Marketing is a means of developing a plan and applying it in a business context to meet consumer demand and to also generate profit for the organisation. In every firm there are environmental factors which influence the ability to develop and maintain a business structure, success and relationships with customers; they are internal and external factors (Thomas & Norman 1988).
Internal factors are those the firm can control and external factors are beyond the firm’s control. Fragrance Direct is an online supplier of grooming products, but has not focused on male fragrance until now. Considering the major players in the game, such as L’oreal, Estee Louder, Proctor and Gamble and Uniliver, Fragrance Direct needs to find a way to meet up with these key players. First, is by broadening its customer base in other to penetrate the market.
INTERNAL AND EXYERNAL FACTORS
These factors are analysed below: (Randall.j, 1994)
POLITICAL: The vulnerability of a company to political changes or government policies can pose heavy threat on a business. Fragrance direct needs to monitor closely the government policies which may affect its business, policies on hiring and promotions, law on tax and so on.
ECONOMIC: An organisation or business needs to have a good grasp about your economic cycle. Since no one can predict the economic trend perfectly. Fragrance direct can be a step further, if they monitor the news to know the direction the company is taking and how to make amendment.
SOCIAL/CULTURAL: For many marketing people factors affecting how we live our lives are likely to be the most interesting. Factors like change in eating habits, changing attitude to brands, career expectation etc. Fragrance direct needs to understand the under lying cases of changes and make possible adjustment, since it is difficult to predict changes in customers behaviour.
TECHNOLOGY: Most businesses are affected by this factor, one need to keep an
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