WMKT101 Marketing Fundamentals Portfolio Report - Macquarie University

This report analyzes various marketing fundamentals, drawing on real-world examples to illustrate key concepts. The report begins by examining the impact of the PESTL framework on new product introductions, using Ola's expansion into Australia as a case study. It then delves into the application of ...Read More

Running Head: MANAGEMENT 0
MARKETING
FUNDAMENTALS

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Table of Contents
IMPACT OF PESTL ON INTRODUCTION OF NEW PRODUCT OR SERVICE................2
SWOT EXAMINATION USED IN THE MARKETING PLAN.............................................3
SEGMENTATION, TARGETING, POSITIONING AND MARKET TREND......................4
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL FACTORS IMPACT ON SUCCESS AND FAILURE OF A
BRAND OR PRODUCT............................................................................................................5
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................6

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IMPACT OF PESTL ON INTRODUCTION OF NEW
PRODUCT OR SERVICE
Introduction of new product development needs to scan business environment comprising of
various external factors can be explored via PESTL framework. This framework standout to
political, economic, social, technological and legal factors help management to analyse
various external variables and factors in the external environment influencing business
strategic decisions and organisation new development product or service.
Taking example of Ola, one of the world’s largest ride-hailing platforms, has expanded its
presence in Australia in 2019, however, to compete successfully in the market, Ola Australia
requires to use PESTL framework in order to scan Australia macro-environment. Considering
political factors, it can include change in public transportation like introduction of 24 hour
train services in Melbourne (Curtis, 2019) and lockout regulations like as those introduced in
Sydney. In addition, Greens and labour party in Australia are examining options to
understand how workers have fair work circumstances and pay in the gig economy. All these
factors can influence significantly to Ola to enter into Australia market effectively.
The next factor is economic where the company policies and plans can be affected with
increase in fuel cost in Australia that will impact drivers and may lead Ola to increase their
prices which in turn may also impact adoption of its services in the Australian population as it
is currently in early stage of its product life cycle (at growth stage). The average price for
consistent unleaded is 168.9 cent per litre in Australia that hit an 11-year high in 2019
(Chung, 2019). In relation with social factors, Ola business and service in Australia can be
impacted with increasing popularity of remote work as of social acceptance and improvement
in technology by organisations. Ridesharing companies can be negatively impacted in
Australia with this less communication for meetings and work.
Considering technological factors, Ola service in Australia can be impacted with
improvement in public transport of Australia with introduction of smarter systems and usage.
Data streams from public transport usage, route plotting, satellite and GPS tracing and road-
side sensor equipment continue to Australian public transport system in the future
(infrastructure.gov.au, 2016). To expand its footprint legally in Australia, Ola Australia
required to comply with various laws set out standards and apply to its businesses. For

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instance, the company must be committed to compliance with privacy laws containing the
Privacy Act 1998 (Cth) and Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) (olawebcdn.com, 2019).
SWOT EXAMINATION USED IN THE MARKETING PLAN
One of the key components to developing market strategic plan is to undertake a SWOT
analysis which stands for strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. According to
Pesonen and Horn (2013), it is one of the effective tools for developing inclusive marketing
tactic related to company product or services. The best example of SWOT analysis driving
key pivots in product and messaging is technology giant Amazon. In 1994, the company was
started as an online bookshop and it is turned into a billion-dollar business. It was also not
anticipated by anyone that in 2018, Amazon would have buy land for its huge fleet of cargo
planes, however, CEO Jeff Bezos ability to adjust with the revolution of e-commerce is what
make hold the company as the prominent business in its sector.
In 2017, Amazon takeover on Whole Foods for nearly $13.7 billion, and this bring an entirely
new market for the company to rule and lead other players (Debter, 2017). At a higher-level,
below is the example of a SWOT analysis of the takeover –
Strength – With the help of this acquisition, Amazon can drive leverage in supply chain with
strengthening the ability of company to scale groceries products.
Weakness – In terms of weakness, despite this takeover, Amazon will leave with low margin
in grocery business which may hamper its other business also including e-commerce as
resources may be required to shift from one side to another.
Opportunities – Through this acquisition, Amazon will be present having various
opportunities than can drive the company share in market even more. For instance, it can be
achieved via attaining market share in grocery and integrate with Amazon Prime
memberships.
Threats – Proactive steps are already being taken by various grocery chains and other big
stores such as Wal-Mart and this will considered to be the biggest threat for Amazon.
Considering all, SWOT framework helps the business to offer various holistic insights and
make the leaders and manager in the company explore different perspectives and paradigm.
After the time since the takeover, Amazon has focused greatly on its strengths and the key
one is data. The company has gathered surplus of data it marking out on shopper journey and

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placing a science behind scaling its loyal consumer base. With SWOT analysis, a firm like
Amazon can exploit collective knowledge to remove blind spots and ultimately lead them to
maintain well relationship with customers and clients.
SEGMENTATION, TARGETING, POSITIONING AND
MARKET TREND
STP model of marketing stands for segmentation, targeting and positioning and company
marketing strategy will more be effective and fruitful if they follow this model. The company
can use this model and can segment the market area in different ways including demographic,
geographic, psychographic and behavioural. This rational segmentation of the market help
business to drive better sale opportunities as well as cope up with the changing market
dynamics and trends in the community (Scaraboto and Fischer, 2012).
Taking an example of smart home industry, where voice assistant and smart speakers’ trend
is being progressively extending beyond skills and the number of people is increasing using
Amazon Alexa devices. In relation to Amazon Echo segmentation, the present Amazon Echo
demographics imply that maximum people (57%) are males who use this device for setting of
alarms, playing songs and audios. On the basis of age, the largest Amazon Echo market
segmentation is 18-29 years old at 24 per cent and 30-44 years olds adds to 20 per cent of the
user base (Koksal, 2018). In terms of geographic segmentation, Amazon Echo has now
increased its footprints in more than 89 nations as per the Amazon spokesperson. With
expansion into different countries, Amazon Echo is also trying to learn their language and
culture continuously such as in India, users can now ask Alexa their questions in Hindi
language and the product Echo Dot will be able to respond in the same language. This feature
was pushed by the company through a software update last year.
In relation to psychographics segmentation, Alexa skills are great fit in Amazon Echo dot
device offering users a wide category of gaming, entertainment and other skills. In relation to
Amazon Alexa target marketplace, it considers simple communication, comprising skills with
fewer interaction or those that achieve a single and rich purpose. The specific target market of
Amazon Alexa Echo dot is the smart home users who seek various functionalities to be
performed via voice interactions. At last, the positioning strategy of this device was low-
price, extra-ordinary convenience and access to wide range of skills offering comprehensive
solutions. Ultimately, it shows that how Amazon successfully gain the market trend in the

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smart home industry and take advantage of other big technology company product including
Google and it is only achieved by their strength in their STP procedures.
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL FACTORS IMPACT ON
SUCCESS AND FAILURE OF A BRAND OR PRODUCT
If any organisation seeks to succeed in the marketplace for over a long period of time, it is
very important to completely understand what factors exert influence on growth of
organisation or a specific product or brand. Hence, examining internal and external factors is
considered as the most significant task for any organisation and should be prioritized by
managers and leaders for ensuring longer term sustainability. Ben-Menahem et al (2013) also
stated that organisation profitability and stability are interdependent on its capability to
speedily explore and respond to changes in the internal and external environment.
Taking an example of Uber who got success due to effective assessment of internal and
external environment while realizing that food sector as the next great disruption in on
demand economy. Uber found that people all over the world are progressively leading busy
lives as of their jobs and family obligations and this has advanced demand for useful meal
choices. This makes to come up with UberEats that was first incorporated in 2014 casing 10
cities and presently they are having presence in more than 130 cities around the globe. The
ordering software was also released as its own app, distinct from the app for Uber rides. In
Uber's Q1 2019 incomes, the business stated gross bookings progress of 230% for its other
bets, and on the other hand, the ridesharing raised at just 22% in relation to the same quarter
in 2019 (Dickey, 2019).
The next example is of Friends Reunited who receive failure due to their inability to match
their internal and external environment. The company was founded back in 2000 and in 2005,
the site had over 15 million members, beyond the creator’s goals and had been used for many
ways than it was created for. However, in 2016, Friend Reunited publicised that it was
closing while stating that “the world was now a different place” and that they could no
extended fit in and compete with enterprises such as Facebook. It shows how external factors
including competition results into failure of business which can now be a million company
like others having its presence all over the globe.

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REFERENCES
Ben-Menahem, S.M., Kwee, Z., Volberda, H.W. and Van Den Bosch, F.A. (2013) Strategic
renewal over time: the enabling role of potential absorptive capacity in aligning internal and
external rates of change. Long Range Planning, 46(3), pp.216-235.
Chung, F. (2019) ‘It’s daylight robbery’: NRMA says stay out of servos as petrol prices hit
11-year high ahead of long weekend [ONLINE] Available from:
https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/costs/its-daylight-robbery-nrma-says-stay-out-of-
servos-as-petrol-prices-hit-11year-high-ahead-of-long-weekend/news-story/
9d3edc4c1cf33f6a112b9aa30c21e150 [Accessed 03/01/2019].
Curtis, A. (2019) All-night public transport hasn’t reduced alcohol-related harm in
Melbourne [ONLINE] Available from: http://theconversation.com/all-night-public-transport-
hasnt-reduced-alcohol-related-harm-in-melbourne-118999 [Accessed 03/01/2019].
Debter, L. (2017) Amazon Is Buying Whole Foods For $13.7 Billion [ONLINE] Available
from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurengensler/2017/06/16/amazon-to-buy-whole-foods-
for-13-7-billion/#6db9e8819589 [Accessed 03/01/2019].
Dickey, M. (2019) Uber Eats, micromobility services are growing faster than Uber’s core
ride-hailing business [ONLINE] Available from: https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/30/uber-
eats-micromobility-services-are-growing-faster-than-ubers-core-ride-hailing-business/
[Accessed 03/01/2019].
infrastructure.gov.au. (2016) Trends>Transport and Australia’s Development to 2040 and
Beyond [ONLINE] Available from:

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https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/infrastructure/publications/files/Trends_to_2040.pdf
[Accessed 03/01/2019].
Koksal, I. (2018) Who's the Amazon Alexa Target Market, Anyway? [ONLINE] Available
from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ilkerkoksal/2018/10/10/whos-the-amazon-alexa-target-
market-anyway/#2d195a8d2eb5 [Accessed 03/01/2019].
Lee, D. (2012) Friends Reunited relaunches site with 'nostalgia' focus [ONLINE] Available
from: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17510660 [Accessed 03/01/2019].
olawebcdn.com. (2019) OLA Privacy Policy for Australia [ONLINE] Available from:
https://olawebcdn.com/v1/docs/australia_privacy_policy.pdf [Accessed 03/01/2019].
Pesonen, H.L. and Horn, S. (2013) Evaluating the Sustainability SWOT as a streamlined tool
for life cycle sustainability assessment. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment,
18(9), pp.1780-1792.
Scaraboto, D. and Fischer, E. (2012) Frustrated fatshionistas: An institutional theory
perspective on consumer quests for greater choice in mainstream markets. Journal of
Consumer Research, 39(6), pp.1234-1257.