“Apple always wants a reaction when one of their new products launch, although they probably weren’t hoping for the angry scenes which erupted in China today. Frustrated customers threw eggs at Apple’s flagship Beijing store after its opening for the Chinese launch of the iPhone 4S was cancelled due to concerns over the size of the crowd. Apple reacted to the scuffle by postponing iPhone 4S sales in its mainland China stores to protect the safety of customers and employees.
Customers including migrant workers hired by touts in teams of 20 to 30 to buy iPhones for resale at a mark-up to Chinese gadget fans waited overnight in freezing weather at the Apple store in Beijing’s eastern Sanlitun district. The crowd erupted after the store failed to open on schedule at 7 am. A person with a megaphone announced the sale was cancelled. Police ordered the crowd to leave and sealed off the area with yellow tape. Employees posted a sign saying the iPhone 4S was out of stock.”
The chaos showed that Apple was definitely underestimated the Chinese demand and spending power of Chinese market. The CEO Tim Cook said, “We didn’t bet high enough.” The company may want to figure out what happened in that situation and how to prevent it from happening again in the future. Apple should have an effective marketing information system to give the managers the right information and help them to determine and act correctly and create stronger customer relationships. Companies use this system to compute information needs, develop the needed information, and help decision maker to use the information to generate and validate actionable customer and market insights.
The company should also perform marketing researches before it launches its iPhone4s in Chinese market. It should collect both primary data and secondary date to assess its target consumers and shipment. Besides, online marketing research such as Internet surveys and online panels are interactive and easier to give some information about the demand.
Apple is trying to expand its distribution in China and pushing forward close cooperation with other second carrier partners since China is one of its most important markets and it would seek more in-depth development of China.
I didn’t know of such a scandal, interesting post!