The significance of Apple's unique selling proposition (USP) in establishing its dominance within the consumer electronics industry.

Apple Inc. is an American corporation based in California, whose current CEO is Tim Cook. Started in a garage by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976, it has become the world's second most valuable brand — worth 297.5 billion dollars — and the leading technology company, according to Statista (2022, 2023). Now, it offers various products and services, from smartwatches to streaming platforms.

One of the main reasons it has achieved such success is often attributed to its excellent marketing strategies, precisely emphasizing its unique selling point (USP). In fact, Apple has won the CMO Survey Award for Marketing Excellence ten years consecutively. Hence, this investigation will seek to answer the question: "To what degree can Apple's unique selling proposition be regarded as the primary factor contributing to its dominance in the consumer electronics sector?

Numerous factors that helped Apple achieve this dominance will be analyzed to answer this question. Thus, this holistic research will be especially valuable, as it will help to determine whether its USP has been the determining factor for the company’s success. This will provide beneficial insight for businesses with the objective of growth, as examining the strategies employed by one of the most successful companies worldwide will allow them to consider those with the most significant impact. Therefore, they may even use some of these to achieve their desired goals.

The research utilized various secondary sources, including articles, reports, websites, and videos, to comprehensively understand the importance of Apple’s USP in contributing to its dominance in the consumer electronics sector. However, some of these were authored by individuals who are not entirely qualified and with potential bias. Hence, unreliable sources were discarded in favor of more credible ones throughout the research process.

The IB Business and Management 4th Edition textbook by Paul Hoang was also used to ensure accuracy in the theory employed. However, it lacked information about Apple specifically. Thus, Apple's reports and website were used to obtain firsthand information, enabling a deeper understanding and, along with the other sources, the ability to reach a balanced conclusion considering multiple perspectives.

The theory primarily relied on Hoang's book, particularly on Units 1 (Business Organization and Environment) and 4 (Marketing). Firstly, Apple's marketing mix — including its USP — was examined to understand its key components and impact. Within it, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix was used to assess the influence of its product portfolio on its dominance. However, it was limited to solely focusing on market share and growth, ignoring other factors influential to the company's success.

Therefore, the Ansoff Matrix and Porter's Generic Strategies theories were used to analyze the impact of the company's growth and competitive positioning. Nevertheless, their oversimplified approach and inadequate consideration of external factors limited their effectiveness. Hence, the impact of Apple’s circular business model, employed as a consequence of external pressures, was considered. Finally, a STEEPLE Analysis was utilized to assess the external environment's overall influence on Apple. However, this approach was limited by its inability to predict rapidly changing factors accurately. During the research process, this tool was reduced to only focus on relevant factors. Moreover, Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions theory was discarded due to the low impact of cultural factors compared to others analyzed.

Apple is universally acknowledged as one of the world's most successful companies. However, its journey has been filled with challenges, ranging from near bankruptcy to intense competition. Still, it has demonstrated its remarkable capacity to thrive and establish dominance in one of the most competitive and dynamic industries, gaining it worldwide recognition.

While many attribute Apple’s success to the USP of its products, there is still no agreement on this matter. Therefore, the impact of its USP and various other factors have been analyzed to better understand the reasons behind its success.

An analysis of Apple's marketing strategy, using the 4Ps of the marketing mix, was conducted to evaluate how these might have impacted its dominance over the consumer electronics sector.

Apple’s commitment to delivering exceptional value through its innovative products has driven brand loyalty and market dominance, as it has ensured it to not only meet its customers' needs but exceed them. Furthermore, Apple's exclusive device operational system, unmatched by other brands, has strengthened its USP and limited consumer choices for those who prefer it. In contrast, other brands offering Windows and Android have given customers more options to choose from.

Another critical aspect is that it has continued enhancing its existing products, deeply focusing on delivering quality and an excellent experience. By creating a product line with features and pricing points from entry-level to premium, it has been able to appeal to a diverse audience. Therefore, to better understand the impact of its main products, they have been represented in relation to their market share and market growth potential in the BCG Matrix shown in Figure 1.

Here, three of its main products; the iPhone, the Apple Watch, and the iPad, have been allocated the category of "stars" due to their ability to maintain a majority market share (Statista, 2022, 2023) in growing markets. Thus, these can be considered its most successful products, which is why Apple has continued to invest in them, maintaining its position and overall market share majority in the industry.

On the other hand, the MacBooks and iMacs have held a "cash cow" position by retaining their market shares in industries not likely to keep growing significantly (Statista, 2022). In fact, according to Gartner (2023), "worldwide PC shipments declined 16.6% in the second quarter of 2023," while Apple's Mac market share slightly increased, being the only manufacturer to do so. Hence, the company has been able to invest much less in these products compared to the previous ones while remaining competitive.

In the category of "question marks," both the Home Pod and Apple TV can be found, as they have low market shares but find themselves in industries with high growth potentials, with 24% and 21% CAGRs, respectively (PR Newswire, 2022, 2023). Therefore, these have not significantly contributed to Apple's success in its industry, as their true potential has not been achieved yet.

Finally, the iPods can be considered "dogs" as their level of demand exponentially decreased over the years with the introduction of iPhones, which were able to carry out the same functions but with cellular data. Hence, Apple discontinued these, as they only accounted for a loss and did not help it achieve dominance over the industry.

In terms of its pricing strategy, Apple has always employed a premium one. For the quality associated with the brand and reputation built over the years, it has been able to set higher prices than competitors, charging what is known as the "Apple tax." Still, it has continued to succeed in the consumer electronics industry, as its loyal customers are willing to pay for the premium experience they receive from its products. This has allowed Apple to master "the art of pricing strategy” and build the largest brand loyalty in 2022, as shown in

This loyalty has not come due to higher functionality, as customers can get products with similar characteristics for almost half the price. Instead, it has been the result of the value proposition associated with the brand, where its devices interconnect seamlessly and where elegance, simplicity, and user-friendliness prevail. Moreover, according to Business Insider (2018), owning one of its products, such as the one shown in Figure 3, has become a symbol of wealth due to the sense of exclusivity built by the brand. Therefore, to maintain this image, Apple has kept its high price, refraining from sales promotion and price wars.

However, this strategy has not been entirely positive since, in many markets, individuals who are unable to afford its products have opted for cheaper alternatives offered by competitors. Therefore, this has put its market share at greater risk.

To tackle this, Apple has employed a price skimming strategy, offering premium prices for its latest products and gradually reducing them over time, as seen in Figure 4. This has helped it maximize the number of products sold while making them more accessible for those who cannot buy them at their initial prices, allowing for greater market share.

Another key aspect in helping Apple build dominance over the consumer electronics sector is that its products can be found almost everywhere globally, which has helped increase its brand awareness. Apple has used both online and offline distribution channels to make it very accessible for consumers to buy its products and reach a large customer base. These can be purchased directly from its physical retail stores or e-commerce platforms, such as its official website, Amazon, and Best Buy. However, the company has always ensured that all its authorized resellers comply with its quality standards, certifying that its premium image remains. This has also helped immensely in becoming a well-recognized and dominant brand in the industry.

In terms of its promotion, Apple only targets a segment of society: those who can afford its products and appreciate the value and uniqueness that it brings. Therefore, the company's promotional activities, where vast amounts of money have been spent, have focused on the enhanced user experience and the differentiating factors (USP) of its products that make them unique and more desirable than others. Furthermore, another factor that has also helped it immensely is the yearly Apple Event, where its latest products are announced. This creates excitement many months before the release date and keeps consumers eager to learn about the new features that will become available. Still, all of this has been done in a minimalistic and elegant way, where no irrelevant information is presented, as shown in Figure 5.

When analyzing how Apple has achieved dominance, it is also crucial to focus on its strategies employed to remain competitive in the consumer electronics sector. Therefore, by considering Porter's Generic Strategies, as shown in Figure 6, it can be concluded that it has always focused on broad differentiation by targeting a large market that is interested in the USP its company and products have to offer.

Thus, instead of distinguishing itself by price, it has focused on creating products through continuous innovation, with unique features (USPs) to differentiate it from the competition. Examples include its modern designs, high-end quality, and the smooth connection between its products. However, despite having these distinctive features, its products are targeted for everyone, meaning that Apple can benefit from an extensive market reach. Hence, it can be said that this strategy has drastically helped it gain its current dominance over the industry. This is because it has allowed it to be seen as attractive by consumers despite having higher prices than other firms.

However, this is not the only factor that has helped it to grow, as it has also focused on developing growth strategies over the years to help maintain its strong position in the global market. Therefore, these have been analyzed using the Ansoff Matrix (Figure 7), specifically focusing on its product development and market penetration.

This medium-risk strategy, which consists of marketing new products in existing markets, has been the primary growth strategy employed by Apple over the years, specifically by committing to its research and development processes. It is also the strategy that has helped it the most to achieve long-term success and demand for its products, all of which have significantly evolved since their first version was released. Specifically, the iPhone was revolutionary for the industry when it was first announced, as it merged a mobile phone, an iPod and the internet to create a compact and intuitive device.

This low-risk strategy, which focuses on promoting existing products to gain a greater market share in the current industry, has been its second most crucial expansion strategy. To achieve this, Apple has been adding more authorized sellers over time and increased its production to have a larger presence in its current market. Moreover, by increasing its spending on its promotion through various channels, where it highlights its USP, it has penetrated the market more effectively, encouraging consumers to purchase its products. Additionally, it has intensely focused on its retail presence by placing elegant and modern stores in busy areas easily accessible to consumers. Therefore, this has also been hugely helpful in helping it build dominance.