Marketing Plan for Eleftria Tablet
Latest Changes In Red Text
Marketing Plan for Eleftria Tablet PC
The Eleftria Tablet PC is a revolutionary product in that it combines the latest developments in networking technologies, open source operating systems to keep costs low, and the ability to act as a central scheduling device for busy households. As of September, 2011 there are no tablets or low-end smart phones that have the ability to synchronize to multiple schedules while also being able to communicate over Wi-Fi to all devices in a household. As this Tablet PC can also be used for managing a household’s many tasks and drastically reducing trips and time spent coordinating with other household members around key tasks and activities. As this device will be able to interact and integrate with all other Wi-Fi networks in the home, enhancements could be built that would take inventory of commonly depleted items including milk, bread, cereal or frozen dinners. The ability to click on a single icon on the tablet while out shopping to see what is needed could save hundreds of trips over a year. The Eleftria Tablet PC will also have EV-DO technology included on the motherboard, ensuring the device can stay connected to the Internet regardless of location or the need for a Wi-Fi signal (Apple Investor Relations, 2011) . The unique value proposition of the Eleftria is to communicate convenience, efficiency and cost savings by communicating better throughout a home. There will need to be a customized version of the Google Android operating system created specifically to support this device. As Google has made the adoption of their operating system a priority, this will most likely be achievable quickly. In defining and marketing the Eleftria PC, it’s important to ensure it aligns with the company’s mission statement. The mission statement is “Our passion is improving the quality of life for our customers through the use of innovative designs and state-of-the-art electronics, freeing them to live life how they choose. Eleftria!”
Product Support of Mission Statement
Freeing our customers to live the life they want begins with a tablet PC that can literally be used anywhere, anytime, by anyone in the family. The Eleftria Tablet PC, which will serve as an information appliance, giving those keeping a household running all the software applications they need to keep a busy household running smoothly. In supporting the mission statement from a product standpoint, the Eleftria will include an EV-DO chipset that when configured during production can turn the entire PC into a mobile hotspot (Apple Investor Relations, 2011). Supporting the entire tablet PC will be a specially designed version of the Google Android operating system, supporting multi-role based access, securing and heavy emphasis on data synchronization to Microsoft Outlook, Yahoo Mail and other e-mail clients that are popular today. The proven use of secured Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technologies throughout home environments will also be relied on for ensuring real-time integration with other systems and devices throughout the home (Cooke, Buckley, 2008). The Eleftria will also be sold through a build-to-order program, ensuring families can customize it to their unique needs.
Marketing Objectives
Target Market
The Eleftria is designed to meet the specific needs of the largest and fastest growing segments of the tablet PC market globally. Apple tracks the sales of their iPads globally by demographic group, and reports them to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the Form 10Q and 10Ks (Apple Investor Relations, 2011). As Apple has well over 80% of the tablet market today, their estimates of demographics are very representative of the total market. These analyses Apple has provided show that the male 18 — 45 segment is where the majority of tablet are sold today, primarily as gaming and business productivity machines. Closely following this segment is the female 18- to 45-year-old segment, many of which are working mothers. The Eleftria table PC is designed for those women and their families, giving them the freedom to coordinate both work and home scheduling, tasks, deadlines and application use across both roles. The EV-DO technology included in the Eleftria frees them from having to stay connected to a Wi-Fi site.
Figure 1: Smartphone and Tablet PC Demographics, 2010
Market Segment
Share
Males 18-45
37.0%
Females 18-45
28.0%
Males <18n
20.0%
Females <18n
7.0%
Males >45
6.0%
Females >45
2.0%
Based on an analysis of sources: (Einhorn, 2011) (Apple Investor Relations, 2011) (Franke, Schreier, 2010)
Marketing Objectives By Area of the Marketing Mix
Product Objective
The best goal any new product can set is to be revolutionary and redefine an entire market. This is what the goal of the Eleftria Tablet PC is, supported by an innovate build-to-order strategy that allows consumers to build whatever model they choose.
Price Objective
There is a clear price/quality relationship in all products, and the Eleftria must be priced high enough to provide for profitable sales while at the same time communicating high value and exclusivity. The pricing will be above the iPad and below the traditional PCs, at $500 for the fully featured unit with full EV-DO technology, with is $100 less than the current pricing of the iPad2 with a contract commitment. EV-DO does away with the need for wireless carrier contracts.
Place Objective
Multichannel sales is the primary objective of this area of the marketing with, with distribution through Amazon.com electronics stores, Best Buy, Wal-Mart and many other retailers. Discount outlets including Costco and Sam’s Club will also be offering the Eleftria. It will also be sold online as well, where customers can configure their specific model of choice.
Promotion Objective
In Greek, Eleftria means freedom, and that is exactly how this device is going to be promoted and sold. The freedom from having to always have a strong Wi-Fi signal, freedom from paper calendars at home not syncing up with calendars at work, and freedom to communicate with family members anywhere in the world at any time all will be key promotional points. There will also be a heavy focus one vents that underscore the freedom messaging and a full set of social networking strategies including Facebook fan pages for the Eleftria, it’s fans and its applications. The promotional slogan “Take back your freedom with Eleftria!” will be used throughout all materials.
Competitive Situation Analysis
Consumer Product Classification
The most critical factors to the success of the Eleftria include its ability to deliver consistently high levels of reliable, secured communications across all family remembers regardless of locations globally, and the trust early adopters have in the technology overall. The most critical success factors or consumer factors for enabling this to happen include defining aggressive yet profitable pricing, a series of customer success stories and examples of how it has been successfully used, underscoring the time savings achieved. These factors are all meant to accelerate the buying process. Being able to customize the Eleftria for the specific needs of a family will also increase its value drastically over time. Product customization will give families flexibility in defining just the right type of tablet PC that can truly be an indispensible communications command set for the family, supporting all necessary EV-DO and Wi-Fi communications platforms and technologies (Einkorn, 2011). Please see Appendix A for a full competitive comparison and analysis. Table 1 provides an analysis of the Eleftria Tablet using the three-way consumers product classification system. While the Eleftria Table fits across all of these categories, it is predominately a mainstream product.
Table 1:
Analysis of the Eleftria Tablet Using the Three-Way
Consumer Products Classification System
Eleftria as a Convenience Product
Eleftria as a mainstream Shopping Product
Eleftria as a Specialty Product
Consumer Factors
1. Planning time involved in Purchase
2. Purchase frequency
3. Importance of convenient
Location
4. Comparison of price and quality
Slight time requirement due to the pricing and decision to purchase
One every 12 mos.
Very important
Slight due to this being a mid-priced items
Considerable; as the Eleftria Tablet will be sold with bundled configurations through this channel
Once every 18 mos.
Less frequent
Important
Considerable
Extensive as this is the channel the Eleftria will be sold through as a build-to-order system
Once every two years
Unimportant
Very little as this is the build-to-order Eleftria Model
Marketing Mix Factors
1. Price
2. Importance of seller’s image
3. Distribution channel
Length
4. Number sales outlets
5. Promotion
Mid-Level
Unimportant
Long
Any BestBuy or Costco (low end unit)
Advertising and promotion through market development funds (MDF) with the retailers
Relatively high
Very important
Relatively short
BestBuy, Costco and online retailers including Amazon.com
Market Development Funds and heavy promotion on e-commerce websites as well
Very High
Extremely Important
Very short – Eleftria resellers have a direct link to the production center to streamline customization
Highly customized sales experiences of potential Eleftria stores and locations
Market Development, advertising and testimonials as well from customers who have had their tablets customized
Analysis of Competition using Porter’s 5 Forces Model
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
The three core strengths of Eleftria Wireless include engineering expertise, ability to create stable supply chains for high-demand electronics components, and distribution channel alliances and partnerships throughout North America and Europe. Each of these three strengths is directly applicable to the marketing of the new Tablet PC, as each has a direct impact on the marketability, availability, pricing and sales of the product.
Engineering Expertise
Eleftria has recruited engineering talent from local universities who have an understanding of how to manage the many subsystems that comprise the tablet PC architectures it has patented. This engineering expertise includes power engineering, electrical, optics and software engineering for fine-tuning the Android operating system the device is based on. Many of these engineers also have extensive expertise in the areas of Agile software development, a system for managing the complexities of creating and launching a new software product. Their focus on creating new product designs that are upward compatible with low-power requirements microprocessors are also considered a core competency of the company. Finally the expertise in product testing and validation within the company is based on the experience of engineers who previously worked for Apple, Intel, IBM and Motorola. Engineering is a core competency of the firm as the founders are from Google, Intel and IBM.
Stable Supply Chains
When developing, launching, manufacturing and selling any new consumer electronics device, the supply chains are the most crucial link any company has to fulfilling product demand and meeting customer expectations. For Eleftria Wireless, their focus on creating strong partnerships with key suppliers is reflected in the depth of coordination they have with their suppliers for custom components. Eleftria has hired experienced supply chain managers and directors who know how and when to bring suppliers into the new product development processes in their company. The use of supply chain analytics is also pervasive throughout Eleftria, so that inventory levels can be managed and approaches found for managing demand more effectively by coordinating with suppliers. The use of supply chain metrics in high tech has been shown to reduce inventory costs, increase order accuracy and lead to higher gross margins and profitability over time (Bhagwat, Sharma, 2007). Eleftria’s management realizes that su0pply chains are crucial for their success once they begin producing the Eleftria Tablet PC in volume. Relying on supply chain partners as part of the team to deliver the highest quality products possible is also a core part of the Eleftria Wireless strategy. Like many high tech companies who use this approach as part of their quality management initiatives, Eleftria has an incentive program in place for suppliers who consistently deliver high quality components (Bhagwat, Sharma, 2007).
Distribution Channel Alliances
Eleftria has relied on direct sales initially through its sales force calling on distributors and top-tier retailers to sell their Tablet PC. This has given the company the ability to get shelf space in regional retailers. Six months before the launch of the Eleftria PC, the sales management team chose to hire sales managers who had expertise and contacts in high tech retailers. The result has been a steady increase in sales throughout the indirect channels and the development of entirely new pricing and discount programs as well. This has gone from being a neutral aspects of their product strategy into being one of their core strengths.
Core Competencies
Eleftria has patent spending for their innovative approach to power management with tablet PCs, which makes this aspect of their company one of its strongest core competencies. Eleftria also has extensive expertise in the design and ergonomics of tablet PCs due to the experience of engineers from Apple, Intel, and IBM. Product design and performance all contribute to marketability.
Weaknesses
Eleftria Wireless doesn’t have the ability to quickly localize manuals and support materials for other regions of the world, doesn’t provide 24-hour swap-out for corporate accounts, and only will warranty the Tablet PC if work is done in one of their few service centers. The ability to scale outside the U.S. with sales has been seriously impacted by these weaknesses.
Starting with the ability to translate documentation into other languages Eleftria Wireless has been slow to hire foreign language experts to translate their many manuals and service bulletins into Spanish, French and Chinese. Retailers based in these countries are holding back orders until they can verify the manuals are translated effectively into this languages.
A second significant weakness is the lack of support for hot swaps or 24-hour replacements of Tablet PCs. This is a necessary requirement for enterprise, or large business accounts. Eleftria Wireless however has been slow to react to this, and only offers it in two repair depots in the U.S. today. In order for any corporate account to use these locations, they must have their sales representative re-enroll them with a new account just to get the swap-out credit. This can take days to get done. Eleftria has lost enterprise sales on this point, while Apple has such programs
