Market Analysis Of Samsung Galaxy S9 Smartphone In Australia, Essay.

The next stage of the marketing audit is for you to consider the market for your organisation and evaluate the opportunities and threats that exist for your chosen organisation. NB: if you have a number of markets it is a good idea to focus on just one.

Incorporating theoretical concepts into your discussion from chapters 2, 4, 5 and 6 (are these in relation to the new or the old version of the book) of the text, and with the use of other theoretical sources and secondary research, please discuss the following:

1. Briefly describe the industry market for your organisation and evaluate current trends in:
Growth
Profitability
Macro environment (PESTLE factor)

2. Outline and examine the major market segments for your organisation and identify your primary, and secondary target markets.

3. Discuss the level of involvement your primary segment is likely to have towards your organisation in terms of the decision making.

4. Describe the nature of competition in your industry. Explain and analyse your organisation’s place in the market by comparing and contrasting its strengths and weaknesses to your main competitor.

5. Taking into consideration the primary segment, their level of involvement and the competition, create a positioning map for the market place.

You need to select an Australian based organisation or you could select an International organisation but it needs to have a presence in Australia. (I.e. Apple is acceptable since you can purchase their products in Australia. Ensure that you review the Australian market and consumers.)

Given that companies usually have a wide product offering that may cater to different market segments, it is encouraged that you focus on 1 product / service to streamline your analysis.

Also, you need to select a B2C market so that you can profile your target markets effectively.

This assessment task will assess the following learning outcome/s:

be able to find relevant and important information about organisations, their industries and marketplaces from secondary sources.
be able to evaluate the key marketing aspects of segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) and be able to analyse an organisation's approach to STP.

Marketing can be considered to be an essential aspect of the organization and it is crucial for the different companies who are involved in any industry would be required to ensure that they are successfully able to engage themselves in the interaction process with the external market members so as to ensure that they are successfully able to increase their marketing positioning and improve on their market share (Hamzah & Sutanto, 2016). However, the first procedure in the marketing procedure involves an extensive industry and market research which then goes a long way in assisting the different marketers to identify the factors which may have an influence on the product sales and secondly also decide upon the target market which the organization will be serving. Once the target market is decided upon, it becomes considerably easier to decide upon the offering which can be made by the company and to decide upon the different competitors which exist in the same market place. The primary aim of the given report is to analyze the industry trends and examine the correct target market of the firm. This will be followed by the identification of the primary as well as the secondary target market and the competition for the firm at large. Lastly, certain recommendations will be provided.

The company which has been selected for the purpose of the analysis is the Samsung Company and the product which has been chosen for the same is the Galaxy S9 smartphone. The Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphone is one of the latest offerings which is being made by the company to the general audience which comprises of all the best features being combined together. The product can be termed as a high priced phone at $1200 (Samsung.com ,2018). The reason given by the company for this pricing is that the phone is of an exceptional quality and with respect to this, the company is currently seeking to make this extravagant offering for the customers. Samsung is an international brand which offers good quality at reasonable prices which tends to attend to the needs of all customer groups.

The smart phone technology has evolved considerably and with this advancement in the technology, the smartphones have more features than other electronic appliances. Due to this, the consumption and the use of the smartphones have improved considerably and there have been various advancements made in the particular industry. The number of smartphones users around the globe has been estimated to be around 3 billion by the year 2020.  In Australia as well, the smartphone industry has been changing considerably changing and the number of phone users are mostly using the smartphones and the penetration of the particular use is estimated to be around 75% by the year 2022. The brands which are highly popular in the Australian market can be stated to be the Samsung and Apple brand (Foxall, 2014).  These companies have formed a duopoly in the Australian smartphones market with a market share of 75%.  This considerable increase in the use of a smart phone can be stated to be because of the increasing use of the mobile phones for purposes like emails, social networks, emails, video calling and instant messaging applications which causes the users to get hooked to a smartphone. In addition to this, the social media usage has also increased considerably and due to this, the use of smartphones has increased to use applications like Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram (Businessinsider.com.au ,2018).

Analysis

Growth 

As analyzed earlier, the use of the mobile phones in Australia has been increasing considerably and with respect to this, it can be stated that according to Businessinsider.com.au (2018),  the number of smartphones will reach considerably and reached around 16.69 million in the year 2017 and by the period of 2022 is bound to reach a high of 2 billion. Hence, the Smartphone industry can be stated to be a considerably growing one and the trend can be understood with the help of the given chart

                                       

                                                     Figure 1: The growth rate of Smartphones in Australia

                                                            (Source: Businessinsider.com.au ,2018).

Profitability 

In terms of profitability, it can be stated that the smartphones industry is a highly profitable industry and the Samsung as well as the Apple organizations can be stated to be those firms who have been benefitting greatly from the particular business. The share of Apple and Samsung in the smartphone industry can be stated to be commendable and according to Bresler and Lubbe (2014), the combined share of profits as earned by Samsung and Apple can be stated to be around 106% of the overall industry profits.  The main reason, why the companies have been able to earn this considerably larger share of profits is because the manner in which they are combined where the Apple earns an industry profit of 65% and Samsung earns a profit of around 41%. The profitability of the different companies as present in the industry can be stated to be as follows:

                                     

                                                                         Figure 2: The competition present

                                                                    (Source: Businessinsider.com.au ,2018).

Industry Trends

The PESTLE analysis strategic management tool can be stated to be a useful tool which can be used for the different businesses in order to understanding the different factors which represent in the external environment of the business (Goworek, McGoldrick & McGoldrick, 2015).  The PESTLE Analysis of the Australian Smartphone industry has been done in the given section:

• Political factors: The political factors which have an impact on the company can be stated to be the different trade policies as present and the political stability as present in the different developed countries (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2014). The Australian government and political system can be stated to be quite stable in nature and with respect to this, it can also be stated that the companies in the Smartphone industry can take advantage of the stability and expect minimal political issues. In addition to this, the free trade policies have been improving considerably in Australia which will allow the company to carry out the distribution easily (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012). 
• Economic factors:The economic factors help in the creation of business opportunities for the different companies at large. The economic stability of the different companies go a long way in ensuring that the different companies, especially those which are international brands will be successfully able to benefit from the growth. The growth rate of Australia which is quite high and the economic stability are good factors for the firm and hence, this scenario for the different smartphone companies can be considered to be quite stable.
• Technological factors: The technological factors comprise of factors like the current technologies, rate of development and other related aspects which lead to a growth in the business environment of the firm. The most significant technologies in the case of the particular smartphone segment is the Cloud computing trends, Technology integration and the Growing apps market (Icoverlover.com.au ,2018).    Samsung has a considerable access to the given segments and for this reason, it is important to understand that the Australian market will be profitable for the firm.
• Legal factors: The legal factors are considerable factors which generally limit the different companies and cause them to re-consider their options. Hence, with respect to this, it becomes crucial for the firms in the Australian smartphone industry to adhere by these factors and engage in the consideration of successful operations. The privacy regulations have been increasing considerably and with respect to this, it is important for the different brands to ensure that they are able to abide by these regulations.
• Socio-cultural factors:The socio cultural factors can be described as the factors related to the choice and the preferences of the different consumer markets as present in Australia (Kotabe & Helsen, 2014).  In this context, it can be largely mentioned that, the usage of the smartphones have been increasing considerably in Australia and with respect to this, the market is suitable for the target audience.  
• Environmental factors:The last time of factors are the environmental factors. These factors for the smartphone factors can be referred to as the Business sustainability trend, Labor rights trend and the Product energy efficiency trend. Hence, all firms have to be considerate about the presence of these factors as it will assist the different companies in deciding upon the different market trends and best practices at large (Chernev, 2018).

Segmentation mainly involves dividing the population into different groups on the basis of certain characteristics which can be considered to be common between the different users. Additionally, based on this segmentation criteria, the, market is divided into various target segments which the company actually decides to serve in the future (Malhotra & Peterson, 2014).  The different positioning strategies which can be used by Samsung in Australia are as follows:

• Multi segment positioning: In this aspect, the firm targets more than a single segment at one point of time and tends to ensure that it is able to offer a large number of products as well as the services to the different segments. In this aspect, it can be stated that the firm offers a large rang of smartphones, available at different prices and features.
• Imitative positioning:It can also be stated that Samsung makes considerable use of the imitative positioning whereby it tends to try and copy the design as well as the functionalities of the competitors (Marshall, 2014). 
• Anticipatory positioning: The anticipatory positioning seeks to ensure that Samsung is able to increase the turnover in the future.

The following section describes the Segmentation, Targeting and positioning Strategy of Samsung.

Segmentation Type	Criteria of segmentation
Geographic	Region	The different cities in Australia
	Density	Urban/rural
Demographic	Age	18years -65years
	Gender	All genders
	Occupation	Employees, students, professionals, home makers, business owners.
Behavioral	Degree of loyalty towards the brand	Hard core loyal, The Soft core loyal Easy Switchers
	Benefits sought from the brand	Belongingness Trendiness Functionality User friendliness and simple interface High quality
	Personality of the User	Determined Ambitious Quality Specific Trendy Cost conscious
	The status of the user	Potential customers First time users Regular users Past users
Psychographic	Social class of the different consumers	Middle class Working class Upper class
	Lifestyle of the different consumers	Mainstreamer Aspirer Explorer Reformer

Hence, from the given analysis as done using the Segmentation tool as used, it can be identified that the main target markets which the team aims to cater can be stated to be the following:

The company has targeted the upper middle class professionals for the new model Samsung S9. These customers generally hold high posts in the organization and can be stated to have a very busy schedule and for this reason, the mobile can be stated to be a good medium to communicate with their closed ones and to stay updated by making the use of the social media applications which are generally made use by the company (De Mooij, 2018). 

Secondary target market

The secondary target market of the company can be stated to be the different high school and college going professionals who need multifunctional devices which are portable in nature. In addition to this, their target markets also comprise of the medium sized corporation which assists the different managers as well as the employees to stay updated and access all the data as present in a single go.

The level of involvement the primary segment is likely to have towards Samsung in terms of the decision making. 

The customer involvement can be described as the level of involvement which a customer portrays towards the product purchasing decision (Sashittal & Wilemon, 1996). It can be stated to be the state of mind which helps in the motivation to the consumers and assists in understanding the importance which a consumer portrays towards the product which will be purchased at large. A particular customer may portray different levels of involvement and can be basically divided into three different levels.

Growth

Low involvement: In this kind of a decision, the decisions which are made can be understood to be habitual in nature and is generally made on a regular basis and no prior research is done by the consumer in this context. These products are the Fast Moving Consumer goods like groceries, laundry detergent and other household items.

Medium Involvement: The medium involvement of the consumers can be defined as an involvement whereby the decision level can be considered to be very simple and requires limited involvement from the different consumers (Sargeant & Macquillin, 2016).  For example, when purchasing a shoe for the consumer, they may search upon the different brands, try different pairs and ensure long term durability before making the purchases

High Involvement: These types of consumers take a long time in making the different decision and research considerably on a particular offering which then assists them to make the right type of decision. According to Sheikh, Hosseinikia and Gholam (2017), the level of involvement which a consumer has in a purchasing decision is directly proportional to the money they spend in the particular product. The different items which fall under this category are vacations, cars, houses and other items.

Hence, with respect to the Samsung S9 the level of involvement with the target market generally has can be stated to be high (Smh.com.au ,2018). This is because, the products of the brand can be stated to be priced very high and in this aspect, it can be mentioned that this is the reason that the different consumers often take considerable time in making the decision of the purchase.

The rise of the Samsung Galaxy handset could be described as an indication of the fact that even the Samsung smartphones could be objects of ultimate desire. The Apple brand had a long time in the market of Australia but when Samsung started to upgrade the premium Galaxy S line, they were easily able to tilt the positioning as present. In addition to this, the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ can be stated to be the ultimate products and have been holding their ground firmly against the iPhones of the Apple brand. Moreover, these Samsung phones have various features and other related aspects which can even overpower the iphone in many dimensions. Hence, the major competitor of the firm in the Australian market can be stated to be the Apple brand (Stead & Hastings, 2018). However, the premium line of Samsung phones has begun to steal the market of other brands and for this reason, the brand is growing slowly towards market dominance. However, it needs to be considered that the buying intentions of the Australians have been changing considerably and only 68% of the Samsung owners have an intention to stick with the particular brand in case they plan to upgrade their phones.  

Profitability

As stated earlier, Apple and Samsung combined control around 75 per cent of the smartphone market and this does not leave much chance in the hands of the third brand. However, Samsung has been very smart in this aspect with respect to the fact that it does not consider the other brands quite weak because they are equally good in performance (Statista.com ,2018). These additional brands are brands like the Sony, LG, Huawei and others. There are brands like Oppo, ZTE, Alcatel and others.

                                   

                                                             Figure 3: The positioning map of Samsung.

                                                                         As created by the author

As it can be seen Samsung is present as a mass consumer brand which has essential features and performs well as well.

Recommendations and Conclusions

Therefore, from the given analysis, it can be rightfully stated that the brand Samsung with its product line, the Samsung S9 series has been trying to combat against the competition which exists in the external environment. The given report analyzed the smartphone industry as present in Australia and conducted a market analysis with respect to the same. In addition to this, the report also analyzed the segmentation and targeting of the particular brand and product along with the discussion on a specific market type. This was followed by a discussion on their involvement in the product decision making and an analysis of the competition in Australia. A positioning map for the same has also been presented. It can be recommended that Samsung could engage in various social media sites and other mediums to combat the competition against its main barrier, the popularity of Apple.

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