Marketing Environmental Scan for Tablets: A Comprehensive Analysis

This assignment presents a comprehensive marketing environmental scan focused on the tablet product category. It meticulously analyzes various external factors impacting the market, including competitive forces, regulatory frameworks, economic conditions, socio-cultural trends, technological advancements, and demographic influences. The analysis delves into the competitive landscape, identifying key players like Apple, Samsung, and others, while also considering indirect competitors such as laptops and phablets. Regulatory forces, such as governmental norms and industry standards, are examined for their impact on manufacturing, distribution, and e-waste management. Economic factors, including GDP, unemployment, and inflation rates, are evaluated for their influence on tablet sales and market investment. Socio-cultural forces, like the paperless lifestyle trend and the increasing dependence on digital systems, are also considered. Furthermore, the assignment explores the role of technological advancements and demographic groups, particularly the tech-savvy Generation Y and Z, in shaping the tablet market. The analysis is supported by relevant references, providing a well-rounded understanding of the tablet market environment.

Running head: ENVIRONMENT SCANNING
ENVIRONMENT SCANNING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ENVIRONMENT SCANNING
Competitive Forces:
There are many organizations investing and selling the product category of Tablets for
various consumer groups. The rivalry in this product category is high due to the already
established companies which are the significantly evident major players selling Tablets
involves, Apple, Samsung, Fusion, Lenovo, Microsoft, Asus, Huawei and HTC. The
switching cost for the consumers is low, due to lower distinctiveness amongst the players
with respect to functionality. New entrants or brands are also entering in the market due to
the ease of understanding android’s feature offerings in this product category (Andrae &
Vaija, 2017). Various Chinese companies, which are already operating in the PC and
smartphone business, are entering. The direct competitors can be the companies offering is
and Android configured Tablets and the indirect competitors can be any company or brand
manufacturing laptops, Ultra mobile PCs and moreover, the concept of Phablets will be
introduced, which can make calls and work as a Tablet. The functionality of notebooks can
also satisfy the needs of the customers, especially students and office-goers for ease of taking
their work with them (Chaudhuri et al., 2018).
Regulatory Forces:
It is crucial for all Tablet manufacturing companies to comply with the governmental
norms and industry standards for sustaining in the market. One of the regulations of the
government integrates with the supply chain expenses such as the allocation of optimum
amount of resources, packaging procedure, and ethical distribution network and disposal
norms for electronic equipment. The environmental regulations are applied for monitoring the
usage of raw materials, restricting overutilization and acquiring from conflicting zones. The
environmental impact caused in manufacturing, disposing and distributing is monitored by
every industry in alignment with the governmental guidelines. The changing marketing
practices in Tablet category indicates the strategy of extending channels of communication

2ENVIRONMENT SCANNING
and reach by creating a unique experience, which is emotional and rich, which cannot be
attained in desktops or laptops due to the entertainment and relaxed-focused mindset amongst
the Tablet users. EPA (Environment Protection Agency) regulates the rate of e-waste
produced by companies manufacturing Tablets.
Economic Forces:
The GDP of Canada have significantly increased in 2020 from 2019, 1.76 percent
from 1.55 percent. However, the unemployment rate seems to be have grown drastically from
February 2020 to March 2020, from 5.60 percent to 7.80 percent. The increasing
unemployment rate will majorly harm the sale of Tablets. The inflation rate of Canada is
decreasing from 2018 followed by the two years, as it was 2.24 percent in 2018, 2.01 percent
in 2019 and 2.03 percent in 2020 (Statista.com, 2019). The low inflation rate can be
preferable for Tablet manufacturing companies to invest in newer technologies by forecasting
future costs. The supply and demand in this product category is shifting with the changing
company decisions and individual preferences. In most of the households the usefulness of
Tablets are being replaced by PCs or laptops. Companies’ decision of focussing more on PC
and Laptop upgradation also affects Tablet category.
Socio-Cultural Forces:
The consumers groups of college-goers prefer Tablets due to the paper-less lifestyle
and ease of cohesiveness of managing tasks. Paper-less lifestyle trend is elevating for
recognizing the environmental impact of cutting excessive trees. The increasing significant of
sociability in peer groups in colleges, schools and offices influences the Tablet product
category by integrating convenient and advanced design (Kang, Feinberg & Papalambros,
2019). The rising dependence on digital and electronic system also influences this product
category.
Technological Forces:

3ENVIRONMENT SCANNING
The demand for advanced technology for ease of usability and distinctiveness
demands innovative features and designs. Various technological advancements amongst the
competitors also demands the investment in the areas such as the demand of cloud
computing, integration of technology in students’ assignment criteria and businesses, growing
market for mobility in digital devices and growing technological threats from established and
new market.
Demographic Forces:
The main demographic group, which can influence the Tablet product category, can
be the college and office goers or the generation Y and Z as they are more exposed to newer
technologies and demands functional and well-designed gadgets for their daily life
(Chaudhuri et al., 2018). Another demographic group can be education. The number of users
of Tablets in Canada increased in range of 2013 to 2018, from 11.6 million to 17.4 millions,
mostly in the field of education by college and school students (Statista.com, 2020). The
average income as per male and female has also increased from 2016 to 2018 in Canada
reflecting the opportunity and positive influence over Tablet companies.

4ENVIRONMENT SCANNING
References:
Andrae, A. S., & Vaija, M. S. (2017). Life cycle assessments of an optical network terminal
and a tablet: Experiences of the product environmental footprint
methodology. Advances in Environmental Research; Daniels, JA, Ed.; Nova Science
Publishers: Hauppauge, NY, USA, 55, 31-46.
Chaudhuri, A., Messina, P., Kokkula, S., Subramanian, A., Krishnan, A., Gandhi, S., ... &
Kandaswamy, V. (2018, December). A Smart System for Selection of Optimal
Product Images in E-Commerce. In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Big Data
(Big Data) (pp. 1728-1736). IEEE.
Kang, N., Feinberg, F. M., & Papalambros, P. Y. (2019). Designing profitable joint product–
service channels: case study on tablet and eBook markets. Design Science, 5.
Statista.com (2019). Canada - Inflation rate 1984-2024 | Statista. [Online] Retrieved from
https://www.statista.com/statistics/271247/inflation-rate-in-canada/
Statista.com (2020). Tablet users in Canada 2013-2018 | Statista. [Online] Retrieved, from
https://www.statista.com/statistics/468568/canada-tablet-users-forecast/