Samantha Bielawski
The market research that I have done so far for the new product iPet supports Apple’s objectives when it comes to innovation and competitive advantage. This pet collar is an innovative product that is going beyond a normal smart collar and connects to Apple products giving easy access and no monthly fees. This also is giving Apple a competitive edge over its competition currently because Apple would be turning sights on a new frontier that has been steadily growing and does not appear to be stopping anytime soon. This also gives Apple a competitive advantage over its new competition because they have established having apps readily available on their devices current devices.
Because this is a completely new industry trend for Apple there can be some concerns when combining technology with pets. However making pet products that are compatible with technology is becoming an increasing demand for pet owners. Looking at the pet industry alone it has grown 51.4% in the past ten years and is expected to continue to grow in the next five years. With new pet product categories emerging into the market as well as a demand for high-end products this is an opportunity for Apple. With Apple implementing features that are not included in competitors’ collars as well as making the product easy to connect to Apple devices. For right now we are focusing on dog collars to get started and making adjustments to the collars as needed. As we continue on we can look into other types of pet collars such as cats and even look as other pet products that make pet care easier for pet owners.
How the proposed marketing strategy is aligned to legal, ethical, and industry standards as a product itself is by being able to stand alone. The product is different from its competitors making it not look like a copy of a product that is already on the market. That the consumers that partake in the survey for testing the market need to be sure to be anonymous and that we keep their information confidential that way we remain ethical to our consumers. Other things that we need to do be both ethical and meet industry standards is be clear in our marketing about our product. Meaning that when we advertise about the boundary feature that alerts users when their dog has left a particular area. It is not however an invisible fence to keep dogs contained. Making sure that we are clear about what the product does and keeping misleading information to a minimum.
Some of the limitation that iPet has is the fact that is only for iPhone users. Because of this we are limiting our market base to only iPhone users that have dogs that can effectively use the iPet collar. Even though research has shown that there is a higher number of pet owners being iPhone users compared to Android this is still a limitation when comparing to other dog collars on the market. The competition is able to connect to other devices including iPhone.
References
Howarth, J. (2021, May 14). 7 Pet Industry Trends to Know (2021-2025). Exploding Topics. https://explodingtopics.com/blog/pet-industry-trends.
Rowland, C. (2020, September 23). Apple Inc.’s Mission Statement and Vision Statement (An Analysis). Panmore Institute. http://panmore.com/apple-mission-statement-vision-statement.
Sam Bielawski 