More functions
Gimmik design
More functions
Gimmik design
Elegant design
Basic functions
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The results from the study, Understanding the Market for Wearable Health and Fitness Devices, were announced at a mHealth Summit session featuring panelists from CEA, Qualcomm Life, Fitbit and Symphony Health. http://www.mhealthsummit.org/
Business Insider, THE WEARABLES REPORT: Growth trends, consumer attitudes, and why smartwatches will dominate. http://www.businessinsider.com/the-wearable-computing-market-report-bii-2015-7
Retrieved from Amazon. October, 2015.
Retrieved from Misfit. http://misfit.com/wheretobuy
Review: The Misfit Shine is gorgeous but dumb. http://www.techhive.com/article/2047161/review-the-misfit-shine-is-gorgeous-but-dumb.html
CR2032 battery
Miband battery issue. Retrieved from http://en.miui.com/forum-81-1.html, 9th October 2015
Misfit Shine and the Pros and Cons of Wearable Fitness Trackers. Retrieved from http://www.xconomy.com/national/2013/08/23/misfit-shine-and-the-pros-and-cons-of-wearable-fitness-trackers/
Misfit Shine Accessories. https://store.misfit.com/category/accessories/
OS: Operation System
Misfit Flash. https://store.misfit.com/products/flash
Misfit Link. https://store.misfit.com/products/link
Misfit Swarovski Set. https://store.misfit.com/products/sw-slake-set
Misfit Wearables Shine Customer Support. http://bodymonitorreview.com/misfit-wearables-shine-customer-support
Dang Quoc Hung
MARKETING MANAGEMENT & STRATEGY
Teacher: Ms. Nguyen Thuy Khanh VyByDang Quoc Hung
MARKETING MANAGEMENT & STRATEGY
Teacher: Ms. Nguyen Thuy Khanh VyBy
Dang Quoc Hung
MARKETING MANAGEMENT & STRATEGY
Teacher: Ms. Nguyen Thuy Khanh Vy
By
Dang Quoc Hung
MARKETING MANAGEMENT & STRATEGY
Teacher: Ms. Nguyen Thuy Khanh Vy
By
Table of Contents
ASSIGNMENT PURPOSE 2
ASSIGNMENT REQUIREMENT 2
FITNESS WEARABLES INDUSTRY OVERVIEW & MISFIT OVERVIEW 3
MISFIT MACRO EXTERNAL ANALYSIS (MARKETING MIX) 4
PRODUCT 4
PRICE 5
PLACE 5
PROMOTION 6
MISFIT COMPETITORS ANALYSIS (SWOT ANALYSIS) 6
MISFIT CURRENT MARKETING STRATEGIES 10
PERCEPTUAL MAP 10
ANSOFF PRODUCT-MARKET EXPENSION GRID 11
MARKET PENETRATION STRATEGY 11
PRODUCT-DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 11
MISFIT CUSTOMERS ANALYSIS 12
WHO? 12
WHAT? 12
WHERE? 12
WHEN AND WHY? 12
WHY NOT PURCHASE MISFIT SHINE? 12
RECOMMENDATIONS 13
ASSIGNMENT PURPOSE
This individual assignment will be an integrative study in which in – depth analyses of situation and SWOT will be critical for target marketing and positioning strategies proposed.
ASSIGNMENT REQUIREMENT
You will need to choose a company that fits into one of the following 4 categories. Possible companies will be discussed in class. Your choice will need to be approved by the convener.
New Market Entry Strategies
Growth Strategies
Mature/declining marketing strategies
Marketing for the digital economy
Once your chosen organization is approved, your assignment is supposed to include:
Identification of industry and scope of business of chosen organization
Identification of strategic group of competitors (include a brief background on each)
Identification of the marketing strategies currently being used by chosen organization and its main competitors within the strategic group.
Recommendation of target marketing & positioning strategies
FITNESS WEARABLES INDUSTRY OVERVIEW & MISFIT OVERVIEW
Over the past 2 years, we have saw a vertical boom in the popularity of wearable technology, particularly in fitness and activity trackers. With the growth of public fitness habit and the technology becomes more intelligent, we are likely to see wearables playing an important role in medical diagnostics, information sharing and smart gadgets in near future. At 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, wearable fitness devices are hotter than summer time, with demos and new product introductions coming from Adidas, Garmin, Fitbit, Motorola, Samsung, and Misfit.
According to Kevin Tillmann, senior research analyst for the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), estimated that the wearable fitness market will top $1.15 billion this year which pass 35 percent from last year. In additional, the CEA's research based on the US market in 2014, wearable fitness devices owners are mainly male (60 percent) and often young (56 percent are under 34) who may be more aware of their own fitness goals – and have the scratch to purchase these relatively expensive products.
In a recent report on the wearable computing market from BI Intelligence, we can see that the need of wearable devices are still increasing in the future. Now and in near future, wearable technology is in full power. They are coming from glasses to smartwatches to full phones on your wrist, basically they're everywhere - but the most popular is still the activity tracker, thanks to the invention of a low-power Bluetooth standard 4.0 and cheap sensors. There huge amount of fitness wearables seems to be growing day by days. Almost all of them have one thing in common: smartphone apps. But there are lot of other aspects that vary between them, which can make Misfit, which is still staying with their first-generation fitness tracker, that we need to take a good look at them for comparison.
Misfit, was founded in 2011 by Sonny Vu with John Sculley, the former CEO of Apple and Pepsi, is focused on developing great wearable products: things that people would want to wear all day long without even its existence. As a pioneer in the growing world of wearable sensor technology, the company is making products and services for the consumer health and fitness space to inspire people be more active by recording their daily activities. Misfit's first product is the Shine, a most elegant personal activity tracker that you can connect and synchronize your activities data with your smartphone by placing the device on the screen.
As mentioned above, there are many competitors both directly compete with Misfit such as Nike, Fitbit, Xiaomi, Jawbone and Moov, who are using the same design language: simple but effective, and other indirectly compete with them such as Apple, Android Wear and Microsoft smartwatches who is trying to take a part of the fitness tracker system. All of them are trying to drag their customers to their side, but Misfit still stand strong among them with its own charm: most elegant and glamorous fitness tracker until now.
We will go to further discussion with some analysis tools from both internal and external factors in order to understand more about Misfit.
MISFIT MACRO EXTERNAL ANALYSIS (MARKETING MIX)
PRODUCT
Misfit created three types of product: Misfit Swarovski is for high-class customers who need a most elegant and fashionable fitness tracker, Misfit Shine is a premium device for occasional events, and Misfit Flash is for sporty person with very reasonable price. Mainly, we will take an in-deep analysis on Misfit Shine, which is a first product of Misfit that aim to customers who need a device that simple but effective in tracking their progress.
Misfit Shine Bloom Necklace.
(Retrieved from Google Image)Misfit Shine Bloom Necklace.
(Retrieved from Google Image)The Misfit Shine is simple but elegant activity tracker that is completely water-proof, high quality brushed aluminum, coin-sized shape and weight, durable, and designed for ease of use in a fashionably small footprint. The fitness tracker pebble look-alike is made from a solid block of aircraft-grade aluminum. You can wear the Misfit Shine around your wrist, magnetically clip it to anywhere on your body or even for fashionable desire, wear it as a pendant on your neck without losing the ability of activity tracking.
Misfit Shine Bloom Necklace.
(Retrieved from Google Image)
Misfit Shine Bloom Necklace.
(Retrieved from Google Image)
PRICE
Product name
Brand
Pricelist
Nike+ Fuelband SE Fitness Tracker
Nike
$179.99
Fitbit Flex Wireless Activity + Sleep Wristband
Fitbit
$99.00
Garmin Vivofit Fitness Band
Garmin
$70.54
Misfit Shine - Activity and Sleep Monitor
Misfit
$55.67
Xiaomi Original Mi Band Wrist Band Smart Fitness Wearable Tracker
Xiaomi
$23.90
At the top end of the pricelist, we can see that Nike's fitness tracker stay at the highest price because specifically optimized for Apple's device range. Xiaomi's fitness tracker stays at the bottom of the pricelist because of their cheapest labor fees and they only sell their products in some particular market such as China local market, Singapore where they have the retail store and India.
Xiaomi Miband. (Retrieved from Xiaomi.com)Xiaomi Miband. (Retrieved from Xiaomi.com)Misfit, which is a multinational company choose to stay in the middle price range while providing a high quality fitness tracker for most of the people who want to take good care of their health by tracking their activities data.
Xiaomi Miband. (Retrieved from Xiaomi.com)
Xiaomi Miband. (Retrieved from Xiaomi.com)
PLACE
Misfit sells their product through two main channels: retailer - mainly reseller, and online shopping. Misfit use B2B channel to provide their products to their customers without open many retail store. This will help Misfit in reduce the maintenance, training and any other hidden cost because they do not need to operate any store on any local country. Some large reseller can be named as Amazon, BestBuy, Walmart, Target or even Apple Store. Some reseller will have exclusive product such as the Coral Misfit Shine that only can be bought by transaction over BestBuy store.
With other countries that do not have any store mentioned above such as Asia countries, Misfit will ship to their home address for free within 5 to 7 business working days. This method will ensure that Misfit can spread their distribution channel to any places on the globe.
PROMOTION
Because of special distribution channel, Misfit mainly aims to "world of mouth" and e-commerce marketing method. They remind their current customers via email with special promotion and discount but do not "flood" them with spam letters like other companies. Besides, with customers oriented marketing strategy that focuses on pleasing customer's satisfaction, Misfit will try to solve any problems occurred with their products that may harm their reputation by replacing any faulty product for free of charge.
Misfit's Anniversary Promotion Code program. (Retrieved from Misfit.com, October, 2015)
After going through 4Ps from Marketing Mix of Misfit mentioned above, we have a gist amount of how Misfit product, the Misfit Shine. Within next paragraph, we will go further in discuss the Company both micro and macro environment through SWOT tool and then, point out clearly the Misfit direct and indirect competitors.
MISFIT COMPETITORS ANALYSIS (SWOT ANALYSIS)
STRENGTHS
Waterproof
Long lasting battery life
Battery can be changed without charging
Minimalistic design
Fashion statement
Can be used as a watch
Customizable/Colorful
Can check fitness without an open app
Can be synced with Windows Phone, Android, and Apple products
WEAKNESSES
Small size may result in loss of device
Aluminum is easily getting scratches
No web app
No computer synchronization
Lacks weight training and calorie counting
Limited data analysis
Questioning durability and consistency
OPPORTUNITIES
No web app
No computer synchronization
Lacks weight training and calorie counting
Limited data analysis
THREATS
Competition from many emerging competitors
Other brands are better known
Consumers need to be motivated
Bad smartphone apps may take away customers
Fitbit challenges.
(Retrieved from https://blog.fitbit.com/tag/motivation/)Fitbit challenges.
(Retrieved from https://blog.fitbit.com/tag/motivation/)At first, compare to many other fitness trackers, Misfit Shine is completely waterproof that users can wear it and dive up to 50 meters. Therefore, it's suitable for any kind of sports and especially water sports. But good-looking cannot help Misfit Shine from their most disadvantage point compare to others: no actual helps in increasing healthy lifestyle of the users. Customers will not know what Misfit can actually help them in create a better behavior or just merely a high technology device that is logging their meaningless activities data. Many other products such as Nike+ Fuelband have an inspiration points and medals system to encourage customers work harder for achieving better healthy lifestyle, while Fitbit products include vibration to their products and remind their users to stand up and walk around if they sitting for too long. Jawbone carefully analyze users' data and provide many suggestions to improve their lifestyle and sleeping environment through deep and light sleeping phases collected.
Fitbit challenges.
(Retrieved from https://blog.fitbit.com/tag/motivation/)
Fitbit challenges.
(Retrieved from https://blog.fitbit.com/tag/motivation/)
Misfit Shine battery.
(Retrieved from http://www.connectedly.com/)Misfit Shine battery.
(Retrieved from http://www.connectedly.com/)Second, Misfit Shine users release a sigh of relief at not having to charge a battery every 2 to 10 days compare to others. The device uses a standard CMOS battery that can last up to 4 months and can be easily found from any computer accessories store. But the consistency between the quality of the replacement batteries are raising many problems for Misfit users. Many customers complained their Misfit usually out of battery only one or two weeks after they replaced the battery. Although Misfit suggested that they should buy the replacement battery from large authorized stores or even send out free batteries to customers while they investigated that the battery level of customers' Misfit Shine went low, but seems require a little too much effort from the customers to go out and find qualified battery for The Shine. Xiaomi is the currently competitor that can provide a long-life usage with 30-day battery life after one charge. The Xiaomi Miband can eliminate the problem occurred with the Misfit Shine with built-in battery that have 30 working days after a short single charge – usually it costs around 1 hour to fully charge the Miband. But even Xiaomi Miband has many complaints on their products' quality. After a month of using, users found out the battery life decreased rapidly to 5-7 days usage with one charge.
Misfit Shine battery.
(Retrieved from http://www.connectedly.com/)
Misfit Shine battery.
(Retrieved from http://www.connectedly.com/)
Misfit on Apple iPhone.
(Retrieved from http://gadgetmac.com/)Misfit on Apple iPhone.
(Retrieved from http://gadgetmac.com/)Third, the main advantage of Misfit Shine with its appearance is its low footprint yet premium material – aluminum. The aircraft-grade aluminum disk is just 27.5 millimeters in diameter and 3.3 millimeters thick, and weighs 10 grams. The outward face is lighted up by 12 LED lights, which shine through hundred of laser-drilled holes which are so tight that water can't get through, meaning it's safe to swim or shower while wearing the Shine. The Shine is often compared to jewelry because of its emphasis on beauty and good-looking face that should be show to others. In addition to that, the silicone sports band which comes with the device is soft, comfortable and somewhat feminine that can get into women's watch proportions than some other fitness tracker bands which usually are too chunky. There are many accessories came directly from Misfit that can make The Misfit Shine become more premium and fashionable devices such as a leather watch band can be purchased separately that is a very sleek, somewhat masculine while mesh metal watch band that bring more luxury feeling to the buyer. Customers also can buy a bloom necklace in order to wear The Shine like a pendant which there are no other similar fitness devices can do. But with a small size, Misfit Shine has to trade off with the function over size. There is no fancy LCD screen that can show time or caller ID, no vibration for notification functions and with magnetic at the back of Misfit Shine that can make it easier to come out of the band, get lost and stick to any metal furniture around users. Even worse, aluminum is not an ideal material for a jewelry look-a-like fitness tracker compare to silicon-based material because it can easily get scratches from just a wave of hand to any sport tools. That's the reason why most of the fitness tracker devices from any other competitors are still using rubber and lager size to keep their product more durable.
Misfit on Apple iPhone.
(Retrieved from http://gadgetmac.com/)
Misfit on Apple iPhone.
(Retrieved from http://gadgetmac.com/)
Nike Fuelband connect to PC directly.
(Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/)Nike Fuelband connect to PC directly.
(Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/)Forth, and final, The Shine is the only one fitness tracker device that can be used with Android, iOS and Windows Phone at the same time. This feature will span the range of customers widely which is not tie to any kind of smartphone OS. But while Nike, Fitbit and Jawbone can connect to PC and upload data over cloud storage, Misfit does not provide any other methods to view or even simply transfer data to servers except customers must own at least one compatible smart devices. Data collected on the app doesn't go anywhere else yet: there's no Web access or cloud syncing. There are many customers who are not own any smart devices but have their own PC at home. Therefore, Misfit may miss all of those market segment with this unfortunate disadvantage compared to many well-known wearable brand.
Nike Fuelband connect to PC directly.
(Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/)
Nike Fuelband connect to PC directly.
(Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/)
In short, the Shine isn't the most versatile fitness tracker. That prize probably goes to the Fitbit Surge HR, with its numerous compatible services and devices, its display, and its ability of heart rate monitor. The Shine isn't a social commodity, either, like a Nike+ FuelBand or a Fitbit. The Shine stands alone. The Shine, like the Fitbit Flex or Jawbone Up, is a lifestyle fitness device: it gives minimal data on the gadget, just enough to keep you informed. It's meant to not be about numbers. If customers were to pick a fitness tracker to wear with a suit, Shine might be it. But they could also find a way to clip a Fitbit to their inside pocket pretty easily, too. In a crowded landscape of increasingly identical wireless fitness trackers, the Shine stands out, but mainly on style.
MISFIT CURRENT MARKETING STRATEGIES
PERCEPTUAL MAP
Despite of the conclusion based on SWOT analysis above, the Shine is heavily fixed on being the most premium, most elegantly designed fitness tracker ever made. Misfit Company targeted themselves as the perceptual map described below:
While Misfit has been somewhat in the shadow of Fitbit and Jawbone, its products have quickly found its customer base. The positioning and pricing of Misfit's second product generation – the Misfit Flash and Misfit Link – is a clear sign that the fitness tracker market is getting crowded. While a lowered price of sub $20 that will foster Misfit's positioning against more premium offerings from companies such as Apple or Withings, a low price strategy itself will not be defendable against competitors such as Xiaomi. So Misfit is forced to come up with product innovation. In order to do that, the company has release a highest quality product that partnered with Swarovski in creating a most elegant and premium Misfit product line in order Misfit Swarovski Shine.
(Retrieved from Misfit.com)Misfit Swarovski Shine.
(Retrieved from Misfit.com)to draw more customers who seek for fashionable fitness tracker. So in terms of production power and access to Chinese end customers, Misfit is well positioned with this latest financing round. What is needed now is innovation – in order not to be crushed between products from Xiaomi in the lower and Apple in the higher price range. The announcement of the Misfit Swarovski Set is a good start.
Misfit Swarovski Shine.
(Retrieved from Misfit.com)
Misfit Swarovski Shine.
(Retrieved from Misfit.com)
ANSOFF PRODUCT-MARKET EXPENSION GRID
MARKET PENETRATION STRATEGY
With current products such as Misfit Shine, The Misfit Company try to reach out as many customers as possible through direct price cut and email coupon for current users. For many special occasion such as Christmas or Valentine, The Misfit Company is famous with selling bundle and discount. Customers can buy two set of Misfit Shine and accessories with especially low price for a short period of time during the holiday.
PRODUCT-DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
As mentioned above, in order to compete and expand the market segment, The Misfit Company try to create both new cheap and high price range products such as Misfit Flash and Link for cheapest price compete directly to Xiaomi and Misfit Swarovski Shine versus with Fitbit and Jawbone premium products.
In additional to those analysis, Misfit Company is well-know for best customer service support which related to premium quality Apple customer service. Based on the rating, Misfit receive complaints via email and have a customer-oriented management style while replacing any faulty products for a new one free-of-charge within 1 year.
MISFIT CUSTOMERS ANALYSIS
WHO?
Misfit focuses on is people who care about their health via tracking activities and form good habits and lifestyle. With an elegant appearance and multi-wear options from inconspicuously clipped inside clothing to "Bloom necklace", Misfit Shine is suitable for anyone.
WHAT?
Misfit Shine is tiny, and at just several millimeters thick, is one of the world's thinnest wireless activity trackers so it can be worn just about anywhere, even when wearing next to nothing. Clip it on your pants, bra, shirt, or shoes. Or use the wristband and wear it on your wrist where it can function as a watch too. So customers buy it, wear it, and forget about it. It will do the rest tracking and analysis without any worries or fusses.
WHERE?
As mentioned above, customers can go to retailer stores to buy Misfit products directly or via online shopping tool that ship to their house for free of charge. So, customers are basically can own a Misfit Shine from anywhere.
WHEN AND WHY?
People nowadays are care more about their health and healthy lifestyle. Therefore, activities trackers like a must-have gadget for them to track their progress. There's an inevitable conversation about wearable technology that goes like this: all things you wear on your body should emphasize style. So should any gadgets. For those customers who care about style, it'll be hard to beat the Misfit Shine which might be the most eye-catching fitness gadget ever seen.
WHY NOT PURCHASE MISFIT SHINE?
Easy to loose, non-motivated or suggestion system, inconsistency in quality and especially not well-known fitness products brand may hinder customers from purchasing Misfit product.
RECOMMENDATIONS
We can distribute the fitness tracker industry into Maslow's Hierarchy of Need as below:
Nike and Fitbit reward their users by medal for accomplishing any set goal, those brand can satisfy the Psychological needs. Jawbone even go further by creating inspiration and suggestion for better lifestyle. Their users feel motivated and wanted to change their lifestyle for healthier living habits. While Xiaomi product only satisfy most basic fitness trackers' features: tracking activities. Therefore, Misfit overpass Xiaomi by being an elegant tracking device that can also be a jewelry.
In order to win those competitors, Misfit need to improve the analysis system in order to provide more meaningful data for users rather than merely statistic numbers and charts such as recommendation on healthy activities or improving sleep quality like Sleep as Droid application. Besides, if Misfit want to make their customers satisfy their self-fulfillment needs, they need to motivate users hard enough to self-actualize the importance of healthy lifestyle through daily activities. It is the tip of the Maslow's Hierarchy of Need that nearly non of fitness wearable companies has yet achieved.
