consumption trend.[5] Our target would be young emerging Chinese workforce, with equal emphasis on both genders. We would avoid public ads and focus more on iPhone-driven marketing strategy.
3. Russian Market – In Russia, 70-80% males aged 20-55 years and 50-60% of females aged 20-50 years drink regularly.[6] Since alcohol consumption is far more acceptable our marketing would aggressively target all males and females of various social status. We would place public ads associating the product to western values.
[1] Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. Reports Strong 2011 Earnings, CNBC, Friday Jan. 20, 2012
[2] Zacks Equity Research, iPhones Reign in 4Q11, Zacks Investment Research, Jan. 31, 2012
[3] Alcohol Use in US, Center for Disease Control, National Health Interview Survey, 2010 – found online at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/alcohol.htm
[4] Johanne Cochrane, Alcohol Use in China, Alcohol and Alcoholism, Oxford Journal, Vol 38, Issue 6, pg 537-542
[5] Li, X., Fang, X., Stanton, B., Fiegelman, S. and Dong, Q. (1996) The rate and pattern of alcohol consumption among Chinese adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health 19, 353–361.
[6] Marin McKee, Alcohol in Russia, Alcohol and Alcoholism, Oxford Journal, Vol. 34, Issue 6, pg. 824-829
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