Sunday, October 16, 2011

Chapter 17: Advertising and Public Relations

For many people, they don't really know about Razer because their target market is specifically gamer( amateur, advance, professional). People think that is because they don't advertise to every person. Razer has many great products, of course, they can not sell themselves, no matter how good they are. Razer is a company that doesn't advertise aggressively, doesn't have big campaigns like Apple, but they put a lot of thought, effort, and time to figure out the most effective advertisement for a group of people.

In many computer convention, specifically, gaming conventions, you can easily find the ad of Razer. At Consumer Electronics Show 2011( CES 2011) in Las Vegas, Razer had showed off their newest product- Razer Switchblade. This is the technology era, it is developing non-stop. Every computer company tries to best to reach the edge, specifically, gaming computer company. Razer is the one who leads the new era of gaming laptop and delivers a whole new ultimate experience to gamers all around the world.
 


Friday, October 7, 2011

Chapter 15: Retailing


Although Razer is a company selling product all over the world, but they do not have direct sales store. Instead, they use the method of selling products through retail store such as BestBuy or J&R. Not only that, Razer Online Store is quite popular, as it is accessible worldwide and convenient. As we know, Apple is one of the most popular product in the world, Razer has application that allows customer be able to buy their products online just through an Iphone.

In the retail store such as J&R near Brooklyn Bridge, you can easily find Razer products because, they are placed in a separate section; including most of Razer Gaming Mice( Razer Mamba, Razer Naga Epic, Naga Imperator, etc.), Razer Gaming Keyboard( TRON® Gaming Keyboard Designed by Razer, StarCraft® II Razer Marauder, etc.), headphone, and complementary products such as speaker or mousepads. Not only at J&R, BestBuy is also one of the popular Electronic company in NYC; it is really easy to find one. However, most of Razer's products have sold by Razer Online Store. By that way, they do not need to spend time to find the retail store; instead,they just need to go online to find the product that they want. In the gaming world, Razer is the most popular brand so at any computer convention, consumer can find it too.
BestBuy NYC 5th Avenue

I have visited some retail stores of BestBuy and J&R, but i do not feel convenient because assistants do not really know about Razer's products. It is understandable because in a big store like that, there are a lot of things they need to take care of. So i choose the other way, buying those products online. You can chat directly with the company if you want to ask any question. They will help you find the product according to your preferences. I feel comfortable with Razer's services.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Chapter 6: Consumer Decision Making

Consumers' product and service preferences are constantly changing. It is really important to understand  the consumer behavior. In order to attract more customer, understanding consumer's needs is needed. When buying products, particularly new or expensive items, consumers generally follow the consumer decision-making process. Through out this post, we will be able to understand the process of purchasing Razer's products of customers.

The first stage is need recognition. In fact, Razer's products are extra accessories for people who really want to enhance gaming performance. Meanwhile, those products are things that people want but not necessarily need. Through internal stimuli, gamers who want to reach the ultimate level of gaming experience, Razer products are what they are looking for. According to external stimuli, from the recommendation other gamers, the advertisement from websites, wants and needs are created.

Gamescom 2010
Searching information is the next step if consumers have the will to buy product. There are many ways to get information about Razer. In an internal information search, while making decision about buying computer accessories, customers might be encounter Razer products that they bought earlier whether the product are useful with high quality. With high reputation, Razer is being trusted by most of their customers, by creating many game convention, they will have opportunities to advertise their products according to market-controlled.


After getting information, the consumer is ready make decision by evaluating alternatives. Razer gives consumer many choices by giving them list of products, classify them according to the purpose of using. For example, if you are Starcraft player, you might want to consider using Razer Marauder in order to enhance gaming performance.

Next in the process is purchase. As we can know, gaming accessories is a huge market and Razer is leading the market because of their usefulness with high quality. With good marketing strategy, Razeris able to attract a lot of customers all around the world and bring them to the higher level of business.

When buying products, consumers expect certain outcomes from the purchase. How well these expectations are met determines whether the consumer is satisfied or dissatisfied with the purchase ( post purchase behavior). On their website, at the end of every product that Razer advertises, they always have Customer Testemonials part in order to help customers review their purchases also help Razer improves the quality of products.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Chapter 5: Developing a Global Vision

Step by step, Razer is developing the international strategy. For a huge market as technology market with big companies such as Logitech, Apple or Dell; a company needs to have unique and special strategy in order to attract consumer. We are living in a fascinating and changing world, the technology changes every minute, the needs of customer change as well. For Razer , they choose to develop their company in not only in the US but also in Europe and some Asia countries.

Different gamers from different countries have different needs from the gaming accessories. Therefore, Razer tries to bring the same ultimate gears for gamers from all over the world. The interesting point about Razer is that even they sell products for customers all around the world, but their main target market is  Europe and Asia. They don't have an official store, but they give companies such as Best Buy, JR licenses to sell their products. By that way, they can save a lot of money from renting or ads.


Best Buy Website


In my opinion, Razer is using very effective strategy to develop their brand. They are expanding really fast,   computer accessories such as keyboard, mouse, game pad or headphone, etc. are a potential market for Razer. Until October 2011, Razer has 12 bases located all over the world. By revealing Razer Switchblade, they have more opportunity to expand their market.


Razer Global Map
For Gamers. By Gamers
Team Razer.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Chapter 4: The Marketing Environment

Razer is known as an expensive company that their products are pricey. However, consumer nowadays, they care not only about the price, but also about the quality of product. Razer's product basically satisfy all the needs of customers.

For most of the computer accessory companies, the target market is very wide. Razer is not different from other, they aim to variety types of consumers. As the slogan " For gamers. By gamers", the main target of Razer is gamers. Can you estimate the age of gamers? It is a hard question because simply anyone is a gamer, from young boys, young girls to older people. For a computer accessory company like Razer, finding a target market is an easy task. But the important point here is that how is Razer's product better than others?  

Logitech Gaming Mouse G300





Razer Naga



















As you can see the simple comparison between the two famous computer accessory companies; from the appearance to the measure, Razer is better than the other one. Razer has the ambition of becoming the largest gaming computer and computer accessory in the world. And they are working hard on it by releasing the new Razer Switchblade, the fastest gaming laptop.

For Gamers. By Gamers
Team Razer

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Chapter 3: Ethics And Social Responsibility.

Razer USA Ltd follow their code of Ethic very strictly. Some can pretend to co-develop products with professional gamers, but gamers do not develop technology; scientists and engineer do.


CEO Min-Liang Tan and Razer Switchblade


Most Razer products are generally met with positive reviews. However, Razer products have also been the target of heavy criticism. Their products have been known for having "low build quality" as their cords sometimes develop shorts, their buttons ghost-click, their mouse wheels make a loud squeaking noise, and glossy plastic comes off as very cheap. That  is what people comment about Razer products when this company give consumer chances to test their products. It proves that Razer consider about the long-range best interests of the company and the company's relationship to the society within which it c operates. Scientists and engineers develop and design their products in their own lab and then put them to the test with top professional gamers who use them in pro-level tournaments and then provide them with feedback. Then they iterate on the product, refining it with the feedback- over and over and over again. That's how it's done, that's how a Razer product is built from ground up. No fake marketing and no hype. In other countries, Razer uses their real ability to attract customers by sponsoring for many Technology conventions. Building a big wall of believe on customers, they gain reputation and spread out to the world.

For Gamers. By Gamers.
Team Razer

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Chapter 2 - Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

Min- Lian Tan, CEO of Razer USA, has been an important part of the company's strategic planning. Not only him but gamers are also an critical part of the marketing plan that makes Razer has been set themselves apart from other similar products as extreme useful and unique. Therefore, Razer has been able to gain competitive advantage by making themselves different from the rest.


Best seller gaming mouse- Razer Mumba

Different companies have different way to advertise their product. Razer gives consumer a lot of detail to describe why their product such as Razer Mamba or Razer Naga are useful, uinique products that better than others. Mouse and keyboard are the soul of gamers, if gamers can choose the right soul mates, they will gain more advantages to win the match. Therefore, the system of Razer helps gamers classify products. For different level of gamers ( amateur, advance, professional), Razer gives different advices in order to help customers choose the right products. That is a part of strategy planning that helps attract more consumer.



By sponsoring for many game tournaments, Razer gains more competitive advantages also has more opportunities to improve their products. Any game tournament that sponsored by Razer, they always give gamers chance to experience their products. From that point, Razer is able to strengthen the relationship between company and customer. Sponsoring for tournament is an arrow aims for two targets. First, strengthen the long-term relationship; Razer might be able to gain reviews from professional gamers who use Razer's product for the tournament so they can improve the quality of the product. As their slogan " For gamers. By gamers".

Assembly Winter LAN 2011