Market research findings and pricing gaps behind a hypothetical Apple gaming console.
With the gaming industry gaining more popularity over the past years due to the increase in gamers and e-sports supporters, tech companies are branching out to meet this trending demand. Apple has the potential to shift the market share in their favor with the release of the Apple Gaming Console.
The current objective of Apple can be displayed through their mission statement, “To bring the best user experience to customers through innovative hardware, software, and services”. It is well known that market research is critical to developing a marketing strategy in order to fulfill those objectives. The market research done for this product launch was intended to identify how consumers and potential customers may view the new product and business. Identifying gaps in customer expectations is also great information to gather in order to understand who will be willing to purchase and for what reasons.
As popularity increases within the gaming industry based on the constant growth it has sustained for the past decade, gamers will be more susceptible to new options in the console battle between Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony. With the success of those companies’ next generation consoles, entering the competition will have a high set of expectations for features and hardware in a new product. Gamers have become accustomed to certain graphic quality, game catalog, and functionality provided by the Xbox, Playstation, and Switch, so a new product has to be able to compete with the hardware already available.
The marketing strategies for gaming are usually met with some backlash from certain groups in society that see the genre in a negative light. Ethical issues surrounding the violence, micro transactions, and effects on mental health are constantly in discussion in the gaming industry. Also, anytime children of any age are targeted by companies, many parents want to be able to monitor the things their kids consume. This can cause issues if a product is appealing to younger audiences and will need to accommodate. As far as legal issues, copyright and piracy are the main two factors that can hurt a product’s success. Limiting the ability to pirate from the device and handle any copyright claims as soon as they arise will be vital to the protection of the future of a new game console.
Limitations that I have encountered for creating a market proposal for the product involves the pricing that will be used. For reference, the competition is the only point that we can use to formulate a plan. Information gathered from individual and group surveys will have to be adjusted to gather more opinions on pricing. The household income data for the target audience is also a point of reference that can help develop a complete proposal. With Apple’s history for high end products will mild-luxury pricing, formulating a pricing plan can be done by filling in the gaps with Apple’s current strategy in mind.