Marketing Trends

Marketing strategies are affected and influenced by external factors. Although these factors are uncontrollable, they can by influenced by marketing activities. Marketing decisions are based on consideration of the five environmental factors which are social, economic, political/legal, technological, and competitive. Consideration of these factors can aid in the reduction of threats and maximize the opportunities (Bearden & Laforge, 2004). All these factors are considered at Staples when making successful marketing decisions.

Social environment refers to the groups of people as it relates to number characteristics, behavior, and growth projections. Two components of social environment are demographic and cultural (Bearden & Laforge, 2004). At Staples, the marketing department relies on demographics and cultural diversity to determine product line specific to certain stores. During the back to school season, promo items are sold that appeal to the popular culture. That is a time of year when students shop for supplies and accessories. To be more than just the supply store, they offer popular tend items to increase sales above and beyond paper and pens. Economic environment considers income levels and the production of goods and services. This determines the buying power of the population served. There can be a large population but without buying power, business is not generated. The marketing group works in conjunction with real estate to make sure the locations for new or relocated stores are feasible based on demographic and economics.

Political/legal environments are governmental activities, laws and regulations as it pertains to marketing practices. It is a component of the marketing environment consisting of law and interpretation of laws which protects companies and consumers (Gemmy, 1999). One of the things that come to mind is the need to have inventory levels to cover marketing of a special promotion. Not adhering to this could potentially cause an accusation of "Bate and Switch" which is clearly against legal business practice.

Technological environment refers to new technologies, which allows for development of new products and services. The marketing department monitors the technological environment closely and adapts accordingly. With the increase demand for mobility the marketing group has catered more to the mobile users, offering a wider variety of mobility products within the store. As technology changes businesses have to respond quickly and adapt. Competitive environment includes all businesses that serve similar customers. Competitors fall under two different categories: brand or product competitors. Being in retail, Staples experiences a lot of competition, the key for the marketing department is faced with determining the strengths and weakness of the competitors. By doing this they are able to plan a better strategy.

There are five current marketing technologies: email, website, direct e-marketing, web site advertising/pop-ups, and blogs. According to wikipedia, email marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a communication means (wikipedia.com). Companies like Staples, find it to be more effective, because it is less expensive than printing and mailing a letter, and it also provides a direct link to Staples.com. Staples location on the World Wide Web, which is available to web browsers. They can retrieve company's product offering, promotional message and important marketing information. Direct e-marketing is any marketing effort done with the use of electronic media. Website advertising and pop-ups are intended