Macro-Environment Influences

Macro-environment influences

Small man and Shehan Solangaarachchi

The macro-environment which consists of the demographics, natural, economic, technological, political and cultural aspects of the market, affects consumer behaviour in several dimensions.

Demographics

Demographics refer to the statistical data of a population and includes age structure and geographic shifts. Members from the same age group have similar buying behaviour and lifestyle and thus marketers segment the market according to age too. The lifestyles of many of these age groups have changed however, causing many marketers to re-evaluate their target market (Ronald D. 2003). For example, there has been a rapid transition in the source of entertainment that teenagers use, to the Internet and their computers. Sales are also influenced by geographic shifts of the population from rural to urban or urban to rural. People living in rural areas spend a greater portion of their time outdoors and thus are less inclined to buy technologically advanced products.

Economic

The change in the economy and buyers income, can change consumer spending patterns. For example if the income of the buyer falls they may not be able to afford the product or may even look for cheaper alternatives. Further a fall in the economy can change buyer….(aaron can you finish this off, I think you’ll come with a better thing for economy). Thus marketing managers must adapt the price of the product according to this change.

Technologies

Research and Development allows technology to accelerate rapidly and as such consumers may move on to products with more sophisticated features. Over 50% of a population are innovators, early adopters or part of the early majority and are willing to adopt new products relatively quickly (Ram and Jung 1994). As such it is vital that marketers are aware of new technologies that emerging. For example Panasonics 4K-quality video player sales may be affected by Sharp’s 8K-quality player.