Eric Sandhu
Introduction
In this assignment i will be explaining, justifying and making recommendations on my chosen
organisation, who uses market research. I have chosen apple for this report. Apple is a
company based around technological products. In this report i will be describing how apple
uses market research to contribute to their market growth.
Discuss the internal, external and competitive environment on a given
organisation. P4+p5
Market research is about gathering valuable information, which will help you find out if there
is a market for your product or service. The information collected from market research is
used to make wise and profitable business decisions. A key to a successful business is to
find out about your customer needs. There are two types of researches which can be
conducted: primary and secondary research, which also be made into quantitative and
qualitative.
Primary research is research which is conducted to answer specific issues and questions.
A business can conduct this research themselves or employ a third party to conduct this
research for them. The main advantage of primary research is that the research is
“pinpointed”. Apple uses self-administered sample survey-a survey which is designed to be
completed by the respondent. The advantage of this research is that the respondent can
answer the survey without being pressured by an interviewer. There is also no interviews, no
bias questions. The reason apple does this research is because they want to find out about
their customer needs.
Secondary research involves collecting the summary of existing data. Secondary research
is contrasted with primary research because primary research is about collecting and
generating the data. Apple doesn’t rely on secondary research as much as they rely on
primary research. Secondary research can be outdated and might not be reliable. Apple
uses secondary research to find out more information about their competitors.
Internal research is when you collect data for your company for specific purpose. Internal
data can be primary or secondary. If the business is collecting internal primary data. They
should do surveys internally and should be holding up focus groups to find the information
they need. Apple takes its personal documents and sales figures seriously. They take it
seriously because they want an insight on how they are doing annually also how they can
improve on their weaknesses so in future no threats occur.
External research is when a organisation obtains information about something which is not
internal. For e.g. apple obtains information about Samsung, this is an example for external
research because the information was an external source. Such as competitors, media,
government and social media these are examples of external research. Apple uses external
research to gain more information on competitors, media and government.
, Eric Sandhu
Qualitative research is used to gain an understanding of opinions and motivations. It is also
used to find trends and people's opinions. Some of examples include: focus groups,
interviews and observations. Apple uses focus groups because people with similar likes and
interests can communicate well with each other. Apple uses qualitative research to find out
about their weaknesses.
Quantitative research is used to identify problems by generating numerical data. It is used
to uncover patterns in the research. Quantitative research can be primary or secondary.
Apple uses surveys and questionnaires to ask their employers and customers a series of
questions. This way they can see their strengths and weakness and also prevent any future
threats.
Mobile payments-This is an industry that Apple joined in 2014,Although Apple was not the first to
introduce mobile payments systems, it still managed to collect more than 1million users in its first
2days. The main competitor in this industry for Apple is PayPal as it has more than 86mil users.
There are also other competitors such as Samsung pay with 34million users and android pay with 24
million users
Mobile computers includes tablets, iPad and convertible computers Although there are wide range
of tablets and convertible computers, iPad still remains to be the most profitable and the biggest
selling. Competitors of Apple in this sector are Samsung, Google, Amazon, Dell, Lenovo, HP and etc
Porters 5 forces
A substitute product isn't a alternative to the products a firm is selling For example, the new
Sony Walkman player isn't a substitute for the iPod Touch it’s a competitor however its not
personal cd player or MP3 player could be if some aspects of the markets were to change
such as prices and there was a high elasticity of demand of the product. In the case of
iTunes has is that you don’t have to buy whole albums you can download single songs
individually as there is a lot of range of options for purchasing music and that’s why there's
substitute with in the music industry, such as tapes, CDs and DVDs.
Threats
There are hundreds of media downloading sites available to use on the internet. Some re
legal and some are illegal. It is more difficult to block and put barriers up for illegal entrants
into the market as they aren't following the law and that’s why they do not have patents,
licences or rights to distribute media, however they still do it. Legitimate start-up companies
have capital requirements and likely patents and licenses to ultimately obtain the prospect of
competing with very well-known companies such as iTunes. Mintel predicts that there will be
a range of new companies willing to invest in online downloading industries. A very big
threat for Apple constitutes would be the entrance of Amazon into the market as the
company announced the launch of a new music download portal that provides a wide range
of DRM-free tracks to a reasonable price and that users can legally copy files without being
restricted to a specific number of copies. Apple has to has to be aware of the fact that they
could lose both new and old customers by restricting them to digital rights Management
tracks that can only be played by Apples iPod and not on any MP3 player or such device as
it is the with Amazon.
Rivalry
Introduction
In this assignment i will be explaining, justifying and making recommendations on my chosen
organisation, who uses market research. I have chosen apple for this report. Apple is a
company based around technological products. In this report i will be describing how apple
uses market research to contribute to their market growth.
Discuss the internal, external and competitive environment on a given
organisation. P4+p5
Market research is about gathering valuable information, which will help you find out if there
is a market for your product or service. The information collected from market research is
used to make wise and profitable business decisions. A key to a successful business is to
find out about your customer needs. There are two types of researches which can be
conducted: primary and secondary research, which also be made into quantitative and
qualitative.
Primary research is research which is conducted to answer specific issues and questions.
A business can conduct this research themselves or employ a third party to conduct this
research for them. The main advantage of primary research is that the research is
“pinpointed”. Apple uses self-administered sample survey-a survey which is designed to be
completed by the respondent. The advantage of this research is that the respondent can
answer the survey without being pressured by an interviewer. There is also no interviews, no
bias questions. The reason apple does this research is because they want to find out about
their customer needs.
Secondary research involves collecting the summary of existing data. Secondary research
is contrasted with primary research because primary research is about collecting and
generating the data. Apple doesn’t rely on secondary research as much as they rely on
primary research. Secondary research can be outdated and might not be reliable. Apple
uses secondary research to find out more information about their competitors.
Internal research is when you collect data for your company for specific purpose. Internal
data can be primary or secondary. If the business is collecting internal primary data. They
should do surveys internally and should be holding up focus groups to find the information
they need. Apple takes its personal documents and sales figures seriously. They take it
seriously because they want an insight on how they are doing annually also how they can
improve on their weaknesses so in future no threats occur.
External research is when a organisation obtains information about something which is not
internal. For e.g. apple obtains information about Samsung, this is an example for external
research because the information was an external source. Such as competitors, media,
government and social media these are examples of external research. Apple uses external
research to gain more information on competitors, media and government.
, Eric Sandhu
Qualitative research is used to gain an understanding of opinions and motivations. It is also
used to find trends and people's opinions. Some of examples include: focus groups,
interviews and observations. Apple uses focus groups because people with similar likes and
interests can communicate well with each other. Apple uses qualitative research to find out
about their weaknesses.
Quantitative research is used to identify problems by generating numerical data. It is used
to uncover patterns in the research. Quantitative research can be primary or secondary.
Apple uses surveys and questionnaires to ask their employers and customers a series of
questions. This way they can see their strengths and weakness and also prevent any future
threats.
Mobile payments-This is an industry that Apple joined in 2014,Although Apple was not the first to
introduce mobile payments systems, it still managed to collect more than 1million users in its first
2days. The main competitor in this industry for Apple is PayPal as it has more than 86mil users.
There are also other competitors such as Samsung pay with 34million users and android pay with 24
million users
Mobile computers includes tablets, iPad and convertible computers Although there are wide range
of tablets and convertible computers, iPad still remains to be the most profitable and the biggest
selling. Competitors of Apple in this sector are Samsung, Google, Amazon, Dell, Lenovo, HP and etc
Porters 5 forces
A substitute product isn't a alternative to the products a firm is selling For example, the new
Sony Walkman player isn't a substitute for the iPod Touch it’s a competitor however its not
personal cd player or MP3 player could be if some aspects of the markets were to change
such as prices and there was a high elasticity of demand of the product. In the case of
iTunes has is that you don’t have to buy whole albums you can download single songs
individually as there is a lot of range of options for purchasing music and that’s why there's
substitute with in the music industry, such as tapes, CDs and DVDs.
Threats
There are hundreds of media downloading sites available to use on the internet. Some re
legal and some are illegal. It is more difficult to block and put barriers up for illegal entrants
into the market as they aren't following the law and that’s why they do not have patents,
licences or rights to distribute media, however they still do it. Legitimate start-up companies
have capital requirements and likely patents and licenses to ultimately obtain the prospect of
competing with very well-known companies such as iTunes. Mintel predicts that there will be
a range of new companies willing to invest in online downloading industries. A very big
threat for Apple constitutes would be the entrance of Amazon into the market as the
company announced the launch of a new music download portal that provides a wide range
of DRM-free tracks to a reasonable price and that users can legally copy files without being
restricted to a specific number of copies. Apple has to has to be aware of the fact that they
could lose both new and old customers by restricting them to digital rights Management
tracks that can only be played by Apples iPod and not on any MP3 player or such device as
it is the with Amazon.
Rivalry
