Marketing Situation Analysis for HP Sprocket Research (Essay Sample)

Marketing Situation Analysis
(Author’s name)
(Course Name)
(Instructor’s Name)
(Date)
Introduction
The HP sprocket is a revolutionary new form of technology that allows for instant photo printing. The Sprocket is HP's way of venturing into the portable instant printing market. It is a compact pocket sized device that enables individuals to print photographs directly from their smart phones through the use of Bluetooth connections. This objective of this paper is to provide a discussion on the markets situation analysis of the HP sprocket device in the Australia market. To achieve this, the paper will review the benefits of implementing an integrated marketing communication strategy for the client and an analysis of the company's existing use of media platforms.
HP Sprocket Mission, Vision, and Values
The company’s mission is to earn customer loyalty and respect through consistently providing them with high quality and value based products. The organization also seeks to achieve sufficient levels of profits that can finance its growth, create value for the shareholder and enable it to expand into the Australian photo printing market. The organizations vision is to be a market leader in terms of developing and delivering innovative and useful products like the HP Sprocket printer. The organization also seeks to improve the welfare of its employees by providing them with a condusive environment to work in. HP Sprocket value is derived from the fact that the device utilizes revolutionary technology fir the photo printing that eliminates the need of having cartridges for printing.
Use of Media
The HP Sprocket use of media is completely different from that of its major competitors in the portable photo printing market. HP Sprocket relies heavily on social media as its main avenue of marketing and a significant percentage of its sales are social media users. On the other hand, the companies competitors like the Fujifilm Instax SHARE SP-2 and the Polaroid Zip rely primarily on conventional forms of media for marketing their products. This is largely due to the fact that unlike the HP Sprocket, the two other competitors target mostly cooperation’s with out of office printing needs. Another difference in media use is seen in the clientele demographics targeted by the companies. HP use of media for marketing is targeted at members of the youth demographic who have access to smart phones and Bluetooth enabled devices. On the other hand Fujifilm Instax Share SP-2 targets a more mature audience and one does not need to have a Smartphone device to print the images as the device has SP-2 sharing capabilities.
Suggestions
Given the features of the HP Sprocket it is logical to conclude that the organization has the write marketing mix given the fact that the product is designed for individuals who like sharing photographs. A significant percentage of the products target clients are social media users and by using social media as its primary means of marketing, it is logical to conclude that the organization has the proper marketing mix for that specific target base.
Integrated Marketing Communication
The organization has managed to obtain a significant level of success through the use of an elaborate well structured integrated marketing communication system. An example of this is seen on the company's website which has been integrated with the different social media platforms that the company operates. By doing this, clients can be able to easily navigate to and from the organization's website and social media platforms thereby allowing for direct communication between the two parties.
The organization has also integrated its conventional communication channels with its non-conventional channels. This is seen in the fact that its websites are effectively integrated into all its conventional communication mediums. For an effective market situation analysis of the HP Sprocket, it is important to conduct a SWOT analysis of the product thereby understanding how it would perform in the Australian Market.
SWOT Analysis of HP Sprocket in Australia
Strength
One of the major strong points of the HP sprocket printers in Australia is that the HP Company already has operations in the Australian market. This is an advantage for the HP Sprocket due to the fact that the clientele base is familiar with HP's products and thus the Sprocket will face little market resistance. The fact that HP operates in Australia implies that it has already established a clientele base which helps to make sales of the HP sprocket easier by providing it with a ready clientele base to target. The brand reputation for HP will also serve as a major advantage for the HP Sprocket in Australia as it would serve to increase the consumer sales for the product.
Another major advantage of the HP sprocket is its portability. The HP Sprocket is pocket-friendly thus making it easy to carry and move it from place to place. This provides it with a significant competitive advantage over similar products made by the competitors which need to be carried in bags. Unlike the other products in the market, the HP sprocket is capable of producing 2*3 stick able pictures. The stick-ability of the pictures also serves as a strong point for the product sales due to the fact that the pictures can be easily stuck on any surface thereby making them more convenient for the users.
Another advantage of the HP product is the fact that it can be easily linked with Smartphone through a Smartphone application that is designed for the HP sprocket. The application is designed for both IOS and Android operating systems thereby serving to increase the target clientele base for the product. A significant percentage of the Australian teenage population has smartphones. Thus the ability to link the sprocket system with smartphones serves as a significant advantage for it.
The HP Sprocket also utilizes state of the art ZINK Zero Ink technology which ensures that the system does not utilize ink cartridges. This serves to eliminate the costs associated with the acquisition of ink cartridges. The technology used by the HP sprocket provides it with a competitive edge over that used by most of its competitors due to the fact that most of its competitors utilize cartridges which serve to increase the cost of operating the system.
The HP sprocket also utilizes Bluetooth technology to in connecting the smartphone with the device. This serves to eliminate the cost associated with connective cables and as a result, provide the product with a competitive edge over the products used by most of its competitors which utilize USB cables for connectivity.
Weaknesses
The major disadvantage with the HP sprocket is the fact that unlike most of its competitors, the quality of photos produced by HP printers has been quite poor. This is largely due to the fact that the company’s main area of focus is document printing and not photo printing. The poor quality of images produced by the printer is likely to hamper the sales of the product in the Australian market which is flooded with a number of other companies that have specialized in picture printing. Another major weakness of the HP Sprocket is the fact that the sprocket is more expensive than other competing products in the market. This is likely to hamper product sales are consumers will opt for cheaper options.
Opportunities
A major opportunity for the Sprocket in the Australian market is that a significant percentage of the country's population has smartphones. This provides the company with a large clientele base where it can be able to market its products. Another major opportunity is that the rapid growth of social media has made the sharing and taking of photographs quite popular amongst a huge percentage of the youth population. This serves to provide the sprocket with a significant clientele base that it can service and an avenue for sparring demand for the product.
Competitors
Two of the major competitors for the HP Sprocket in the Australia market is the Fujifilm Instax SHARE SP-2 and the Polaroid Zip. A major difference between the HP Sprocket and its competition is in the price of the products. The HP Sprocket retails for $130 and film for 20 images is sold at $10. The Fujifilm Instax Share SP-2 retails for $162, and a 20 image film is sold for $13. The Polaroid zip retails for $127, and a 30 image film is sold for $10. Based on this it is logical to conclude that in terms of price the HP Sprocket is relatively affordable when compared to the competitors in the market. Unlike the HP Sprocket, in the Fujifilm Instax Share SP-2, one can easily send images directly to the printer without the use of the use of smartphone through the use of the SP-2 technology. This feature makes the Instax SP-2 suitable for professional photographers.
Another key difference between the HP sprocket and its two major competitors is in the quality of the products. The photographs produced by the HP sprocket have vertical lines in the prints indicative of low quality printing. On the other hand, Fuji SP-2 has quality images which have no lines in the photo print. This is an indicator of quality images. However, unlike the HP Sprocket, the SP-2 is bulkier and inconvenient to carry. The photos printed by the Polaroid zip have are characterized by high levels of contrast which are an indicator of mid level quality images. Unlike the other two printers, the contrast of the Polaroid can be adjusted based on user preference.
Bibliography
Carman, Ashley. "HPs Sprocket might not be the best instant printer, but it’s definitely the most fun." The Verge. Septemb...