TERM PAPER OF MARKETING MANAGMENT

ON

SAMSUNG IPOD

Submitted to Lovely Professional University

Submitted To: Submitted by:

Mr. Mohammad Abbas Neetu Singh

Reg no: 10905852

Roll no: A-09

Class: MBA [1st SEM]

SEC: RS 1904

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I owe my sincere thanks and gratitude to my faculty Mr.Mohammad Abbas, who inspired me by her able guidance and was a constant guiding light during the course.

The support and knowledge provided by her has been a great value addition for me and will go a long way in building a promising career.

Last but not least, I am also thankful to all the respondents of my survey without whom the Term Paper would not have been completed successfully.

Contents:

History of Samsung

Introduction of IPod

Business mission

Market Analysis

Marketing Objectives

Marketing mix

SWOT Analysis

Marketing Research:

Marketing Plan

Customer profile

Conclusion

History of Samsung:

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., is the chief subsidiary of South Korea's giant Samsung Group and one of the largest electronics producers in Asia. Products built by Samsung Electronics include televisions and many other kinds of home appliances, telecommunications equipment, and computers. Its most important product is semiconductors. Savvy management and heavy investment in research and development in the late 1980s and early 1990s were turning the company into a leading contender in the global electronics industry.

Samsung Electronics was created in 1969 as a division of the mammoth Korean chaebol Samsung group. The unit was established as a means of getting Samsung into the burgeoning television and consumer electronics industry. The division's first product was a small and simple black-and-white television that it began selling in the early 1970s. From that product, Samsung Electronics gradually developed a diverse line of consumer electronics that it first sold domestically and later began exporting. The company also began branching out into color televisions, and later into a variety of consumer electronics and appliances. By the 1980s Samsung was manufacturing, shipping, and selling a wide range of appliances and electronic products throughout the world.

Although the rapid growth of Samsung Electronics during the 1970s and early 1980s is impressive, it did not surprise observers who were familiar with the Samsung Group, which was founded in 1938 by Byung-Chull Lee, a celebrated Korean entrepreneur. Lee started a small trading company with a $2,000 nest egg and forty employees. He called it Samsung, which means "three stars" in Korean. The company enjoyed moderate growth before the Communist invasion in 1950 forced Lee to abandon his operations in Seoul. Looting soldiers and politicians on both sides of the conflict diminished his inventories to almost nothing. With savings contributed by one of his managers, Lee started over in 1951 and within one year had grown his company's assets twenty-fold.

Samsung Electronics’ gains during the 1970s were achieved with the assistance of the national government. During the 1950s and 1960s Samsung and other Korean conglomerates struggled as the Rhee Sungman administration increasingly resorted to favoritism and corruption to maintain power. Student revolts in the 1960s finally forced Rhee into exile. The ruling party that emerged from the ensuing political fray was headed by military leader Park Chung-Hee. His regime during the 1960s and 1970s was characterized by increasing centralization of power, both political and industrial, as his government was obsessed with economic growth and development. So, while Park was widely criticized for his authoritarian style, his government is credited with laying the foundation for South Korea's economic renaissance.

In order to rapidly develop the economy, Park identified key industries and large, profitable companies within them. The government worked with the companies, providing protection from competition and financial assistance as part of a series of five-year national economic growth plans. By concentrating power in the hands of a few giant companies (the chaebols), Park

reasoned, roadblocks would be minimized and efficiencies would result. Between 1960 and 1980 South Korea's annual exports surged from $33 million to more than $17 billion.

Samsung Electronics and the entire Samsung chaebol were beneficiaries of Rhee's policies. Several countries, including Japan, were barred from selling consumer electronics in South Korea, eliminating significant competition for Samsung. Furthermore, although Samsung Electronics was free to invest in overseas companies, foreign investors were forbidden to buy into Samsung. As a result, Samsung was able to quickly develop a thriving television and electronics division that controlled niches of the domestic market and even had an edge in some export arenas.

During the 1970s and 1980s Samsung Group created a number of electronics-related divisions, several of which were later grouped into a single entity known as Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Samsung Electron Devices Co. manufactured picture tubes, display monitors, and related parts. Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. made VHF and UHF tuners, condensers, speakers, and other gear. Samsung Corning Co. produced television glass bulbs, computer displays, and other components. Finally, Samsung Semiconductor & Telecommunications Co. represented Samsung in the high-tech microchip industry. Rapid growth in those industries, combined with savvy management, allowed the combined Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., to become Samsung Group's chief subsidiary by the end of the 1980s.

Samsung's entry into the semiconductor business was pivotal for the company. Lee had determined in the mid-1970s that high-tech electronics was the growth industry of the future, and that Samsung was to be a major player. To that end, he formed Samsung Semiconductor and Telecommunications Co. in 1978. To make up for a lack of technological expertise in South Korea, the South Korean government effectively required foreign telecommunications equipment manufacturers to hand over advanced semiconductor technology in return for access to the Korean market. This proved crucial for Samsung, which obtained proprietary technology from Micron of the United States and Sharp of Japan in 1983. Utilizing its newly acquired knowledge, Samsung became the first Korean manufacturer of low-cost, relatively low-tech, 64-kilobit dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips.

Between 1977 and 1987 Samsung Group's annual revenues surged from $1.3 billion to $24 billion (or about 20 percent of South Korea's entire gross domestic product). Much of that growth was attributable to Samsung Electronics. Byung-Chull Lee died in 1987 and was succeeded by his son, Kun-Hee Lee. Kun-Hee Lee recognized the importance of the electronics division and moved quickly to make it the centerpiece of the Samsung Group. To that end, he consolidated many of the Group's divisions and eliminated some operations. He also introduced various initiatives designed to improve employee motivation and product quality. Kun-Hee Lee was credited with stepping up Samsung Electronics’ partnering efforts with foreign companies as part of his goal to put Samsung at the forefront of semiconductor technology.

Sales at Samsung Group grew more than 2.5 times between 1987 and 1992. More importantly, Samsung drew from potential profit gains to more than double research and development investments as part of Kun-Hee Lee's aggressive bid to make Samsung a technological leader in the electronics, semiconductor, and communications industries. Besides partnering with U.S. and

Japanese electronics companies, Samsung Electronics acquired firms that possessed important technology, including Harris Microwave Semiconductors and Integrated Telecom Technologies. In 1993 Kun-Hee Lee sold off ten of Samsung Group's subsidiaries, downsized the company, and merged other operations to concentrate on three industries: electronics, engineering, and chemicals.

Under the leadership of chief executive Kim Kwang-Ho, Samsung Electronics took the microchip world by storm when it introduced its 4-megabit DRAM chip in 1994. Sales of that chip helped to push Samsung's sales from US$10.77 billion in 1993 to US$14.94 billion in 1994. Profits, moreover, spiraled from US$173,000 to nearly US$1.3 billion. In addition, Samsung had staged a bold grab for domestic market share in 1995 by slashing prices for consumer electronics and home appliances by as much as 16 percent, and had wowed industry insiders when it unveiled an advanced thin-film-transistor display screen--used for laptop computers--at a world trade show in Japan.

Samsung Electronics’ rapid rise and technical achievements put the company in the spotlight in the semiconductor industry. Its 4-megabit chip, in fact, had made it the leading global producer of DRAM chips by early 1995. Furthermore, Samsung Electronics was increasing its investment in development still further, as evidenced by a $2.5 billion outlay to develop a 64-megabit DRAM chip by 1998. In mid-1995, Samsung Electronics was hoping to generate profits of $2.3 billion on sales of $19.3 billion--a revenue gain of nearly 30 percent over 1994. In addition to its DRAM chip pursuits, the company was working to establish a major presence in multimedia products, flat screens, and telecommunications gear.

INTRODUCTION OF iPod:

The iPod is a portable media player launched into the market in October 2001, which was

designed, created and marketed by Apple, Which are one of the leading designers of personal

computers. The iPod lineup currently consists of the original style hard drive-based iPod Classic,

which most designs come with a color screen, the iPod touch, which mimics the touch screen

capabilities of the iPhone, the iPod nano, which has mid-level video capability, and the low end

screen less iPod shuffle.

Former products include the compact iPod mini, which was replaced by the iPod nano, and the

high-end spin-off iPod photo, which was reintegrated into the iPod Classic line. The iPod Classic

is the only model to store media on an internal hard drive, while all other models use flash

memory to enable them to be of a smaller size. Just as other digital music players, can also serve

as external data storage devices.

The iPod can also be formatted for use with Mac or Windows, the actual operating system

compatibility depends solely on the model and generation of your iPod. This makes the iPod

very versatile, depending on which computer system you are using with your iPod.

The iPod line came from Apple's "digital hub" category, when the company began creating

software for the growing market of personal digital devices. Digital cameras, camcorders and

organizers had well-established mainstream markets, but the company found existing digital

music players "big and clunky or small and useless" with user interfaces that were "unbelievably

awful," so Apple decided to develop its own. As ordered by CEO Steve Jobs, Apple's hardware

engineering Chief Rubinstein assembled a team of engineers to design the iPod line, including

hardware engineers Tony and Michael Dhuey, and design engineer Jonathan Ive. The product

was developed in less than one year and unveiled on 23 October 2001. Jobs announced it as a

Mac-compatible product with a 5 GB hard drive that put "1,000 songs in your pocket."

Apple did not develop the iPod software entirely in-house, instead using Portal Player’s

reference platform based on 2 ARM cores. The platform had rudimentary software running on a

commercial microkernel embedded operating system. Portal Player’s had previously been

working on an IBM-branded MP3 player with Bluetooth headphones. Apple contracted another

company, Pixo, to help design and implement the user interface under the direct supervision of

Steve Jobs. As development progressed, Apple continued to refine the software's look and feel.

Starting with the iPod Mini, the Chicago font was replaced with Espy Sans. Later iPods switched

fonts again to Podium sans—a font similar to Apple's corporate font, Myriad. IPods with color

displays then adopted some Mac OS X themes like Aqua progress bars, and brushed metal meant

to evoke a combination lock. In 2007, Apple modified the iPod interface again with the

introduction of the sixth-generation iPod Classic and third-generation iPod Nano by changing the

font to Helvetica and, in most cases, splitting the screen in half by displaying the menus on the

left and album artwork, photos, or videos on the right (whichever was appropriate for the

selected item).

In September 2007, during the course of a lawsuit with patent holding company Burst.com,

Apple drew attention to a patent for a similar device that was developed in 1979. Kane

Kramer patented the idea of a "plastic music box" in 1979, which he called the IXI. He was

unable to secure funding to renew the US$ 120,000 worldwide patent, so it lapsed and Kramer

never profited from his idea.

Business Mission:

Survival! Many businesses are looking for answers to deal successfully in the current economic climate. All the planning, capital, marketing and organizational decisions seem outside the realm of what was "business as normal." Do not panic. Resist the urge for a complete overhaul. Begin with what you have accomplished such as your business mission and vision statements and seek to re-energize your focus within the current business reality. 

Your business mission statement states why your business exist writes author and corporate business consultant, Don Midgett. It enables you to effectively communicate the "why" to your employees and to your marketplace. This is where the review should begin. Because strategic business decisions stem from your mission statement, it is not only good to review the statement but also to test it.  Here are a few key questions to help:

1. Does your mission statement adequately address your business strengths and expertise? 

2.  Have you retained the values your business shares in common with others in your line of business? Emphasis on good customer service for example is an important element for long term success. 

3. Is your market the same as when you first began? If not, you may need to adjust the change in your mission statement or vision statement. 

Remember to keep all your audiences in mind, including employees, shareholders, family members, customers, suppliers and your community.  A business or organizational mission and purpose that support all these audiences will retain the most solid relationships.  

The most important objective in the vision for your business future is the desire to achieve your mission, with clarity, commitment and communication. An example of an effective direct sales business owner is: "We will be a global network of independent wellness consultants helping people physically and financially. We will be a positive example to our team, prospects and customers. We will focus on expanding and training our team and having them duplicate these efforts to create a fun and rewarding business." This statement personifies a business who will manage out of a sense of vision, not out of a sense of desperation. Here are some key tips to help you revamp or redefine your mission statement or vision statement:

1. Re-examine what sets you apart from your competitors.

2. If someone contacted you about what seemed like a reasonable opportunity, are your statements specific enough to give you a business-oriented reason to accept or reject that opportunity and explain the reasoning for the acceptance or rejection - based on your mission and vision statements? 

3. Do your statements guide you toward an ideal customer?  

4. Do your statements help the company avoid seeking to be all things to all people? 

These tips can begin the process of re-energizing your business with confidence and give you more consciously focused mission and vision statements. This will help enable your business to not only survive but to grow in the years ahead. For additional help with your mission statement and vision statement or if you need to develop your mission and vision statements, go to www.missionvisionstatement.com now.

Market Analysis:

Internal Influences • Management: Effective management is required for the training and development of employees for the continue innovation of Apple Ipod and for retraining sufficient funds during competitor introducing new product.

• Capital Availability: Competition may cause mishap in the cash flow. Sufficient funds must be available when competitors unpredictably put forward their product in the market. • Technological Adoption: Technology must be adopted to improve overall efficiency. It must be integrated directly into operations (to increase productivity), as well stay on date with the

amounts of IPod’s ordered, made and delivered. External Influences:

• Competitors: Competitors will regulate what, when, how and why strategies will be adopted. The introduction of new products will greatly influence Apple IPod.

• Overseas Influences: The breaking down of barriers between countries can increase the sales of the new Apple IPod, as more people are made aware of the product.

• Demographic Patterns: Males and females from the age of 12years and over will be in favour of this product because of its new innovation to be able to not only play music but also books and other literature which would in college and school.

Marketing Objectives -

The various marketing objectives that will assist in the achievement in the overall product goal are:

• To be the leading supplier of ipod players in all markets in which the company operates • Increase in sales by 20% • Increase in revenue by 20% • progressively increase market share by at least 15% within the year. • Expanding distribution to department stores by 10% • Increasing brand awareness to 60% of potential customers • To expand existing markets by 10% in the next quarter. A promotion campaign will be introduced to encourage present buyer to increase the use of the products

STP ANALYSIS-

When we select the the target market our focus is on the product and on the customer, Now days young people is like fast music so our main focus on youth which people is in the age between 15-40. Targeting and Positioning the iPodthere are many factors to consider when marketing a new or existing product. Segmentation, targeting, and positioning are important when identifying the specific target market, examining the role that consumer behavior plays when applying basic marketing concepts, and examining the impact of purchase trends on consumer behavior. Internal and external influences on consumer behavior are all factors that must be considered when applying marketing strategies. Learning and memory theories are also factors considered when applying marketing strategies.

In addition, strategies for repositioning the 4 P’s (product, price, promotion, and place) as they relate to consumer behavior must be initiated. The elements of the consumer decision-making process must also be considered as well as analyzing the post-purchase process of the target customer. And finally, developing a timetable and criteria for measuring the success of the repositioning strategy is important. This paper will discuss the factors and the impact they have on repositioning of the iPod.

Segmentation-

A market segment consist of a group of customers who share a similar set of needs and wants, segmentation means when we divide target market into two or three segment, we make one segment who have similar needs and wants segmentation is very important when we do marketing because of first we choose that customer which is brand loyal and we identify segment according to the income of the customer first priority give to that customer who can buy high price ipod’s because of Samsung is a brand. In this we make three segment first segment is who want high quality and high volume iPods in this segment we define student and that people who r in the age of 16-25.

Second segment is for those people who is from middle class family and that person who can buy only middle class or middle price ipod and they want normal volume in this segment we identify the age group between 25-30 this is for that person who do jobs in corporate sector.

Target Market for the iPod-

Target market for iPod is , the target market has basically been the same. The popularity of the product indicates consumers are between the ages of 12 and 34, the iPod is used by both female and male, most consumers are middle to upper class, and the product is targeted to those who have a desire for literature and music (Johannes, 2006).Since 2001, the technology of the iPod has changed. Not only does the iPod play music, consumers can now download recipes. With the development of the video iPod last fall, ABC, NBC, and MTV have capabilities for consumers to download such programs as Lost, Commander in Chief, The Office, and South Park. This new technology has expanded the market to attract consumers...

Selecting target market -• Samsung IPod is aimed at young adults particularly those between the age of 12-40 • It will appeal to both males and females • Targeted at the niche market creating product desirability • Middle/high class

• People who have a passion or interest in music and/or literature • Thsis is large enough to encrage revenue and profit.

Positioning-

This product allows to consumers to download not only their favourite music but also books and other literature which can be read and listened to. Additionally this IPod can be used in your car and in other mobile settings .Positioning – aimed at the middle to high class, therefore product will be positioned in department stores associated with prestige products. This will create a strong, clear and consistent image of the product in the consumer’s mind which is essential. Branding – Samsung IPod will give consumer’s one year warranty to assure consumers of the quality of the product. This will associate a level of quality with the brand and will not only increase brand loyalty and repeat services, but also sell products at a premium to competitors.

Marketing mix

Product-

Branding –

It is the process of stamping a product with some identifying name or mark or a combination of both. In other words, branding means giving a distinct individuality to a product. A brand name consists of words, letters which may be vocalized.

Advantage of branding-

We earn different type of profit with the help of branding these are following-

1: Distinctiveness-

A brand name creates a different impression among the customers. for instance, different type of

iPod such as ,apple iPod ,T river ipod,etc.

2: Publicity-

A brand name enables its holder to advertise his product without any difficulty. Once brand names become popular, people remember that for long time.

3: customer loyalty-

Branding ensure better quality at competitive price. Branded products are available its all parts of the country at uniform prices. Samsung Ipod will give consumer’s one year warranty to assure consumers of the quality of the product. This will associate a level of quality with the brand and will not only increase brand loyalty and repeat services, but also sell products at a premium to competitors.

4: Protection-

A registered brand name and mark is a protection against imitation by the other manufacturers.

Packaging-

Packaging means a case, container, wrapper, or other receptacle for packaging goods. It can be made of metals, plastic, wood, paper, glass, laminates, polyester or HDPE. Packaging is a designing or producing of the container or wrapper for a product in order to prepare the goods for transport, sale and uses.

Function of packaging-

1: protection of the product-

The basic function of package is to protect the product for brackge or damage due to mishandling, evaporation, pilferage etc.

2: Identification of the product-

Packaging gives individually to the product and this act as a device of publicity. Manufacturers choose attractive package so that the users are able to remember and identify their products.

3: Self advertisement-

these brand name and mark can be printed on the package. Thus packaged goods do some sort of self advertisement.

–Samsung IPod’s packaging will: - Have product identification so easily separated from its competitors - Product differentiation so it is unique - using the most cost efficient method of packaging

This will make the product both functional and desirable to possible consumers.

Price-

Samsung IPod will use cost base method to derive its prices. They will add a 65% profit margin to the cost of the product to gain efficient revenue. The term price means the money value to be charged from the customer for a product or service. The decision related to pricing of a product or service are called price mix involves determining the price of a product and establish policies regarding cash, trade and quantity discount and also credit sales. The price of the product of a firm constitutes an important element of its marketing mix. It affects the other component of the marketing mix of the firm. A firm will improve the quality of product, increase the number of accompanying services and spend more on promotion and distribution if it feels that it can sell its product at a price high enough to cover the additional costs.

Objective of pricing-

Generally, the firms have multiple pricing objectives. The important pricing objectives foolowed by various followed by various firm are as under-

1:To achive target rate of return on investment or on net sale.

2:To achieve price stability.

3: To meet or prevent competition.

4: To maintain or improve market share.

5: To maximize their profit.

6: To build public image of the firm.

Factors affecting price-

1: cost of production and distribution.

2: Profit objective.

3: Competition.

4: Demand for product.

5: Types of customer.

6: Government regulation.

Pricing strategies-

Business firm follow several pricing strategies for different products under different marketing conditions .The common pricing strategies are discussed as-

1: Compititive pricing-

The producer fixes the price of product at the price prevailing in the market pricing at the prevailing price is aimed at avoiding price competition and price wars.

2:skimming the cream pricing-

Under this pricing higher prices are charged during the initial stages of the introduction of new product.

3: Penetration pricing-

Under this pricing policy price are fixed below the competitive level to obtain a larger share of the market and to develop popularity of the brand.

4: Premium pricing-

Premium pricing is used in the case of premium products which have superior quality, unique feature, and least technology .premium pricing can give rich dividend when buyers are not price conscious and they are willing to pay higher price if they get a better product and wider choice. Price and quality interactions – - In this way, price creates perception of quality. - High price attract an image of quality - This will allow Samsung IPod to increase its market share

Promotion

By promoting the Samsung IPod this will satisfy the needs of the customer’s and business. Consumers will gain better understanding of the product and how it can satisfy their needs, but on the other hand will help Samsung IPod increase their profits and market shares. Advertising – Samsung IPod will spotlight on a successful advertising campaign comprising of magazine and television advertisements focusing on (refer to appendix B for magazine advertisement):

Here are many promotion techniques

TV advertisement-

Advertisement is a very important part of promotion of a product.

- The target market (teenagers and young adults) - How often they want the target market to be exposed to the advertisement - When they want to reach their target market - Most cost efficient methods to fulfill the above By doing this Samsung IPod will add value to their product by altering consumer perceptions

Below-the-line promotions – Samsung IPod will use a direct method to induce customers to purchase their product by offering any IPod accessory (refer to appendix C for accessories) per customer for half the value price with every purchase of a new Samsung IPod. This will allow the business to directly measure the success of the campaign by observing the sales rate of the promotional tool.

Place:

Distribution channels – Samsung IPod will use indirect distribution where an intermediary organization will be involved in the process. The intermediaries will provide functions such as: - Fragmenting bulk supplies of inventory - Give financial services to retailers - Increase ease of customer purchase this will assist Samsung IPod as they can concentrate on other areas of the business Engender revenues and profits.

Although figures vary widely from product to product, roughly a fifth of the cost of a product goes on getting it to the customer. 'Place' is concerned with various methods of transporting and storing goods, and then making them available for the customer. Getting the right product to the right place at the right time involves the distribution system. The choice of distribution method will depend on a variety of circumstances. It will be more convenient for some manufacturers to sell to wholesalers who then sell to retailers, while others will prefer to sell directly to retailers or customers.

Where do buyers look for your product or service? If they look in a store, what kind? A specialist boutique or in a supermarket, or both? Or

online? Or direct, via a catalogue?

How can you access the right distribution channels?

Do you need to use a sales force? Or attend trade fairs? Or make online submissions? Or send samples to catalogue companies?

What do you competitors do, and how can you learn from that and/or differentiate

Most consumer goods are purchased from a retailer, who purchases them from a wholesaler/distributor, who purchases them from the manufacture. If the goods were imported there might be more merchants in this distribution chain. Sometimes, this distribution chain can be bypassed or leapt over. In the security industry, some manufacturers of security systems sell their product directly to end users at the same time as selling them to security installation companies at the same time as selling them to national distributors. The point is that these different distribution channels can provide different levels of profitability and they can quite happily run alongside each other provided a well thought through pricing strategy has been decided upon.

For example a consumer is likely to want only one variant of your product and expect to purchase it immediately. A retailer is likely to want limited stock of a number of variants and not expect to pay for 60 days. A distributor is looking at large volumes of product in all its variants at greatly discounted rates. Your distribution policy needs to take account of these variables. If it does not, then you will find yourself in a very embarassing position with a customer sooner or later which would result in the loss of a sale.

The complication to this approach however is that you need to consider the fact that your 'customer' might be a consumer, a retailer or a distributor and that each of these customers will be looking for perhaps different features or different levels of service.

SWOT Analysis of Samsung IPod:

Strengths: Weaknesses: • There are enough financial resources that are allocated for the operation of this product. • Appealing to both males and females • Good competitive skills • Past products have had a good reputation • Advanced key technology • Product innovation skills • The product has a narrow product line therefore unable to expand into other markets • High prices may push potential customers to competitors with affordable prices • Introducing a new product, when the niche market is already controlled by other competitor’s • Poor use of promotional strategy, as consumers were not properly introduced on the products significant use.

Opportunities: Threats:

• Opportunity to capitalise financially • Develop an admirable/exceptional goodwill that can have monetary value in future • Opportunity for fast market growth as parents may see this as an educational device as it is able to read books. • Growing market trend • New competitors continually enter the market. • The threat of not appealing to target market at all therefore generating a loss as opposed to profit • Entry of imitators • Vulnerable to the business cycle • Tough laws being placed on internet MP3 downloads

Marketing Research:

Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of data about issues relating to marketing products and services. The term is commonly interchanged with market research; however, expert practitioners may wish to draw a distinction, in that market research is concerned specifically with markets, while marketing research is concerned specifically about marketing processes.

Marketing research is often partitioned into two sets of categorical pairs, either by target market:

Consumer marketing research, and

Business-to-business (B2B) marketing research

Or, alternatively, by methodological approach:

Qualitative marketing research, and

Quantitative marketing research

Consumer marketing research is a form of applied sociology that concentrates on understanding the preferences, attitudes, and behaviors of consumers in a market-based economy, and it aims to understand the effects and comparative success of marketing campaigns. The field of consumer marketing research as a statistical science was pioneered by Arthur Nielsen with the founding of the ACNielsen Company in 1923.

Thus, marketing research may also be described as the systematic and objective identification, collection, analysis, and dissemination of information for the purpose of assisting management in decision making related to the identification and solution of problems and opportunities in marketing. The goal of marketing research is to identify and assess how changing elements of the marketing mix impacts customer behavior.

Role of marketing research:

The task of marketing research is to provide management with relevant, accurate, reliable, valid, and current information. Competitive marketing environment and the ever-increasing costs attributed to poor decision making require that marketing research provide sound information. Sound decisions are not based on gut feeling, intuition, or even pure judgment.

Marketing managers make numerous strategic and tactical decisions in the process of identifying and satisfying customer needs. They make decisions about potential opportunities, target market selection, market segmentation, planning and implementing marketing programs, marketing performance, and control. These decisions are complicated by interactions between the controllable marketing variables of product, pricing, promotion, and distribution. Further complications are added by uncontrollable environmental factors such as general economic conditions, technology, public policies and laws, political environment, competition, and social and cultural changes. Another factor in this mix is the complexity of consumers. Marketing research helps the marketing manager link the marketing variables with the environment and the consumers. It helps remove some of the uncertainty by providing relevant information about the marketing variables, environment, and consumers. In the absence of relevant information, consumers' response to marketing programs cannot be predicted reliably or accurately. Ongoing marketing research programs provide information on controllable and non-controllable factors and consumers; this information enhances the effectiveness of decisions made by marketing managers.

Traditionally, marketing researchers were responsible for providing the relevant information and marketing decisions were made by the managers. However, the roles are changing and marketing researchers are becoming more involved in decision making, whereas marketing managers are

becoming more involved with research. The role of marketing research in managerial decision making is explained further using the framework of the "DECIDE" model:

D

Define the marketing problem

E

Enumerate the controllable and uncontrollable decision factors

C

Collect relevant information

I

Identify the best alternative

D

Develop and implement a marketing plan

E

Evaluate the decision and the decision process

The DECIDE model conceptualizes managerial decision making as a series of six steps. The decision process begins by precisely defining the problem or opportunity, along with the objectives and constraint .Next, the possible decision factors that make up the alternative courses of action (controllable factors) and uncertainties (uncontrollable factors) are enumerated. Then, relevant information on the alternatives and possible outcomes is collected. The next step is to select the best alternative based on chosen criteria or measures of success. Then a detailed plan to implement the alternative selected is developed and put into effect. Last, the outcome of the decision and the decision process itself are evaluated.

Marketing Plan:

The Marketing Plan is a highly detailed, heavily researched and, hopefully, well written report that many inside and possibly outside the organization will evaluate. It is an essential document for both large corporate marketing departments and for startup companies. Essentially the Marketing Plan: • forces the marketing personnel to look internally in order to fully understand the results of past marketing decisions. • forces the marketing personnel to look externally in order to fully understand the market in which they operate. • sets future goals and provides direction for future marketing efforts that everyone within the organization should understand and support. • is a key component in obtaining funding to pursue new initiatives.The Marketing Plan is generally undertaken for one of the following reasons:1. Needed as part of the yearly planning process within the marketing functional area. 2. Needed for a specialized strategy to introduce something new, such as new product planning, entering new markets, or trying a new strategy to fix an existing problem. 3. Is a component within an overall business plan, such as a new business proposal to the financial community?

Customer Profile:

This analysis shows the socio-demographic composition of your brand(s) and can be used to determine your target groups. This analysis indicates where the brand is well represented (in terms of number of buyers) and to which extent it concerns heavy or light buyers (e.g. x% of the brand buyers is young and generates y% of the total brand turn over).

Customer profile is something is related to the age group of the, family, occupation, income where he live, what he does, and reference group of the customer which is your target.

Conclusion:

Samsung is continuously caring out its activities with current clients that in result increases it sales through potential outlets skilled sales man the main focus of the company is to look out for potential client’s .the Company continuous its efforts to get connected with more and more customer of the market segment.

The marketer focuses on the youth because in this we launch a iPod so our target is youth because now days every person like songs also rock songs.samsung iPod provide a sound which is very good.

Every person knows Samsung is a well established company which has lot of market share and its good will is very popular.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_research

http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/25/apple-and-sony-like-peas-in-an-ipod/

http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&ei=agMhS9PGIIvW7AOcs9W0Bg&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&ved=0CAYQBSgA&q=marketing+mix+of+samsung&spell=1

http://www.google.co.in/search?q=marketing+mix+%28place%29&hl=en&sa=2

http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/theory/theory--marketing-mix-(price-place-promotion-product)--243.php

http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&ei=sAghS--CNYHo7APTscm8Bg&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&ved=0CA8QBSgA&q=competitor+of+samsung&spell=1

http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&q=sony+ipod&meta=&aq=0&oq=sony+ip