marketing strategy of sony mp3 players walkman series

Marketing Of A Digital Product

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Our heartfelt thanks to Prof. Jenny Benoy for

guiding us throughout the project and solving our problems again and again.

Secondly, we would like to thank the Marketing head of Sony Corporation Mr. Rahul Deshpande for co-operating with us and sharing guiding us with their marketing strategy.

We would even like to thank Mr. Ritesh Dhole the head for the marketing of mp3 players.

Our special thanks to Carlyne Saldhana for helping us to prepare the survey questions

Lastly we would like to thank our audience for listening to our presentation.

MARKETING According to Philip kotler, “marketing is

human activity directed at satisfying needs and wants through exchange processes.”

It facilitates physical distribution and creates four types of utilities:

1.Form utility.2. Place utility.3. Time utility.4. Possession utility.

IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING

Importance to society: Delivery of standard of living to the society, Increasing employment opportunity, Decrease in distribution cost, Protection against business slump, And increase in national income.

Importance to firm: Provides profit a goodwill to marketing firms Facilitates division of work in specialization Provides channel of communication Brings stability and success Helps is planning and decision making

MARKETING STRATEGIES

Common marketing strategies are as follows: Market leader strategy Market challenger strategies Market follower strategies Market Nicher strategies 

MARKETING MIX

Marketing mix is used to describe 4 inputs: 1. Product2. Price3. Place4. Promotion It refers to the set of controllable tactical

marketing tools that the marketing firm blends to produce the response in the target market.

1.PRODUCT MIX

Product mix maybe defined as a collection of all the items that are offered by a company for sale. The following are the strategies: 

a. Straight product extensionb.Product adaptation strategy c. Product invention strategy

2. PRICE MIX

Price is the amount at which the seller is willing to sell and the buyer is willing to buy. Methods of pricing

a. Skimming pricing policyb.Penetration pricing policyc. Introductory pricing policy

3.PLACE MIX

Place mix includes company’s activities that make the product available to target consumers.

Distribution channels include: a. Retailers b. Wholesalersc. intermediaries

4. PROMOTION MIX

Tools of promotion mix: Advertising Sales promotion Public relation Publicity Direct marketing

DIGITAL OUT OF HOME ADVERTISING

Our changing lifestyles have resulted in many companies changing how they market their products and services.

Digital Out-of-Home Media is the concept of delivering advertising campaigns to the public where the content and messages are displayed on digital signs

DOOH advertising will vary according to the ad placement, format, environment where it is installed, size of the screen, and the type of consumer that frequents the area.

DOOH can include such formats and design as text, audio, video, flash animation, and infomercials. Placements of these ads can be in such areas as supermarkets, retail stores, shopping malls, medical offices, bus stops, movie theatres.etc. Location is chosen by the targeted demographic such as age, gender, and type of lifestyle

Digital-out-of-home media provides marketers with a way to spice up the marketing mix.

MARKETING PLAN

DIGITAL PRODUCTS

Digital products are intangible products that can be transferred over a digital network.

MP3 PLAYERS

An MP3 player allows you to take your music on the go. It also lets you to transfer digital audio files from your computer to the player.

There are many types of MP3 players on the market.

The MP3 player connects to a computer using a USB cable. Digital audio files are transferred to the device through programs such as Windows Media Player and iTunes.

SONY CORPORATION Sony is one of the world's most widely known

electronics companies. Founded in Japan, the company has grown from humble roots to a multinational giant.

As of July 2009, Howard Stringer was the company's chairman, CEO and president.

The company's current slogan is Make. Believe.

Sony continues to release new products and improve upon existing technologies, and that is why they are the #1 consumer technology company.

OUR PRODUCT

Sony Walkman©: The digital MP3 players

The Sony’s Walkman© mp3 players have been divided into 4 series which are available in the market. They are as follows:

W Series:

Specifications: 2GB Capacity Headphones with soft silicon ear buds New ZAPPIN™ Function to find songs easily Battery life upto 12 hours

Sony NWZ-B142F

B Series:

Specifications: 2GB Capacity 3 Line display Stamina with Quick Charge Technology (3 min charge,90 min playback) FM Tuner Voice/FM Recording Function

Sony NWZ-B142F

E Series: Specifications: 4 GB Capacity Video playback on 2.0" OVGA LCD screen Plays video up to 30 frames per second Battery life upto 30 hours

Sony NWZ-E443

S Series: Specifications: 4 GB Capacity Large 2.4 (6.0 cm) LCD display Built-in stereo speakers 42hrs of long battery life

Sony NWZ-S543/B

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Our sources of information: Primary source of information: It includes our company questionnaire

and consumer survey. Secondary source of information: It includes websites like

www.Google.com, www.Marketingandmanagrment.com, Sony's website, marketing and management (tb).

After gathering all the information we analysed company survey and consumers survey and came to a conclusion .

COMPANY’S QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Who is your Target Audience for Sony Walkman?

Ans. Youth is our target audience. 2. What is the Marketing strategy used by the

company for Sony Walkman? Marketing Leader strategy. Marketing Challenger strategy. Marketing Follower strategy. Marketing Nicher strategy.

3. According to your Target Audience what is your Market Segmentation?

Geographic Segmentation. Demographic Segmentation. Socio-Economic Segmentation. Psychographic Segmentation. Behaviouristic Segmentation. Segmentation According to Market

Condition. Segmentation as per Volume Purchase.

4. The kind of Marketing Mix used by the company? a. Place:

I. What are your channels of distribution? Retailers Wholesalers Middle Men

b. Promotion:

I. What tools you use for promotion. Advertising Sales promotion Public relation Publicity Direct marketing

c. Price:

I. What pricing policy you follow. Skimming pricing policy Penetration pricing policy Introductory pricing policy

d. Product:

I. What strategy you follow for product mix. Straight product extension Product adaptation strategy Product invention strategy

5. Does the manufacturing of the product suffice your sales?Ans. Yes it does (100%) 

SURVEY1. What age group do you belong to? 16 – 24. 25 – 40. 40 and above.

2. Is the brand of mp3 player important to u? Yes No

No: 2, Yes: 23 

3. Which company’s mp3 player would you prefer to buy?

Sony Apple Creative Mitashi Others

4. What factors do you consider the most if you are buying an mp3 player?

Price Storage capacity Styling Durability Battery life

5. Do the additional features (Bluetooth, video playback, games) provided by the company influence your purchase decision?

Yes No

No: 4, Yes: 21

6. Which of the following means of Sony marketing for the mp3 player (walkman ©) has the most impact on you?

T.V.C Print Online Direct marketing Hoardings

7. Do discounts and festival offers affect your purchase decision?

Yes No

No: 6; Yes: 19.

8. If you were to purchase a Sony mp3 player where would you purchase it from?

Retailer Online Personal Selling Sony outlet

CONCLUSION Through our survey, we drew the following conclusions: As Mr. Ritesh had mentioned that Sony’s target

consumer for its MP3 players is today’s youth, we went on to check whether Sony was popular among the tech savvy youth. We found out that indeed the younger generation were familiar with the Sony’s Walkman© series range.

The survey also revealed that almost everyone involved in our survey was Brand conscious i.e. they believed in purchasing branded mp3 players and were also particular about their choice of brand.

Sony’s Walkman© series faced a stiff competition from the electronic giants, Apple whose I pod has created a niche for itself in the mp3 player segment.

We could see that Apple’s I pod was the hot favourite among the age group of 16-24; Sony followed close on its heels.

Mr. Ritesh declared that 30% of Sony’s revenue was spent on Advertisement which is via TVC. The investment in T.V.C. seemed apt as most of our respondents were acquainted to this series through this medium.

The main channel of Sony’s distribution is through retailers, but most of the respondents preferred to buy products from the Sony outlet.

Our open ended question regarding the Walkman series opened our eyes to the grouse that some of our respondents had against the player. They felt it was a bit overpriced considering its features.

BIBLIOGRAPHY