16. Why does the iPhone sell even though it's expensive? The concept of 'STP and Positioning' learned in a US MBA program [Marketing Theory 01]

The iPhone is by no means a cheap product.
In recent years, many Android devices have become high-performance, and there are products that surpass the iPhone when comparing only camera performance and processing power.

Nevertheless, many people around the world continue to choose the iPhone.
Why is that?

Before I studied marketing at UMass MBA, I myself thought that 'good products and high-performance products are chosen'.

However, what I learned in my marketing class was that 'making a good product' and 'being chosen by customers' are different things.

This time, with the theme of 'Why does the iPhone sell even though it's expensive?', I would like to introduce the concepts of STP and positioning that I learned in a US MBA program.

01. Why do good products sometimes fail to sell?

Many people think that 'it sells because it's a good product'.

Of course, quality is important.
However, if we look around us,

・Products that are high-performance but not selling
・Products that are cheap but not chosen
・Products that are highly rated but not widely adopted

exist in large numbers.

For example, looking at the smartphone market, there are devices equipped with cameras that have higher performance than the iPhone, and devices that have higher processing power.

However, even so, many consumers choose the iPhone.

If purchase decisions were based solely on performance, this phenomenon could not be explained.

In other words, customers are not choosing products by looking only at specs.

This is where the marketing concepts learned in an MBA become important.

02. STP and positioning learned in an MBA

One of the important concepts I first learned in UMass MBA marketing is 'STP'.

What is STP?

・Segmentation
・Targeting
・Positioning

refers to these.

First, companies divide customers in the market into groups.
This is Segmentation.

Next, they select the customer segment to which they can provide the most value.
This is Targeting.

And finally, they decide 'how they want to be perceived' in the minds of those customers.
This is Positioning.

What is interesting here is that positioning is not something a company decides, but something that is formed in the customer's mind.

For example, Apple does not simply appeal by saying, 'This is a high-performance smartphone.'

Rather,

・Sophisticated
・Easy to use
・Creative

They have built these images over many years.

As a result, they have established a unique position of 'iPhone-ness' in the minds of customers.

In other words, it can be said that Apple is not competing in a spec war in the smartphone market, but rather competing in the perceptions of customers.

03. Customers are buying value, not products

What impressed me most when studying marketing was the idea that companies are not selling products, but 'providing value'.

For example, when we buy an iPhone, are we just buying a smartphone?

In reality,

・Ease of operation
・Trust in the brand
・Design
・Integration with Apple products
・Satisfaction of ownership

We are also purchasing these values at the same time. That is why it is chosen even if the price is high.

This is not limited to the iPhone. It is the same for cars, watches, and coffee.

What customers are purchasing is not the product itself, but the value that the product provides.

And companies, through STP, build their strategies while considering:

• To whom
• What kind of value
• As what kind of presence it will be delivered

the strategy is built while thinking about these points.

Marketing is not a technique for advertising or sales promotion, but an activity for designing customer value.

Summary

Apple does not simply sell smartphones; it defines clear customers and continues to provide unique value to those customers.

And I feel that there is a unique value in a US MBA in taking up and analyzing global companies like Apple.

If you only learn from the case studies of Japanese companies, your thinking tends to be bound by the common sense of the Japanese market.
On the other hand, in a US MBA,

• Apple
• Amazon
• Tesla
• Netflix

and other world-leading companies are used as subjects to learn marketing from a global perspective.

As a result, your perspective broadens, and you become able to think from the viewpoint of 'why do globally active companies choose that strategy?'

If the company you work for is expanding overseas, or if you are considering overseas expansion in the future, the significance of learning the thinking methods of such global companies is by no means small.

For those who do not want to complete their career only domestically, or those who want to learn business from a global perspective, I feel that a US MBA is an option that provides many stimulating lessons.

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