Introduction
Apple incorporation, abbreviated as Apple Company, is a large multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in the United States of America. The firm deals with the design, development, selling, advertising and renting of consumer electronics, computer software as well as a range of online services and other third-party services and devices incorporated into its systems.
It is also highly valued and has been indicated to contribute notably to the total GDP of the United States economy. Its main competitors include Google, Microsoft as well as other phone manufacturers including but not limited to Samsung, Techno sand Huawei (Reuters, 2015).
Some of the company’s hardware products include iPads, iPods, iPhones, The Apple watch Smartwatch, The Mac personal computer and the Apple Digital Television. Some of the firm’s software products in the market include Mac OS that runs its computers, the iOS that runs the majority of its mobile and other handheld devices, the OS X, iLife creativity suite for managing media content, the iWork productivity suite as well as the Safari Web browser and the iTunes media player.
Factors driving business growth at Apple
Brand loyalty – Apple is tipped to be one of the few companies with an unusually high level of brand loyalty among its customers (Tippie, Kerr, 2015; Evans, 2015). And to back up this claim, a report by InterBrand research listed it as the most valuable brand in 2014, with a value of $118.9 billion at the time. As its high level of consumer loyalty continues to be regarded as unusual, the Boston consulting group that evaluates brands has listed Apple as the most innovative brand in the world continuously since the survey was launched in 2005. This has led some of the commentators to remark that Apple enjoys a highly incredible personal relationship between its customers and its products, a factor which could be the key to the motivation is brand loyalty. The fortune Magazine also listed Apple Incorporation as the most admired firm worldwide between 2008 and 2012, and in the years 2013, it managed to surpass the coca cola company to be the best valuable brand according to the Omnicom report. This loyalty is what drives purchases of the firm’s products every year, with its new launches seeing long queues hours before the events start, with some customers even flying in from other countries during such launches.
The large revenue and capital base enjoyed by the Apple Company is the other important factor that drives business growth of the Apple incorporation (Wakabayashi, 2015; Gassee, 2016). Apple is indicated to be the world’s largest company in the information technology industry by its total revenue, and it still remains the largest firm in this category by total assets. Regarding its mobile sector, it is the second-largest manufacturer behind Samsung, and the world’s largest firm by market capitalization that is publicly traded. The company is also among the few US firms to be valued over seven hundred billion dollars, and its contribution to the total American GDP is close to 1.25%. With its financial might, Apple is able to conduct massive innovative projects that cannot be undertaken by some of its peers and competitors, and it’s one of the companies attracting and employing highly skilled and talented staff to drive its business needs. With its large financial muscle, the firm has also been able to advertise its products better than some of its peers and competitors – and it's able to roll out new products almost on an annual basis to ensure its customer base is getting new things every now and then.
Finally, advertising has been one of the other key factors driving business growth at the apple. The company has been able to keep its name and image on the market subject to good advertising from time to time. Apple is indicated to be one of the most popular brands and a brand for which its customers show a good understanding of its values. This seeks to alter people attitudes towards its products, counter negative opinion and improve sales in the long term (BizFilings, 2012).
Most important factors and actions that need be taken
Brand loyalty and advertising are some of the most important factors driving business growth of the Apple incorporation. With a number of business competitors in the market, apple is touted to have the highest customer retention capacity – with over 76% of apple smartphone owners replacing their gadgets with new ones from the same manufacturer, Google has its retention at 58%, while the remaining firms have less than 40%. Brand loyalty drives repeat sales and thus increases sales volume, makes premium pricing much more likely and customers are willing to pay more for their trusted brand as well as lifting pressure on advertising. Advertising also helps to inform consumers of the availability of the brand and ways their attitudes towards the positive with regard to the product brand (Awan & Rehman, 2014; Nawaz & Usman, 2014; Malik et, al., 2013).
Conclusion
References
Reuters. (2015). Apple Inc. (AAPL.O). Available at: www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=AAPL.O
Lowa State University (2015). Brand Loyalty. Available at: https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/wholefarm/html/c5-54.html
Evans J. (2014). Chart: Apple is beating up Samsung in Brand loyalty. Available at: www.computerworld.com/article/2476076/apple-ios//chart-apple-is-beating-up-samsung-in-brand-loyalty.html
BizFilings (2012). Effective Advertising makes people remember your name. Available at: www.bizfilings.com/toolkit/sbg/marketing/advertising-pr/advertising-benefits.aspx
Wakabayashi D. (2015). Apple’s business-related revenue hits $25 billion. Available at: www.wsj.com/articles/apples-business-related-revenue-hits-25-billion-1443548280
Gassee J. (2016). The second largest part of Apple’s revenue now comes from something called services. Available at: qz.com/674049/the-second-largest-part-of-apples-revenue-now-comes-from-something-called-services/
Tippie H. & Kerr J. (2015). Apple In. (AAPL)
Malik et. al. (2013). Importance of brand awareness and brand loyalty in assessing purchase inventions of consumer, International journal of business and social science, vol. 4 No. 5 pp. 167-171
Nawaz N. & Usman A. (2014). What makes customers brand loyal: A study on telecommunication sector of Pakistan. International journal of business and social science, vol. 2 No. 14 pp. 213-221
Awan A. & Rehman A. (2014). Impact of customer satisfaction on brand loyalty – An empirical analysis of home appliances in Pakistan. British journal of marketing studies, vol. 2 No. 8 pp. 18-32
