Fitbit Iconic | My Assignment Tutor

Report on FitbitFitbit IconicNeel akashDATE: 03-10-2020NEEL AKASHDATE: 03-10-2020 1Contents1.Introduction: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….21.1: Introduction to Product: ………………………………………………………………………………………………..22.1: Customer Segmentation and Research Methodology:……………………………………………………….32.2: Identification of Customer’s needs:…………………………………………………………………………………42.4: Promotional Strategies: …………………………………………………………………………………………………42.5: Procedure to become Up to Date:…………………………………………………………………………………..52.6: Matching Product needs:……………………………………………………………………………………………….63. Discussion:………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….73.1: Difficulties in marketing the product:………………………………………………………………………………73.2: Alternative Products: …………………………………………………………………………………………………….83.3: Assisting customers in their needs: …………………………………………………………………………………84. Customer Rights:…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………94.1: Limitations and Exclusions:…………………………………………………………………………………………….94.2: Procedures to ensure Customer Needs:…………………………………………………………………………105. Maintaining Customer’s record and interaction history: ………………………………………………………..115.0: Report Distribution & Seeking Feedback:……………………………………………………………………….126. Conclusion:……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….127.Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………13NEEL AKASHDATE: 03-10-2020 21.Introduction:Fitbit is a company known for its health-related gadgets. Fitbit is an American consumerelectronics and fitness company headquartered in San Francisco California. Fitbit is totallydedicated to health and fitness, as almost all the products from Fitbit measure data such asheart rate, steps climbed, number of steps walked, quality of sleep and other personal metricswhich contribute to better well-being and fitness. Fitbit provides variety of products, but theyall come in 3 categories, that are wireless-enabled wearable technology, activity trackers andsmart watches (Beal, 2020).Since starting Fitbit is continuously working on its mission which is “To empower and inspireto live a healthier, more active life. They design products and experiences which fit seamlesslyinto one’s life so one can achieve his/her health goals, whatever they may be. Fitbit hasbecome the fifth largest company after Xiaomi and apple with an 14.8% over year growth asof 2019. According to reports Fitbit has sold more than 100 million devices and have 28 millionusers worldwide (Wikipedia, 2020)1.1: Introduction to Product:Now Fitbit has made it marks in the wearable industry, but it was not that easy. As accordingto the Fitbit founders several times, they were pretty close to being dead, because they werenot focusing the market but only the product (Carrie Marshall, 2020). After great hard workand dedication, they came to realize that the world is moving towards smart watches anddecided to jump in the pool. Fitbit Iconic proved to be the game changer product of Fitbitcompany. For a long time, Fitbit Iconic is the company’s first real smart watch. Fitbit hasbecome synonymous with fitness trackers, but with Iconic, the company decided to expandinto a whole new market. However, Fitbit Iconic got so much popularity in short span of timebecause it was cheaper than the Apple and Samsung smart watch and has more featurescomparing those two (Tew, 2018).NEEL AKASHDATE: 03-10-2020 32.Customer Service:2.1: Customer Segmentation and Research Methodology:The objective market is based psychographic ally. Fitbit’s target population is those who lackmotivation to exercise, overweight people, and people who already exercise but want tomonitor their performance. The variables are lifestyles because they monitor people’sphysical activity (NL, 2015).The most recognizable used by Fitbit is the behavioral segmentation. This segmentation isbased on diving people into categories based on benefits/needs, their knowledge, attitudes,use of product, or reaction to the product Kotler & Keller, 2012.The motto of Fitbit is to empower and inspire individuals to live more active and healthier life,the company chose its customers dependent on their requirements and want to be truly fitand active. This clarifies why Fitbit’s watches are mainstream among fitness enthusiasts. Asfor age, 35-44 years old is the largest part of Fitbit’s audience. This is the time when peoplestart to take their health seriously and have the resources to buy fitness trackers. In fact, thehighest-income purchase of a group tracker house earned more than $100,000 a year.The above data was taken from google using the keyword “Fitbit customer segmentation”which gave the accurate result that how Fitbit divides his customers and who are the FitbitNEEL AKASHDATE: 03-10-2020 4customers. The data is individually chosen from different articles based on customersegmentation.2.2: Identification of Customer’s needs:Fitbit has always got advantage of health and fitness factor in wearable technology industry.In addition to the fact that they own the largest segment of market share at 70% (McNew),they additionally have a high worldwide brand and brand value. In addition, Fitbit offers awide variety of products with various value options that intrigue to each sort of buyer. Unlikeother smart watch brands who uses separate application for health aspects and healthmonitoring, Fitbit performs all these features on device which is more accurate comparingseparate function or application. Also, Fitbit offers a simple to utilize application that fusesthe whole of your everyday information for the average customer to understand, which givesan additional advantage buyer never realized they required. Since Fitbit is so notable, it iseasily available at any retailer which is exceptionally helpful for buyers. With the risingdemand of product that is so broadly accessible and utilized, Fitbit always works to being upto date with customer needs and persistent customer care.To better understand consumer’s desire and wants Fitbit conducts surveys in form ofinterviews with different age group people to grasp the deeper meaning behind their Fitbitpurchases. And the average result of the survey is that people buy it because they want touse it to track their exercise style and other health-related factors. In addition, the otherfactor is reasonable price, they buy Fitbit instead of other products. The most importantfactors of Fitbit are its technology cost and functionality and performance, and it is a goodalternative to the other famous brand for customers who don’t want to spend much moneyon smart watches. To realize customer needs Fitbit basically engage with the customer ondifferent platforms to access their needs and try to fulfill those needs to remain competitivein challenging industry (Seth, 2015).2.4: Promotional Strategies:Promotion is a core element to describe the benefit of your product and service to thecustomer. And proper marketing and promotional strategies promises long term success inprofitability in business and by bringing more customers. and Fitbit has promoted its brandthrough various channels including magazine advertisement, a social media sweepstakes andNEEL AKASHDATE: 03-10-2020 5a story board for YouTube advertisement. Sweepstakes promotional strategy was the firstplan to be executed in promoting Fitbit as a brand in whole and was focused to increase thesales by giving prizes. This strategy engaged people to post a picture on social media taggingFitbit tracker and incorporating Fitbit hashtag #GetFitStayFit to enter into the sweepstakes.In this way the company was engaging its audience and spreading a word about Fitbit.Moreover, there was a winning prize a Fitbit band that encouraged the winner to buy theactual tracker because there is no use of band without tracker. This way expected to boostsales. The sweepstakes was designed to tell consumers the significance of achieving andmaintaining nourishing lifestyle.This promotional strategy also had an emotional appeal. Shoppers had their own reasonsconcerning why they needed to get fit. Reasons included wellbeing reasons, for example,obesity, or perhaps the person needs to pursue a sport etc. The execution design in thesweepstake is a cut of life. Fitbit was asking their users to give a purpose behind what goodreason they need to get fit and how they plan to remain healthy. This way they asked theiraudience to consider issues and solutions related to inadaptability overcome these potentialproblems (Matthew Higgins, 2018).2.5: Procedure to become Up to Date:Since its founding in 2007, Fitbit has proven itself to be an incredibly innovative company.One of the keys to Fitbit’s success has been its consistent development. In the wake ofpresenting its first clippable gadget in 2009, the organization included altimeter, digital clock,stopwatch, and Bluetooth sync usefulness over the next years. In 2013, they presented theirfirst wrist models – Fitbit Flex and Fitbit Force. These early wrist models caused skinaggravation for some clients and were in the end recalled. Nevertheless, Fitbit kept onenhancing, fathomed a significant number of the skin aggravation issues, and effectively wentpublic in 2015 at a $4.1bn valuation (Alexander, 2016).To become up to date in this heavy competition Fitbit has always focused on gainingcompetitive advantage by keeping customers in their mind. The first strategy they used isdifferential strategy in which they launched range of products to provide what customerneeds. Second company utilized the opportunity to keep users active and interested. Thecompany uses “technology” to enable people to provide “data” and “inspirational guidance”NEEL AKASHDATE: 03-10-2020 6in the form of wearable devices (software and services), thereby making them “healthier andmore active” that competitors have not yet achieved. This allows Fitbit to serve its registeredcustomers in a unique and effective way, making it difficult for competitors to take advantageof (Dorbayani, 2020).By using ‘focused differentiation’ and perceiving remarkable ‘opportunity’, Fitbit focused onsingular customers as well as started a proactive measure to include the organization in thecorporate wellbeing market, a market where the competitors misjudged or disregardedpreviously. Fitbit saw a chance to revolutionize the fitness tracking industry by making an itemthat is ‘social’, ‘intuitive’, and ‘classy’. The following 2 graphs shows the Fitbit market and theirsold devices and total revenue.2.6: Matching Product needs:Fitbit has wide range of products. Fitbit applies differential strategy to achieve thecompetitive advantage. Fitbit differentiates their product according to the consumerNEEL AKASHDATE: 03-10-2020 7demand. By end of 2019 Fitbit had launched more than 7 products in the market intended tofulfill different level of consumer’s demand. For example, Fitbit Flex, which was delivered toserve basic needs, while the top of the line model served more mind-boggling capacities,which can be found in smartwatches. The differential products empower Fitbit to serve a widescope of users, who required explicit capacities, subsequently giving what differentcompetitors couldn’t give in the market.When Fitbit first came into market it was not a smart watch but an activity tracker which usedto track your running activity, steps and calories but it did not get popular because it was aseparate gadget to carry, then company realized that world is moving towards wearabletechnology so the company decided to design an activity tracker in shape of smartwatchwhich will be easy to carry and use but still Fitbit kept customer’s health in mind by providingall the necessary health functions in their smart watch which became very competitive to thebig brands like Apple and Xiaomi. Similarly, Fitbit provides almost ever feature in their latestsmart watch including health and fitness to target all type of audience such as younggeneration to enjoy music, tech and Fitbit pay features, and for the age groups 30+ to useFitbit for health and fitness purpose (Deshpande, 2017).3. Discussion:3.1: Difficulties in marketing the product:According to company Fitbit iconic was the first ever proper smart watch to compete with bigbrand like Apple and Samsung, but unfortunately the iconic did not get success comparingapple and Samsung. However, it introduced all necessary features including the Fitbit pay andFitbit fitness but still it missed some core features like there are no shortcut responses, andsince there is no microphone and speaker, you cannot dictate anything to the watch whichbecame the reasons in its selling. Furthermore, it was expensive too which comes in an areaof customer’s need that couldn’t meet by this product (Whitwam, 2017).From the customer reviews the Iconic’s OS was lacking in elegance and features. Theframerate was low and touch screen was irresponsive and on the same hand the price wasvery high. Because of these issue the watch couldn’t meet customer’s need eventually. Nomatter how best the marketing is but still iconic is not up to the mark. Therefore, to increaseNEEL AKASHDATE: 03-10-2020 8the sale of iconic company had to work on those issues which delayed the availability of FitbitIconic in the market (Goode, 2017).3.2: Alternative Products: ProductAdvantagesDisadvantagesApple Watch• Proactive HealthMonitor• Water Resistant• Ability to send andreceive calls• Expensive• Limited compatibility• Low battery lifeSamsung Galaxy watch• Health Monitor• Compatible withAndroid and IOS• Battery life• Not comfortable to wear• Expensive• No good mappingsolutionsHuawei Watch GT2• Excellent Battery life• OLED display• Inexpensive• No app store support• Limited watch faces• No wireless charging 3.3: Assisting customers in their needs:No one can deny the fact that customer service is important for every type of business andspecially for those businesses who have strong competitors in the market. The quality ofcustomer service directly affects the customer and customer loyalty to your brand andbusiness. With the economic downturn, customers have more choices than ever before.Companies that are proven to be sensitive to customer issues, complaints or other needs cangain a clear competitive advantage. However, Fitbit is company who has already done enoughto assist customers. Fitbit has opened itself in every social way like service centre calling, livechat, emailing, and tweeting on twitter to help customer in their need in every possible way.Moreover, if I would be working for Fitbit, I would implement some advanced technologicaltools to get inside the customer to hunt what customers need. First tool is “Data ManagementNEEL AKASHDATE: 03-10-2020 9and Analytics” this technique will help to analyse customer preferences using data collectedfrom customers. There is another analysis SSO (Self Service Optimization), with this techniquecustomers can interact with Fitbit anytime to discover, what actually they need from therange of products according to their price limit and needed features (staff, 2020).4. Customer Rights:Fitbit warrants to the original purchaser that any Fitbit-branded device or accessories that arenew (the “Product(s)”) shall be free from defects in materials and workmanship under normaluse for a period of one (1) year from the date of purchase. The Fitbit Return Policy and LimitedProduct Warranty is in addition to any other rights and remedies that you may have underthe Australian Consumer Law.Fitbit claims that their new devices or accessories are free from defects in material andworkmanship under normal use for a period of one year from the date of purchase. All theFitbit products come under warranty and also comply with the Australian Consumer Law(Fitbit, 2020).According to Australian Consumer Law customer is entitled to a replacement or refund for amajor failure and compensation for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage.Consumer is also entitled to have the goods repaired or replaced if the goods fail to be ofacceptable quality and the failure does not amount to a major failure.In a Fitbit product if a defect arises and a return authorisation request is received by Fitbitwithin the applicable Warranty Period, Fitbit will, at its option and to the extent permitted bylaw, either (1) repair the Product at no charge, using new or refurbished replacement partsor (2) replace the Product with a new or refurbished Product. In the event of such a defect,to the extent permitted by law, these are your sole and exclusive remedies (AustralianCompetition and Consumer Commission, 2020) .4.1: Limitations and Exclusions:Fitbit does not warrant that the operation of the Product will be uninterrupted or error-free.This Limited Product Warranty does not cover software embedded in any Product and relatedNEEL AKASHDATE: 03-10-2020 10services provided by Fitbit. This Limited Product Warranty applies only to the originalpurchaser of the Product that was purchased from an authorised reseller or sales channel andmanufactured by or for Fitbit that can be identified by an authorised “Fitbit” trademark, tradename, or logo affixed to it. This Limited Product Warranty does not apply to a Product or partof a Product that has been serviced, altered, refurbished or modified by anyone who is notauthorised by Fitbit, nor does it apply to any cosmetic damage such as scratches and dents.4.2: Procedures to ensure Customer Needs:The key to meeting customer’s needs is to connect with them. It’s a misguided judgment thatvalue drives consumer satisfaction scores. After the Great Recession, when organizations andthe shopper were anxious about spending, complaints about customer service seemed tohave stalled for several years. Large discounts seem to increase spending and makeconsumers uncomfortable with substandard services. Presently we have returned to a morestable environment, and people have noticed the poor quality of service-which has causedlosses in sales, revenue and profits. So, customer satisfaction is one of the most importantarea to become successful and moreover, customer satisfaction can be achieved bycommunicating the customer’s needs and wants. Therefore, there are 3 main areas which willincrease customer satisfaction and will ensure a business always matches products andservices to the needs of its customers (Williams, 2020).• Product – does the product meet expectations of features, benefits, quality, andprice?• Process – will the product or service improve the customer’s business or life?• Performance – will the product or service impact the customer’s revenues and profits?It’s also fair to say that a customer’s needs and wants are constantly evolving. So not onlymust a salesperson have the skillset to communicate effectively with his or her customer, butthis communication and relationship must be constantly and ongoing.Now a days everyone knows referrals are the lifeblood of businesses, it has become necessaryto maintain the pipeline of referrals. Events hosted by professional associations, collegealumni groups and your local chamber of commerce are the perfect opportunity to expandNEEL AKASHDATE: 03-10-2020 11the network of professional contacts. Networking leads to a direct increase in the number ofreferrals you receive for new customers, earning you new business.Networking event (external event) is the best strategy to maintain a pipeline of referrals. Withevery networking event you attend, have a goal of meeting new people whose businesscontacts complement yours.For long-term revenue growth, nothing beats the multiplying effect of referrals bringing newbusiness directly to you. Your reputation for quality and integrity grows with each new“generation” of referred business. The loyalty factor helps protect you against the fads andgimmicks of your competitors.5.0: Maintaining Customer’s record and interaction history:Customer data management is the practice of ethically collecting, securely storing andmanaging a database of customer information for the purpose of improving a company’soverall services, processes, and products. The value of effective customer data managementcan include increased sales, improved customer retention, more effective marketingcampaigns, stronger customer relationship, and more. By delivering products, services,solutions, and content that offer real value to your audience, you stand to increase customerretention levels, improve brand awareness, and boost your bottom line. Data is the corefactor in Fitbit company because Fitbit’s 80% operations runs through data. When you buyFitbit, you need to make an online account on Fitbit application to access all its fitnessapplications and services so in this way you become a member of Fitness family (Goodfield,2018).There are millions of Fitbit users in the world, so it is really a big task to handle that data toget the insight of customers. Furthermore, Fitbit is constantly managing the data wisely butstill I would recommend somethings to be changed in their handling.First of first thing is that there is vast quantity of unnecessary data at Fitbit because there areso many Fitbit buyers who just become the Fitbit member only but don’t use those servicesso with the “control data function” data can be volatile such as system would automaticallyNEEL AKASHDATE: 03-10-2020 12delete the data of users who are not active for continuous 6 months. In this way huge amountof unnecessary data will be deleted.Second thing is to “avoid data fragmentation” where possible because when it comes tocustomer data management strategy, in addition to selecting your consumer data wisely(mining for quality over quantity), implementing a cohesive information collection process isessential. While you might get the vast majority of your customer insights from a smallhandful of tools, platforms, or sources, without the ability to view, interact, and analyse withyour data from one central location.Fitbit has got customers around the globe so it would be very helpful and easy to know theircustomers according to geography. Like as I mentioned Fitbit works a lot with data so theycan divide their customer according to their countries, which eventually will help them tounderstand their customer needs and wants to focus on that particular country’s situation.Managing customer data is a hot topic. According to one report, consumer data is now theworld’s most valuable resource “the oil of the digital era” and needs to be treated andsafeguarded as such. Failing to do so can result in serious damage (Durcevic, 2019).5.1: Report Distribution & Seeking Feedback:I would share this report to different departments inside Fitbit so that all departments canget benefit of relevant information according to their area. First of all I would share this reportwith R&D department because they can further research innovative application to competewith most famous smart watch brands. Next there is marketing department which can helpme deeply understand the marketing strategies with the current and new marketingtechniques. The sales team and customer service team have more knowledge of customersand their needs and they can guide me if my findings about customers are either accurate orvague. I feel the feedback from all these will help me positively towards this report.6.0: Conclusion:In the starting Fitbit was just an activity tracker but with the passage of time and marketneeds it became a smart watch company focusing on fitness. Fitbit saw many ups andNEEL AKASHDATE: 03-10-2020 13downs in the starting but now its standing against one of the top companies such as Appleand Samsung. The reason behind’s Fitbit success is the customers, Fitbit has always takencare of its customers by looking at their needs and fulfilling them with different marketingstrategies. Fitbit has maintained it’s market by introducing range of products according tocustomer needs and to compete with the rivals to stay in the market. This report haselaborated the Fitbit consumer market, promotional strategies, customer needs customerrights to deeply understand the Fitbit position and value in-front of customers and inwearable market.7.BibliographyAlexander, W. (2016, November 17). Digital Initiatives. Retrieved from Digital Initiatives web site:https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-rctom/submission/Fitbit-is-the-current-market-leader-butare-its-steps-limited/Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. (2020, September 20). Retrieved from ACCC Website: https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/consumer-rights-guarantees/repair-replacerefund#repair-replacement-or-refundBeal, V. (2020, September 10). Webopedia. Retrieved fromhttps://www.webopedia.com/TERM/F/fitbit.htmlCarrie Marshall, J. S. (2020, April 04). Wareable. Retrieved from Wareable web site:https://www.wareable.com/fitbit/story-of-fitbit-7936Deshpande, P. (2017, March 21). FitBit – Strategic Analysis. p. 5.Dorbayani, M. (2020, May). Research Gate. Retrieved from Research Gate web site:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341193718_FITBIT_MARKETING_ANALYSIS_STRATEGY_-_A_Study_By_Mosi_Dorbayani.Durcevic, S. (2019, March 27). Datapine. 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