General Electric, Case Study Example

Abstract

Nowadays, in the environment of unpredictable economic global trends, for a company to succeed it has to approach competition and product branding creatively. The investment into innovations and diversification of marketing strategies is required. The company needs to create the desired demand and show the customers that they needed exactly company’s product and not any other. The aim of this paper is to analyze the case study of the General Electric regarding its marketing approach to the reinvention of the Profile and Monogram brands.

Key words: marketing, brand, innovations, General Electric, distribution strategy.

General Electric

In the contemporary world of globalization and internationalization, the competition between companies and survivability of different products became more severe than ever before. It is no longer enough to provide a good quality product in order to satisfy the existing demand. Nowadays, with unpredictable shifts in economic global trends, for a company to succeed it has to approach competition and product branding creatively. A successful company should invest in innovations and diversify marketing strategies. It should be able to create the desired demand and show the target customer audience that, in fact, they needed exactly the product of this company and not any other. The aim of this paper is to analyze the case study of General Electric regarding its marketing approach to the reinvention of the Profile and Monogram brands.

Like most of the contemporary companies that are successful in branding and sales of luxurious products, General Electrics had to reconsider their marketing strategies earlier during the times of recession (“General Electric”). Just like Marriott International, which is considered to be the contemporary example of successful prediction of the future demand and building of marketing models based on the future expectations of market development, General Electrics applied a creative approach to its reinvention of the two brands (Ferrell and Hartline, 2012). Instead of trying to facilitate the existing brands toward the purchasing capacity of wide range of customers during the recession, the company decided to concentrate on specialization of their products for a specific segment of customers, the demand of whom would remain relatively unaffected by economic changes (Ferrell and Hartline, 2012).

The essence of the innovation strategy was in diversifying products, the introduction of the new styling and the addition of innovative functions (“General Electric”). These changes concentrated on the improvement of quality and individualization of style, which were aimed at making better products to be sold at higher price. Furthermore, innovations and marketing campaign were oriented towards homeowners, encouraging sales of packages of products. For instance, the company was stimulating people to buy not only a new fridge that functioned no longer but to start refurbishing one’s kitchen in entirely new style starting with a new fridge. This was achieved by creating dispositions of fully furnished kitchens with General Electric products. Thus, although customers could buy an individual product from the range, they could see them in an attractive and emotionally stimulating light of the context of the fully refurbished kitchen (Ferrell and Hartline, 2012). Thus, this innovative approach to marketing and concentration on the specific customer segment helped the company to move upstream in price.

The crucial element in General Electric marketing strategy was the evoking of an emotional buying experience for customers purchasing appliances. This was achieved through the creation of the connection between cutting edge features of the new products, customers’ excitement and emotional attachments (“General Electric”). First of all, products had to be of a good quality and distinctive functions for the customers to make them an inevitable part of their every-day comfort. The diversity or products and their functionality should appeal to various needs of customers and personality traits. In this regard, the contextualization of products in ready-made kitchens varied by styles appeals to different personalities and life styles, making customers see their lifestyles and personalities reflected in those kitchens and products (Ferrell and Hartline, 2012). For instance, fully high-tech, steel and grey tones kitchen appeals to contemporary busy couples from the Wall Street, while home-styled, warm colors kitchen with wooden elements is more attractive for the families and suburb-living couples. In this regard, the presentation of products in context is aimed at creating certain emotional attachments by various categories of homeowners, who are willing to pay more for their quality and comfort in every-day life. Thus, the contextualization creates the image to which the customer can relate emotionally (Stewart, 2014).

In terms of the mentioned above elements of General Electric marketing strategy of crucial importance was the implementation of a limited distribution strategy. Although could be assumed that widening of the distribution strategy would contribute to the increase of sales due to the wider explosion of the products to a wider audience of customers, in fact, the company does not want its product to be present everywhere. The company wants its product to be exposed to the target customers in a quality way corresponding to the level of the product, meaning elegant, upscale settings to stimulate consumer’s perception (Stewart, 2014). In this regard, the company prefers to work with the distributors that understand its desire for emotional evoking of customers and consequent contextual disposition of the product in the right place and according to companies setting requirements. Thus, in order to reach the right segment of customers and influence their emotional attachments with the company’s products in the desired way, the company prefers a limited but effective distribution instead of widespread distribution with little sales outcome. General Electric strategy’s efficiency was demonstrated by the increase of their profits. After the reinvention, “the average retail price increased more than 15%, General Electric appliance  business has delivered 5 years of double-digit earnings growth” (“General Electric”).

Overall, from all mentioned above, it can be concluded that the case of the General Electric demonstrates the importance of the investment in innovations and creative approach to marketing strategies. This case study also shows that in the environment of severe completion and economic shifts, the successful company has to be inventive about its products and think in terms of long-term profits based on quality and branding of the name rather than fast profits and switch to another market segment. This case study also outlines that the companies can create the desired demand by appealing to customers’ emotional and personality traits. Thus, instead of simply outlining what the product is functional for, the new approach is to show the customer how the product reflects his or her personality.

References

Ferrell, O.C. and Hartline, M. (2012). Marketing Strategy. Mason, OH: South-Western.

General Electric [Video File]. Retrieved from http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/bp/bp_akamai/kotler/General_Electric.html

Stewart, D.W. (2014). The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.