Marketing Development Strategy Essay free essay sample

Abstract The advent of Toshiba into the computer market led to a question mark being placed by many gurus of the IT industry. With relatively few products to offer and little prior experience of anything remotely close, Toshiba had to create a target market by segmenting a portion of the market. According to Kotler, marketing is all about knowing the customer. Toshiba did get to know its customers but more importantly was able to draw the right strategy from its observations. This paper discusses some of the marketing development strategies that can effective for positioning Toshiba in a market where giants like HP, IBM and Dell reign the consumer world. Introduction Marketing Segmentation seeks to cater to a specific clientele and aiming to satisfy them in the most comprehensive way. Toshiba’s market Strategy Development includes catering to a niche market where competitors haven’t yet been able to provide a sound solution. We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Development Strategy Essay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Toshiba’s market strategy seeks to cater to users with limited cash flow and at the lower level of the age bracket. This creates a better opportunity to create brand loyalty and creating a niche that the established competitors haven’t yet been able to achieve. Segmentation Marketing is all about knowing the needs of your customers and satisfying them better than your competition can. But that is not possible if the whole population is one’s target market. Keeping everybody happy is not possible (Kotler, 1994).The kind of marketing where all customers are treated as one and everybody is a potential customer, there is one marketing mix applicable to all. This kind of marketing is called Mass Marketing. However in this case satisfying the customers in not always possible as the offering made will not be optimal for all customers. Target Marketing, on the other hand, decides which subcategory of consumers it will cater to and then works on specializing and catering to their market is segmented into a number of segments according to different variables like demographics, age, and lifestyle. It creates subgroups on the basis of differences found in the population and helps better satisfy potential customer’s needs.Market segments should be identifiable, accessible, and substantial, there should be unique needs, and durable. The major bases for segmentation in consumer markets are: Geographic Demographic Psychographic Behavioralistic (Lettler, 2005) Target Market The target markets based on the segmentation that will be used for Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. will be in the Geographic as in it would be marketed to all continents but only to the rural population. In the demographic segmentation, it would be targeted to males and females within the age bracket of 16-30 which includes the younger generation. They will mostly be targeted towards students who are generally low end users and need a cost friendly solution to their problems. These are value conscious consumers who belong to the Generation Y. they are technology friendly but don’t have a stable substantial income. High school going and university students are the main target. Our main value proposition to them will be cost friendly solutions to their high tech requirements. The psychographic segmentation would be such that these are educated people who are intellectual and know and understand technology. In the behaviorist segmentation we should see that these users mainly buy because of need. They are not impulse buyers. They will gather all information and then proceed. They will need high specifications at low price (Yoon, 2008). Value Proposition These target markets will be most profitable for Toshiba as when targeting the younger generation they will be the ones who we can get brand loyalty from. If a good reputation is formed with them repeat purchases will be made. Another reason for targeting this segment is that with players like IBM, Mac, HP, and Intel in the market penetration is needed and this is a niche that has not been tapped into that well.One of the biggest players in this market is HP. HP offers one of the highest quality digital products but at a premium price. They do have lower priced products but then the specifications of those products are also very low. Toshiba will be providing its consumers with lower priced good specification options. Mac also offers good quality digital products but with very little variation and at a very high premium price. They are also difficult to use and not any people know how to troubleshoot and fix Mac problems. This market will be most profitable for Toshiba as this generation is still not very brand loyal, is increasingly growing, their income is increasing. Toshiba will be providing young consumers with a pocket friendly option with specifications to fit their requirements. Now the students who were initially unable to afford digital products can afford them, what better way to create loyal customers? Positioning Statement To young students who need for their daily usage our digital products are a pocket friendly, durable, reliable, optimal specifications product that is competitively priced and solution to your problems. Conclusion Toshiba can penetrate into the Market of established competitors by targeting a niche as mentioned above that is the younger generation that is Generation Y. Market segmentation should be applied as mentioned in the marketing strategy where educated, urban population between the age brackets of 16-30 should be targeted where consumers need low cost products with good specifications. This creates a niche market for Toshiba and potential brand loyal consumers in the long run. References Yoon, S. (2008) A Site for Satisfied Eyes. Sales Marketing Management, Sep2008, Vol. 160 Issue 5February 25, 2010, Business Source PremierBiba, E (2008) The Secret of Toshiba’s Success. B to B; 8/11/2008, Vol. 93 Issue 11February 25, 2010, Business Source PremierLettler, D (2005) Marketing Strategy. Blackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary of Marketing; 2005February 25, 2010, Business Source PremierKotler, P (1994) Segmenting to Win. Potentials in Marketing; Jun94, Vol. 27 Issue 6 February 25, 2010, Business Source Premier