Market analysis of touch-enabled AiO PCs in the German consumer market. How Technology Adoption influences the traditional Marketing Mix

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Business economics - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,5, Furtwangen University (HFU Business School), language: English, abstract: The subject of this work is to give the reader a detailed overview of the current state of the All-in-One PC market for German consumers. The author questions the public perception of All-in-One PCs in the consumers' minds. Also, the use and acceptance of touch technology for large screen devices is studied. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how All-in-One PCs can be effectively marketed in an industry that focuses more and more on mobile computing devices. In the first part an introduction to the desktop PC market and touch screen technology is given. Then, the theoretic concepts of strategic marketing and techno-ready marketing are discussed within a hypercompetitive and innovation-driven industry. The research part consists of a thorough market and competitive analysis of the All-in-One PC market in Germany. In addition, a conducted opinion survey provides valuable insights from a consumer perspective. The findings of the research are afterwards evaluated and interpreted. Thereupon, the originally outlined problem is reassessed and recommendations are given to HP Germany, the cooperating company of this thesis, on how to adjust respective marketing activities for technological innovative products. Finally, a market outlook weighs the opportunities and threats that lie ahead for the product category All-in-One PC. The last chapter summarizes the key learnings of this thesis, how it benefits the cooperating company and ends with a brief personal assessment about the topic by the author. The results of the market analysis suggest that HP can improve its brand preference and that people are not aware enough of the product All-in-One PC and its features and benefits. A more educative marketing approach is proposed by adding a 5th P - for pedagogy - to the traditional marketing mix.