FAIRPHONE MARKETING PROJECT
This report is written on the base of research that has been done in a previous report: International market research Germany for Fairphone. The German smartphone market is extensively reseacred and the results are used in this report: International Marketing plan. This report is composed of three parts. The report is concluded with recommendations for Fairphone. The main question answered in this report is: “What international (online) marketing strategy would Fairphone have to follow in order to increase their market share in Germany in the following year?”
In the first part of this report, Part A, the current market situation is described. Most important is that Germany’s attitude towards mobile phones is very positive. 88% of the population currently owns at least one mobile phone and 55% of them use a smartphone. Also, there has been made a SWOT analysis. The strengths of Fairphone are that the product is fairly produced and it is a sustainable product. This is an important factor, because this distinguishes Fairphone from other smartphones brands. But the product looks and works just like every other smartphone, which is also strength. Weaknesses that Fairphone deals with are the (current) lack of brand awareness and that competitors can offer a similar product (technical wise) for less money.
These two weaknesses are opportunities in the same time. Also, the global increase of social responsibility and environmental awareness is an important opportunity for Fairphone. Fairphone’s biggest threat is that people can have brand loyalty to the famous brands like Apple and Samsung.
There have been set 3 marketing communication goals for Fairphone in part B. The goals are: Create more brand awareness by increasing the followers on Facebook and Twitter by 25% in 2 years, having at least 35% of the visitors of the website sign up for a monthly newsletter send by email in 2 years and increase sales by 15% within 2 years by selling Fairphones in stores. These goals can be realized by marketing activities what will be described later on. The target audience that will be focused on are men and women between the age of 30 and 45, with an average and above average educational level. The last criterion is these people have consciousness about social responsibility for environment, sustainability, fair trade and business. This last part is also the main point where Fairphone wants to distinguish themselves with compared to the competitors on the smartphone market. Sustainability, fairer economy and trade and social responsibility should be of great value for the customer.
Part C consists of an Integrated Marketing communication mix and a planning of the marketing activities. The Integrated Marketing communication mix evaluates the strategic roles of eight communication elements; advertising, sales promotion, events and experiences, public relations, direct marketing, interactive marketing, word-of-mouth marketing and personal selling. Most importantly for Fairphone will be the Interactive marketing. Social media is an inexpensive but very effective tool for marketing and increasing the brand awareness.
The Integrated Marketing communication mix concludes in a planning of the communication mix activities. The activities are offline and online, and planned per quarter for 2016 and 2017. In the first year, the focus will be mainly on creating more brand awareness. This will be done trough activities such as advertisements in a newspaper, like-share-and-win campaign on social media platforms, attending a mobile phone fair and the refer-a-friend campaign. Also, from now on Fairphones will be sold in physical stores as well. In the second year the focus will be more on increasing sales. This will be done by activities like a “Fairphone special sales day”, new promotional video on social media platforms and offering Fairphones with a phone plan from T-Mobile or Vodafone. Fairphone wants to stimulate their customers to keep using their phone for a longer time than the average use (2 years) of a smartphone. They will do this by offering discount based on the age of the phone. The total calculated budget is €96.000.
Finally, recommendations are made concerning the marketing strategy for Fairphone in Germany for 2016 and 2017. These recommendations are made to reach the marketing goals that were set. The recommendations consist of online and offline activities planned per quarter for 2016 and 2017. The online activities will be of great importance for the marketing overall. This will mainly revolve around social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. The most important offline marketing tool is to start selling the phone in physical stores as well, in collaboration with existing and successful smartphone providers. This marketing plan can be considered as a guideline for Fairphone to reach its marketing communication goals, and becoming more successful as a smartphone company in Germany.
International Marketing Plan Report
The report is composed of four different parts: macro-analysis, meso-analysis, potential buyer, and conclusion. There is also a list of annexes on the last part of the file.
Those parts offer different points, which are answers to subsidiary questions. Those sub points have been gathered an answered in goal to answer to the main question of our research: would Fairphone be profitable on the German market?
This question is quickly possible to answer to, as Germany was the most profitable market for the previous version of Fairphone. In fact 48,7% of the buyers were from Germany.
However, it is important to understand why this market was profitable for Fairphone, and to deduce if it will also be for the next generation of smartphone produced by the Dutch company. To do so, a list of sub question that lead to different analysis has been answered to.
The first bloc (part A) consists of interrogations concerning the macro-environment that Germany offers to the smartphone industry. Firstly there is an analysis of the basic macro-environmental factors, using the DESTEP model, to analyse the current state of the country: it has a consequent amount of inhabitant, a good GDP, a low unemployment rate; as well as a tendency to be consumer of fair-trade products, an advanced level of technology and communication, a recognition of current’s ecological problems, and international agreements regarding the environment. Those factors are all positive towards the implantation of a new Fairphone in Germany.
Secondly is Germany’s attitude towards mobile phone, which show a really positive one: 88% of the population currently own at least one mobile phone, and 55% of them use a smartphone.
Thirdly, the Hofstede model shows the cultural differences between Germany and The Netherlands to scope on which dimensions mobile phones could be promoted. Both countries are very similar, and two points have been cited: the masculinity of Germany, which push them to buy the best products; and the high score of long-term orientation for the Germans that shows their level of consciousness into environmental problems.
Finally a quick note on the country of origin effect shows that Germany sees products coming form The Netherlands as innovative. Point taken, Fairphone is one of the only sustainable phone on this market.
The second bloc (part B) is made out of several points that concern the meso-analysis of Fairphone in Germany. Firstly is a segmentation of the market according to four factors: geographic, demographic, behavioral, and psychographic. The first factor isn’t relevant as Fairphone is sold online, but the demographic segments shows that men tend to own more smartphone than women, and that there is almost no factors influencing the purchase of one: only personal preferences, and maybe income. The third shows a real attack for Android based phones. And the last one offers a positive comment towards fair and sustainable products.
Second point is about the competitors on the market: it shows that there is at least 10 actors implanted on it. It also points out that within the market, there is another level of competition regarding the Android based phones. It states also that Germany is the biggest Android market in Europe.
The third point relate to Fairphone’s image in Germany. As stated before, most of Fairphones has been sold in this country, which shows a really positive image of the products. A consequent part of the German population is aware and conscious about environmental, social, and ethical issues regarding different industries; which would explain why they are Fairphone’s first client.
On position number four is the attitude of the consumers towards sustainable phones, Fairphone on this case. It shows again the attract for Fairphone by conscious customers that are interested in reducing the harm caused by the industry on the planet, but also on the work condition related to the production of a product.
Fifthly is an analysis of main support of publication that could be used by the company to promote Fairphone. Like in most western countries, and especially in Europe, Facebook is the biggest social network by its number of users. Largest professional network platform in Germany is Xing, unlikely other European countries, where LinkedIn has most users.
Finally, as for the sixth point, it is a list of relevant actors in Germany for Fairphone. The list includes the CEO of the company Bas Van Abel, Oliver Hebert, but also Hi-P Electronics Technology Co. Ltd., Chongqing Guohong Technology Development Co. Ltd, TAOS Network and a few more.
The third bloc (part C) is a setup for the potential buyer of a Fairphone, in four sub points.The first sub point is an analysis of Fairphone’s current online presence: on how many social media it is present, its website, the numbers of subscribers and followers, the online trends regarding the company (#WeAreFairphone), as well as its advertisement supports: video on Youtube, ads on Facebook, an so on.
Secondly is a list of sustainable phone’s expected values. There is four core points: its environmental impact and life cycle, its life expectancy, the possible ethics behind the products, and the appeal of it.
Thirdly is a narration of the potential customer’s journey. It is defined as someone within the target group, aged between 30-45, with or without superior education that earn a moderate to high income, and that lives in an environment that suits the needs for conscious purchase.
The typical persona of Fairphone is a 37,5 years old male with German nationality. This typical consumer has a master’s degree and as a profession they are in the technical or engineering business. The consumer attaches importance to the feeling of involvement in the daily society and community.
The facts about the German mobile phone market show that Fairphone would fit in perfectly on the German market. So therefore during the process of this research it became clear that there is a demand for the Fairphone on the German market. There are a few big and important names on the German mobile phone market that would be important competitors for Fairphone, but the demand for Fairphones in Germany is big enough that this demand could be profitable for Fairphone.
Marketing Research Report
Fairphone is from origin a Dutch company what produces smartphones in a fair way. It started in The Netherlands, but Fairphone currently sells and ships their phones to over 30 countries. With today’s urge of being always accessible and online, a smartphone is indispensable.
The inducement of the report is an assignment of Windesheim University of Applied Science on behalf of Fairphone. Fairphone would like to know what international online marketing strategy would Fairphone have to follow in order to increase their market share. In this report there will just be focused on the research that is required to investigate what marketing strategy is most appropriate for Fairphone.
Researching exclusively the German market, this main question for this report is:
“To what extend is there a demand on the German market for the Fairphone and is the market profitable?”
The goal of this research is to obtain a better insight on the macro-environment and meso-environment of the Germany market for Fairphone, and to find out more about the potential customer. This is investigated by means of desk research. The report will be composed of 3 main parts, which are subdivided into paragraphs. Each paragraph answers a sub question of this research. The report will be completed with a conclusion.