Company 1:- xiaomi Xiaomi Inc. ([ɕjǎu.mì] ( listen); Chinese: 小米) is a Chinese electronics company headquartered in Beijing. Xiaomi makes and invests in smartphones, mobile apps, laptops, and related consumer electronics.[2] Xiaomi released its first smartphone in August 2011 and has rapidly gained market share in China to become China's largest smartphone company in 2014.[3] As of the start of Q2 of 2018, Xiaomi is the world's 4th largest smartphone manufacturer. [4][5] Xiaomi has expanded into developing a wider range of consumer electronics, including a smart home (IoT) device ecosystem.[6][7][8][9] The Marketing Mix of XIAOMI is:- Product mix: Xiaomi is one the fastest growing consumer electronics companies based out of China. Xiaomi initially started off as a mobile brand but now offers a wide range of consumer electronics products. Xiaomi’s biggest seller are its smartphones with the MI and the RedMi range of products. These products are mostly run on Qualcomm processors in India due to a case pending with the court with Ericsson on the usage of non-Qualcomm products in India. Similarly, it has customised the products to the requirements of the region it operates in to incorporate the local market and political conditions. This shows the strong product portfolio in the marketing mix strategy possessed by Xiaomi. Price mix: Xiaomi sells at low price and offers high quality products. According to the founder, chairman and CEO their main aim is to sell the products at the price the product is produced without making any profit. So, the strategy being followed by Xiaomi is sell at a low price today and gain later strategy. Their profit generation focus is on the accessories, apps, and services that are to be used with their products. This is a unique pricing strategy in its marketing mix, mostly aimed at gaining a substantial market share. The pricing strategy of Xiaomi has enabled the brand to penetrate into a global market and have a substantial market share. Initially, they started with low end feature phones to enter the market. Now, gradually, Xiaomi has also established itself as a leading smartphone player across the world. Promotion mix: Xiaomi promoted its products by selling high specs at lower price to markets where technology savvy people could not afford high spec products from Xiaomi competitors. They have distinguished themselves by building a strong following around their custom operating system. “Just For Fans”, Xiaomi’s unique initiative where the Xiaomi loyal fans lead the development of the product in every step. Most of the employees of Xiaomi are also previous loyal fans who have become part of the team developing the product. In this way Xiaomi has made sure there is a pull strategy than a push strategy of the products produced by them. Xiaomi also leveraged social media to the fullest and word of mouth. It promoted through micro blogging sites and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. They regularly organize flash sales which forced the people to buy them due to the urgency. This caused a hype for the product and there has been alleged reports that some of the products were sold out in 6 minutes. Xiaomi, has a well-established program under the VIP Users Center. Being a Xiaomi VIP entails getting points with each new purchase, which counts towards your status in the Xiaomi online community as well as for discounts on future purchases. These VIP members are also invited to these local meetups and fan festivals. This conclude the 4Ps marketing mix of Xiaomi. Place mix: Xiaomi operates in China, Singapore, India and 27 other countries mainly in emerging markets of south east Asia. It has a huge presence in many of these countries but major turnover comes from mainland China. Xiaomi mainly sells through online mode though it has made some modifications in some of the emerging markets like India where it uses retail outlets to sell its products. It operates through Flipkart in the online space in India. Xiaomi also operates dedicated stores called Mi home present in Beijing and now being opened in Bangalore. It expects to open 100 Mi home stores in India. Xiaomi also operates 555 Mi authorised service centres across 356 cities in India alone. Company 2:- apple Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services. The company's hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, the iPad tablet computer, the Mac personal computer, the iPod portable media player, the Apple Watch smartwatch, the Apple TV digital media player, and the HomePod smart speaker. Apple's software includes the macOS and iOS operating systems, the iTunes media player, the Safari web browser, and the iLife and iWork creativity and productivity suites, as well as professional applications like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Xcode. Its online services include the iTunes Store, the iOS App Store and Mac App Store, Apple Music, and iCloud. Product mix:Apple Inc is known for its innovation in the world. It has always come up with new products that amazed the whole world. Some of its popular products in the marketing mix of Apple explain its product strategy as below:1. Mac: - Macintosh – generally branded as Mac, one of the premier products of Apple Inc and the utmost reason for the existence of the company. It was introduced by Steve job in Jan 1984. It was the first personal computer made for mass that had mouse and graphical user interface. It has come up with newer versions which are still famous among the people of United States of America. Some of the models that are currently present in the market are: Mac Pro, iMac, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, MacBook 2. Iphone: - Apple Inc was the first company to introduce smart phones that had multiple touch i.e. iphone. It was basically a combination of a smart phone and ipod. It has many version with the latest one as iphone 7 and iphone 7 plus. 3. IPod: - A unique kind of portable digital music player. Various variations have come up in the market as iPod Nano, iPod touch, iPod shuffle and many more. 4. Apple watch: - Watch where you can keep a track of your fitness schedules. 5. Apple TV: - One of the biggest failures for apple is the introduction of apple TV. 6. Software and Services Price mix: Apple Inc products are premium products and they do not target all the sections of the society. Being a market leader in its segment, the marketing mix pricing strategy of Apple is that of a market leader. However, competition also influences its pricing. Apple is always know for its innovation and innovation comes up with cost. So, they follow premium pricing policy in order to delight their customers. Most of its products such as Mac book, iphone, iPad are all comes under premium products category. Apple products are costly and are also considered as a status symbol. It is always argued that why these products are so costly. One of the reasons for it is the technology that is being used in the products. Once you get addicted with these products, you won’t think about other brands. Promotion mix: Apple Inc targets specific segment of people. So during promotional activities, its main focus is on its products and the differentiating factors that make its unique from the competitors. The promotional strategy in the marketing mix of Apple focuses on aggressive advertising using various channels like TV, print media, online ads, billboards etc. If we closely see the ads that Apple has come up with, it has always tried to focus on how different it is from the competitors. It has always believed that ads should be simple and gets connected to the heart of the people. These ads are to the point and no irrelevant information. These ads will came during any one of the product launch and will run for a very long time. Apple Inc hardly comes with any sales offers or gives discounts to any other people except students. Hence, this summarizes the marketing mix of Apple. Place mix: Apple adopts an aggressive strategy in reaching out to premium customers. There are various channels that are being used by Apple Inc to target the end consumers. Apple came up with the idea of opening its own outlets i.e. Apple stores where it could sell its products. They also brought the concept of trade partners. They collaborate with such trade partners to maintain the distribution channel. They have firm believe that keeping lesser number of trade partners can increase the efficiency of distribution channel. These products are then sending to authorized retailers for apple products. These are premium retailers who are given targets as set by the company. Another channel of selling is through online portals. Most e-commerce portals have apple products and it is one biggest point of sale for apple. One of the differentiator factors for apple is that they have lots of staff in the apple stores because of its complexity. Staffs are there to make you understand well about the products. Comparison between xioami & apple: BASIS COMPANY 1XIOAMI COMPANY 2APPLE 1.PRODUCT MIX These products are mostly run on Qualcomm processors in India due to a case pending with the court with Ericsson on the usage of nonQualcomm products in India. Similarly, it has customised the products to the requirements of the region it operates in to incorporate the local market and political conditions. Xiaomi sells at low price and offers high quality products. According to the founder, chairman and CEO their main aim is to sell the products at the price the product is produced without making any profit. Apple Inc is known for its innovation in the world. It has always come up with new products that amazed the whole world. Some of its popular products are MAC, IPHONE, APPLE WATCH, APPLE TV. 2.PRICE MIX 3.PLACE MIX Xiaomi operates in China, Singapore, India and 27 other countries mainly in emerging markets of south east Asia.. Xiaomi also operates dedicated stores called Mi home present in Beijing and now being opened in Bangalore. It expects to open 100 Mi home stores in India. 4.PROMOTION . “Just For Fans”, Xiaomi’s unique initiative where the Xiaomi loyal fans lead the development of the product in every step. Most of the employees of Xiaomi are also previous loyal fans who have become part of the team developing the product. It promoted through micro blogging sites and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. MIX Apple Inc products are premium products and they do not target all the sections of the society. Apple is always know for its innovation and innovation comes up with cost. So, they follow premium pricing policy in order to delight their customers. Apple came up with the idea of opening its own outlets i.e. Apple stores where it could sell its products. They also brought the concept of trade partners. They collaborate with such trade partners to maintain the distribution channel. Another channel of selling is through online portals. Most ecommerce portals have apple products and it is one biggest point of sale for apple Apple Inc targets specific segment of people. So during promotional activities, its main focus is on its products and the differentiating factors that make its unique from the competitors. The promotional strategy in the marketing mix of Apple focuses on aggressive advertising using various channels like TV, print media, online ads, billboards etc