Beats by Dr.Dre FASHION MANAGEMENT PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT LEE LIYI ZHANG
Background L-R Beats Co-Founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre and Beats President Luke Wood
Beats Electronics (Beats) comprises the Beats™ by Dr. Dre™ family of premium consumer headphones, earphones, and speakers as well as patented Beats Audio™ software technology and streaming music subscription service Beats Music™. Formally established in 2008, the company was co-founded by rapper and hip hop producer Dr. Dre and Interscope-Geffen-A&M Records chairman Jimmy Iovine. Now, Beats Electronics is a division of Apple Inc. Beats' popularity is primarily influenced by its marketing practices, centered on product placement and branding deals with celebrities that were accessible due to Iovine's professional network. In 2012 NPD Group reported that Beats' market share was 64% in the U.S for headphones priced higher than $100, and the brand was valued at US$1 billion in September 2013.
Beats' popularity is primarily influenced by its marketing practices, centered on product placement and branding deals with celebrities that were accessible due to Iovine's professional network. In 2012 NPD Group reported that Beats' market share was 64% in the U.S for headphones priced higher than $100, and the brand was valued at US$1 billion in September 2013. This time, Beats will reenter the China's number 1 online sales platform TMall (since the first time was nov 2013), helping capture the potential target market who aspire to be Beats by Dre customers, as well as expand our current product selection.
Source: http://beatsbydre.com
History
Trend Research
In 2008, Taobao (similar to eBay) created TMall as a B2C sales platform solely dedicated to official brand stores, allowing them to sell their goods to the entire Greater China region. The annual Singles Day sale (an event held on 11th November, celebrating people who are still living the single life) shows just how much TMall has rocketed in five years, with sales amounting to RMB50 million to RMB5.71 billion in the years 2009 and 2014 respectively. This provide a good starting point for brands planning to enter the TMall sales platform. TMall now has over 70,000 brands. Besides having impressive sales figures, TMall is a straightforward way to reach out to consumers living far away from those tier one cities where foreign brands usually establish a physical presence on entering the market.
TMall has quickly developed to become a sales platform that consumers all over China refer to when researching and eventually buying branded products online. It provides an additional sales channel for brands that want to target consumers outside of the cities where they have a physical presence. With nationwide broadband coverage still developing with room for improvement, TMall should be viewed as a long-term channel that needs a strategic approach to meet consumer demand and build a successful, long-term brand presence in the People’s Republic of China.
Source: Red Ant China
Target Market Our customer is defined as 18-30 year-olds youngsters who are not just music lovers but particular hip-hop music lovers and care about great sounds as much as fashion looks. They are still attending school or recent college graduates. They live in urban neighborhoods in metropolitan cities and they enjoy shopping online, blogging, and social networking. They concern fashion and brand recognition and they have passion for sports and popular western icons.
Product Line HEADPHONES
EARPHONES
SPEAKERS
Competitor Evaluation Boomphones is a Los Angeles-based company with an obsession for designing ultra-portable audio products that allow music lovers to create, inspire, and share amazing sound.
Skullcandy was founded in 2003. The company that markets headphones, earphones, hands free devices, audio backpacks, MP3 players, and other products. Skullcandy's products are targeted at the outdoor action sports demographic (snowboarders, skateboarders, etc.) and general consumer market. Skullcandy products are sold through retailers, specialty outlets, and their online store.
The Bose Corporation is an American privately held corporation that specializes in audio equipment. Founded in 1964 by Dr. Amar G. Bose, the company sells its products throughout the world. Bose is best known for its home audio systems and speakers, noise cancelling headphones, professional audio systems and automobile sound systems. The company has also conducted research into suspension technologies for cars and heavy-duty trucks and into the subject of cold fusion. Soul Electronics was established in 2009, SOUL Electronics’ mission is to create quality sound designed for every lifestyle. ‘Power, Clarity and Comfort’ are the three core elements they focusing on. Products masterfully balance elements such as world-class noise cancellation technology, sound quality, comfort and fashion.
Conclusion With our research on these four high-end and premium competitors, we found that we are filling a niche in the market by selling our products in the online marketplace and mainly persuading customers by music videos and celebrities.
Source: www.boomphones.com Source: www.soulelectronics.com
Branding
Marketing We are aiming at a focused approach into the social media, including Weibo, a Chinese popular SNS platform. There will be press release approximately simultaneously once the website of Beats on TMall have been officially launched.
beats.tmall.com
weibo.com/beatsbydrechina
Global Industry Beats has become entrenched as the global market leader for headphones priced at more than US$100. The privately held company is due to build up its operations in China this year to meet growing demand for its headphones worldwide. We're going to be making investments, from the standpoint of operations and research and development, in Shenzhen and we will also hire a marketing team based in Shanghai and build up our sales organisation in Hong Kong. A report by Futuresource Consulting estimated that the global headphone market reached US$6 billion in value last year on total sales of more than 260 million units, up from US$5 billion and unit sales of 228 million in 2011. Sales are expected to top 330 million units in 2016. The steady increase is attributed to the fast-growing base of portable audiovisual devices, including smartphones and media tablets, which consumers use with their headphones. Beats had about 60 per cent share in North America and 40 per cent in Europe of the over-US$100 premium headphone market. In the high-end headphone market as a whole, Beats has 64 percent of it. In the high-end youth headphone market, it’s basically all of it. Citing both external and company estimates, we are clearly ranking the top in revenue. At present, we are seeking triple-digit increase in annual sales to Asia and South America and becoming No 1 in markets like Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Germany, France and Britain. Source:www.scmp.com