CHAPTER 4

Analysing the
Marketing Environment

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 Analysing the Marketing
Environment
LO
4.1 Outline how customers, the company,
competitors and corporate partners affect
marketing strategy.
LO
4.2
Explain why marketers must consider
their macroenvironment when they make
decisions.
LO
4.3
Describe the differences among the
various generational cohorts.
LO
4.4
Identify various social trends that impact
marketing.
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 A Marketing Environment
Analysis Framework
Culture Demographics
Company

Consumers Political/
Social
Legal

Immediate Environment

Competition Corporate
Partners
Macroenvironment
Economic Technology

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 The Immediate Environment

Company

Consumers

Immediate Environment

Competition Corporate
Partners

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 Company Capabilities
Core competency

Existing knowledge,
facilities, patents, etc.

applied to

New markets,
new products etc.

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Macroenvironmental Factors
Culture Demographics

Consumers Political/
Social
Legal

Economic Technology

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 Culture
Culture Shared meanings, beliefs,
morals, values and customers of a
group of people
Country Culture Visible nuances
such as artefacts, behaviour,
dress, symbols, physical settings,
ceremonies, language differences,
colours, and tastes and food
preferences.
Regional Culture The region in
which
Insert people
Exhibit 4.3live in a particular
country

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 Demographics

Indicates the characteristics of the

typical consumer in a specific target
market

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 Generational Cohorts

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 Income

• Income distribution is polarised in Australia.

• Many middle-class families have felt the
decline in purchasing power in recent years.
• Marketers can have just as much success in
targeting lower income groups as those with
higher incomes.

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 Education

Education is related to income,

which determines spending power

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 Income and Education

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 Gender

Male/female roles have been shifting

Marketing has changed to reflect

these shifts

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 Ethnicity
23% of Australians
were born overseas

Asian ethnicity
comprises the largest
immigrant group
Major companies,
such as Medibank,
McDonald’s and Nokia
have developed ads to
appeal to this group
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 Social Trends

Health and
Greener
Thrift Wellness
Consumers
Concerns

Privacy Time-poor Technological

Concerns Society Advances

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 Economic Situation
• Inflation is the
persistent increase in
the price of goods
and services
• Foreign currency
fluctuations can
influence consumer
spending
• Interest rates
represent the cost of
borrowing money

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 Political/Legal Environment
• This comprises political
parties, government
organisations and
legislation
• Includes such bodies as
the Australian
Competition and
Consumer Commission
(ACCC), the Reserve
Bank of Australia (RBA),
and the Australian Tax
Office (ATO), to name a
few
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 Summing Up
• Everything a firm does should revolve around
their customer. The firm must discover their
needs and wants and then provide a valuable
product that can satisfy them.
• Collaboration with partners and an
understanding of their competitors helps to
add value.
• A firm must also understand cultural issues
and demographics to identify specific
customer groups.
• The economy will influence patterns of
consumer spending.
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 Summing Up (cont.)
• Technological advances helps marketers
provide consumers with more products, and
provide services more efficiently.
• Generational cohorts are groups of
consumers from the same generation,
usually defined within a period of years.
• Social trends such as thrift, health and
wellness, green marketing, privacy and a
time-poor society will impact what consumers
purchase and consume.

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