In Bangladesh, the numbers of music lover people are very high Identification of the objectives and segmentation Background of the product: In Bangladesh, the numbers of music lover people are very high. Most of the people of this country love music and hear music regularly. For hearing music, people like to use a portable music player than a CD or DVD player. Because most of the people like to hear music when they are spending their leisure time. For that they usually want to use a music player which is small and plays music in a great sound quality. Marketing manager of Microsoft Company in south Asia and going to bring our new music player in Bangladesh. The name of our music player is Zune (Appendix-1). It has 30 GB hard disk which stores up to 7,500 songs, 25000 pictures or video files of 100 hours. Its weight is only 5.6 ounces. Its screen size is 3.0 inches and its screen resolution is 320 x 240 pixels. Zune is available in 5 colors. It comes with stylish head phones, USB cable and software and travel pack. The upcoming Zune is available with 80GB hard disk and wireless earphones.
a) Background of company: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is an American multinational computer technology corporation with 79,000 employees in 102 countries and global annual revenue of US $51.12 billion as of 2007. It develops, manufactures, licenses and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices. Founded in 1975 by Paul Allen and Bill Gates, Microsoft is the biggest software publisher for personal and business computing in the world.
Since its inception Microsoft has quickly expanded into all computer-related sectors with products ranging from omnipresent apps like Windows, Microsoft Word and Excel to popular games like MechWarrior, Age of Empires and Flight Simulator. With the March 2000 announcement of the Xbox, Microsoft also took on the likes of Sony, Nintendo and Sega in the console hardware and software business. Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, its best selling products are the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software. These products have prominent positions in the desktop computer market; with market share estimates as high as 90% or more as of 2003 for Microsoft Office and 2006 for Microsoft Windows, in line with Bill Gates' vision "to get a workstation running our software onto every desk and eventually in every home". The company also markets both computer hardware products such as the Microsoft mouse and home entertainment products such as the Xbox, Xbox 360, Zune and MSN TV. Known for what is generally described as a developer-centric business culture, Microsoft has historically given customer support over Usenet newsgroups and the World Wide Web, and awards Microsoft MVP status to volunteers who are deemed helpful in assisting the company's customers. The company's official website is one of the most visited on the Internet, receiving more than 2.4 million unique page views per day according to Alexa.com, who ranked the site 18th amongst all websites for traffic rank on September 12, 2007.
Marketing Aims and Objectives: Our aim is to provide the customers with the best music player in a short time. Objectives: To fulfill this aim, we have to complete these objectives; 1. Maximizing sales and profits. 2. Becoming a well known name for music players. 3. Gaining the market share. 4. Get complains from customers regularly. 5. Introducing new technologies. 6. Mass advertising in media. 7. Charitable works such as Aids Awareness. C). Market segmentation: With the help of our primary research, we have segmented our main market by geographically demographically, phychographically.They are: Geographic segmentation Country
Bangladesh
City
Dhaka
Area of Dhaka city
815.85KM2
Area’s from Dhaka city
Gulsan,
Banani,
Mohammadpur,
Dhanmondi, Wari, Motijheel
After our primary research we have found that most of our customers are from Gulsan, Banani, and Dhanmondi. We also found that some customers are from Wari, Mohammadpur and Motijheel who wants to buy Zune as a music player. We also surveyed in other locations of Dhaka city like Luxmibazar, Sutrapur, Lalbug, but we got les response from those places. (Primary research) Demographic Segmentation Age
18 – 30
Gender
Both male and female
Income
18000 - above
Occupation
Students, Businessmen, Others
Religion
Muslim, Hindu, others
We have found that most of our customers are aged 18 to 30. Both male and female customers want to buy our product. Their income level starts from 18000 and above. Among the people, we have found most are students and some are businessmen. There are some customers who are employees and musician also. We also found that, musician would like to buy our product for its extra facilities.......... (See Zune vs. iPod in secondary research). Muslim, Hindu and people from other religions are also our customers. (Primary research Psychographic Segmentation Social Class
Middles, lower uppers, upper uppers
Life style
Hip hop, Achievers
As our product is not a potential product and its price level is high, social class of our customers are middles, lower uppers and upper uppers. We also found that our customers who lead a hip hop life are more willing to buy our product. (Primary research) Target market:
After completing our market researches and market segmentation, we have
find out that our main target market is the people aged between 18 to 30 and who are mainly students and lead a hip hop life. On the other side people from other occupation such as musician and businessmen aged 26 to 40 are also interested in our product. So we can consider them as our secondary target market. Assessment Evidence –B
Primary and secondary research a) Primary research: For primary research, we have surveyed over 40 people by some questionnaire. These questionnaires were used to identify our target market, size of market and competition. The results of our survey are given below ** (only product relevant questions without the personal information’s. The full questionnaire are given in Appendix-1): 1. Do you hear music? Yes-40, No-00
40 30 20
No
10 Yes
0 Yes
40
No
0
2. If you want to buy a portable music player, which company’s music player you will buy? Apple (pod)-26, Sony-8, Microlab-4, Others-2
30 25
iPod Sony Microlab Others
20 15 10 5 0
3. If Microsoft company launch a music player, will you buy it?
40 30 20 10 0 Yes-38, No-02 4. How much storage you want on that music device? 30GB- 24, 60GB- 12, 80GB-4
Yes No
30
30 GB 60 GB 80 GB
20 10 0
5. In which color you will like to see our product? Red-8, Pink-8, Brown-12, White-6, Black-6
black White Brown Pink Red
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
6. At which price you like to buy our music player? 10000-12000= 12, 12000-14000= 26, More than 16000=02
30 25 20
10000-12000
15
12000-14000 more than 16000
10 5 0
7. Would you like to have wireless earphones with the music player?
25 20 Yes
15
No 10 5 0
Yes- 24, No- 16 8. From which place you want to buy the music player? From main office-6, from authorized dealers- 14, from a shopping mall-20
20 15 Main office 10
Dealers shoppng Mall
5 0
9. If you want to buy it from a shopping mall, from which shopping mall you will buy? Bashundhara city- 26, Eastern Plaza- 8, IDB-6
30 25 20 15
Bashundhara City Eastern Plaza IDB
10 5 0
*(The number indicates the number of people)
From other personal questions we have found out 65% of our customers is male and 35% are female. Among them 75% are Muslim and 25% are Hindu, among them 14 – 18 years are 10%, 18 – 22 years are 15%, 22 – 26 years are 30%, 26 – 30 years are 20% and 30 – 40 are 25%. Among them 55% customers are students, 35% customers are businessmen and 10% are others. Among them 30% lives in Wari and Motijhil, 30% lives in Gulsan, Banani, Baridhara, 20% are from Mirpur and 20% are from Dhanmondi, Rampura and Mohommodpur.
b) Secondary research: In secondary research section, I have included some researches made by some websites and journals and media sources on Zune. They are given below :
ABI Research Survey: 58% of pod Owners Planning Another MP3 Player Purchase Will
Consider
NEW
YORK
Microsoft's -
Zune
November
1,
2006
A new survey conducted by ABI Research has shown that many prospective MP3 player buyers—even owners of iPods—would be likely to choose Microsoft's Zune player. 1725 teenage and adult US residents were asked whether they planned to buy an MP3 player in the next 12 months. Of those responding that they were likely to do so, 58% of those identifying themselves as existing iPod owners and 59% of those who owned other brands said they would be "somewhat likely" or "extremely likely" to choose a Microsoft Zune player over an iPod
or
another
brand
of
MP3
player.
"Our conclusion," says principal analyst Steve Wilson "is that iPod users don't display the same passionate loyalty to iPods that Macintosh users have historically shown for their Apple products." Only 15% of iPod owners said they were "not very likely" or "not at all likely" to choose
Zune.
So is Zune attractive enough to build anything like pod’s massive sales record? ABI Research believes that a critical factor will be whether or not Microsoft can differentiate the Zune from competing products in some meaningful way. One differentiator, Zune's Wi-Fi peer-to-peer sharing, which Microsoft is playing up heavily, "isn't all that compelling, at least not now," notes
Wilson.
"There's
a
lot
more
you
could
do
with
that
capability."
(Methodology: data contained within this report is derived from a Web-based survey among a nationally-balanced and demographically-representative sample of 1,725 online consumers (age 18 and older). The consumer survey was conducted in October 2006. Respondents were provided a photo and description of the Microsoft Zune device before being asked about their likelihood
to
choose
it
over
a
competitive
MP3
player)
Source: ABI Research
By studying this primary research, we can clearly see that, what kind of market demand Zune has among the peoples. Even people who are using iPods are ready to buy Zune. So, we can say that people will like to buy Zune instead of iPods and other music player. Media coverage for the Zune is given below…..
Five Phases Media Coverage: the Zune Friday, January 19, 2007 Fantasy: Microsoft announces 1.
•nebulous plans to deliver an iPod Killer, revealing a new brand name but not
showing off any features. 2.
•new DRM and wireless sharing features, without specifying how they would
work. 3.
•the web goes wild with speculative stories of how it’s inevitable that
Microsoft will take over the iPod. 4.
•pundits imagine a spectacular future of Zune development potential in 2007,
including a Zune phone.
Reality: Details slowly emerged that 1.
•the Zune will break compatibility with Plays For Sure DRM and abandon
partner's music stores. 2.
•the Zune will be a total reheating of an existing failure in the market: the
Toshiba Gigabeat S. 3.
•the repackaging would copy the look of the iPod but its copycat click wheel
would really just be a round switch. 4.
•a big new feature would be a slightly larger display of the same resolution as
the iPod.
5.
•nobody could know the price, battery life, physical size, or other competitive
details in advance. Zealotry: As things tilted downward, pundits fell all over themselves to suggest that 1. 2.
•Microsoft would give Zunes away with the Xbox and gobble up market share,
despite low Xbox sales. 3.
•Microsoft would deeply discount the Zune to undercut the iPod via a rental
music subscription subsidy. 4.
•Microsoft might stumble on launch, but would fix everything in a future
update around Zune version three. 5.
•Previous Plays For Sure zealotry was eclipsed by the new gospel of the one
true Zune DRM.
Inevitability: As it turned out 1.
•Zune hardware, as delivered, sucked: a clunky plastic box with a cheap
Tupperware lid. 2.
•Zune software was buggy and problematic, more flash than substance.
3.
•Promised features were a huge disappointment and entirely useless.
4.
•Existing iPod features expected by users were lacking: Audible and pod cast
support, PDA functions, battery life.
Distractibility: Please pay no attention to what's actually going on, and focus on BS instead 1.
•After sales completely tanked, Microsoft dumped a press release of a "goal' to
sell 1 million by June 2007. 2.
•The press picks up "1 Million Zunes" as a news story, pretending that the
number is both impressive and likely.
3.
•Microsoft starts talking about future Zune products, including an nebulous
"Zune phone." 4.
•Little mention is made of the Zune's target price being higher than the iPod's,
and forced lower by Apple. 5.
•The 30 GB Zune is repeatedly compared against the 80 GB iPod in size and
price, rather than the 30 GB iPod. 6.
•Talk about the Zune is overshadowed by shrill grandstanding about non-facts:
7.
Steve Ballmer stating that the Zune has “25% of the market.” 8.
Steve Ballmer stating that the iPhone was “the most expensive phone on the
market.” 9.
Analysts aren’t concerned about Zune theft, but do fear of iPhone muggings.
Laptops are no threat however.
[Source: www.raughlydrafted.com]
Here are the differences between Zune and iPod: zune vs. ipod
zune
ipod (30GB Video Model)
Storage Capacity
30GB
30GB
Battery Life
12/3.5 Hours (music/video) 14/4 Hours (music/video)
Screen Size
3.0”
2.5”
Screen Resolution 320x240 pixels
320x240 pixels
OS Support
Windows & Mac
Windows & Mac
Wi-Fi Connectivity Yes 802.11g
None
Built-in FM Tuner Yes
No
Dimensions
4.40” x 2.40” x .58”
4.1” x 2.4” x .43”
Weight
.30 pounds
.30 pounds
Wireless
Yes
No
earphones High
definition YES
No
sound recorder
Source: Ebays press release With this research, we can see the major differences between Zune and iPod. The screen resolution of Zune is bigger than iPod. Again, Zune supports the fastest file sharing process” Wi-Fi”. With this connectivity, users can send and receive music and videos from another Zune or from the net. Zune also have built in FM tuner. Now in Bangladesh especially in Dhaka, FM is very popular among the people of all ages. IPod does not support FM tuner. So, it is a great plus point for our product’s popularity. We can also see that, Zune offers wireless earphones but iPod does not have that. It is also a great plus point for our product because by primary research we have discovered that most of the people want to have wireless earphones. Here is an interview about the Zune Interview with Scott Erickson about the Zune Posted by Fabienne Serriere This morning chance to speak with Scott Erickson, Senior Product Manager for the Microsoft Zune. The Zune, in case you managed to escape the buzz, is a music and video playing handheld device set to launch tomorrow. Fabienne: The Zune has had such a big buzz on the internet, are there any sorts of differences in the review models that will change with the production model of the device? Scott Erickson: The devices we sent out for review are the same as those in stores tomorrow. There were some misconceptions in the form of early screen shots that weren't actually from
the device. Fabienne: Are you looking forward with relief to the launch tomorrow after such a long prebuzz? Scott Erickson: No, not at all. [Laughing] Yes of course, it's going to be one of the largest Microsoft product launches with 30,000 retail outlets including interactive kiosks at retailers. We'll also have the Zune at music stores such as the Virgin Megastore. Fabienne: What is your favorite part about the Zune -- in the interface, the hardware, or elsewhere? Scott Erickson: Wow that's a great question; no one has asked me that yet. The first thing that came to mind was the brown model. The brown color is something people either dislike or really take a shining to. It's an unusual color; I think it's really classy looking and no one else is doing it. Also, the wireless sharing functionality is a great feature. Fabienne: What exactly can you send with the wireless in the Zune? Scott Erickson: You can send songs and pictures to another person with a Zune device in range. In the future we may include sending to and from computers. The wireless function is implemented in the Zune so we can easily add new functionality later. Fabienne: When someone has a large collection of purchased music how will that media be treated with respects to playing it on the Zune? In the same vein, how many devices will be able to share music purchased from the Zune store? Scott Erickson: When you install the Zune the software can search your computer for music already digitized there. The Zune can play WMA, AAC, and MP3 music formats and WMV, MP4 and H.264 video formats. Up to five computers can play the same purchased media and an unlimited number of devices can play that music. Fabienne: Wow, so you don't have a limit on the number of Zunes that sync per computer?
Scott Erickson: Well, up to 16 Zunes can connect to one computer, after that you can still sync them but you'll have to do it with a manual sync. I can't imagine having that many Zunes for each computer in a household, but if anyone wants to buy 16 that's great! Fabienne: [laughing] well you never know, that could happen. We've heard what the experts think about the Zune for the last few months with numerous product reviews. What do you think the consumer reaction will be? Scott Erickson: that the customers are the experts in this case. We've listened to what the customers want: they want a more personal experience, a more social experience and we've attempted to give them that with the Zune. Fabienne: Thank you so much for your time today, and I wish you a pleasant launch tomorrow. Scott Erickson: pleasure. Devising a marketing mix The marketing Mix: The marketing mix of our product is given below: Product: The name of our product is Zune. It is music player which can play MP3, WMA, MP4, WAV and other formats of music. Here are the full specifications of our product:
Zune Capacity • 30GB • Stores
Colors • Brown
up to 7,500 songs, 25,000 pictures, or 100 hours of video.[1]
• Black • White • Limited
Edition: Pink and Red
Size and Weight • 4.4
in. x 2.4 in. x 0.6 in. (h x w x d)
• Weight:
5.6 ounces
Battery[2] • Music,
up to 14 hours (wireless off), up to 13 hours (wireless on); pictures, up to 4
hours; video, up to 4 hours • Charge Time:
3 hours; 2 hours to 90%
FM Radio • Built
in
• Presets:
30
Display • Size:
3.0 inches
• Orientation:
Vertical and Horizontal
• Resolution:
320 x 240 pixels
Audio • Windows
Media® Audio Standard (.wma): Up to 320 Kbps, CBR and VBR, up to
48-kHz sample rate • MP3 • AAC
(.mp3): Up to 320 Kbps, CBR and VBR, up to 48-kHz sample rate (.mp4, .m4a, .m4b, .mov): Up to 320 Kbps, Low Complexity (LC), up to 48-
kHz sample rate
Pictures • JPEG
(.jpg): All resolutions (desktop software will automatically convert to 640x480
at sync time)
Video • Windows
Media Video (.wave): Main Profile, CBR or VBR, up to 1.5 Mbps peak
video bitrates, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec., with Windows Media Audio up to 192 Kbps, 44.1 kHz, stereo audio; Simple Profile, CBR, up to 736 Kbps video bitrates, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec. Video Output • Yes
(composite-video)
EQ Presets • Acoustic,
classical, electronic, hip-hop, jazz, pop and rock.
Wireless • Connectivity: • Range: • Share
802.11 b/g
Up to 30 feet
select tracks, play lists and pictures - Zune to Zune. [3]
Language • English
Included Accessories • Earphones
• USB
Cable
• Sleeve
As we can see, our product will be available mainly in three colors- Brown, Black and White. Pink and Red colors will also available in limited editions. Our product will be packed in attractive plastic box so that our customers can keep the box for a long time. The colors of our box will be similar with the product colors. Price: After doing our researches and other relevant works, we have reached to the decision that the price of our product will be 13000 taka. As we can see the other competitors are present in the market and our price is similar to their price. We have considered many terms to set it as our selling price. They are: Profit Level: As we are a new company in an existing market, so we can not lower our price than the other companies. We have to survive in the market if we want a good result in the future. It also depends how much we want to have our gross profit. Market place pricing: we have many competitors in the market and the strongest one is selling their product in a high price. So to stay in the market we have decided this price. Distributors’ margin: As our product has to pass a supply chain, each of that supply chain will want to have a profit margin. So we have to consider that also. We also have to pay duty and 15% tax on our product. That’s why we set our price level at this. Place: As we are importing the product from outside, we have to choose a proper place for selling our product. As we have chosen direct selling, then our product will available in our main office and at our dealers in the whole country. For customers choice we have decide to have our main sales centre in Gulsan-2. And our product will also available through our dealers in the whole country. Again customers can buy our product from shopping malls like Bashundhara city, Eastern plaza, IDB and other Shopping malls. (Primary research) Distribution Channels: As we are importing our product from outside Bangladesh, so our product will be available first from manufacturer to the sales branch of our product in Bangladesh. Then From the dealers wholesalers will get our product and then the retailers
and from the retailers customers will get our product. Again, customers can also buy our product from dealers. Promotions: Our product is new in the market, so if we want to launch it successfully, we have to take some major steps. Advertising: We have to advertise our product before 3 months our product arrives in the market. As for advertisement media we have chosen these Medias: Newspaper: As Newspaper has a great flexibility, timeliness and high believability, we have chosen newspaper for our advertising. We have decided to give our advertisement in the most popular newspaper of Bangladesh “Prothom Alo.” We will advertise in this newspaper before two months of our products arrival in the market. Television: As we know television has a good market coverage and combines sight, sound and motion it will be very effective for our product’s advertisement. At first we have chosen three channels of Bangladesh. They are BTV, NTV and Channel-i. And after launching our product in the market, we will advertise in other channels. Radio: In Bangladesh, there are two very popular radio stations. Most of the people of Bangladesh like these radio stations and listen to them regularly. We have decided to advertise our product through these radio channels; Radio Today and Radio Furti. Magazines: Magazines are also a great media for our product’s advertisement. There are many magazines in Bangladesh. As our product is IT related, first of all we have to advertise our product in IT magazines. We have decided to give our product’s advertisement in Technology Today and Computer World. Online: We have also decided to give our advertisement in online. We have found that most of the net users in Bangladesh use hi5, face book, choruibhati and polapain.com for communications and other purposes. So we will advertise our products in these websites. Again, our product will be also available in Click BD.com for sell. Vehicles: We have decided to advertise our product through bus and taxi. It will be very effective because these vehicles will travel in many areas of the city and almost every people will see our advertisement at least one time.
Billboard: We will give our product’s advertisement in many billboards of the city. First we have chosen some place where we will give our advertisement .These places are Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur, Farmgate, Gulsan and Mohakhali. We will also give our advertisement on over bridges and in the islands between the highways and roads. Sales promotions: We will also use some sales promotions. They are given below: Discount: We will offer our first 200 customers 6% discounts. Again the next 100 customers will get 3% discount on the selling price. Price pack: Our customers will get a price pack offer. If they buy our combination pack which comes with a Zune, wireless earphones and a extra speaker they will get a great discount than if they buy the speaker separately. Advertising specialties: We will give our customers some gifts imprinted with our products name. These gifts can be coffee mugs, Files, Pens, Key rings, T- shirts etc. Sponsorship: Becoming sponsor of many events is one of the great media of promotions. As our product is music player, we will arrange some music concerts. We have also decided to sponsor the cricket team of Bangladesh. We will also arrange cultural programmes and seminars. Assessment Evidence –B Primary and secondary research c) Primary research: For primary research, we have surveyed over 40 people by some questionnaire. These questionnaires were used to identify our target market, size of market and competition. The results of our survey are given below ** (only product relevant questions without the personal information’s. The full questionnaire are given in Appendix-1):
10. Do you hear music? Yes-40, No-00
40 30 20
No
10 Yes
0 Yes
40
No
0
11. If you want to buy a portable music player, which company’s music player you will buy? Apple (iPod)-26, Sony-8, Microlab-4, Others-2
30 25 20 15 10 5 0
iPod Sony Microlab Others
12. If Microsoft company launch a music player, will you buy it?
40 30 20 10 0 Yes-38, No-02
13. How much storage you want on that music device?
30GB- 24, 60GB- 12, 80GB-4
Yes No
30
30 GB 60 GB 80 GB
20 10 0
14. In which color you will like to see our product? Red-8, Pink-8, Brown-12, White-6, Black-6
black White Brown Pink Red
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
15. At which price you like to buy our music player? 10000-12000= 12, 12000-14000= 26, More than 16000=02
30 25 20
10000-12000
15
12000-14000 more than 16000
10 5 0
16. Would you like to have wireless earphones with the music player?
25 20 15
Yes No
10 5 0
Yes- 24, No- 16 17. From which place you want to buy the music player? From main office-6, from authorized dealers- 14, from a shopping mall-20
20 15 Main office Dealers
10
shoppng Mall 5 0
18. If you want to buy it from a shopping mall, from which shopping mall you will buy? Bashundhara city- 26, Eastern Plaza- 8, IDB-6
30 25 20 15
Bashundhara City Eastern Plaza IDB
10 5 0
*(The number indicates the number of people) From other personal questions we have found out 65% of our customers is male and 35% are female. Among them 75% are Muslim and 25% are Hindu, among them 14 – 18 years are 10%, 18 – 22 years are 15%, 22 – 26 years are 30%, 26 – 30 years are 20% and 30 – 40 are 25%. Among them 55% customers are students, 35% customers are businessmen and 10% are others. Among them 30% lives in Wari and Motijhil, 30% lives in Gulsan, Banani,
Baridhara, 20% are from Mirpur and 20% are from Dhanmondi, Rampura and Mohommodpur.
d) Secondary research: In secondary research section, I have included some researches made by some websites and journals and media sources on Zune. They are given below : ABI Research Survey: 58% of iPod Owners Planning Another MP3 Player Purchase Will Consider Microsoft's Zune NEW YORK - November 1, 2006 A new survey conducted by ABI Research has shown that many prospective MP3 player buyers—even owners of iPods—would be likely to choose Microsoft's Zune player. 1725 teenage and adult US residents were asked whether they planned to buy an MP3 player in the next 12 months. Of those responding that they were likely to do so, 58% of those identifying themselves as existing iPod owners and 59% of those who owned other brands said they would be "somewhat likely" or "extremely likely" to choose a Microsoft Zune player over an iPod or another brand of MP3 player. "Our conclusion," says principal analyst Steve Wilson "is that iPod users don't display the same passionate loyalty to iPods that Macintosh users have historically shown for their Apple products." Only 15% of iPod owners said they were "not very likely" or "not at all likely" to choose Zune. So is Zune attractive enough to build anything like iPod's massive sales record? ABI Research believes that a critical factor will be whether or not Microsoft can differentiate the Zune from competing products in some meaningful way. One differentiator, Zune's Wi-Fi peer-to-peer sharing, which Microsoft is playing up heavily, "isn't all that compelling, at least not now," notes Wilson. "There's a lot more you could do with that capability." (Methodology: data contained within this report is derived from a Web-based survey among a
nationally-balanced and demographically-representative sample of 1,725 online consumers (age 18 and older). The consumer survey was conducted in October 2006. Respondents were provided a photo and description of the Microsoft Zune device before being asked about their likelihood to choose it over a competitive MP3 player)
Source: ABI Research By studying this primary research, we can clearly see that, what kind of market demand Zune has among the peoples. Even people who are using iPods are ready to buy Zune. So, we can say that people will like to buy Zune instead of iPods and other music player. Media coverage for the Zune is given below….. Five Phases Media Coverage: the Zune Friday, January 19, 2007 Fantasy: Microsoft announces 5.
•nebulous plans to deliver an iPod Killer, revealing a new brand name but not
showing off any features. 6.
•new DRM and wireless sharing features, without specifying how they would
work. 7.
•the web goes wild with speculative stories of how it’s inevitable that
Microsoft will take over the iPod. 8.
•pundits imagine a spectacular future of Zune development potential in 2007,
including a Zune phone. Reality: Details slowly emerged that 6.
•the Zune will break compatibility with Plays For Sure DRM and abandon
partner's music stores. 7.
•the Zune will be a total reheating of an existing failure in the market: the
Toshiba Gigabeat S.
8.
•the repackaging would copy the look of the iPod but its copycat click wheel
would really just be a round switch. 9.
•a big new feature would be a slightly larger display of the same resolution as
the iPod. 10.
•nobody could know the price, battery life, physical size, or other competitive
details in advance. Zealotry: As things tilted downward, pundits fell all over themselves to suggest that 6. 7.
•Microsoft would give Zunes away with the Xbox and gobble up market share,
despite low Xbox sales. 8.
•Microsoft would deeply discount the Zune to undercut the iPod via a rental
music subscription subsidy. 9.
•Microsoft might stumble on launch, but would fix everything in a future
update around Zune version three. 10.
•Previous Plays For Sure zealotry was eclipsed by the new gospel of the one
true Zune DRM. Inevitability: As it turned out 5.
•Zune hardware, as delivered, sucked: a clunky plastic box with a cheap
Tupperware lid. 6.
•Zune software was buggy and problematic, more flash than substance.
7.
•Promised features were a huge disappointment and entirely useless.
8.
•Existing iPod features expected by users were lacking: Audible and pod cast
support, PDA functions, battery life.
Distractibility: Please pay no attention to what's actually going on, and focus on BS instead 10.
•After sales completely tanked, Microsoft dumped a press release of a "goal' to
sell 1 million by June 2007.
11.
•The press picks up "1 Million Zunes" as a news story, pretending that the
number is both impressive and likely. 12.
•Microsoft starts talking about future Zune products, including an nebulous
"Zune phone." 13.
•Little mention is made of the Zune's target price being higher than the iPod's,
and forced lower by Apple. 14.
•The 30 GB Zune is repeatedly compared against the 80 GB iPod in size and
price, rather than the 30 GB iPod. 15.
•Talk about the Zune is overshadowed by shrill grandstanding about non-facts:
16.
Steve Ballmer stating that the Zune has “25% of the market.” 17.
Steve Ballmer stating that the iPhone was “the most expensive phone on the
market.” 18.
Analysts aren’t concerned about Zune theft, but do fear of iPhone muggings.
Laptops are no threat however.
[Source: www.raughlydrafted.com]
Here are the differences between Zune and iPod:
Zune vs. ipod
zune
ipod (30GB Video Model)
Storage Capacity
30GB
Battery Life
12/3.5 Hours (music/video) 14/4 Hours (music/video)
Screen Size
3.0”
Screen Resolution 320x240 pixels
30GB 2.5” 320x240 pixels
OS Support
Windows & Mac
Windows & Mac
Wi-Fi Connectivity Yes 802.11g
None
Built-in FM Tuner Yes
No
Dimensions
4.40” x 2.40” x .58”
4.1” x 2.4” x .43”
Weight
.30 pounds
.30 pounds
Wireless
Yes
No
earphones High
definition YES
No
sound recorder
Source: Ebays press release With this research, we can see the major differences between Zune and iPod. The screen resolution of Zune is bigger than iPod. Again, Zune supports the fastest file sharing process” Wi-Fi”. With this connectivity, users can send and receive music and videos from another Zune or from the net. Zune also have built in FM tuner. Now in Bangladesh especially in Dhaka, FM is very popular among the people of all ages. IPod does not support FM tuner. So, it is a great plus point for our product’s popularity. We can also see that, Zune offers wireless earphones but iPod does not have that. It is also a great plus point for our product because by primary research we have discovered that most of the people want to have wireless earphones. Here is an interview about the Zune Interview with Scott Erickson about the Zune Posted by Fabienne Serriere
This morning I had a chance to speak with Scott Erickson, Senior Product Manager for the Microsoft Zune. The Zune, in case you managed to escape the buzz, is a music and video playing handheld device set to launch tomorrow.
Fabienne: The Zune has had such a big buzz on the internet, are there any sorts of differences in the review models that will change with the production model of the device? Scott Erickson: The devices we sent out for review are the same as those in stores tomorrow. There were some misconceptions in the form of early screen shots that weren't actually from the device. Fabienne: Are you looking forward with relief to the launch tomorrow after such a long prebuzz? Scott Erickson: No, not at all. [Laughing] Yes of course, it's going to be one of the largest Microsoft product launches with 30,000 retail outlets including interactive kiosks at retailers. We'll also have the Zune at music stores such as the Virgin Megastore. Fabienne: What is your favorite part about the Zune -- in the interface, the hardware, or elsewhere? Scott Erickson: Wow that's a great question; no one has asked me that yet. The first thing that came to mind was the brown model. The brown color is something people either dislike or really take a shining to. It's an unusual color; think it's really classy looking and no one else is doing it. Also, the wireless sharing functionality is a great feature. Fabienne: What exactly can you send with the wireless in the Zune? Scott Erickson: You can send songs and pictures to another person with a Zune device in range. In the future we may include sending to and from computers. The wireless function is implemented in the Zune so we can easily add new functionality later. Fabienne: When someone has a large collection of purchased music how will that media be treated with respects to playing it on the Zune? In the same vein, how many devices will be able to share music purchased from the Zune store? Scott Erickson: When you install the Zune the software can search your computer for music already digitized there. The Zune can play WMA, AAC, and MP3 music formats and WMV, MP4 and H.264 video formats. Up to five computers can play the same purchased media and an unlimited number of devices can play that music. Fabienne: Wow, so you don't have a limit on the number of Zunes that sync per computer? Scott Erickson: Well, up to 16 Zunes can connect to one computer, after that you can still sync them but you'll have to do it with a manual sync. I can't imagine having that many Zunes for each computer in a household, but if anyone wants to buy 16 that's great! Fabienne: [laughing] well you never know, that could happen. We've heard what the experts
think about the Zune for the last few months with numerous product reviews. What do you think the consumer reaction will be? Scott Erickson: think that the customers are the experts in this case. We've listened to what the customers want: they want a more personal experience, a more social experience and we've attempted to give them that with the Zune. Fabienne: Thank you so much for your time today, and I wish you a pleasant launch tomorrow. Scott Erickson: My pleasure Devising a marketing mix The marketing Mix: The marketing mix of our product is given below: Product: The name of our product is Zune. It is music player which can play MP3, WMA, MP4, WAV and other formats of music. Here are the full specifications of our product:
Zune Capacity • 30GB • Stores
up to 7,500 songs, 25,000 pictures, or 100 hours of video.[1]
Colors • Brown • Black • White • Limited
Edition: Pink and Red
Size and Weight
• 4.4
in. x 2.4 in. x 0.6 in. (h x w x d)
• Weight:
5.6 ounces
Battery[2] • Music,
up to 14 hours (wireless off), up to 13 hours (wireless on); pictures, up to 4
hours; video, up to 4 hours • Charge Time:
3 hours; 2 hours to 90%
FM Radio • Built
in
• Presets:
30
Display • Size:
3.0 inches
• Orientation:
Vertical and Horizontal
• Resolution:
320 x 240 pixels
Audio • Windows
Media® Audio Standard (.wma): Up to 320 Kbps, CBR and VBR, up to
48-kHz sample rate • MP3
(.mp3): Up to 320 Kbps, CBR and VBR, up to 48-kHz sample rate
• AAC
(.mp4, .m4a, .m4b, .mov): Up to 320 Kbps, Low Complexity (LC), up to 48-
kHz sample rate Pictures • JPEG
(.jpg): All resolutions (desktop software will automatically convert to 640x480
at sync time)
Video • Windows
Media Video (.wave): Main Profile, CBR or VBR, up to 1.5 Mbps peak
video bitrates, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec., with Windows Media Audio up to 192 Kbps, 44.1 kHz, stereo audio; Simple Profile, CBR, up to 736 Kbps video bitrates, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec.
Video Output • Yes
(composite-video)
EQ Presets • Acoustic,
classical, electronic, hip-hop, jazz, pop and rock.
Wireless • Connectivity: • Range: • Share
802.11 b/g
Up to 30 feet
select tracks, play lists and pictures - Zune to Zune. [3]
Language • English
Included Accessories • Earphones • USB
Cable
• Sleeve
As we can see, our product will be available mainly in three colors- Brown, Black and White. Pink and Red colors will also available in limited editions. Our product will be packed in attractive plastic box so that our customers can keep the box for a long time. The colors of our box will be similar with the product colors. Price: After doing our researches and other relevant works, we have reached to the decision that the price of our product will be 13000 taka. As we can see the other competitors are present in the market and our price is similar to their price. We have considered many terms to set it as our selling price. They are: Profit Level: As we are a new company in an existing market, so we can not lower our price than the other companies. We have to survive in the market if we want a good result in the future. It also depends how much we want to have our gross profit.
Market place pricing: we have many competitors in the market and the strongest one is selling their product in a high price. So to stay in the market we have decided this price. Distributors’ margin: As our product has to pass a supply chain, each of that supply chain will want to have a profit margin. So we have to consider that also. We also have to pay duty and 15% tax on our product. That’s why we set our price level at this. Place: As we are importing the product from outside, we have to choose a proper place for selling our product. As we have chosen direct selling, then our product will available in our main office and at our dealers in the whole country. For customers choice we have decide to have our main sales centre in Gulsan-2. And our product will also available through our dealers in the whole country. Again customers can buy our product from shopping malls like Bashundhara city, Eastern plaza, IDB and other Shopping malls. (Primary research) Distribution Channels: As we are importing our product from outside Bangladesh, so our product will be available first from manufacturer to the sales branch of our product in Bangladesh. Then From the dealers wholesalers will get our product and then the retailers and from the retailers customers will get our product. Again, customers can also buy our product from dealers.
Promotions: Our product is new in the market, so if we want to launch it successfully, we have to take some major steps. Advertising: We have to advertise our product before 3 months our product arrives in the market. As for advertisement media we have chosen these Medias: Newspaper: As Newspaper has a great flexibility, timeliness and high believability, we have chosen newspaper for our advertising. We have decided to give our advertisement in the most popular newspaper of Bangladesh “Prothom Alo.” We will advertise in this newspaper before two months of our products arrival in the market. Television: As we know television has a good market coverage and combines sight, sound and motion it will be very effective for our product’s advertisement. At first we have chosen three channels of Bangladesh. They are BTV, NTV and Channel-i. And after launching our product in the market, we will advertise in other channels. Radio: In Bangladesh, there are two very popular radio stations. Most of the people of Bangladesh like these radio stations and listen to them regularly. We have decided to advertise our product through these radio channels; Radio Today and Radio Furti. Magazines: Magazines are also a great media for our product’s advertisement. There are many magazines in Bangladesh. As our product is IT related, first of all we have to advertise our product in IT magazines. We have decided to give our product’s advertisement in Technology Today and Computer World. Online: We have also decided to give our advertisement in online. We have found that most of the net users in Bangladesh use hi5 face book, choruibhati and polapain.com for communications and other purposes. So we will advertise our products in these websites. Again, our product will be also available in Click BD.com for sell. Vehicles: We have decided to advertise our product through bus and taxi. It will be very effective because these vehicles will travel in many areas of the city and almost every people will see our advertisement at least one time. Billboard: We will give our product’s advertisement in many billboards of the city. First we have chosen some place where we will give our advertisement .These places are Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur, Farmgate, Gulsan and Mohakhali. We will also give our advertisement on over bridges and in the islands between the highways and roads.
Sales promotions: We will also use some sales promotions. They are given below: Discount: We will offer our first 200 customers 6% discounts. Again the next 100 customers will get 3% discount on the selling price. Price pack: Our customers will get a price pack offer. If they buy our combination pack which comes with a Zune, wireless earphones and a extra speaker they will get a great discount than if they buy the speaker separately. Advertising specialties: We will give our customers some gifts imprinted with our products name. These gifts can be coffee mugs, Files, Pens, Key rings, T- shirts etc. Sponsorship: Becoming sponsor of many events is one of the great media of promotions. As our product is music player, we will arrange some music concerts. We have also decided to sponsor the cricket team of Bangladesh. We will also arrange cultural programmes and seminars.
Other factors influencing the marketing mix. As we are new in this country, so the plan we have made may not work properly. We will face many obstructs in our path of marketing. But as we have a strong brand name, we can hope that our product may not face much problem. Again the constrains we may face are: Financial constraints: We may face some financial crisis in this country in the initial period of the business. One of major reason of this is the mentality of Bangladeshi people is different. They wanted to get a good product is a low rate. As the price of our product is not very low, our product may face this kind of problem. Another issue is taking high interest as tax. As we have to pay 15% tax, it will be difficult for us in the first stage of our business. Time: In order to market our product, we have to strictly maintain the time. We have to bring the product in the market as we shown in our advertisements. Transportation is one of the major obstruct in this. Again traffic jam will kill most of our valuable time. It will affect on availability Of our product in the market.
Skills and expertise of staffs: We may also face a lack of skilled staffs. As it is a huge and new business, we cannot take the risk to recruit unskilled staffs. Again this will affect on sales of our product. Ethical standards: In Bangladesh, we don’t think that we will face ethical issues. Again we decided to keep in mind about the religious issues. Product availability: As our business is a import business, we may face unavailability of our product in the market. This will affect on the market share and sales of our product. Legal factors: We may not face any problem in legal factors. But for that we have to pay the duty and tax to the government regularly. If we don’t do these properly, our business may face a great problem. Political factors: In Bangladesh we will face many political abstracts in selling our product. We may face Hortal, strikes and many other problems. And the students of Universities are also related in this so this will affect on our customers and sales of our product.
S.W.O.T analysis of our business:
Very strong brand name. Good financial situation. Better quality of product. STRENGTH
A new product.
WEAKNESS
Less market share.
Better product. OPPORTUNITIES Good response from people. THREAT
Very strong competitor
High price
BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP APPROACH
STAR
QUESTION MARK
CASH COW
DOG
As our product is new in the market, we will start our business as cash cow. And we will get to the star stage. Questionnaire ………………………………………
1. Gender: 2. Age : -
Male
Female
14 – 18 years
22 – 26 years
18 – 22 years
26 – 30 years
4. Your occupation: -
Student
Employee
Retired
Worker
5. Your earnings in a month (In taka): -
30 – 40 years
Businessman
12000 – 18000 25000 – 30000
6. In which area you live: Dhanmondi
Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara Kollanpur, Mirpur
Musician
18000 – 25000 More than 30000
Mohommodpur, Motijhil, Wari, Old
Dhaka
7. Do you like/hear music?
Yes
No
8. If you want to buy a portable music player, which company’s music player you will buy? Apple (iPod)
Sony
Micro lab
Others
9. If Microsoft Corporations launch a music player, will you buy it? Yes
No
10. How much storage do you want on that music device? 30 GB
60 GB
80 GB
11. In which color will you like to see our product?
Red
Pink
Brown
White
Black
12. At which price you will like to buy our music player? 10000 – 12000
12000 – 14000
More than 16000
13. Would you like to have wireless earphones with the music player? Yes
No
14. From which place you will like to buy the music player? From main office
from authorized dealers
from a shopping mall
15. If you want to buy from a shopping mall, from which shopping mall you would like to buy that? Bashundhara City
Eastern Plaza
Computer city (IDB)
White Zune
Others
Zune with wireless earphones
Zune VS iPod
Zune VS iPod graph