Philips is an international brand established in the year 1891 by the father son duo Fredrick and Gerard Philips. It is a Dutch company, which deals in Consumer lifestyle and Health care products. The demand for consumer goods of electronics variety is growing day by day, as the consumers are interested in products that are useful and helpful and this demand has led to the expansion of electronic items market. The strategy of Philips is to supply breakthrough products with better services and reasonable costs through innovative and scientific ideas and technology.
The chief competitors of Philips are as follows
About Philips
- Type: Multinational corporation
- Industry: Healthcare, lighting, and consumer
- Founded: 15 May 1891
- Founder: Gerard Philips and his father Frederik
- Headquarters: Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Area served: Worldwide
- Key people: Frans van Houten (Chairman) and Roy Jakobs (CEO)
- Number of employees: 74,300+
Product in the Marketing mix of Philips
Philips is one of the biggest companies in the world to deal in electronics industry. The zeal to find and launch new products has reached its peak as various companies are competing against each other to reach new heights in the electronic industry. Philips has employed advanced engineers as well as latest technology to manufacture better and new items so that the daily lives of the consumers become much easier.The product portfolio of Phillips consists of three segments– Consumer Lifestyle, Lighting and Healthcare.Under healthcare its products include
- Clinical informatics
- Patient care and clinical informatics
- Imaging systems
- Defibrillators
- Diagnostic monitoring
Philips has introduced a patient monitor that helps patient’s mobile monitoring.
Under consumer goods its product portfolio include
- Color television that are available in various sizes like fourteen inches, plasma twenty-nine inches and twenty-five inches
- Transistors
- Electronic shaver
- Audio Equipment like transistors, MP3 Player
- Electronic Toaster
- DVD Player
- Lightning goods like lamps,tube lights, luminaries, Lightning services and solutions
The company has also introduced a revolutionary iron that uses the technology of steam for ironing of their clothes at low temperatures. The brand has become number one in irons that are available in the world. It has also developed healing light blanket to wrap the babies. This has helped in Bilirubinemia treatment processes.
Philips has also joined hands with other companies to develop new and better products. It has twenty such ongoing partnerships at present. The brand has fifty thousand patents registered under its name, with sixty three thousand rights for designs and thirty six thousand trademarks also registered under its brand name.
Place in the Marketing mix of Philips
Philips Company was founded in the city of Eindhoven and later it spread its wings to at least hundred other countries all over the world. It employs nearly 120,000 people for sales and its services section. Philips is engaged in development of designs, manufacturing and sales of various products, devices and instruments and therefore has set up huge plants and warehouses for this purpose. For the marketing of its products, it has appointed local distributors and sales subsidiaries.
Besides dispatching of the goods, the wholesalers and the retailers provide extra services like installation of products and their servicing. Many retail shops provide spare parts of the products that prove very helpful for the customers in the end. The success of the company can be attributed to its distribution strategy. It has set various goals for each of its channels and this has led to the growth in sales figure and has strengthened the brand image of the company. It has increased its service centers from 125 to 190 recently with 900 technicians for listening to the complaints of the products and providing appropriate help.
The goods are also dispatched through the method of direct sales via internet. Phillips has an official website where the consumers are able to make purchases of the desired goods from any part of the world. It has also joined hands with other shopping sites that sell its items through their portals. Internet has proved to be a major distribution channel as well as information-collecting center for the brand. Thus, the company’s distribution centers, retailers, departmental stores and internet are various important tools to reach the consumers. Lately the brand has made some changes in its distribution policy by allocating small territories to the distributor, who will become responsible for a firmer grip in their region.
Price in the Marketing mix of Philips
In order to survive in this competitive market Philips has decided to keep its pricing policies simple and straightforward. As the buyers have the option of purchasing from numerous companies, Philips has decided that it will not compromise on the quality of the goods even if some of its products are higher priced than its competitors. However, most of its products have a competitive pricing strategy where the items are priced at a nearby range from the competitors. When the prices are nearly same, the consumers have the option of purchasing better quality products. Hence, Philips has been able to maintain its hold in the market and generate higher sales and revenues for its company. In some cases, in order to generate sales the company y also has a flexible pricing policy where it gives discounts to bring down the prices to some extent.
Promotions in the Marketing mix of Philips
The brand Philips promises its customers qualitative goods and its brand promise is “Sense &Sensibility”. Philips is one of the leading world companies that have adopted the process of eco-design. It has joined in active programs for “Green Product Sales” that is verified by an independent third-party to give it authenticity. Under this, it takes care of energy efficiency, reliability, wastes and recycling.
Philips has taken active steps to redefine the image of its company. It has created some very innovative ads. Actor Ranbir Kapoor is in Philips LED ads while Alia Bhatt, Arjun Kapoor are in some of its other ads. The promotional activities are in the various television channels, radio, internet, magazines and newspapers.The brand has played its price card offering discounts and various coupons under its sales schemes. It has even allowed schemes of part or monthly payments to some of the products.
The brand has been acting as sponsors for various events, sports facilities and sports clubs. In the year 2008, it renewed its “FI partnership”. It also has the naming rights of “Atlanta’s Philips Arena”. The brand has also sponsored the league team of “Australian rugby“ from the time 1988 to 1993. It is also the major sponsor for “Monster of Rock festival”.
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