The marketing environment for REI is immensely complicated. While some aspects of marketing, including price, promotion, product and place is within the company’s controls, other external factors are not. Factors external to REI’s control include local and global economic factors, legal and regulatory forces, socio-cultural trends, and technology.
Major elements of the U.S. economy affecting REI’s retail operations include consumer confidence, interest rates, and inflation. All three elements either stimulate or depress consumer spending. Low consumer confidence, high interest rates, or rising inflaction, place pressure on companies to lower prices, which has a negative impact on sales margins.
The economic performance of global markets as well as geo-political influences directly affects U.S. consumer sentiment and suppresses consumer spending. Current examples include the economic instability in Greece and China.
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based company, REI is required to adhere to all U.S. laws and regulations. This includes financial laws and regulations, including local, state, and federal tax laws, and federal trade laws. As an employer REI has to abide to labor laws, which governs, amongst other, Labor Standards, Workplace Safety and Health, and Employee Benefits. Furthermore, REI is required to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, which prevents workplace discrimination and guarantees equal opportunities for disabled workers.
The incredible pace of technological advancement is a challenge for all companies. In recent years, the greatest growth was seen in mobile devices, which challenges companies, like REI, to keep up with consumer demands. With mobile devices, customers want to interact with companies on their terms. Companies, like REI, can respond by offering personalized marketing directed at users of mobile devices. Mobile devices are also leading the charge for new payment methods, NFC enabled devices and mobile
“The Americans with Disability Act (ADA) is a federal law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities and ADA covers employment by private employers with 15 or more employees as well as state and local government employers of the same size. Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act provides the same protections for federal employees and applicants for federal employment” (EEOC, 2011, para. 1).
5.) Changes with “interest rates, rates of economic growth, fiscal and monetary policies of the government, inflation, deflation, consumer credit availability, consumer debt levels, tax rates and policy, unemployment trends, oil prices, and other matters that influence the availability and cost of merchandise, consumer confidence, spending and tourism could adversely impact the Company’s business and results of operations” (macysinc.com, pg.78).
Knowing that consumers will shop for the best deals, differentiation will be introducing new pricing methods that attract the everyday shopper and not only the seasonal shopper.
The Americans with Disabilities Act, also known as Public Law 101-336, is a civil rights law. It makes it illegal to discriminate based on disability in several different areas of life. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in: employment, services rendered by state and local governments, places of public accommodation, transportation, telecommunications services. The ADA covers employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments. It also applies to employment agencies and to labor organizations. The ADA’s nondiscrimination standards also apply to federal sector employees under section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended, and its implementing rules. http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-ada.html
Terroir and its employees will conduct all business in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act (ADAA). It is the policy of Terroir to comply with all federal, state, and city laws concerning its employment of people with disabilities and to act in accordance with all regulation and guidance issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). It is the
The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) protects individuals with disabilities from discrimination based upon their disability (Bennett-Alexander, 2001). The protection extends to discrimination in a broad range of activities, including public services, public accommodations and employment. The ADA's ban against disability discrimination applies to both private and public employers in the United States.
Users can acquire almost any type of information, such as information on the weather, locations, food, attraction, transportation, medicine, education, games, fashion, sports, and scientific research, without constraints of time and place. Users can also create a new form of social community, influence public opinion, and significantly improve the infrastructure and speed of social communication. Because this mobile generation has strong access to information and networking capabilities, the producer-driven consumption pattern is rapidly being replaced by a consumer-based consumption pattern. Accordingly, the need for customized information is expected to keep pace with change in the IT environment.
“The Global Media Group viewed Coca-Cola’s Flaschenpost campaign in Europe as an example of the potential of mobile marketing”. Customers can receive unique codes imprinted on the Coca-Cola boxes, cans and bottles when they buy the products, and then they use the codes to download free mobile content. As a direct result of this campaign, “more than six million free wallpapers and ringtones were downloaded to mobile phones”.
hiding something behind the actual unemployment rate in America or people in America are still feeling the effects of the 2008 recession. The housing market crash in the fourth quarter of 2008 may still be affecting many families today. Since consumer spending drives two thirds of the economy, according to econoday, it also affects retail sales because when consumers are confident in their economy, there are willing to buy more (Econoday: “Consumer confidence”). This, in turn, affects U.S. retail sales which is also a reflection of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. These indicators have a chain reaction because when one changes, it affects the rest.
The U.S economy is growing rapidly and therefore it has affect any business organization of a firm. The current economic state affects the retail services of REI in the following ways. The U.S. Economy has truly possessed the capacity to mitigate the effect of downturns in local retail buyer spending. This is because of substantial exchange with outside countries. The consequence of this is retailers are encountering noteworthy decreases in deals because of individuals taking care of on their outgoings and furrowing into their properties or somewhere else, consequently the economy withstands a lot of challenges while trying to maintain its position (Mook, Quarter, Armstrong, & Whitman, 2015). Therefore, customers in the US have reduced the rate at which they purchase or search for REI services since they are a bit expensive. It is obvious that the company will have to cope with some changes. (Reis et al, 2016)
I have looked into the current concerns of REI’s top management on the subject of simultaneously meeting the financial objectives, keeping the company growing on the same rate and satisfying the sustainability goals that the Board of Directors has laid down for the company. The following gives my take on the issues at hand.
Innovation is a more effective and efficient way of performing tasks. It is not an invention but rather, using a current model and simplifying it to enhance the overall experience of its users. Furthermore, it can eliminate existing problems issues that the users are facing. As there are more than 6 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide, countries all around the world are embracing mobile phone payments. While developed countries are embracing this new technology, as mobile coverage and connectivity rate is high, developed countries are also adopting the practice, as it does not only rely on Internet access.
It is an agile mobile experience platform that enables marketers, ecommerce teams and creative digital teams to build mobile experiences, sites and applications in hours and without need for IT support. It is a platform built on mobile-first best practices for acquiring, engaging and retaining consumers and tested using real-life use cases from 100s of global brands that currently run their mobile services on July 's mobile platform. This platform also comes pre-integrated into an ecosystem of partner services including commerce, advertising and messaging.
There are many merchants competing for a portion of the mobile payment, but the lack of cooperation, standardization and lack of choices from the mobile industry has created the customer confusion that is associated to the actual technological changes and the evolving mobile competition.
In an ever-changing marketplace, retailers are deploying pioneering strategies to increase profits. In technology, marketers are using virtual reality for more than games, and as expected, mobile device advertising continues to rise as the overwhelming majority adopts the technology. Meanwhile, a new advancement - Bluetooth beacon technology - provides more accurate georeferencing data. As for new strategies, in contrast to the past, consumers are less worried about privacy as they welcome advertising that caters to their immediate impulses, and firms work to unite buyer interactions into one cohesive experience.