Situational Analysis Of Macpac In New Zealand - Essay.

The purpose of this assignment is to conduct a situational analysis on a branded business unit 1 in New Zealand. Your choice of brand or business will largely be dependent on your analysis of the business, the product categories and branding approach. You need to justify your choice. You are required to conduct a thorough examination and identification of the relevant internal and external factors that could positively or negatively impact the development of the product/ service of the chosen NZ company. Finally, you will conclude by proposing a target consumer profile for the branded business unit.

The concept of marketing plays a vital role in the business world. The consumer awareness of the different products with the help of marketing tools which is adopted by the business house. The manufacturer ensures that their product reaches to the ultimate consumer all over the world (Sidorchuk, 2015).  

In every organization, there are external and internal factors that create a great impact on the development of the product and services (Kerr & Patti, 2015). In the following context, there will be a detailed analysis of the company of Macpac. The Macpac is the brand of frivolous equipment which is recognized for travel and equipment camping. There are certain internal and external factors that create a positive and negative impact on the development of good and services of the organization. All these points will be discussed further.

Macpac was established in 1973 by Bruce. It is the brand specialized in outdoor recreational equipment. The company is recognized for equipment related to travels and for camping. The company was originally formed as New Zealand Company (Eaqub, 2014). In 1987, the company began the process of exporting to the Netherlands and Switzerland which was followed by Germany and the UK (Pech, 2015). 

The mission of Macpac is to contribute to the creation of a future where the aspiration of the people can be fulfilled. The company has a mission to engineer the highest quality of equipment and lead in the world of business (Murphy, 2017). The vision of the company is to become a global business enabler that can meet the needs of the company throughout the world. The company follows the value to build trust among the customers and employees with humility and fairness (Macpac, 2018). Contribute to society and aspire to set high standards, also embrace the challenges to constant innovation, promote a culture of non-judgmental attitude and to achieve full potential, strive to develop others and oneself (Macpac Films LTD, 2018).

Macpac is the organization of equipment. The company manufactures and designs a different variety of outdoor equipment which involve technical garments, backpacks, sleeping bags and varieties of the tent that was designed to serve in a different environment. Macpac has been a chief sponsor of the New Zealand Alpine Team since 2013 with the variety of alpine-specific clothing and packs. The collection of apparel and equipment of the company are suitable for any climate and scenario. The product line of the company caters to campers, mountain climbers, hikers and also suitable for those, who love travels and adventure (Bloomberg, 2018).

Environment Scanning

In recent, the company has been acquired by Australian retail group Super Retail for $ 144 million. The Super Retail plan to combine Macpac with the other retailer which is Rays. The Macpac has 54 stores across Australia and New Zealand, while Rays has 15 stores in Australia which will be combined under the brand of Macpac. The existing management team of Macpac will lead the combined business. The company has been performed extremely well in the recent years, the company is planning to open new stores in near future and growing its digital and commercial channels (Britomart, 2018).

There are certain external factors that create a great impact on the development of product or services of Macpac that could be positive or negative. The external factors are explained on below points:

Political

The relation of labor to laid-off workers, the relation of labor to military contracts and Asian countries. The Macpac has to compact with different political orientations for the Filipinos, Vietnamese and Chinese therefore, it would be difficult for Macpac for committing to fair labor practice. However, New Zealand is one the world’s most stable democracies which promote Macpac to work in the Stable environment and there is a broad array of economic and social legislation, a large-scale public works program, social safety, and minimum basic wages policy which make the employees of Macpac healthier. The countries political stability promoted considerable Foreign Direct Investment which induces the Macpac to work more efficiently and effectively (Bulmer & Buchanan-Oliver, 2010). 

Economic

Macpac is vulnerable to the rate of exchange with fluctuations and depreciation, as the company introducing the brand on the sphere of domestic and international. Exposure to the economic phase, in general, alters the plan of the business which cause operational, financial and administrative risk of the corporation. The economy of the country extremely depends on trade with other countries, therefore, the import and export policy is lenient which create an opportunity for Macpac to expand worldwide. The economy of the country enjoys a low rate of inflation that contribute to the low rate of interest and increasing purchasing power parity which help the Macpac to work more efficiently and effectively (Chan & Dana, 2008).

Socio-culture

The terrorist attack on the country has devastated effect on the purchasing behaviour and travelling lifestyle of the individuals around the globe, which created an insightful effect on the trade of Macpac. Individuals are nowadays more conscious of safety and security in addition to insurance. Macpac had perceived a trend shift to the lower end business of fashion. Customer desired the quality commodities at a low price, which created an benefit for Macpac because the company possesses the image of quality. Macpac resorted in flaring the portfolio of their product by uplifting the range of design pool and the target market which include the student and universities thus, creating Macpac a design-oriented yet product-led company.

Competitive environment

Technology

The Macpac recognized that China is the most complicated to deal with because the nation has the advantage of hi-tech advancement. The country has low spending in the activity of Research and Development which cause a high rate of external dependency for new technology. Therefore, it creates a great impact on the Macpac, it increases higher dependency on new technology that the company has the greatest challenge. The system is also considered which involve measurement, logistic communication and planning, all for the enhancement of integration with outsourced manufacturers and for cutting air travel cost.

It is a huge task for the company to becoming and staying as the market leader in the world of business. The Macpac keep ahead the hard work to enhance the reputation of the brand and coupled with the innovation of product based on market research that helps the business to understand the nature of the competition adequately and define the market accurately. Macpac faces the high level of challenge in the equipment of outdoor industry. Macpac pursues the strategy to broaden the range and scale of economics, to greater extent competitors of fluctuating size will be encountered. The company may have an edge when it comes to brandings such as Adidas as well as Nike, these companies have a specialized segment or supply channel. The Macpac has a benefit of a quality product; the company can take pride of fabric used in the products and the design of beliefs that will separate the company from the competitors (Benson-Rea & Shepherd, 2008). 

Macpac majorly contribute in plummeting footprints of carbon emission which cause global warming and climate change. Macpac consider five principles of the environment to raise the awareness of environment such as high quality equipment is an upbeat environmental choice, repair, durability, and reduce, reuse, recycle and return the favor to environment which is the social responsibility of Macpac towards society.

The Macpac has able to feel the importance of their stakeholders such as investors, customers, and the employees. The company always give priority to the ethical business with the aim to build strong relationships with the stakeholder.  With the help of CSR, the company takes participation in the social service and employee welfare (Gordon, 2003).

Macpac is known for its high-quality product which has expanded to online shopping. The company created two online shops in the market of New Zealand and Australia which are fully integrated and scalable (Macpac, 2018). The digital media and electronic marketing play an important role in the business of Macpac such as:

• Macpac provides quick service and easy accessibility to the customer through online shopping which provides convenience to the customer.
• With the help of digital media and electronic marketing, the Macpac reduces the cost of the operation because online marketing is cheaper than the traditional method of advertisement.
• The Macpac now able to track and measure the result and take corrective action, if required.
• With the help of digital media and electronic marketing, Macpac able to market their product and services globally which help the company to reach beyond the geography to offer the products to customers worldwide.
• The core benefit of electronic marketing is, the Macpac is able to handle millions of customers at the same time, simultaneously numerous transactions can easily take place.

The information generated by the consumer for the company has a great impact on the brand of the company. The consumer of Macpac created contents which include a review of the product on blogs, articles, message board, and e-newsletter. Some of the customers also review videos on YouTube, sharing pictures of products which are the popular and effective multi-media. The customers of Macpac pass their reviews which cover both aspect negative and positive reviews through emailing, social networking, and posting in different sites which plays as an effective tool of marketing for the Macpac because with the help of the reviews of the customer, the other individual get aware about the products of the Mcpac (Macpac, 2018).

Macpac segmentation, posting, and targeting involve a set of actions performed in a sequence. These activities constitute the essence of Macpac marketing strategy. Segmentation includes categorizing the population into a different group on the basis of their common characteristics. The segmentation is explained in below points:

Demographic

The demographic segment divides customer of Macpac into segment based demographic values such as gender, lifecycle, income, and occupation of the customers (Gerke & Benson-Rea, 2012). The product of Macpac has been introduced according to the criteria which are explained below:

Gender – the Macpac cover both male and female for their product. their product can be used by a female as well as male.

Life-cycle stage – The targeted area of the Macpac is mainly bachelor, who are young and people not living at home, newly married couple without children and the youngest child who is above eight.

Income – The Macpac seek to target middle and high-income customers who believe in traveling.

Occupation – The targeted occupation of the company are students, employees, professionals, and sportspersons. 

Geographic

It is important to segment according to geographic because buying habit of the customer is influenced by the place where they work and live. Thus the Macpac customize their product, promotion, efforts in advertising and sales to robust the requirement of the geographical variables. The geographic segmentation categorised customers of Macpac into a segment based on graphical areas which involve region, density and age group which are explained in below points.

Region – The targeted region of Macpac is domestic as well as international.

Density – the main target product of Macpac are for rural people, who have continued the work of traveling.

Age Group – the age group of the product covers the range of eight to forty-five years old people.

Behavioral

The Macpac has believed that the behavioral variables such as the degree of loyalty, benefit sought, and personality and user status are the points for constructing market segments. These are explained in below points:

Degrees of loyalty – The Macpac mainly focus on the customers of hardcore loyal, soft core loyal and who are switchers.

The benefit sought – the customers who have a sense of belongings, believe in high quality, the perception of trendiness is the target of the Macpac.

Personality – the customer who are determined, ambitious and trendy are the target segment of Macpac.

User status – the individuals who have potential and adventurous are the target of Macpac.

Psychographic Segmentation

Psychographic segmentation categories people according to their attitude, values, interest, lifestyles, and opinion. Macpac has used personality variable to segment the markets. These are explained in below points:

Social class – the Macpac mainly target the middle class and high-class customers.

Lifestyle – Macpac targets the customers who are a mainstreamer, explorer, succeeded and reformer.

Conclusion

From the above, it can be concluded that the marketing plays a vital role in the competitive world. The company Macpac is the brand for hikers and outdoor recreational equipment. The company has a great impact from political, economical, socio-culture, and technology factors which include negative and positive aspect. The company adopts a different market segment for targeting the customers and also has future plans to lead in the competitive world. 

References

Benson-Rea, M., & Shepherd, D. (2008). Macpac gears up and gets out there. University of Auckland Business Review, 10(2), 45.

Bloomberg. (2018). Company Overview of Macpac Ltd. Retrieved from: https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=134112895

Britomart. (2018). Macpac. Retrieved from: https://britomart.org/tenants/macpac/

Bulmer, S., & Buchanan-Oliver, M. (2010). Experiences of brands and national identity. Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ), 18(4), 199-205.

Chan, J., & Dana, L. (2008). Internationalisation of the New Zealand Outdoor Clothing Brand Industry. World Research Organization Isis Press, 1(2), 30-37.

Eaqub, S. (2014). Growing apart: regional prosperity in New Zealand (Vol. 18). New Zealand: Bridget Williams Books.

Gerke, A., & Benson-Rea, M. (2012). Growing new MNEs in New Zealand: the FSA/CSA framework revisited. Multinational Business Review, 20(2), 153-177.

Gordon, R., (2009). Corporate responsibility in New Zealand–A case study. Something to believe in: creating trust and hope in organisations: stories of transparency, accountability and governance. Sheffield, UK, Greenleaf, 190-205.

Kerr, G., & Patti, C. (2015). Strategic IMC: From abstract concept to marketing management tool. Journal of Marketing Communications, 21(5), 317-339.

Macpac. (2018). About Us. Retrieved from: https://www.macpac.co.nz/about-us/

Macpac. (2018). Vision, Mission, and Core Values. Retrieved from: https://macpacfilms.net/vision-mission-and-core-values/

Murphy, D. F. (2017). Good governance in development co-operation. Something to Believe In: Creating Trust and Hope in Organisations: Stories of Transparency, Accountability and Governance, 7(10),119.

Pech, R. M. (2015). Achieving the innovative edge in technology, engineering design, and entrepreneurship. Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 5(1), 6.

Sidorchuk, R. (2015). The Concept of “Value” in the Theory of Marketing. Asian Social Science, 11(9), 320