Case Study: A Sales Plan For The Apple Store

Manage your business - To be the best company ever, it’s critical that every team member understands the key role he or she plays in driving profitable sales.

Apple Inc., which was formally known as Apple Computer Inc., is a multinational corporation that designs, develops and sells a wide variety of consumer electronics, personal computers, and computer software. It is located in United States of America California and has its headquarters in Cupertino, California. Among its adequately known hardware, products in the market industry are; iPhone Smartphone, iPad tablet computer, and iPod music player among many other computer accessories. Moreover, it develops and sells the following computer software; iOS and OS X operating systems, Safari web browser, iTunes media player, and iWork and iLife creativity and productivity collections. The market for smart phones equated to normal cell phones is comparatively small but will upsurge in the future. Currently apple has approximately 4.2% of the global handset share of the market. The objectives of this plan are to upsurge market share to 6% by July 2012 and to surge to 10% by January 2013. To obtain 5 additional fortune 500 indentures to utilize the iPhone.

Apple Inc, best known as Apple is an American based global company that designs and sells electronics, PCs and computer software. The company was established in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and was incorporated in 1977. Some of the Apple’s best-known products are the Macintosh range of personal computers, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. By 2012, Apple reported to have more than 300 retail stores located in more than 10 countries in the world and more than 60, 000 employees on permanent employment, and about 2,800 on temporal employment. Despite the success the company, Apple has faced hard competition from other electronics manufacturing companies. The objective of this paper is to develop a strategic plan that will enable Apple improve its position in the personal computer industry. The paper will use Michael Porter’s forces; key success factors, SWOT analysis and the competitive strength to point out specific, workable recommendations that will allow Apple stay afloat and improve its position in the personal computer industry (Gamble & Marino 2012).

When we look in to Apples retail strategy we can find that over last year’s its main area of focus has been international markets. The first Apple retail stores opened in 2001. Since then, the company has been expanding its retail footprint at a dramatic pace. But until 2003 it didn’t open a single international store. However after 2009 more than half of its openings were in international markets. In 2010 it grew to 62% and in 2012, international market share of apple reached to 83%.

There are several markets where it is relatively easy to name every competitor. These are concentrated markets where only a handful of competitors

Revolves around organizations settling on choices on which candidates will and will not be permitted to join the organization. It gives information about the applicants and allows company to ensure applicants are suitable.

Apple supply chain management is based on its ability to quickly adapt to change. Apple strong supply chain leads the company to have a competitive advantage over its competitors. Apple is very fast to deliver products with high demand. Apple is considered one of the highest and best performing supply chain around the world. This report was written to learn best practices of Apple Supply Chain and apply them to Walmart 32nd St. I discovered that Apple’s supply chain is very simple and efficient. Apple does not spend a lot of money on storage since they produce as demand comes and distribute products the fast as possible, this helps the company to reduce inventory costs. Apple is a sustainable company that recycles its products and

This paper is a business situation analysis of Apple, Inc. Apple a market leader in the consumer computer industry with products including desktop, laptop, and handheld computers, as well phones, media streaming, and now watches. A multinational company, Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976. They specialize in designing, developing, and selling high-end computers, software, and other electronic devices. Because of Apple’s broad product portfolio they compete with many different companies in a range of markets. This analysis will be conducted using historical information, a SWOT analysis, and portions of Porter’s Five Forces Model to understand its business strategies, impact within markets, products and services offered, corporate leadership, and future.

Apple Inc. is one of the largest technology companies in the world. The company develops consumer electronic gadgets such as smartphones, computers, desktops, laptops, iPods and tablets. The company was formed in 1976 by Steve Jobs with an intention of making computers but later it changed its focus to include the manufacturing of consumer electronics. However, the company was dealt a big blow when its chief executive officer and founder Steve Jobs died. The company will therefore have to search for ways in which it will maintain its market dominance as well as capture new and emerging markets. This research therefore seeks to establish how Apple forecasts demand and manages its inventory (Apple Computer Inc., 2006).

4. Deborah Wang who is the founder of an executive search firm says that the most successful candidates offer examples of past accomplishments.

Providing training for everyone in the sales team, team members can learn behaviors that will help each other. For instance, asking for help is sometimes hard, yet working within a team it is imperative that we have that ability. We lean on each other for ideas, creativity, technical skills and input. It is so important to consider the ideas of others; brainstorming often fosters free thinking, ideas, and asking questions. (Cascio 2005 pg.288)

When an organization is prepared to make a decision on a candidate for example, whether external or internal, the ability to make a quick, yet well thought out decision on the part of the candidate is critical.

Apple’s renowned for their brilliant abiltity to cope with changes in market demand. They strictly control every aspect of the supply chain to ensure that both the distribution and supply-and-demand relationship are near perfect. They use a Make-To-Stock method of Supply Chain Management that allows customers to walk into any Apple Store and make a purchase the same day, which is coupled with an extremely low inventory level that means the system has nearly Make-To-Order characteristics. Apple uses SAP (Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing), a German Enterprise Resource Planning software, to power the global supply chain and implement a strategy to “purchase raw material and reserve manufacturing capacity ahead of time “ [1] in order to make this possible.

This paper comprehensively describes the marketing plan of a charismatic organization Apple Inc. The main focus of the paper is to describe the most important marketing strategies which Apple has espoused from the date of its emergence and different challenges which it has faced from time to time. The paper begins with an introduction to the organization. Apple Inc. is an American MNC; engaged in the business of developing and marketing of IT products. Apple has expanded its business operations all over the world. Every product which Apple introduces has its own target market; it develops marketing plan and strategies for each of its products separately (Apple, 2012). Apple's strengths include strong brand image, financial strength, product and process design, and highly efficient operations management while high prices and inability of up gradation of some products are its main weaknesses. Apple has threats from its competitors, increasing costs, and economic situations but has greater opportunities in entering new markets, making strategic alliances, and bringing innovations through efficient R&D. Before entering new markets, Apple has to analyze the business environment through sensitivity analysis, and then decide a framework for the future strategies.

* Competition – Direct and indirect competitors’ responses. Launching of similar products by competitors could lead to a fight for shelf space.