Apple Inc. - Report

Apple Inc.

Introduction

The purpose of this report is to investigate measures that Apple could adopt in order to ensure high customer satisfaction. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company that designs, develops and sells electronics, computer software and online services.

The analytical tool that will be used in this report is a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis will allow me to look at and address the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the organisation.  This will also highlight Apple’s aims and objectives and act as a general guide on achieving them.

Research

Analysis

A survey I conducted revealed that 84% of the people found the products and services offered by Apple unique along with 52% of them finding that the updates of such products and services are unique and different as well when compared to competitors’ products/services and their updates such as Android’s. This shows that Apple is successful in satisfying over half of their customers with their updates and well over three quarters of their customers with their products and services provided. Thus resulting in an increased rate of customer loyalty for Apple ensuring that Apple is the first choice of the people, increasing their sales as the highly satisfied customers will always go to Apple.

The survey also revealed that around 90% of the people have an easy access to an Apple store. This shows that Apple has a wide and effective distribution channel, which does not take up much of the customers’ time, money and other resources in an attempt to visit an Apple store meaning that no inconvenience is caused to them, meaning that the customers are content.  This also shows that people are more encouraged to buy Apple’s products and services if the store is located nearby as they can get detailed information by the employees regarding the products and services, resulting in increased sales and profit maximisation for Apple.

In addition, the online survey had also showed that 72% of the people would be encouraged to buy Apple products after knowing fact that Apple Pay has won an award for Best Proximity or Contactless Payment Solution in 2017. This means that customers view Apple as a high brand and realise that the products and services provided by Apple will make a positive impact on their day-to-day lifestyle and may save them hassle and time when, with regards to Apple Pay, making a purchase of an item. This also suggests that Apple will receive positive press by the media as awards such as this receive coverage by media meaning that will create a good reputation for Apple in the competitive market, which results in them being a market leader. Moreover, this also shows that due to media coverage, the positive information or press of Apple is delivered to large audiences across the world increasing brand awareness of Apple, which eventually results in an increase of sales as more people go to Apple in several countries.

On the other hand, the survey showed that about 43% of Apple’s customers are not happy with the high pricing of Apple’s products and services. This shows that Apple fails to satisfy just around half of their customers with their high or premium pricing strategy, which will decrease the sales of Apple’s products and services as dissatisfied customers will just go elsewhere. This suggests that the customers not only just look for a good quality image that is created by the high pricing of the products, but rather good quality in a product or service along with reasonable or lower prices. This also results in many customers not opting for a product or service provided by Apple as the high prices discourage them from making a purchase which results in Apple losing out any possible profits preventing profit maximisation.  

From my visit to the Apple store, I found that there was a lack of staff in the store when evaluating the ratio of staff to the number of customers at the store. This means that many customers are left unattended in the store which can discourage them from buying any Apple products or services as there is nobody free to answer any questions or give clear information about the product or service. This then results in a low rate of customer satisfaction meaning that the customers will opt for other organisations’ products meaning that Apple’s profits are not maximised. In addition, the overcrowded nature of the store suggests that the customers may be very unimpressed and may share that information with other people that then discourages them to go to Apple and further, resulting in a bad image of Apple in the market decreasing their overall sales and preventing profit maximisation.                                  

Furthermore, from my field trip to Apple, I had also found that the condition of the products on displays in the store was very disorganised along with the layout being confusing as there are no signs indicating where specific products are placed. This means that the customers visiting the store would not be satisfied as the difficulty and time spent on finding a right product will cause an inconvenience to them resulting in dissatisfied customers choosing to go to other organisations.

My last method of research was by looking at online newspaper articles such as the Guardian as they have published several articles on Apple, giving up-to-date information. Firstly, the Guardian had published and claimed that Apple deliberately slow down older IPhones in order to encourage customers to buy the newest model of the Iphone as it would result in the profit maximisation of Apple. This shows that Apple does not take into consideration the customers’ view of cheap products for a good quality, resulting in demotivation of the customers in buying an Apple product or service, deceasing their sales which threaten the high market share of Apple as the customers are not getting the value of their money. This also means that the negative news is delivered to a large audience due to the Guardian being a daily newspaper, resulting in many customers being discouraged to buy Apple products and services as they lack faith in Apple. Eventually resulting in both: decreasing of sales and Apple gaining a bad reputation in the market, preventing them from becoming a market leader.  In addition, this suggests that legal actions could be taken up against Apple as the customers want the highest quality product for the price they are charged for which, in this case, has not been run through by Apple. Legal actions against Apple can cost them time, money and other resources which results in the profit not getting maximised meaning that the owners do not receive the highest amounts of dividends.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Firstly, a conclusion that can be made about Apple is that the majority of the customers have found that the Apple products and services and their updates are unique.

Although Apple’s varied products and services are said to be unique and different by the customers, I found from my conducted survey that many customers were unhappy and dissatisfied with the high process charged for these products and services. This means that customers may opt for different organisation’s products due to them being of cheaper or reasonable priced. I would recommend Apple to benchmark a couple their products in order to know what their competitors have offered, in terms of the prices, to the customers. Through benchmarking, Apple can evaluate and compare their prices to their competitors’ and make their products average priced, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty as they feel valued by Apple. Another recommendation would be that Apple should introduce cheaper versions of all of their products and services offered in order to meet the customer needs better. This also makes that customers feel valued as Apple has taken into consideration their demands which improves customer satisfaction and also encourages new customers.

One conclusion that can be made about Apple is that Apple Pay was awarded Best Proximity or Contactless Payment Solution in the year 2017 against all its competitors which shows that the customers are satisfied with the service and the functioning of Apple Pay. This also shows that the customers will choose Apple over its competitors as winning awards such as this are more appealing to the customers, increasing their satisfaction with the high quality and award-winning service provided. I would recommend that Apple further continue to introduce such high-quality services such as Apple Pay to ensure that they remain the first choice of the customers so that Apple can maintain their high market share.

Another conclusion that can be made is that the local Apple stores are not kept in an organised condition as the products are not labelled and the fact that the store doesn’t indicate where certain products are can discourage many customers thus resulting in a low customer satisfaction rate. In order to improve customer satisfaction, I would recommend that Apple installs labels containing all the relevant information of the product next to all of their products. This ensures that the customers have an easy access to all the information they may require about a product or service before purchasing it, improving the customer satisfaction rate effectively. I also recommend that Apple fixes boards around their stores clearly showing the categories of their products with directions on where specific products are placed. This makes sure that the customers’ time is not wasted in the store as they can locate the products they wish to purchase easily and quickly and can also make their way comfortably within and around the store. Therefore, this results in higher customer satisfaction improving the brand image of Apple.

Another conclusion that can be made about Apple is that there is a severe lack of staff at the Apple stores which prevents customers from getting professional advice and any other information they may require. I would recommend that Apple analyses the number of customers that visit a store per week and employ people accordingly so that the stores are neither over staffed or under staffed. This makes sure that there is always help available to customers when they visit the store, improving their satisfaction which thus encourages them to buy from Apple, eventually resulting in profit maximisation.