Nintendo Switch: Gaming Console Marketing And Targeting Strategy

Market Segmentation and Targeting Strategy

Question:

Discuss about the Principle of Marketing for Advertising and Selling.

Marketing is the total activities engaged in the transfer of products or services from the producers to the consumers including shipping, advertising, selling and storing. As stated by Huang and Sarigollu (2014), the target market is the customer group within an organization’s available market which the organisation has decided to target its marketing efforts. Target marketing is involved in breaking the market into several segments and the organisation concentrate the marketing efforts on the key market segments whose desires and needs closely match the service or products offerings. In addition, value proposition means the statement that the organisation uses to summarises why the customers would purchase the products or service. The value proposition is the USP or uniqueness of the organisational products and service. Moreover, marketing mix the set of tools those are used in marketing in order to continue to meet the objectives of the organisation.

Nintendo Switch is developed by Nintendo and it is the seventh major gaming console developed by the organisation. Nintendo switch is known as the codename NX. This product was released in the year 2017, March worldwide. Nintendo Switch is the hybrid console and it is primarily is a home console to be used in the television set. Nintendo Switch can be removed from the dock and it can be used on the outside also like a tablet or handheld gaming console. Nintendo Switch can be used as tabletop and it can be played as a multi-players gaming console (Nintendo.com 2018). There are Joy Cons to be attached to both sides of the console and the software is used to support the online gaming through internet connectivity.

Market segmentation is the method of segregating the broad customer or business market that consist the existing customers into some of the basic subgroups of the customers. The customer segments must be shared with same types of characteristics (Datta et al. 2017). There are mainly four types of customer segments; geographic market segments are the customers who are divided into location-based and region based. These customers can be divided into urban or rural basis. The demographic market segment can be divided into the age, gender, socio-economic group and occupation of the customers. The behavioural segment is the customer wanting a value for money products or the customers can be divided with the factors of the rate of usage, loyalty status, benefits sought and readiness to purchase something. A psychographic segment of the market can be segregated through personality, lifestyles, class and attitude of the customers (Osterwalder et al. 2014). The purpose of the market segment is to narrow the large target customers into more narrowed target group. The organisations basically want to target the specific target customers including lifestyles, demographics, usage of patterns and lifestyles of the customers.

Among the four market segments, Nintendo Switch is targeted mainly to the demographic market segment, narrowly to the youth age groups and the upper-middle class people who can afford the smart gaming console. The primary target market for Nintendo Switch is the young adults and teens to sell more of their gaming units. The young adults who belong to the upper middle-class group with higher income can spend their money on Nintendo Switch. The secondary target market of Nintendo Switch is behaviour segment; the individuals who like technologies and who like to play video games. These customers mainly provide loyalty status and usage rate of the products are high.

Primary and Secondary Target Markets of Nintendo Switch

Primary target market

Table 1: Primary target market of Nintendo Switch

Secondary target market 

Table 2: Secondary target market segment of Nintendo Switch

 The new aged children are growing up with the technologies and young adults are used to with smart gaming console. As stated by Covin et al. (2015), 72% of the teen males in US and UK choose to spend their money on video gaming console over than any other products. The value proposition can grab the attention of the customers because it must provide something unique to the customers. The value proposition of the products provides values to the customers and it creates a strong difference between the competitors in the market. Value proposition statement attracts the customers’ prospects and it increases the quantity and the quality of the perspective of the products. Nintendo Switch is the quality product that provides the customers to play the games in the home using television set and the users can play this gaming console by using it as hand-held video games. This USP of Nintendo Switch can help the organisation to gain the market share in reaching the target markets who are young adults and who like to play games. As opined by Osterwalder et al. (2014), value proposition statement can assist the customers to enhance the tools that can help the customers to get closer to business and improves the operation efficiency. Value proposition will help Nintendo Switch is to define the values and uniqueness of the product and makes the product differentiate from others as Nintendo Switch gives the feature of dual-screen. Positioning statement of Nintendo Switch is the innocent, refreshing and fun; the gamer can play together and it is one of the ways to being active.

The product is the item that is sold by the company and this product must provide a minimum level of performance (McAlexander et al. 2014). It is vital for the organisation to make out and plan for the stages of product life cycle. The product can solve the specific problems of the customers and Nintendo Switch kills the boredom of the players. Nintendo Switch is a unique type of hybrid video game console that consists of the systems featuring the switch console, Joy Cons and Switch Docks. Nintendo describes this product as a home console that the users can take with when they go outside. The player can play this game on TV and it provides a 3D view to the players. The main unit of this product is the Switch and it also has a battery powered monitor and it looks like a tablet with the LCD screen. This gaming console can be used as hand-held devices with 6.2 inches screen and it weighs just 297 grams (Digitaltrends.com 2018). The screen of this Switch consoles provides support to multi-touch capacitive sensing and it includes haptic technology. This console provides the audio-jack and it has inbuilt stereo-speakers. There is a USB port to provide charge to the console while it is out of the dock. Nintendo Switch has the slots for game card and it also gives space for MicroSD external storage. The users can attach the console with or without the Joy Cons on the Docking Station and most importantly; there are three types of modes to play the Nintendo Switch, first one is the TV mode, the second one is the Tablepod mode and the third one is the handheld mode (Digitaltrends.com 2018). There are some games those are specified to play on specific modes only and these can be played with multi-player mode also. Therefore, Nintendo Switch can be played in different modes and different styles; therefore, each feature of Nintendo has benefits to the customers.

Value Proposition Statement

Price is the value of the products and services offered by the organisation and it depends mainly on the production cost, target segment and ability of the market segment to pay for this. According to Dutta et al. (2017), pricing can be utilised as the demarcation to enhance and differentiate the image of the products. There are some factors of the pricing strategies, fixed and variable costs, competition, company objectives, positioning strategies and target group. (Tanner and Raymonds 2015), opined that value-based pricing is the pricing strategy where the organisation sets pricing according to perceived or estimated value of the products to the customers. The price of Nintendo Switch in Australia is $469, where the Xbox One 1TB console prices $330. In Australia, Xbox lowered the pricing in Australia. Sony PlayStation 4 in 1TB format is priced $499 in Australia. Therefore, it is clear that Nintendo takes the strategy of competition-based pricing as the organisation sets the price in comparison with other competitors in the market. As stated by Schulze et al. (2014), the firms generally have three options, lower price, upper price and higher prices than the competitors. Switch is priced lower than Sony PlayStation in Australia. This pricing of Nintendo can be described as the psychological pricing as the previous product of Nintendo Wii could not take the market as storm. The seller considers the psychology of price and positioning of price in the marketplace.     

The process of distributing the products to the customers is defined as place and this movement is the combination of distributors, intermediaries, retailers and wholesalers. A distribution channel is the activity and process that required moving the product or service from the producer to the customers (McAlexander et al. 2016). There are two types of distribution channels, in the direct distribution channel, the products go to the customers directly. On the other side, indirect distribution goes from producer to wholesaler to retailer and to consumers. Nintendo manufactures the products and the organisation mainly takes the indirect distribution so that the products reach to the different countries easily. It distributed Nintendo Switch through wholesalers to retailers to the customers. Very large national accounts are dealt with directly as the retailers buy a large volume at the initial stage. Nintendo Switch is available in High Street retail and shops and all the gaming retailers. Nintendo Switch is also available in online mode also via Amazon e-bay (Nintendo.com 2018). Nintendo Switch is also available for second-hand buyers via e-bay. Distribution is getting matured for Nintendo Switch as the organisation has been taking few avenues of distributing; not all the processes.

Promotion is communication method of the business and it creates various channels for the organisation to promote the products. The organisation targets to attract the attention of the customers and it give the customers to get information of the products and launching of the new products. Promotions foster the interest of the customers to motivate them to buy the products (Huang and Sarigollu 2014). Promotional strategies are various for the organisation and it can be done through traditional method of promotions like print, billboards and hoardings. The organisations are taking online strategies to promote the products, SEO, PPC and social media strategies work for the company (Nicholson et al. 2015). Promotional strategies can build the brand awareness, create interest and stimulate the demands in the market. Nintendo Switch began the advertisement through announcement via YouTube. This video creates sensation among the gamers and the organisation increased the stock level compared to last year. Nintendo Switch provides deals to the customers through online and in the website of Nintendo, there is comparison chart from where the people can buy Nintendo Switch. Nintendo makes the deal with the e-commerce and they provides massive discount to the customers. Nintendo Switch sold as bundle by the gaming retailers and people can purchase the products in discount and separately. Nintendo Switch took the strategies of early purchasing and the people can get free carrying case, free giveaways like T-Shirts. Nintendo started the Twitter campaign using hashtag #nintendoswitch.

Conclusion

Nintendo Switch released in March 2017 and since then, this gaming console has been creating storm in the gaming market as it provides different types of gaming facilities. The target market of Nintendo Switch is the young adult and teens who like to play video games. The value proposition of this gaming console lies in the inclusive play, being active, playing together, innocent, refreshing and fun. In addition, Nintendo Switch is unique in this offering as this product is one of its kinds. Its hardware are unique and the media support provides the features like video streaming service and browsing. Nintendo takes the strategy of competition-based pricing and indirect distribution to sell the products to the customers in different nationalities. Nintendo Switch takes the promotions to increase the motivation of the customers to purchase the products. The benefits of marketing mix give the different weight for different people and it is important to find the unique prospects.

Reference List

Covin, J.G., Garrett, R.P., Kuratko, D.F. and Shepherd, D.A., 2015. Value proposition evoluti.on and the performance of internal corporate ventures. Journal of Business Venturing, 30(5), pp.749-774.

Datta, H., Ailawadi, K.L. and van Heerde, H.J., 2017. How Well Does Consumer-Based Brand Equity Align with Sales-Based Brand Equity and Marketing-Mix Response?. Journal of Marketing, 81(3), pp.1-20.

Digital Trends. 2018. Nintendo Switch vs. PlayStation 4: Which console should you buy?. [online] Available at: https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/nintendo-switch-vs-ps4/ [Accessed 21 Apr. 2018].

Huang, R. and Sarigöllü, E., 2014. How brand awareness relates to the market outcome, brand equity, and the marketing mix. In Fashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors, pp. 113-132.

McAlexander, J.H., Koenig, H.F. and DuFault, B., 2016. Millennials and Boomers: increasing alumni affinity and intent to give by target market segmentation. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 21(2), pp.82-95.

Nicholson, V.P., McKean, M., Lowe, J., Fawcett, C. and Burkett, B., 2015. Six weeks of unsupervised Nintendo Wii Fit gaming is effective at improving balance in independent older adults. Journal of aging and physical activity, 23(1), pp.153-158.

Nintendo.com. 2018. Nintendo Switch™ – Official site – Nintendo gaming system. [online] Available at: https://www.nintendo.com/switch/ [Accessed 21 Apr. 2018].

Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., Bernarda, G. and Smith, A., 2014. Value proposition design: How to create products and services customers want. John Wiley & Sons.

Schulze, C., Schöler, L. and Skiera, B., 2014. Not all fun and games: Viral marketing for utilitarian products. Journal of Marketing, 78(1), pp.1-19.

Tanner, J. and Raymond, M., 2015. Principles of marketing. University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing.

Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:

Turnitin Report

Formatting

Title Page

Citation

Outline

Place an Order