Dubai Apple Store’s Marketing Mix Essay

The first Apple Store in the Middle East stands out from the rest of Apple Stores by its Unique Design:​

• The design was developed by Foster + Partners​
• The store’s design is dominated by green color
• The store has an abundance of living plants, including ten tall trees and two living walls
• The store is lit with natural light contributing to the naturalistic concept of the design of the store
• The design is supplemented with 16 feet glass doors that welcome the customers to the store

The living walls are situated next to the leather seating where the customers can have a rest. The walls have a variety of small plants growing on them.

Unique products and services

• The store offers all classic Apple hardware products, including the iPhone, iPad, Mac PC, and iPod.
• Dubai Apple Store sells all collections of Apple Watch models (Apple Watch Sport, Apple Watch, Apple Watch Hermes and Apple Watch Edition using 18-karat gold)
• The store offers numerous products including Beats headphones, Apple TV, and third-party accessories (e.g. iPhone cases)
• The store has a unique display pod with touch-enabled charging and Internet stations

Unique Personnel

• The employees speak 40 languages
• They come from 30 nationalities
• All of them have at least several years of experience working in the company
• All of them are trained to provide exceptional customer services and promote the reputation of the company

Marketing Mix for Dubai Apple Store

Products

• are popular among the citizens of the UAE
• belong to the brand that is highly appreciated by permanent residents of the country and expatriates who comprise a big part of the customers
• are diverse and enable the customer to find any product of Apple brand they are interested in and choose all of the needed supplementing accessories

Prices

• are higher than the prices of the competitors
• reflect the exclusiveness of the brand
• are aimed at attracting the customers with the paying capacity that is higher than the average
• provide the profit for the company
• are suitable for potential customers, as the UAE has the highest level of salaries in the region

Promotion

• The Apple Store in Dubai was well-promoted before its opening
• The promotion was started with numerous articles about the opening of the store appearing in various media sources of the countries
• The company has invited the regional media to visit the store before its opening and allowed the journalists to ask questions and take photos of the store

Location

• Dubai is the popular destination for numerous wealthy tourists and expatriates interested in buying Apple production
• The Mall of Emirates is one of the most attractive shopping destinations in the country and the whole region
• The place where the mall is situated is convenient for the customers to access it by car, metro, or bus

The Importance of the Location

Dubai

• There are no other Apple Stores in Dubai
• The city enjoys the benefits of the high level of the economic stability of the country
• Dubai is one of the most popular destinations for tourists and expatriates from all over the world
• The residents of the city and its wealthy visitors are capable of buying expensive Apple production

The Mall of Emirates

• It is the biggest shopping center in the country
• It attracts thousands of visitors every day due to the abundance of entertainment services it offers
• It is situated in an advantageous part of the city that is close to the touristic attractions
• It has a huge and convenient parking space

Competition in the Region

Competition with other Apple production retailers

• Dubai and Abu-Dhabi are the only cities that have Apple Stores in the Middle East
• Dubai and Abu-Dhabi Apple Stores offer unique services, such as the personal set-up of devices, free workshops, and Genius Bar appointments
• The highly qualified personnel of Dubai Apple Store provide the customer services that cannot be copied by any other retailer

Competition with retailers offering different brands

• The retailing stores of other technology companies present a certain challenge to the competitive advantage of Dubai Apple Store
• Samsung has an almost equal market share in the UAE and is the main competitor of Apple in the region
• However, the Apple brand is iconic, and its competitive ability is rather stable

SWOT Analysis

Internal Environment

Strengths

• The unique attractive design of the store
• Exclusive format of customer services
• The well-trained personnel devoted to the company’s primary goals and unique vision of services
• The exceptional quality of the products
• The enormous popularity of the brand

Weaknesses

• The difficulties in organizational communication
• The inability to effectively communicate with the main managers of the company due to the long distances
• Prices that are higher than the prices for similar products sold by the competitors of the store

The friendly personnel and unique atmosphere are the distinctive features of the Dubai Apple Store contributing to its strong competitive ability. The opening of the store illustrates how the employees of the store create an atmosphere welcoming the customers.

External Environment

Opportunities

• Stable economic prosperity in the UAE
• The stable interest of the wealthy population of the country to Apple production
• The popularity of technological advances among the residents of the country
• Favorable position of the government welcoming foreign investors in the UAE

Threats

• High competition between Apple and Samsung
• Lower prices offered by the competitors selling similar devices
• The popularity of Samsung mobile devices is higher than the popularity of Apple mobile devices

Dubai Apple Store has good chances of developing a strong competitive advantage. However, it should pay attention to contributing to the popularity of Apple production to protect the company from the threat of losing the competitive ability because of the activities of Samsung in the Middle East.