Marketing research essay

The product under analysis is Apple iMac bought several months ago. The necessity of buying the new computer came, when it turned that the current one does not corresponds to the present day studying, entertainment and working needs.

It should be noted that Apple is considered to be one of the top rated companies in the sphere of computer technology. It offers new approach to the computer technology and develops definitely new vision on design and software tools: “A Mac is designed to give you the best computer experience possible. Because Apple makes both the hardware and the software, everything just works. Like a computer should. So whether you’re accessing a Wi-Fi network, organizing your photos by faces, or video chatting, everything is surprisingly simple” (Apple Inc, 2010). The company is aimed on development high quality computers, which could be used as by high quality professionals as well as by general users, who need computers for their personal needs.  Apple is the one of the leading companies within the industry provides unique and reliable software tools and this makes the company really attractive for the both target groups.

Entry One

The purchase, when it deals with some kind of important decision is undoubtedly dealing with the certain stages.

Some scientists (Solomon, 2009) consider that there are 5 major stages each consumer pass. They are problem identification, informational research, critical evaluation of the function, final product choice and post-purchase critical evaluation

The 1st Stage has been already described. It turned out the old computer of the consumer does not correspond to his personal and working needs and there was required the new one, which correspond to contemporary standards of the computer technology.

The 2nd Stage is dealing with informational research in the web and specialist consultation. The consumer previously used Apple technical solutions, but was going to but such a significant thing as computer himself for the first time. It is not surprising that Apple was not the one in his row of products. It goes without saying that he needed certain advice. There are two types of getting the information about the products ”“ internet search and personal experience of the others. The first one allowed the consumer to review the opinion of the top computer specialists and their vision on different computers. But the second one let him to get personal experience in some ways and to hear about advantages and drawbacks from the first hands. It should be noted that everyone is buying computers for the certain purposes that is why this stage is very important.

The 3rd Stage requires from the consumer strong evaluation skills as he got to decide what factors is dominating.

Among the core significant we should name brand, price, and quality. It should be noted that high price does not always mean high quality. In the case under analysis the consumer stopped on the critical evaluation of the functions he needed, without taking into consideration the price aspect as it was expected that computer would be used for more than a year, that is it might have certain strategic advantages, which let it stay corresponding to the demands of the owner for more than a year.

The 4th Stage demands from the consumer really strong decision making skills. Here the core role is playing quality vs. price decision making and the consumer could be also impacted by the other characteristics of the different products. Among them there should be noted loyalty programs and supplying country. In the discussed case the choice was done in favor of the huge corporation with internationally known brand, with high quality reputation

The 5th Stage describes whether product met the customer’s expectation. In our case the customer’s expectations were met in general. He got the high quality product, ”“ Apple iMac. It should be noted that the customer experienced certain difficulties at the very beginning as have never been working with Apple computers before.

It should be noted that the customer was significantly impacted by the marketing strategy developed by the company, he has chosen.  The core idea of Apple is suggesting a wide vari8ety of solutions for the different operational demands.



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