Marketing planning and forecasting sales potential

Heeeey , again me. today I will try to talk about Marketing planning and forecasting sales potential.

Actually we can use break down and build up approach. but I have chosen to talk about the market potential of Sony product using the break down approach. As we know market potential is the total quantity of product what will be sold to costumers within specified period of time at a specific level of industry-wide marketing activity. (Dibb, Simkin, M.Pride, & Ferrell, 2012, p. 684). Market shares from 2011 to 2016 decrease from 8.8 to 6.2. So market potential in 2017 in Netherlands will decrease too. (Euromonitor, 2016). So as we can see people in Netherlands use Sony less than for instance Apple phone. Apple market share increase from 10.5 to 15.1 at the same years. It is the reason why Sony market potential decreased and will decrease in a future, Apple phones will take the market.

And also sales potential “The maximum percentage of market potential that an individual company can obtain for a specific product or service” (Dibb, Simkin, M.Pride, & Ferrell, 2012, p. 685). According to market potential, which dropped and maybe will decrease in 2017, I can suppose that sales potential will decrease too. Market potential and sales potential are connected with each other, so if market potential drops, sales potential drops too.

Now about marketing plan.In my opinion, marketing plan is very important for every country. Marketing plan give chance to improve company inside. I can see only advantages in marketing plan. When company do marketing plan they can keep basis for Sony organization. The basis like serving the ‘best’ target costumers, beating the competitors, minimizing threats and also recognizing strengths and weaknesses of company. (Dibb, Simkin, M.Pride, & Ferrell, 2012, pp. 673-674) Company can know about these basis only after making marketing plan, because it is benefits of it.

What else? Also one of benefit is controlling current operations and the immediate-term opportunities and target markets. (Dibb, Simkin, M.Pride, & Ferrell, 2012, p. 673).

And the third valid argument is that having a good marketing plan means having more profits. It helps company to make their target customers to be aware of their products Therefore, the more customers they have, the more profit they would get for their business.

I think marketing plan can give a lot of benefits. After this plan company can improve their weaknesses and also their strengths too. Company will know more about their competitors. So Sony can become the most popular company after they do research. Marketing plan is like part of research, so if they will find out all information, and will do marketing plan good they can get a lot.

Now I want to talk about sales forecast for Sony product....

For developing sales forecast for Sony phones product for the years 2017 and 2018 I would use salesforce forecasting survey. The reason why I would use this sales forecast is that the most important one is that sales staff are closer to costumers. They know what actually costumers need, they can know future product needs and the intensity of other competitors, they can easily say which phone company is the largest competitor to Sony phone. The second advantage is that forecasts can be prepared for single territories, for divisions consisting of several territories, for regions made up of multiple divisions and then for the total geographic market.

But also there are disadvantages of these method. The sales stuff can underestimate potential sales. For them this is much work, they have “paperwork”, they spend a lot of time to write. Because of that they can do their work adequately, because at this time when they do “paperwork” they can sale products. (Dibb, Simkin, M.Pride, & Ferrell, 2012, p. 687) And one more disadvantage in this method is that work of marketer who develop Sony phones after, depends on these sales staff, so if sales staff will make mistake, marketer after them will make a mistake too.

In my opinion, this method is more suitable for my product. Sales stuff can find out more about Sony phones consumers, what they like or what they dislike in this product. And after marketers can improve things what consumers don’t like. And so the next product will be much better.

Buy guys. Sorry for my bad English :DD I am trying to improve it...

Marketing in international markets and globalization

Hello... Today we will talk about Marketing in international markets and globalization. Lets start...

How do you think Sony is an international brand or no? I will tell you.
Sony phones is an international brand. The level of international involvement is very high, it means that product greater commitment to international market, the product can be sourced away from the home market.  Sony is available in more than 20 countries, and we can see it on these market shares tables.

For example, market share in China, in 2013 was very high, but market share decrease from 2013 to 2016. It one from example, from market share.

What about marketing entry strategy!? The marketing entry strategy used for Sony phones is “Joint Ventures” strategy. Sony phones is the best example of joint venture strategy, whe two companies agree to work together in a particular market, and they create the third company to undertake this. And risks and profits are shared between these two companies. Sony Corporation works according to this princips. 

I can see the evidence of impact of the recent international turmoil. Due to the impact of restriction on Russia the amount of buying phones decrease. It slows economy down and that affects on the purchasing power of customers and then they can’t buy Sony phones so much how they did it before. Costumers choose cheaper phone than Sony. This impact on Sony Corporation is very high, Russia is very big country and Sony can lose a lot of their money. So it is the biggest impact of the recent international turmoil on Sony Corporation product - phones.

Also Sony phones have an impact from the international legal forces. 

The legal forces what have an impact on the marketing position of Sony phones product are tariffs and quotas. “Tariffs are taxes that affects the movement of goods across economic or political boundaries, and that can also affect imports, export or goods in transit”, so if government will increase taxes it might be more difficult to export phones to the other countries, it will cost more money. And the quotas are “Physical restrictions on amount of goods that can be imported into a particular country or region” , quotas not always the best interest of consumers, and if choice are limited in some region or country it is the best way how to export Sony phones in this region. So there will be more products to choose and costumers will choose Sony phones more, because it will be a new product for citizens, what is better for Sony Corporation.

That's all for today.. See you next week:)

Environmental analysis

Hey, guys.. It's me again.. Didn't be here for a long time. But let's start story about Sony. And this week theme is environmental analysis of Sony product.

    

      When we go to the head website of Sony we will see the latest available annual report is "Annual report 2013".“Sony used backcasting to set specific medium-term targets based on four key environmental perspectives, namely, climate change, resource conservation, management of chemical substances and biodiversity.” (Sony, 2016) As we can see in this report the major impact are climate, resource conservation, management of chemical substances and biodiversity, and these are environmental factors which have a major impact on my Sony phones marketing policies. Sony always react on environment factors, it is very important for their company. And they try to change their product according to these factors.

     We can visit site- http://statline.cbs.nl/statweb/?LA=en and there are 2 publications which are connected with first environmental factors.

The first publication “Consumer confidence, economic climate and willingness to buy”.

This publication is important for Sony phones, because economic climate, as we can see in Sony business report, plays important role in their marketing and there is the big chance to sold Sony phones more.

And the second publication “GDP, production and expenditures; value, Quarterly National Accounts”. As we know GDP grows in Netherlands and it very good for Sony. GDP growth has an impact of markets and if there will be high GDP Sony phones will be more interesting to market the Sony phones.

     Are there any social, cultural or religious differences in the Netherlands that would affect the consumption of your product?

In Netherlands not religious and cultural differences which would affect the consumption of Sony phone product. But here are some social differences what would affect the consumption. People have different views on the product, they can use different model of phones and can say that, for example “Samsung” or “IPhone” is better than Sony. This pressure from other people can affect the consumption of Sony phone. People under this pressure can choose not Sony, but other company phone and consumption of Sony phones will decrease.

See you later... On this Wednesday. Bye :*

Business markets and business buying behaviour

     Heeey, it's me again... Today I will tell about Business markets and business buying behaviour. Let start:)

     Although Sony product is a general consumer product it may be sold in business markets. Is it so for Sony product. Yes. Sony phone product is a general consumer product it may be sold in business markets. It is a reseller market. On reseller markets retailers or wholesalers buy finished goods and resell them to make a profit. (Dib, Pride, Simkin, & Ferrell, 2012, p. 182) In each country we can see a lot of markets with Sony phone, they try to sell these phones, so Sony corporation sell their product to other small or big companies, and after these companies can sell these phones and make a profit.

     Sony phones have been adapted to the business market. Sony phones is imported or purchased from the other companies. Also Sony can be found in any media markets. Sony has a retailers for a long time, then the product has been adapted in the business market.

Most business purchases are one of three types: new task purchase, modified rebuy purchase or straight rebuy purchase. Sony phone isn’t new task purchase, because Sony phone isn’t a product which can solve some new problems or perform a new job and can’t be straight rebuy purchase, because phone isn’t a routine product and Sony doesn’t rebuy phones under approximately the same terms of sale. (Dib, Pride, Simkin, & Ferrell, 2012, p. 188)Most likely applicate to my product is a modified rebuy purchase. Modified re-buy purchase. According to our book in modified rebuy purchase a new task purchase is changed the second or third time it is ordered, or the requirements associated with a straight re-buy purchase are modified. For example, an organization might seek faster delivery, lower prices or a different quality of product specifications. Sony company change some characteristics in their phones, they improve phones every time, so they change quality of their product.

     As we know buying center is the group of people within an organization who are involved in making business- to- business purchase decisions. (Dib, Pride, Simkin, & Ferrell, 2012, p. 190) And buying process for my product isn’t really short. Firstly, Sony phones will start with small chip, which is purchased by Sony from other making chip company. Then the cover of the phone can be from Sony manufacturer from the other countries. And then it is Sony sale and marketing department who is in charge of dealing with retailers. Then retailers, who will sell that product customers.

Derived demand works only when the product has a demand. Demand for business products arises from the demand for consumer products. (Dib, Pride, Simkin, & Ferrell, 2012, p. 189) Derived demand depends on consumer wishes. Derived demand will increase if product will conform consumer wishes. Now people try to find phones with good characteristics. Sony phones have good characteristics, such as high quality sound, good camera, interesting design, all these characteristics have an impact on the demand. People try to find the best phone and Sony corporation can offer these services. Every upcoming Sony product is improved in all characteristics. Derived demand is connected with consumers wishes. So now consumers want good phones and it is the reason why derived demand raised. Demand of Sony phones increased and derived demand increased too.

Consumer behavior..

Hey guys.. Today I will talk about consumer buying behavior

The social environment of the consumer and the way this influences the use of your product. 

Actually it is Technological changes. It is the force which influences the use of Sony products. The social encourage of the consumer. For instance, if the consumers are from a country where it rains a lot they might get interested in buying waterproof phones off Sony, Sony have good waterproof phones and it works. If the consumers are musically enthusiastic they will also prefer Sony as it has better sound quality and if consumers like to take high quality pictures, Sony has high quality cameras, and each new phone is better than the previous. (Bright, 2012)

      What about family cycle? There are more than 2 stages in family cycle, but my product in relation to the stages of the family cycle is on Full Nest 3 stage. Full Nest 3 stage is when children need more money than in Full Nest 1-2 stages. Parents need to pay for a college, to buy new clothes, all new. So Sony phones may be on this stage too, because when children go to another place, to start their own life, parents buy new stuff for them. So Sony phone =new stuff = Full Nest 3 stage. But on the other hand it can be “Young and Single” stage. When people are at this age they can allow themselves to buy new stuff, such as a new phone. Sony can be at two stages: "Young Nest 3" and "Young and Single". (King, 2016)

There are two buying behaviors, but for my product most likely buying behavior is business buying behavior. And more suitable decision making for my product is Extensive decision-making. The first stage is problem recognizing. Consumers understand that he/she needs new phone, but it is an expensive thing, so consumers need to think about it and after problem recognizing, consumers want to know something more about this product – Sony phone. Consumers will find all the information about this phone. They will try to compare Sony and other phone brands, maybe they will ask for some advice from other people who already have a Sony phone to know what they think about this phone, are they pleased or not with their product and overall experience. After these two stages will be the third stage: evaluation of alternatives. After maybe on mention level consumer will evaluate the Sony phone in an evoked set. Sony is a known brand around the world, so if Sony phones in all aspects will be good for the buyer, it means acceptable brand consumer will go to the fourth stage: purchase. In this stage consumers will choose Sony phones for purchase, consumers need to evaluate all alternatives, need to choose, is this price good or not, is it overall worth spending that specific amount. And when he/she will choose to purchase. After that there will be fifth stage, when consumer estimates the product, did he/she buy the right product to understand the information which was found about Sony, did it meet the consumer’s expectations. And if Sony phone actually satisfies the consumer there is huge probability that next time he/she will buy the Sony phone brand too, and without a doubt would recommend it to family, friends, co-workers etc. (Renssen, 2016)

For each product we can do an attitude scale,so I have Sony phone too, and I did аn attitude scale like this.

Phone	Phone quality	Price	Design	Camera	Battery power	Memory capacity	Size
Sony	4	3	4	5	4	3	2

     1=Unimportant…5=Very Important

1=Unsatisfactory…5=Very Satisfactory

 Thank you, for your attention. I will be here on the next week;)

Marketing strategy

Hey, hey, hey, guys. It's me again.

This post theme will be about marketing strategy and understanding competitors

Well, let's start with the mission statement of the company.

Did you hear that the mission statement of the Sony company – don’t stop in creativity and innovative design for producing high-quality and innovative product. There are a lot of mission statements on the internet, these are very similar to each other, the mission statement of Sony company is to inspire people with new openings, and to show their achievements. (Sony, 2016)

Nice logo for the company, right!?

But Sony how other companies has their competitors, and in my opinion only two products can compete with Sony phones.

The main competing product is Apple IPhone on the IOS operating system and Samsung Mobile which is based on the Android operating system, now Android is the most popular operating system today. In my opinion, the main competing products are Samsung phones, because they have phones based on the same system, these phones can perform the same needs and the same characteristics, but Sony has better sound quality, camera and design. Sony and Samsung phones are branded products; these two brands are very popular around the world. But Sony is a more expensive phone than Samsung, which is backed up by Drs. Simon van Renssen saying “Sony as a mobile phone company, depleted in popularity due to high competition from other companies which Sony couldn't handle, and so it moved on to other growing markets”, so basically, they don’t just concentrate on phones, choice of Sony phones isn’t so big which is the reason why the demand of these phones is of large scale, but insufficient enough to beat Samsung. You need to, as a company, produce just enough to sell to the demanding market.(Sony, 2016) (Samsung, 1995)

There are some competitive advantage.

Sony phones have a great competitive advantage. But despite of that, Sony isn’t the “market leader”, and this is the reason why: Sony is a more expensive brand than most other brands, but on top of that Sony phones are always placed in the market as third or even fourth as a first choice for a mobile phone. If Sony will produce more than today, they can sell their phones cheaper, Sony phones are high quality phones, people will buy more Sony phones if the price is cheaper. In my opinion they can beat Samsung phones in sales with cheaper prices than now.. (GSMarena, 200
(Statista, 2016)

Sony phones have their advantage, but which differential advantage do we know!?

The differential advantage the company has over its’ competitors is their creativity. Sony phones have a very beautiful and interesting design, Sony phones have good quality sound, they increase in the phones markets due to innovation and highly technological products. Sony represent themselves as “imagination and innovation”. (Sonycorporation.blogspot, 2014)

Sony phones have their growth strategy, strategy from Ansoff Matrix. Do you know what does it mean!?

4 strategies from Ansoff Matrix.

The growth strategy for Sony phones products is Product Development. Sony is improving their products constantly, every day, for example – phones. Now, the quality of Sony cell phones is higher than several years ago, they improved the quality of sound, multi-tasking, camera quality, and endless other abilities which are made possible by Sony, making a simple cell phone a fully interactive computer, with abilities which could not be even imagined 8-10 years ago. Sony is improving their phones by developing better versions to replace their current Sony phones.

“Extend your product by producing different variants, or repackage existing products.” (The Ansoff Matrix, 2016) So the products development strategy is more suitable for my product. Sony try to improve their product and every time a new model is released, it is different than the previous version, improved and retouched by professionals, they try to always push it's picture taking ability, e.g the quality of camera, sound and always strive to make a creative design; trying to produce different variants of Sony phones, giving the customer a variety in price, quality and appeal. All these improvements are achieved using the product development strategy.

See you next week:pp Thank you fot attention;)

A little bit from Sony history...

Hey, hey, hey.

Welcome to my blog. On this blog you will see a lot of information about Sony phones, maybe you will find some interesting information about this product. Enjoy my blog!!

Maybe you have a question why I have chosen this product, why not Samsung or Apple IPhone, okay lets go, I will explain why. I have chosen Sony phones as my product. The main reason I chose this company amongst others is because Sony phones are smooth in their performance, have a great high quality camera and offers a crystal clear display. Secondly, my close friends and I use phones made by Sony. If you have noticed, Sony wasn't so popular a few years ago as a phone company. The popularity of Sony has grown, and today, especially teenagers, would choose Sony over other companies such as Samsung or Apple. I think this explanation is good, right?

What about Sony phones brand? And not only phones...

Sony Group is the producing company of all of Sony phones. And all of Sony products belongs to them. Sony Group is also the owner of Sony brand name.

Sony has very big history. Their history is interesting: growth of a company, products, their goals etc... But I will describe one little part from Sony company story..

Sony offers a variety of electronic products including mobile phones, made by Sony Corporation. Sony Corporation has one of the biggest media conglomerates which owns music records, marked Sony Music Entertainment. Sony was a company established in Japan in the city of Tokyo in 1946. The company had created the first portable audio player, known today as the "Walkman". In 1983 Sony collaborated with Philips to produce the first ever compact discs. The first mobile phone made by Sony was a collaboration between Sony and Swedish company "Ericsson". Therefore, in 2002 the first ever Sony Ericsson phone had been created. Later, in 2011, Ericsson refused to be partnered with Sony and from then on, all mobile phone products were branded by their own name, Sony.Sony continued innovating and their first mobile phone under their own name was made, called the Sony Xperia S, produced and released into the market in 2012. Sony had always held onto two main principles: Innovative technology and a sleek, gorgeous and outstanding design, being the main reason for the great success of the company since 1990 in the mobile phone industry. From 1990 onward, Sony held a great reputation since the release of the Walkman, and also the PlayStation series. This period of time is without a doubt where Sony was at its peak of both success, popularity and production. Since the establishment of Sony, the company has released over 500 innovative devices to the market. This peak was the foundation of the success of all Sony phones and other devices. After a period of time, the company faced a drastic decline in sales of their mobile products, due to the fact that the Japanese innovators had thought that they cannot be outrun by any other competitors, such as Samsung or Apple. Another reason for this decline is that the company did not react quickly enough to the drop in sales and the whole situation on the market. Samsung, Apple and Nintendo were Sony's main competitors. Since 2012, Sony had produced a major line of Sony Xperia models which brought Sony back on track both in sales and the market, making the company millions. Today, mobile phones produced by Sony offer high quality cameras, comfortable and user friendly design, high performance in both operating the device, playing your favorite games or just daily tasks, crisp audio for your favorite music and simply being able to work very fast. Despite of Sony losing their leadership in the mobile phone market, and phones having inflated greatly in price, it didn't give anybody less reason to buy Sony phones, selling millions of copies to the public each year.

What about Sony product!?

I have chosen only one product from Sony company, but this company have a lot of products which are sold by them. For instance,it is PlayStation, video games, TV, mp3/mp4 players, headphones, loudspeakers. In 2011 Sony Communication Group produced Sony Ericsson Xperia phones, like Sony Ericsson Xperia Play/Neo/Pro. In 2012 This group produced Phones with brand Sony Xperia. For instance, Sony Xperia S/P/Sola/Ion/Go/S/SL/TX.

Thanks for attention. I hope it was interesting for you.. Read my blog next week;))