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... ght into who is there target market. Nokia will be able to design in functions that will make the phones a good quality, marketable product that will be able to generate healthy revenues for Nokia. Nokia have the advantage of having a heavy brand name and proven track record which acts as a strong asset for them.
Nokia phones are well known for there "easy to use" nature and customers will often return to Nokia products for this well known convenience. Nokia have to be completely aware of the functions that technology will allow (i. e. Network service capability, wireless solutions) otherwise the functions built into these new products will be rendered useless and the consumer will deem them unfavourable gimmicks. 3 G is basically going to be able to offer what most modern equipped computers can do. The major functions being high speed internet connection (i. e. 56 k to 128 k broadband) By offering customers new user friendly high speed multimedia services, Nokia can access new sources of revenue.
Via there 2 G/ 3 G quad band (900 / 1800 / 1900 / 2200 MHz) / dual mode multimedia, users will access three main families of application & services. Always on- for example, e-mail, personal organizer, traffic management, automation on Information- for example, web surfing, corporate intranet, net games, music, news, events & transportation services Purchasing- for example, on line shopping, banking, gambling, tickets It is estimated that by 2004 that 40 % of e-commerce outside of North America will be done by a mobile device. Price Pricing is also a very important aspect for Nokia to address As technology grows into to the 3 rd generation so does the competition. It is becoming ever cheaper for mobile phone manufacturers with the ability to now recycle older phone parts and now that mobile phones are being made on such a mammoth scale the economies of scale are impressive.
Once again market research is a very important tool when looking at how to price a particular product (especially when the product has never been seen before). As the 3 G products are not just mobile phones but rather small portable computers, there are over 50 producers of this type of 3 G products. All of these products will be released around the same time period. Market research will give Nokia some idea of the price range that people are willing to pay and to whom they are going to sell these products to throughout the products life cycle. These phones will generally, on launch, not be aimed at your occasional use type customer. The price and the rest of the marketing plan will be more aimed at the "prestige / business man" type consumer.
Both of these consumer types, although not completely, will be particularly price insensitive. Therefore, at launch, a "prestige pricing" policy may be adopted. If Nokia are in a position when launching, that they are the first product on the market a "skimming" technique may be utilised i. e. setting the price as high as they like as people who want the phone first will pay high prices for it. A very detailed market analysis will have to be undertaken in order to set the prices competitively.
As soon as Nokia release their product, at least another 10 mobile producers will release extremely similar products. Although Nokia do have the strong brand name asset behind them, they cannot rely on this too heavily. The pricing strategy adopted will evolve as the product life cycle does. As the market becomes saturated with similar products, the price will be driven down. However, Nokia have been notorious (i. e. 3210, 3310) particularly with the UK phone networks, for having their phones subsidised.
Phones are often given away or sold very cheaply to the customer directly in return for a fixed 12 month contract. Therefore, Nokia have another avenue from which they can make substantial revenues by selling off large bulks of product to UK phone networks (Vodafone, O 2, Orange, and Virgin) at a possibly reduced price. The whole product mix of Nokia has to be taken into consideration throughout all the products life-cycles. Place When looking at consumer end products like Nokia, there is generally 3 channels of distribution involved: Nokia is most likely to use the 1 st and 3 rd of these distribution chains. When looking at which distribution method to undertake, it is important to look at the different objectives that each member of the distribution chain embodies. The consumer wants to get the best deal fore the price paid.
The retailer (i. e. high street shops such as link, phones 4 U, car phone warehouse) are more interested in getting the contract rather than selling the phone. The wholesaler & producer (Nokia) have similar objectives in that they want to sell as many units as possible.
Therefore, it would be beneficial for Nokia to utilise a "dual policy" when it comes to distribution policies. Nokia keep a limited number of products at Nokia, hence keeping warehouse costs low. Also, Nokia can keep all the replacement parts at Nokia & hence make a good profit margin on them. The rest of the products would be handed over to the wholesaler at a lower than retail price which are the sold on to retailers. Also in recent years, the internet has become very important in the sale of mobiles communications. Consumers tend to buy from the internet more and more as they often offer very competitive prices as they lack the overheads that the high street shops have to maintain.
This means that Nokia must make their products available to the smaller internet based companies at competitive prices. Also the type of retailer that stocks this kind of product is widening. As the new 3 G products are incorporating more computer like functionality, the scope for supplying to large retail stores such as PC World and Curries. This would make these products available to a much larger consumer range. Utilising these distribution methods will enable Nokia to maintain a flexible outlook with regards to distribution.
Promotion The promotion mix elements are: This area of the marketing mix is the most dependent on an accurate vision of who the target market / markets are. An awful lot of Nokia's resources could be unduly wasted promoting to the wrong market. Also a good promotional mix required in order to meet Nokia's marketing objectives. These would be to inform & sell to as many people, the new range of phones by Nokia. Advertising As the price of the product will initially be comparatively high, this has to be reflected in the advertising campaign. This firstly involves choosing the right media.
e. g. Broadsheet newspapers, men's magazines (i. e. FHM, Loaded, Men's Health) television and billboard advertisements.
These will be aimed at the high earning business person who will most probably use the product for work just as much as personal use. The fact that these phones claim to introduce quick, real time video conferencing is a selling point which must be stressed. The initial adverts will be far more informative than persuasive. The vast majority of people will not be aware of the capability of these new products.
Once the informative period is over, the prices drop and the market becomes less narrow, the advertising shall be far more persuasive & aggressive. The advertising will change throughout the different periods of the product life cycle. Personal Selling The only form of personal selling that Nokia themselves will have to do is persuading the Wholesaler/Retailer to take on a large amount of there new products. However, Nokia are going to have to educate staff from the retail outlets on the features of these new products. These are the personnel who have most direct contact with the end user/ consumer.
Ultimately, these are the people selling your product along with their own objectives. Offering special training schemes and fringe benefits to these personnel will be worth doing as these are the people that Nokia want on there side working as efficiently as possible. Direct Marketing Direct Marketing undertaken by Nokia at the beginning of the 3 G products life cycle is not really appropriate for this kind of product. It would ultimately send out the wrong message to the consumer. However, when the market becomes saturated and market forces push the price of these products is pushed out of the prestige range and the product is possibly being given away with contracts, then direct marketing could be very effective. Such techniques as direct mail, internet spam and cold calling may be appropriate.
Sales Promotion There is room for good sales promotions with technologically advanced products of this ilk. It is likely with the introduction of Bluetooth technology (an up-and-coming communications standard for short-distance wireless connections. It replaces the many proprietary cables that connect one device to another with one universal short-range radio link), there will be plenty of "add on" accessories for these products to increase their functionality. These, like the product itself, when first launched are likely to be particularly expensive. A good sales promotion to sell more units would be to give these accessories away with the main product.
Possible "cash back" and money off vouchers to be spent on Nokia products could also be utilised. These sale promotions, although promoted in the advertising of the product, should be aimed at the wholesaler / retailer as well as the end consumer.
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Research essay sample on Product Life Cycle Direct Marketing
