A marketing strategy is the section of a company’s business plan that outlines the overall game plan for reaching people to turn them into customers. The marketing strategy employed by a company plays a vital role in the success of the company. In order to boost their sales, companies choose and spend a lot on the right marketing strategy. Other companies, especially the powerful ones as well as those with operations in more than one country, opt for more than one marketing strategies. This paper will delve at discussing the marketing strategies employed by Apple Inc., Walmart, and Unilever. Apple and Walmart are US-based companies, while Unilever is a UK-based company.
Apple Inc.: Brief Company Profile
Apple Inc. is a US-based multinational technology company founded in April 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne (Reuters, 2019). Apple Inc. was incorporated on 3 rd Jan. 1997 and grew rapidly since then. The company has its headquarters in Cupertino, California, and has segments in the Americas, Europe, China, Japan, and Asia (Reuters, 2019). The company designs, manufactures, and markets electronic gadgets, such as mobile communication device and personal computers (PCs) and provides online services. It also sells related software and applications. Some of the products and services produced or offered by Apple Inc. include iPhone Smartphone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, Mac Personal Computer, iPod, iPhone Operating System (iOS), iCloud, Apple Pay and a range of support offerings (Reuters, 2019). Apple Inc. uses the iTunes, App Store, Mac App Store, iBooks Store, and Apple Music to sell as well as deliver its digital content and applications. The company sells directly to consumers, businesses and institutions, enterprise, and government agencies.
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Apple Inc.: Scope of Operations Marketing Strategy for Each of the Region of Operation
In its operations, Apple Inc. has a very secretive culture and demands the highest level of control in order to ensure its products are of high quality. Because of this, the company never licenses its products for sales through foreign entities. Instead, the company designs and develops its products in Silicon Valley through the utilization of intellectual talent. Because of the competitive engineers available at Silicon Valley, Apple Inc. uses its knowledge as well as their technical know-how and innovate the design and development process. In order to achieve economies of scale, the company has sought to manufacture its products in locations that are cheap and specialized in high volume manufacturing. For instance, it started making a foreign direct investment in China for economies of scale. The company has established production facilities in the Chinese regions. Apple Inc. is also shifting its operations in India, where it would be able to tap potential furthermore.
Apple Inc.: Differences among the Company’s Marketing Strategies per Region
Cultural understanding is the key to any global brand success. Apple operates in almost all continents apart from Antarctica. The cultural differences in the nations have a significant influence on the marketing strategy employed by the company. For instance, in the United States, “the economic circle is a strong market-based economy, and the culture is individualistic as compared to China, where the economic circle is still growing and has a collectivism culture” (Deshpande, 2017). All the Apple stores follow strict customer service protocols, which are personalized in each region. This makes the local staff in each of the regions in which they operate use a tailored approach to communicate.
The type of building in most regions matches the culture. For instance, the Apple Store in Paris, which is located in Haussman-type building, is ideally suited to Parisians’ tastes in architecture. One of the marketing strategy employed by Apple Inc. is to ensure its stores have an inviting appeal that matches its surrounding culture. Apple also customizes its content to appeal to its consumers in different regions. For instance, when they updated their GarageBand music creation to include Chinese language support, they also added the erhu and the pipa, which are traditional Chinese instruments.
Apple Inc.: Similarities among the Company’s Marketing Strategies per Region
Apple products are the same in all the regions in which they operate. The company’s products and adverts use the same clean, minimalist design. Regardless of the language option a potential customer chooses, the visual on the websites are the same. The Apple e-commerce web site is standard across all the countries in which it operates, but the content is highly customized in the local language. The marketing strategy of Apple across all of its segments have been described as “one size fits all.” Regardless of the culture, they hail from, all of its customers have the same impression of Apple and their products.
Walmart Inc.: Brief Company Profile
Walmart Inc. is a US-based multinational retail corporation founded in 1962 by Sam Wilton. The company was incorporated on October 31, 1962, and has its headquarter in Bentonville, Arkansas (Walmart, 2019). The company is engaged in the operation of retail, wholesale, as well as another unit across the globe. Walmart Inc. operates through three segments: Walmart US, Walmart International, and Sam’s Club (Walmart, 2019). The company operates in other countries outside of the United States, where it has established stores and e-commerce websites. Initially, the company started with a single discount store and has grown in the largest retailer in the world. The company has more than 11,300 stores under 58 banners in 27 countries and eCommerce websites in 10 countries (Walmart, 2019). The company competes with BJ’s Wholesale Club and Costco Wholesale.
Walmart Inc.: Scope of Operations Marketing Strategy for Each of the Region of Operation
The Walmart US segment operates its businesses within the United States and does business in various strategic merchandise units across several store formats. It also offers fuel, financial service, as well as other related products and services, including bill payment, money transfers, money orders, prepaid cards, and check casing. On the other hand, the Walmart International segment consists of physical stores operated by its subsidiaries operating the UK, Japan, China, India, and some African countries, such as Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, and others. The Walmart International segment is divided into retail, wholesale, and other stores, which includes supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, and warehouse clubs.
Walmart Inc.: Differences among the Company’s Marketing Strategies per Region
In the United States, public listing provided Walmart with ample resources to finance, leading to its rapid growth. The company also created multiple store formats, including neighborhood markets, supercenters, and discount stores, to win a strong customer base in the United States (Klemet, 2018). The huge purchasing power of the citizens created a huge supplier base in the US. However, when entering the international market, Walmart faced many problems. For instance, in China, the company faced backward infrastructure and diverse regional consumptions patterns (Klemet, 2018). Compared to the United States, the growth of rural areas was much slower in China. In addition, the industry was crowded with domestic players, and due to the localized demand, supply base, and distribution, Walmart found it hard to leverage a presence in China. It was also difficult to develop a uniform marketing strategy in China due to the broadened gap in wealth between the rich and the poor as well as between the urban populations and the rural populations (Klemet, 2018). Wealthier shopper disliked the company’s plain interiors and cost-conscious messaging.
Walmart Inc.: Similarities among the Company’s Marketing Strategies per Region
Walmart is known for its unique marketing strategy of offering products at “Everyday low prices.” The company offers the same prices throughout all of its chains. The company also offers goods at throwaway prices on ‘Black Fridays.” In all the states in which the company operates, Walmart bargains aggressively with manufactures in order to pass on the benefits to the end customers. This strategy employed by Walmart makes it successful in most of the countries in which it operates. In all the regions they operate, the company employed local advertising agencies, such as TV, magazines, blogs, and billboards, to produce their advertising campaigns.
Unilever: Brief Company Profile
Unilever is a multinational consumer goods company headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. The company was founded on January 1, 1930, by Antonius Jurgens, Samuel van den Bergh, and William Lever. Unilever Company sells consumer goods, including foods, beverages, personal care products, and cleaning agents. According to Reuters (2019), the company operates in more than 100 countries and operates a network of 400 warehouses worldwide. The Company has segments in the US, Europe, Asia, African countries, and India. The company has a lot of personal and company brands around the world. Axe, Rexona, Lux, and Sunsilk are some of Unilever’s personal brands while Dorina, Doriana, Imperial, Blue Band, and several other brands are examples of the company’s brands around the world.
Unilever: Scope of Operations Marketing Strategy for Each of the Region of Operation
In order to expand its reach in China, Unilever uses JD’s network to move goods between warehouses, to be distributed to retail partners beyond JD. The partnership aimed at expanding JD’s Retail as a service push to other companies and organizations outside its e-commerce platforms. JD has helped Unilever brings its products to the most hard to reach communities in China. The company has over 300 million customers in China (Henderson, 2018). In addition, the company has over 500 warehouse, 7,000 delivery drones, and autonomous ground vehicle to help in the delivery of its products across the nation (Henderson, 2018). In Africa, Unilever has its operations across many nations to serve the consumers that have been under-served and overcharged. The company has established its operations in African to serve hundreds of millions of untouched customer, most of whom are low-income (Bohannan, 2015).
Unilever: Differences among the Company’s Marketing Strategies per Region
Unilever is a large corporation with over 500 warehouses globally. The company originated in Europe and has segments in the US, Asia, Africa, China, and Asia. In Europe, the company uses educational tools to raise awareness for Unilever brands. Unilever has partnered with the World Dental Federation in oral healthcare projects in both Europe and other nations. In Africa, the company has developed programs, such as Close-Up’s Project Smile in Nigeria, to market both its products and oral hygiene information. The ability of Unilever to adopt new markets and technology made it successful. The company sought to operate in regions with potential for growth in order to generate more revenue. Unilever has stores in China, who have a high young population with increasing incomes. In China, the company aligns its products with the Chinese culture to make sure that they remain competitive in the country. They also use local television and social media platforms to advertise their products.
Unilever: Similarities among the Company’s Marketing Strategies per Region
To win customers and compete with rivals in the regions in which it operates, Unilever employs cross-market subsidization. This enables the company to compete in multiple county markets with a variety of products and brands. For instance, in India, Unilever has shown great interest in the rural market besides retail market in cities. The company also use standardized packaging and advertising approaches across all of its stores. Unilever’s successful brand innovation programs across all the regions in which it operates are supported with a high level of marketing and advertising activities, including most local media. Unilever purchases its brands from original countries and then popularizes the brands worldwide. The success of Unilever’s global stores, such as those in China, Asia, US, and Africa depends on the company’s deep roots in the local market as well as the first-hand data of regional culture.
Conclusion
Different companies employ different marketing strategies to boost their revenues. Apple Inc., Walmart, and Unilever use different marketing strategies to reach many customers. The companies operate in different countries but mostly employ the same marketing strategies used in the parent company. However, when developing their marketing strategies, these companies ensure that their products align with the market conditions as well as the culture of the region in which they have established their stores. This ensures that they remain relevant and competitive worldwide. In addition, these companies use local television and local social media platforms for marketing their products or services.
References
Bohannan, C. (2015). Unilever’s African operations. [Online]. Retrieved from: https://borgenproject.org/unilevers-african-ops/ . Accessed 21 st June 2019.
Deshpande, P. (2017). Apple, Inc. – Strategic Analysis in Global Context. [Online]. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/apple-inc-strategic-analysis-global-context-parag-deshpande . Accessed 21 st June 2019.
Henderson, J. (2018). Unilever taps JD to expand its logistics operations in China. [Online]. Available at: https://www.supplychaindigital.com/logistics/unilever-taps-jd-expand-its-logistics-operations-china . Accessed 21 st June 2019.
Klement, P. (2018). Walmart & International Marketing Strategy: What NOT to Do. [Online]. Retrieved from: https://gfluence.com/walmart-international-marketing-what-not-to-do/ . Accessed 21 st June 2019.
Reuters. (2019). Apple Inc. (AAPL.O). [Online]. Retrieved from: (Reuters, 2019). Accessed 21 st June 2019.
Reuters. (2019). Unilever NV (UN). [Online]. Retrieved from: https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/company-profile/UN . Accessed 21 st June 2019.
Walmart. (2019). About Us. [Online]. Retrieved from: https://corporate.walmart.com/our-story . Accessed 21 st June 2019.
