UK Watch Market Analysis

Assignment Brief

Assignment 1: Task

• What marketing environmental factors will have the most impact on this market?
• Apply a model of consumer behaviour to the purchase decision making process
• Identify and describe the different ways that this market is/could be segmented.

Introduction

• When looking at the United Kingdom wrist watch industry in 2005 the market size increased by 10% where the market made £4.8 billion by 2010. In addition the market grew by 11% five years onwards.
• Moreover Mintel report portrays that 20% of Men that took part in the survey preferred pieces of jewellery as a present. Contrasting 12% of Men preferred to buy their own jewellery portraying a profitable market.

Environmental Analysis

Environmental analysis is a strategic tool. It is a process to identify all the external and internal elements, which can affect the organization’s performance. The analysis entails assessing the level of threat or opportunity the factors might present. These evaluations are later translated into the decision-making process. The analysis helps align strategies with the firm’s environment.

A SWOT analysis is a comprehensive look at a company’s strengths and weaknesses, or internal factors, as well as external factors it faces in the market. A company usually starts a SWOT analysis by studying its strengths, such as a strong brand name or good reputation, and weaknesses, like inexperienced management or poor distribution. Subsequently, an external environment SWOT analysis enables a company to ultimately determine how it can exploit its strengths and minimize weaknesses to compete.

• Significance

The external environment SWOT analysis is a detailed look at the industry in which a company operates. Any company that sells a product or service needs to know the competitors it faces in the market, what about its products makes it competitive and what the company can do to remain competitive in the marketplace. A company should also examine other external factors like new laws, a relaxing of tariffs, or any other variable that can affect a company’s business.

• Opportunities

One facet of an external SWOT analysis is studying various opportunities in the marketplace. Opportunities can include an unfulfilled need of consumers or new technological arrivals, according to the article “SWOT Analysis” at quickmba.com. For example, the Internet became a new way to market products in the mid-1990s. Also, a competitor can go out of business and provide a company with a new market segment in which to sell its products.

• Threats

An external environment SWOT analysis also enables a company to examine various threats in the industry. One external threat is government regulation. For example, because of health issues, the tobacco industry has faced regulation from the Federal Drug Administration, which can have a negative impact on sales. Another threat could be additional taxes placed on the products a company sells. Additionally, price wars among competitors could be a threat to a company.

• Prevention/Solution

Companies usually match their strengths and weaknesses against external variables like opportunities and threats. Hence, they can develop certain marketing strategies based on what they discover in their external environment SWOT analysis. For example, a small detergent manufacturer can exploit its strong brand image, a strength, in a market fraught with low-priced, lower quality detergents, an opportunity. Because of a certain new enzyme and whitener, it might be able to gain market share by slightly lowering its price in this particular market segment.

• Considerations

An external environment SWOT analysis must always be specific to the company’s competition. This marketing analysis tool should also address the opportunities and threats that a company faces in the present and potentially in the future. Companies sometimes tend to overuse external SWOT analyses because of their simplicity. However, in addition to the external SWOT analysis, a company should also consider conducting marketing research surveys before implementing any marketing strategies.

Bibliography   

Rolex (2000) Discover more on Rolex.Com. Available at: https://www.rolex.com/ (Accessed: 22 November 2016).

Taylor, P.L., Badenhausen, K., Morris, I., Doerr, E., Insights, M., Strategy, Moorhead, P., Lamkin, P., Helft, M., Clash, J., Rooney, J., Muller, J. and Ozanian, M. (2016) Rolex on the Forbes world’s most valuable brands list. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/companies/rolex/ (Accessed: 22 November 2016)