Apple recently released the iPhone 5. As I write this article, more than five million handsets have already been sold.
Five million is not a small figure. Granted there are seven billion of us on earth but not a lot of people can afford an iPhone and most importantly, everyone who needs or wants a mobile phone already has one. Some people even have up to three mobile phones.
If everyone who needs or wants a mobile phone already has one, two or even three, how is Apple still able to get people to sleep under sub-zero degree temperature to be the first to buy its iPhone?
There are two things responsible for Apple?s phenomenon success:
? Apple?s ability to anticipate ?Next Generation Demand? than any other business
? Apple?s ability to market free prize
As a retail loss prevention expert, I am in constant interaction with the retail industry. It is no secret that most retailers are struggling to survive. It always puzzles me why a business such as retail will struggle.
Everyone must eat, everyone must wear cloth, there are certain essentials that people cannot live without and all of those essentials are in retail stores, which means everyone goes to a retail store at least once a week.
Even the president of the United States goes to shop once in a while. So the question is not whether people will shop, the question is where?
Comparing Consulting Firms to Apple
At present consumers have two options:
? To go to a physical brick and mortar retail store
? Shop on the internet
The internet is very convenient to shop. Selecting your merchandise from the comfort of your living room is one of the most exhilarating experiences brought about by the internet.
I cannot remember the last time I entered a book store. When I want to buy a book, I just log onto my Amazon account and 48hours later, I have my book or better even I could instantly download it. However, I do go to the supermarket to do my grocery shopping.
It is not because I cannot do my grocery shopping online, I do have many friends who do their grocery shopping online. But I go to the supermarket because of how it makes me feel.
When I go to the supermarket early in the morning, there is this sweet freshly baked bread aroma that is pumped through the store vent system that awakens my senses. It is almost like walking pass Starbucks in the morning with the smell of freshly brewed coffee.
I don?t get these from the internet, at least someone is yet to figure out how to pump aroma through my computer when I open a webpage. What this particular supermarket has figured out is that there are people like me who will go to the supermarket just for the sweet aroma, so they give it to us.
In many of my previous articles, I have taken the pain to explain that Harrods Department Store success rests on its: attractive store design, beautiful visual merchandising display and effective loss prevention strategy.
Harrods? store design is an art that attracts customers to the store just to see it. This is the type of things that most failed or struggling retailers do not realise.
Consulting firms and Apple
This brings us to the question: what can other business learn from Apple?s success. Businesses like Apple or Harrods understand the reasons why people buy and give them the reason to buy their products.
Most Nokia phones are almost ninety times cheaper than iPhones. Many of the Samsung latest phones have similar functionalities as Apple and basically design wise, even though they are completely different the reality is Apple design is not that special.
Apple success steams from the fact that they understand their customers better than any other business. Apple understands their customer current demands and they can predict their future demands with precision accuracy.
Apple has curve a place in the minds of their customers. There are people who will buy only Apple products. The same cannot be said of Samsung. Those who buy Samsung phones are those want-to-be iPhone buyers who cannot afford the cost of iPhones.
Have you ever seen anyone lining up to buy Samsung phone? Talk less of sleeping in sub-zero degree temperature? Apple phones designs are based upon:
Simplicity
Functionality
Elegance
What is Samsung and other phone-makers designs are based upon?
The second thing that Apple uses effectively over it competitors and any other business for which reason it is the most valuable company on planet earth is ?free prize?.
The concept of free has been around since the days of Caesar. The slogan buy-one-get-one free has been around for centuries. Free is what built the likes of Google and Facebook. If they were charging for their services they would not have achieved the level of success they have experienced.
But the different between Apple?s freebies and most businesses is this: the majority of businesses build the freebie into their marketing while Apple builds the freebie into their products.
And that is exactly what they use in their marketing. They drum the fact that their products have this and that functionalities. They don?t sell buy one Apple phone and get one free, they don?t sell their products for a dollar over the production price, they sell the free prize that are in their products.
So as you read this article, the question you need to be asking yourself is this:
What is the next generation demand of your product or service?
What type of free prize can you build into your product or service to make it appealing to your target market?
Related posts:
- What Can Entrepreneurs Learn From Seth Godin?s LINCHPIN
- How to Market and Manage a Business Coaching Firm
- How to Market and Manage A Corporate Training Firm
Source: http://theprofitexperts.co.uk/the-apple-phenomenon-what-can-businesses-learn-from-appie/
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