Mobile Manufacturing Marketing Plan: Segmentation Strategy
This paper analyzes a marketing strategy for Mobile Manufacturing, Inc. (MM), a company facing significant competitive pressure in the mobile phone market. Drawing on Rogers' technology adoption model, the paper identifies innovators, early adopters, and the early majority as MM's primary target segments. It proposes a tiered pricing approach—launching at premium prices for innovators, then reducing to market rate for early adopters, and further discounting for the early majority. The paper also examines distribution channel strategies, including direct ecommerce sales for innovators and a staged shift from high-end retail to mainstream retail, arguing that channel selection is as critical as pricing in capturing each segment's value.
- Introduction: MM's Market Challenge: MM faces existential pressure to recapture market share
- Technology Adoption Segments as Target Markets: Rogers' five adopter categories applied to MM
- Tiered Pricing Strategy Across Segments: Premium-to-discount pricing across three adopter groups
- Distribution Channels and Ecommerce Trends: Ecommerce growth justifies digital-first distribution
- Integrated Channel and Pricing Execution: Phased rollout combining channel and price tiers
- Conclusion: Bold segmented plan essential for MM's survival
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What makes this paper effective
- Applies a well-established academic framework—Rogers' technology adoption model—directly to a practical business scenario, grounding strategic recommendations in theory.
- Integrates two distinct strategic dimensions (pricing and distribution) and shows how they can reinforce each other across sequential market rollouts.
- Uses concrete statistics on ecommerce adoption to justify the recommended digital distribution approach, lending credibility to the argument.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates applied framework analysis: it takes a multi-segment theoretical model (Rogers' five adopter categories) and maps each segment to a specific, actionable combination of price point and distribution channel. This technique—translating an academic typology into a staged go-to-market plan—is a core skill in undergraduate marketing coursework.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens by framing MM's urgent competitive situation, then introduces the theoretical segmentation model, moves through pricing recommendations per segment, pivots to distribution channel strategy backed by data, and closes by synthesizing both dimensions into a phased launch sequence. This logical progression from theory to application to execution is well-suited to a case-study style analysis at the undergraduate level.
Introduction: MM's Market Challenge
"This new product has to be right. If we can't gain back a significant share of the mobile phone market with this product, MM is not going to be here next year."
With Mobile Manufacturing's back against the wall, the company needs a bold marketing plan that captures every bit of value available in the market. This includes not only traditional value, but also the perceived consumer value associated with their new product. To launch an effective marketing plan, however, the company must recognize that several distinct market segments could potentially be targeted. Therefore, to maximize the impact of the product launch, each segment must be considered independently, and a comprehensive plan must be designed to address each identified target.
Technology Adoption Segments as Target Markets
The first segment has already been identified as the early adopters — those who, as the case describes, "were happy to try out the latest and greatest products." They will be the most eager to purchase any new technology product featuring cutting-edge capabilities. Some models break down the technology market into five distinct segments of adoption: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. The technology adoption life cycle, popularized by Everett Rogers, defines innovators as follows (On Digital Marketing, N.d.):
"Innovators are the first individuals to adopt an innovation. Innovators are willing to take risks, youngest in age, have the highest social class, have great financial lucidity, are very social, and have the closest contact to scientific sources and interaction with other innovators. Risk tolerance has them adopting technologies which may ultimately fail. Financial resources help absorb these failures." (Rogers, 1962, 5th ed., p. 282)
The first two, or possibly three, categories of technology adopters will be MM's primary targets given their market stance and the strategy of using innovation to capture market share. These three segments can be marketed to separately and at different price points, allowing MM to maximize revenue across the adoption curve.
Tiered Pricing Strategy Across Segments
A tiered pricing approach can be structured around each adopter group. For example, a limited initial release of phones can be offered at the highest market price possible to innovators. A discounted "market rate" can then be applied for early adopters, and an even more substantial price reduction can be extended to the early majority. This sequential pricing strategy allows MM to extract premium value from the most eager buyers before broadening accessibility to a wider audience.
Distribution Channels and Ecommerce Trends
To properly reach each target segment, distribution channels are entirely relevant — and in some cases, the distribution strategy will be even more important than the pricing strategy. One of the biggest trends reshaping distribution is the growth of ecommerce. Failing to build ecommerce infrastructure among both small and large distributors was predicted to be the biggest risk facing all distributors in 2013 (Konzak, 2012). By 2016, statistics indicated that approximately 71% of shoppers chose to shop online in order to find a better deal, and nearly 80% of the entire U.S. population had made an online purchase; 50% had made more than one (Lazar, 2016). Pew Research data on internet usage similarly confirms the rapid normalization of digital commerce across American consumers. Within such a landscape, it is reasonable to expect that the innovator market segment would be entirely comfortable making online purchases and would likely prefer this platform.
Conclusion
Mobile Manufacturing faces an urgent, high-stakes product launch. By applying the technology adoption segmentation model and pairing each adopter group with a corresponding pricing tier and distribution channel, MM can build a phased, comprehensive go-to-market strategy. This integrated approach — moving from direct ecommerce for innovators, to high-end retail for early adopters, to mainstream channels for the early majority — positions MM to recapture meaningful market share and secure its future in a competitive mobile phone landscape.
Works Cited
Konzak, L. (2012, December 25). Top 3 Distribution Technology Trends for 2013. Retrieved from MDM: http://www.mdm.com/blogs/5-distribution-technology/post/29596-technology-2012-12-25-top-3-distribution-technology-trends-in-2013
Lazar, M. (2016, March 10). Ecommerce Statistics all Retailers Should Know. Retrieved from Ready Cloud: https://www.readycloud.com/info/ecommerce-statistics-all-retailers-should-know
On Digital Marketing. (N.d.). The 5 Customer Segments of Technology Adoption. Retrieved from On Digital Marketing: http://www.ondigitalmarketing.com/learn/odm/foundations/5-customer-segments-technology-adoption/
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