Marketing assignment on the current market conditions, target market, marketing mix nad recommendations for Xiaomi

Question

Task: You are required to analyze the current market conditions, target market, marketing mix and then formulate recommendations for the chosen organization (product) in your marketing assignment.

Answer

Introduction to the marketing assignment
It is found in this marketing assignment that over the years smartphones have altered the means of communication. Smarter innovation and technologies have brought in a plethora of options in the smartphone world with severe competition in the market. But companies have constantly innovative strategies and products to run in the competitive market to gain significant consumer attention and satisfaction. Within this smartphone market, there are different kinds of companies that dominated the specific market over a long period. This required high investment in innovation and technology that helped certain companies maintain their competitive edge. The others who could not develop core competencies failed and were eliminated from the market. In the recent decade, there has been a great influx of Chinese companies breaking into the affordable smartphone market and creating a niche of their own with a unique offering of high-end, innovative products but at an affordable price. The most prominent of such company as per this marketing assignmentis Xiaomi which has been said to define a new paradigm of consumer electronics in multiple countries. The very goal of the company is to allow its consumers to enjoy the pleasures of high-end technology at a relatively low cost. The marketing assignmentwillanalyseXiaomi’s market situation, and understand its positioning and target consumers. The marketing assignmentwill further highlight the company’s strategy to gain massive success over a short span and also help to develop a holistic knowledge of the company’s offerings and innovation.

Situation Analysis of Xiaomi smartphones
Xiaomi is a Chinese electronic company which has its headquarters in Beijing China. Over the decade as per the marketing assignmentit has proven to be one of the top smartphone manufacturing companies around the globe just after giants like Samsung,Apple and Huawei. The initial purpose of the company as per the marketing assignmentwas to set up production units that will create smartphones with an innovative OS based on the Android system called the MIUI in the markets (Thomas and Devi 2021). Over time the company and its engineers have constantly worked on its design and development to produce top-of-the-line smartphones, home appliances, laptops, headgears and mobile phones which can easily compete with the competitor’s sophisticated pricey models available in the market (DEEP 2020). According to the marketing assignment the company also got featured in the fortune global 500 because of its immense success in multiple countries.<

Xiaomi is completely dominating the global smartphone market pause of now with its innovative and affordable models. Analysis shows there at least three out of five people would be seen using a Xiaomi phone. The success of Xiaomi’s business as per the marketing assignmentlies in its model which aims to provide high-quality technology at an affordable price for everyone to enjoy and utilise the offerings of a highly advanced smartphone. This has led the company to capture a significant place in the global smartphone market. Xiaomi is also known for other affordable products and its main source of revenue generation occurs from four segments of the market of which the smartphone segment brings in the most revenue. Xiaomi smartphones are further segmented into a line of affordable models which generated substantial revenue for the company to develop a strong foundation for the mammoth it is today (Panigrahi 2019). The company as per the marketing assignmenthas highly invested in research and innovation to produce affordable, innovative smartphones and it also provides cloud storage services with its smartphone offering. The company is further investing and innovating on artificial intelligence models to advance their smartphones which can have the potential to impact their current business model positively in the days to come.

Considering the present-daysituation in the marketing assignment, the smartphones sold by Xiaomi are responsible for the majority of the total revenue share and in the last few years, they’ve been the only brandthat has sold the highest number of smartphones to date. Mi Note, Mi Max and Mi Mix Series have been a complete hit in the markets as these smartphones had advanced features at an affordable price. Xiaomi has a good hold off-market within the Indian subcontinent (Tabassum and Ahmed 2020).According to the marketing assignment it has a huge consumer base in India and China by providing the consumers with highly affordable smartphone models with significant features and applications available of that inhigh-end models.Xiaomi has been able to easily capture the Indian smartphone market with its innovative strategy and business model (Chhabra and Metkar 2020). The company also shifted its focus to improving people’s lives and makingthem simpler with its innovative and affordable technologies like Internet of things services integrated intothe smartphone line-up (Liang and Kang 2021). Xiaomi’s aim in developing affordable products helped them easily penetrate the lifestyle product segment of the market and gain customers. Their constant innovation to make technology available at an affordable price as per the marketing assignmenthas helped them to survive and generate billions in revenue. Xiaomi has theirfocuses on Internet services mostly for start-ups with their smartphone which play a crucial part in the company’s success in terms of revenue and business (Aldashova et al., 2020).

The company constantly ensures better productivity and innovation at an affordable price it also focuses on advertising strategy and customer position. Customer reliability as per the marketing assignmentis one of the major strengths of the company as it is known to always produce innovative products at an affordable price which highly fascinates the consumers of the brand. Xiaomi has constantly provided its userbase with a high-end unforgettable smartphone experience at an affordable price which helped them to easily retain its strong consumer base. This has led to the company having a high number of subscribers for their proprietary services such as MI cloud, Music and MI store, MI pay and others.

SWOT Analysis
SWOT-analysisas per the marketing assignmenthelps assess internal potential,limitations, opportunities and threats to understand the firm’s success both in the external and internal environment. This SWOT analysis of Xiaomi’s smartphone productwith four variablesis as follows:

SWOT analysis as per the marketing assignmentshows that the company is in a strong position but it has to constantly work to improve its foundation by providing incredibly high specification products at an affordable price while generating high volumes of revenue. On the negative front, the company has a weak smartphone brand value which should be improvedbydevising new strategies. In terms of opportunities, it can be expected from the marketing assignmentof the smartphone series to further expand and capture a large portion of the smartphone market in economies such as Africa.

Target Market and Positioning of Xiaomi smartphones
According to the marketing assignmentXiaomi utilises initiative type and mono segment positioning for their smartphone. The company utilizes mono-segment positioning to appeal to the demands and needs of a single customer segment for selling smartphones. The company usually targets a consumer segment which shows the need and want of technology devices but that low or limited budget to acquire the products. The company as per the marketing assignmentalso utilises an imitative positioning type as they closely imitate product specs and designs of other tech giants to replicate similar features in the devices but at affordable pricing (Zhiwei 2021).

The target and positioning of Mi Smartphones are as under in the marketing assignment:
• The target customer for the smartphones includes customers from regions across countries and with both rural and urban densities.
• The age group usually ranges from 18-65 years and the demography includes all genders.
• Life cycle stages include single people, newly married couples, bachelor stage young people, older married couples, retired people and couples, solitary survivors retied and in the labour force.
• Considering occupation, it involves professionals, mostly students and working-class people.
• The degree of loyalty ranges from switchers, softcore loyal and hardcore loyal.
• Cost attractiveness is the benefits sought.
• Personality: Ambitious, determined, and easy-going personality types
• User status: First-time users, potential users and non-users.
• Lifestyle: Explorer, aspirer, mainstreamer and struggler
• Social class: Middle class, working-class and lower class

Marketing Mix & Strategy
Xiaomi smartphone’s marketing strategyas per the marketing assignmentis minimalistic due to its leadership business strategy model unlike other competitor companies, they did not adopt the idea of traditional marketing but strongly utilised the power of social media to market their products strongly, which helps them to save huge costs on advertising (Wang and Li 2014). The core strategy of the company was to introduce hunger marketing as an integral element in their digital marketing plans and strategies with the idea to operate following the emotional needs of their target customer and create a sense of shortage in supply on purpose (Zheng and Huang 2019). This strategy as per the marketing assignmentalways helped the company to create hype in the market by evoking a sense of desire within their targeted customers to purchase and own a Xiaomi smartphone. Xiaomi primarily focuses on the price element of the marketing mix compared to other Ps of marketing. The marketing mix of Xiaomi is as follows:

Pricing mix of Xiaomi mobile: The majority of the money spent on Xiaomi smartphonesas per the marketing assignmentapplies exclusively tomanufacturing and design where the company tries to save as much as it can which helps them to offer products to its customers at an affordable rate in comparison to its competitors in the market. Therefore, it can be easily stated that their smartphones are low-priced on average. The pricing strategy employed by the company enables them to generate high revenues. The company sell their smartphones and apps at an exact cost that only covers the production cost and the profit generation is mainly focused on services apps and accessories which are to be used with computers and phone. The company as per the marketing assignmenthas been extremely successful in proving that cheap pricing does not necessarily mean cheap products. Smartphones are sold online which hardly reduces the cost of inventory and money spent on setting up offline stores and advertising.

Product mix of Xiaomi mobile:Xiaomismartphones are categorised in specific lines and it all sold under the brand name Redmi or Mi. The company as per the marketing assignmentoffers a wide range of products which allows the consumer to select the product type that best suits their needs and demand. Since all the products within the smartphone range are affordable and provide the latest technologies in the market this makes it a constant win for the company. Each Xiaomi smartphone and its lineare designed efficiently and look elegant with renowned innovation and technology which makes them provide high-quality services to the consumers.

Place mix of Xiaomi mobile: As a Chinese company in origin, it has expanded as a smartphone business across multiple countries ranging from India Vietnam Indonesia Brazil Singapore to Russia. Despite the company going international it is found in this marketing assignment, its main focus lies in its native country as it is already created a formidable consumer base there. The company manages a well-balanced distribution system with a valid marketplace where it has the potential to easily market its services and products to reach an ultimate consumer base. Xiaomi smartphone sales are mostly done digitally instead of in physical places which allows them to save on costs and results in a win-win situation for both the consumer and the producer. The company as per the marketing assignmenthas also tied up with multiple e-commerce websites and platforms to provide smooth online products sale.It is always ensured that the Redmi or Mi smartphones are easily available at the nearest place for the consumer therefore focus is on managing a vast range of distribution channels to perform its business.
Promotionmix of Xiaomi mobile in themarketing assignment: Xiaomi has constantly leveraged the power of social media marketing to generate and manage its community the company follows a well-strategized plan for the purpose of expanding its online presence by building a strong tech base consumer system. As per the marketing assignment smartphones are always promoted and advertised on online forums and they put to understand the consumers on these forums to spread awareness about their products and services. This helps to market smartphones with zero budget yet reach a high volume of consumers through online platforms which became to be known as the best camp of “mi fan” with millions of registered users (Dong and Zhang 2016). The company constantly provides new user updates that help them understand their technology and user interface by implementing feedback and analysing customer needs and wants. According to the marketing assignment they allow consumers to participate in public relations, marketing, spread,testing, development and research which helped in creating a strong sense of trust and integrity within the consumer base. The company had initiated multiple campaigns which are unique to engage the consumers into buying their smartphones and services which implemented the utilization of a 360-degree marketing strategy in a steady and slow manner. These kinds of moves and strategies as per the marketing assignmenthave helped in advertising Xiaomi mobilesuniquely and retain consumer attention and satisfaction.

Recommendations
On analysing the marketing mix, target consumers, position and segments, the following recommendations are made for Xiaomi in themarketing assignment:
• Xiaomi must work on introducing new smartphoneline which are relevant to the recent trends in the market.
• Increasing better models in each of its smartphone categories to attract consumers from each segment.
• Xiaomi can work on improving warranty policies on their smartphones to stay in line with the competitors.
• Allow discounts on smartphones and new psychological pricing to attract customers.
• A price penetration strategy can be utilised when launching smartphones which will help in capturing the market and generate revenues in the future.
• As per the marketing assignmentXiaomi should improve service centre services and ensure efficient services are provided to the customers.
• Xiaomi should improve its website for increasing smartphone sales online.
• Xiaomi must improve its customer service facilities and provide quick services.
• Employ people in its service centrewho choose commitment and respect towards consumer interest to help them in an efficient manner.
• The company should further enhance its distribution channels for smartphones and open physical stores across nations to increase smartphone sales and visibility by offering a shopper-friendly ambience and experience.

References
Aldashova, G., Zhakupova, B., Spankulova, L., Orazgaliyeva, A., Balginova, K., Mussirov, G., Kydyrova, Z. and Onlasynov, E., 2020. The role of management strategies for start-up growth in marketing assignment: A case study of Xiaomi technology company. Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal, 26(1), pp.1-10.
Chhabra, H. and Metkar, A.B., 2020. Marketing without Advertising–A case study of Xiaomi Mobile in India. Available at SSRN 3641446.
DEEP, A., 2020. MARKET STUDY AND ANALYSIS OF XIAOMI INC.
Dong, J. and Zhang, Y., 2016. When customers become fans as per marketing assignment. MIT Sloan Management Review, 57(2), p.95.
Liang, J. and Kang, M.J., 2021. A Study on The Marketing Strategy of IoT (Internet of Things)-based Smart Home Service Companies Focusing on The Case of Xiaomi. International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, 13(1), pp.20-25.
Panigrahi, A., 2019. A Case Study on Marketing Strategy of Xiaomi. International Journal of Management, Technology, and Social Sciences (IJMTS), ISSN, pp.2581-6012.
Tabassum, R. and Ahmed, S., 2020. Xiaomi invades the smartphone market in India. Decision, 47(2), pp.215-228.
Thomas, C.G. and Devi, A.J., 2021. Study and Analysis of the Influence of UX in MIUI–A Case Study on Xiaomi. International Journal of Case Studies in Business, IT and Education (IJCSBE), 5(1), pp.155-168.
Wang, X. and Li, Y., 2014, November. Marketing Strategy Analysis of Xiaomi Phone Based On Social Media. In 2014 International Conference on Mechatronics, Electronic, Industrial and Control Engineering (MEIC-14) (pp. 1608-1612). Atlantis Press.
Zheng, X. and Huang, K., 2019. XIAOMI MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS. In marketing assignment-2019 (pp. 161-163).
Zhiwei, L., 2021. Research on brand Positioning Validity in Xiaomi enterprise Management. In E3S Web of Conferences (Vol. 253, p. 03060). EDP Sciences.