Class # 2:
Chapter 3 (The Marketing Environment)
Chapter 4 (Marketing Research)

Dr. Rebecca Reczek
Autumn 2014

Today’s Agenda
• Information on Extra Credit Studies
– Sign-up online here: https://fisher-osu.sona-systems.com/ - Earn up to 10 points added to final grade!

• Updates on MyMarketingLab
• Lecture on Chapters 3 and 4

Chapter 3: The Marketing
Environment
Macroenvironment
Social
Social
Factors
Factors

Microenviornment
Consumer
Consumer
Demographics
Demographics
Product
Product
Distribution
Distribution
Promotion
Promotion
Price
Price

Economic
Economic
Conditions
Conditions
Natural
Natural
Environment
Environment

Target Market
Technology
Technology

Political
Political&&
Legal
LegalFactors
Factors

Target Market
A defined group most likely to buy a firm’s product – and who the marketer selects to pursue.

Your company and your target market(s) will be impacted by external, broad societal forces(the macroenvironment):
• Consumer demographics
• Social Factors
• Economic Conditions
• Political & Legal Factors
• Technology
• Natural Environment

The Demographic and
Social Environment
Demography

The study of people’s vital statistics, such as their gender, age, race and ethnicity, and location.

Millennials = The New Power
Players in the Economy!

New York Times August 2014

Who’s next?

• Current age: 0-18
• Why Z? Millennials aka Gen Y
• True digital natives

Defining the Modern Family
• Extended family vs. nuclear family
• Just what is a household?
– US Census: Family household contains at least two people related by blood or marriage

Trends in U.S. Household Structure
• Delayed Marriage
Average Age at first marriage:
Men = 28.9; women = 26.9

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Cohabitation
Dual-Career Families
Divorce
Smaller Families

Increase in Nontraditional
Family Structures
• Any occupied housing unit is a household
– Same-sex households are increasingly common: marketers target them as unit
– Rise of single-person households

Nontraditional Family Structures
• Voluntarily childless women and childless couples are attractive market segments – Two-income couples without children are better educated and have more professional/managerial occupations

Who’s Living at Home?
• Traditional extended family is alive and well
• “Sandwich generation”
– Many adults (Gen X) are caring for parents and children

• Boomerang kids (Millennials)
– Living with parents longer or moving back in
– Spend less on housing/staples and more on entertainment Family Life Cycle Models
• Useful models take into account the following variables in describing longitudinal changes in priorities and demand for product categories:
– Age
– Marital status
– Presence/absence of children in home and child age

• Such factors allow us to identify categories of family-situation types (e.g., “Full Nest”)
– In general, spending increases as households shift from young singles to young married and then remains high until falling sharply at the older married or older singles stages

The Family Life Cycle

Life-Cycle Effects on Buying
• FLC model categories show marked differences in consumption patterns
– Young bachelors and newlyweds are most likely to exercise, go to bars/concerts/movies
– Those in early 20s: apparel, electronics, gas
– Families with young children: health foods
– Single parents/older children: junk foods
– Newlyweds: appliances (e.g., toaster ovens)
– Older couples/bachelors: home maintenance services

The Economic Environment
• General economic conditions affect the way consumers allocate their money
• Consumer confidence: the extent to which people are optimistic or pessimistic about the future health of the economy
– Influences how much discretionary money they will pump into the economy

Technological Factors
• New technologies can create new opportunities • New technology internally can create a longterm competitive advantage
• External technology
– Creates more efficient operation or better products – May render existing