APPLE INC.

NIYANTHESH REDDY
MKT 3600- FIRM ONLINE ACTIVITY ANALYSIS

DECEMBER 2, 2018
MKT 3600- NW6
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part 1- Overview: Website Characteristics and Marketing
Implications
Part 2- Consumer Characteristics
Part 3- Other Website Analysis
Part 4- Business Model(s) & Other Analysis
Part 5- E-Marketing Metrics
Part 6- Conclusion and Outlook
References
 Part 1

Overview: Website Characteristics

& Marketing Implications
 Introduction
Apple Inc. is the world’s largest information
technology corporation by net revenue. Founded on
April 1st, 1976 by Steve Jobs and his two friends, Steve
Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, they designed, developed
and sold consumer electronics, software and many
other products and services. Apple was incorporated as
Apple Inc. on January 3rd, 1977 (Strauss & Frost, 2016).
 Introduction
Beginning with the “Apple I”, the company’s first
product, Apple Inc. has always looked upon innovation
within their products.
Apple Lisa” was later launched and became the first
PC to have a GUI.
In 2001, Apple launched the iPod .
In 2007, Apple created the iPhone, marking its
succession in the technology industry (Strauss & Frost,
2016).
 Introduction
These inventions gave Apple a place in the private
technology sector and Apple Inc. has attempted to stay
ahead of the technological curve by analyzing data
marketing and using online resources.
This uniqueness provides how insightful Apple was 42
years ago and how it continues to update its structure,
business practices and project to meet today’s
technology markets.
 OVERALL WEBSITE ANALYSIS
Apple’s website is easy to use and does not have any
major bugs or formatting issues.
The homepage is efficient in showcasing its latest
company products and in showing new advertisements
to keep potential consumers browsing through
different products.
Apple’s search engine and seven divisions (Mac, iPad,
iPhone, Watch, TV, Music and Support) make it easy
for consumers to go to new pages.
 OVERALL WEBSITE ANALYSIS
Apple has directed a considerable amount of resources
to its Marketing department to identify itself within
various departments and to identify the company’s
further direction into Information Technology
advancement through chip processing in its product
lines.
 Website Design
This is the most important feature in Apple’s website
because its approach to impress consumers is very
important. This technique keeps its consumers
consistently browsing into different products and
services.
Apple shows enticing images and videos of various
products. Users perceive gentle gradients and better
looking interfaces for their product lines, such as the
recently featured Apple iPhone XS and iPhone XS
Max.
 Website design
Apple has unique advertisements such as Free
Shipping and Free-Return to make consumers buy
their products sooner.
E-Marketing Engagement gets the customer’s
attention to go for Apple’s products.
An essential feature of Apple’s website is Apple’s
consistency because the company keeps a similar
graphic interface for the whole website, making it
unified and coherent.
 Website Layout
Apple does a great job of keeping everything easy to
read. The text is small, but not to be a problem with
understanding the information outlined on the
website.
Headings are set in heavier type and stand out,
allowing you to quickly get the gist of each section.
Apple also makes heavy use of white space to separate
everything apart and adds images to make each text
blurb more interesting.
 Website Usability
Apple’s website has a large navigation bar at the top,
which remains there consistently whichever section of
the site you go to.
The options available show the main sections split by its
lines of business as well as a couple of essentials, such as
support and the store. The bar also integrates search and
branding as the home button displays the Apple logo.
Any extra sub-navigation is located on individual site pages
and is placed within the context of that page, whether on a
sidebar, or as a horizontal bar at the top. This keeps
consumers directed to certain pages without any hindrance.
 Website Usability
User can log in with their accounts and register their
products, sign-up for newsletters and offers, manage their
wish list and save information for easy purchasing. From
the account page, using Apple Pay, consumers can see
billing and credit card information, manage orders and
view order history (Edwards, 2014).
The support site allow user to keep up-to-date with
software upgrades, provides a forum for users to receive
support from the company and many other users.
There is 24 hour professional support via email, phone, or
chat using the Support bar.
 Navigation Quality
The navigation is on the top of the website,
characterized by the search bar facilitates navigation
with simple keywords.
Links for news, RSS feeds and other information can
be found using the navigation bar.
 Website Content
The website contains multimedia and information relating to
products such as its iPhones, iMacs, iPads, Apple Watch, Apple
TV, Apple Music, iTunes, Home Pod, iPod Touch and other
accessories.
Information for all App Store apps in Healthcare, Media,
Finance, Security, Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality are
shown in Healthcare.
Consumers can search for apps in Photo-editing and
Healthcare, such as the Health Kit (Apple, Mobile MIM, Sage
Bionetworks, Patient Safe Solutions, & Quardio, Inc).
The website also contains high-end advertising using E-
Marketing.
 Other site content and features
Individual Interactive features
Advertisements: Apple’s online advertising occurs with
premium discounts and shipping costs. Advertising on
the website is bold and big so it appeals to the
consumers.
Could this site pass the “Smash Test”?
Yes, the Apple site could pass the “Smash Test”
 Apple has a very unique touch to its site to make its
products & services elegant
 People buy iMacs, iPhones, iPads, and other products
& services because of their convenience, simplicity,
security, they do not get viruses and they are secure.
Apple is a product that competitors fear because of its
dominance in Research and Development in
Information Technology to promote Artificial
Intelligence.
Could this site pass the “Smash Test”?
 Apple designs products made for the public and
continues redesigning its iOS software.
 PART 2
CONSUMER CHARACTERISTICS
 Market Segments Served/Courted
Telecommunications
Software and Hardware
Computer Electronics (Computers, Cellphones, TV)
Cloud Computing
Finance
Media & Entertainment
Healthcare
Third-Party sellers
Artificial Intelligence (Virtual Reality)
Security Systems (Biometric Security)
 Offline versus online customer
characteristics
More personalized experience: Customers who see
products online and see them in an Apple Store are two
different experiences. One on one interaction with
Apple products in Apple Stores and other licensed
phone providers of Apple products give a better idea of
which product will suit the needs of the consumer.
Online, the consumer has more specifications about
the product, but not about the experience with the
product.
 Offline versus online customer
characteristics
Customer service: Offline Customer Service would not
be as representable of the Apple Customer Support in
comparison to the 24/7 Customer Support on Apple’s
website.
 PART 3
OTHER WEBSITE ANALYSIS
 Other online content
Apple’s online website provides information regarding
the specifications of their iPhone products, latest
development(s) in apps in the App Store, especially in
Healthcare+ App.
Multimedia serves the purpose of proposing new
products and services for attaching their existing
consumers and consumers in new markets, such as
China and India.
 Other company owned sites
Shazam
Beats by Dre. (Beats Electronics)
Nouvaris- Voice Recognition for mobile devices
 Social Media Usage
Apple is not as proactive in using Social Media to
showcase their streamlined products and services. The
technology information giant does not want competitors
to know about their advantages and disadvantages.
With so many products, from the iPhone to iTV, and
services, such as the Apple Store,
Apple display’s its newest technology. Netflix uses Social
Media heavily which many technology firms are able to
compete against, such as Amazon Prime and Apple TV.
 Social Media Usage
Apple Inc. does not have an official Twitter, Facebook,
or other social media pages.
Apple’s main social media presence is replaced by Tim
Cook, Apple’s CEO, and the App store with its millions
of users (Edwards, 2014).
 PART 4
BUSINESS MODEL(S) & OTHER
ANALYSIS
 Specific E-Business Model(s) used
E-Commerce
Apple incorporates several platforms on the Enterprise
level of commitment.
Apple is not an advertisement supported internet
company and is not a pure play entertainment
company like Netflix and Hulu.
Apple dominates the technology industry by being a
primary supplier of hardware &software.
 Specific E-Business Model(s) used
Advertising
ITunes Store, iBooks Store, iMovie, iBeacon, the App
Store and Apple Pay are all digital commerce
platforms. These applications are used by Apple
consumers to create a flowing system between the
business and the consumer (Strauss & Frost, 2016).
The Apple Store is where Apple generates a major
amount of service revenue.
 Specific E-Business Model(s) used
Subscription
ICloud and Apple Music are Subscription based
services. ICloud for cloud storage is a major
subscription service & Apple Music has a monthly fee
for unlimited music and services (Edwards, 2014).
 Revenue Stream Sources
E-Commerce
Apple’s statistics show that Apple’s main revenue
stream comes from the iPhone(s) sold online from
2011-2017 (Statista, 2018).
Apple created Apple iPhone in 2007 and was the first
mobile phone with a touch screen graphic user
interface (GUI). Since its introduction, Apple’s revenue
generates 60% of its total revenue from iPhone sales
worldwide (Statista, 2018).
The latest iPhone X is considered the most unique
because of its unique design, OLED screen and water-
proof features.
 Revenue Stream Sources
E-Commerce
The latest iPhone X is considered the most unique
because of its unique design, OLED screen and water-
proof features.
Its other major products include the iMac and iPad
which are also innovative products.
 Revenue Stream Sources

(Statista, 2018) (Alexa-Amazon, 2018

 Revenue Stream Sources
Subscription
Services are becoming a growing profit source for Apple.
The App Store is a big portion of Apple’s sales for paying for
apps. Apple Music, iCloud, Apple Pay and Apple Music are
services which Apple is seeking to develop to retain their nearly
90 million iPhone users and capitalize on their digital services.
Revenue stream from iTunes is associated with its previous
acquisitions of Shazam and Beats by Dr. Dre.
Development of applications on the App Store has eliminated
the middle man, thereby allowing Apple to obtain revenue from
App Developers.
 Main Competitors
Microsoft- Students and Businesses use Apple’s
products (iMacs and iPhones) due to its quality, apps,
virus-free features, and communication with others.
Google- Apple has a large App Store and signature app
developers to constantly develop new and innovative
apps.
Samsung- Apple has a wider consumer base within
the United States and a larger number of product
varieties available, giving the firm a competitive
advantage.
 PART 5
E-MARKETING METRICS
 SEO Performance
Search Engine Optimization for Apple Inc. (on
desktop & mobile web) as of October 2018 ranks 60th in
the world, 31st in the United States and 2nd rank in the
world.
SEO decreased by 2.62% to 557.67 Million consumers
Year to Date (SimilarWeb, 2018).
 SEO Performance
Organic Search
48.1% of Apple’s consumer traffic was 96.05% Organic
Search (SimilarWeb, 2018).
The top five organic key words are “apple,” “iTunes,”
“iPhone,” iphone xr” and “apple id”. “Apple” is 13.84%
of the total Organic keywords used for Apple
consumer traffic, followed by “iTunes” composing
10.40 % of the total, “iphone” is 2.10%, “iphone xr” is
2.03 % and “apple id” is 1.91% (SimilarWeb, 2018).
 SEO Performance
Paid Search
3.95% of Apple’s total consumer traffic comes from
paid search keywords. This is namely, “apple,”
composing 2.56%, “iphone,” composing 0.50% “iphone
xr,” composing 0.49% “apple store” 0.31% and “iphone
xs” composing 0.25% of consumer searching.
The most growth in the five paid keywords was “apple
store,” increasing by 34.96% (SimilarWeb, 2018).
Alexa.com and/or Similar Web.com
61% of all worldwide sites are faster than Apple.com by
2.2 seconds (Alexa-Amazon, 2018).
Apple.com is 1st, support.apple.com is 2nd,
itunes.apple.com is 3rd, discussions.apple.com and
idmsa.apple.com is a personal forum which is 5th.
These are the top sites followers go to on Apple’s
website (Alexa-Amazon, 2018).
 Site Objectives
Consumer engagement and Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) on its site platform is a major
objective of Apple when selling products and/or
services.
Strong brand identity builds better customer
satisfaction and more engagement(Bailyn, 2014).
Apple building streamlined products with unique
features such as advanced Artificial Intelligence and
Virtual Reality to promote products.
 Site Objectives
Apple build’s brand awareness in consumers by
attaching an emotional appeal by its pictures and
videos.
Apple’s site, 61% slower than other sites as of
November 2018 because of its high multimedia usage
(Alexa-Amazon, 2018).
 Types of Metrics
Spending
App downloads
TTR (tap-through rate)
Average CPA
Average CPT (cost per tap)
Impressions
 PART 6
CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOK
 Overall Company Evaluation and
Recommendations
Overall evaluation of the company’s online
properties- A
Recommendations
Apple should improve their Site Engine Optimization
(SEO) exposure, website speed and organic and paid
keywords exposure.
The firm should use inter-connectivity within their
newer products and services
Apple should increase offshore acquisitions to advance
products & services
 Overall Company Evaluation and
Recommendations
Recommendations
Like Amazon, Apple should interface with Facebook
ads and get greater exposure for products and services.
References
 References
Alexa-Amazon. (2018, November 23). Apple.com Traffic Statistics. Retrieved November 23, 2018, from https://

www.alexa.com/siteinfo/apple.com

Apple, Inc, Mobile MIM, Sage Bionetworks, Patient Safe Solutions, & Quardio, Inc. (2018). Healthcare. Retrieved November 22,

2018, from https://www.apple.com/healthcare/

Bailyn, E. (2014). SEO made easy: Everything you need to know about SEO and nothing more. Indianapolis, IN: Que.

Edwards, J. (2014, February 21). Apple Is Already Building Its Next Massive Business And No One Seems To Have Noticed. Retrieved

November 20, 2018, from

https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-ecommerce-and mobile-payments-plans-2014-2

SimilarWeb. (2018, November 1). Apple.com Traffic Statistics. Retrieved November 22, 2018, from https

://www.similarweb.com/website/apple.com#search

Statista. (2018, November). Apple: Revenue breakdown by product. Retrieved November 21,

2018, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/382260/segments-share-revenue-of-apple/

Strauss, J., & Frost, R. (2016). E-marketing. London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.