Lifestyle - There is increasing interest in the effect of consumer “lifestyles” regarding demand. Unfortunately, there are many different lifestyle categorization systems, many of them designed by advertising and marketing agencies as a way of winning new marketing clients and campaigns!. The main lifestyles of my customer would be gamers, people who keep up with technology, people who like to socialize online and youngsters. This is because in reality they people who would be most interested in video gaming in one way or the other.
Social class – Marketers tend to think and furthermore believe that whatever a consumer consumes is in contract to his social class for cars, clothes, home furnishings, leisure activities and other products & services. We can say that this is clearly linked with income segmentation.
Psychographic Segmentation
Psychographic segmentation also referred to as behavioural segmentation social class, personality type and lifestyles are taken into consideration when dividing. Social class is very important as it can determined other aspects of the product such as where it is promoted and sold, people are usually separated using the socio-economic scale, the different social classes are listed below-
- Social grade A- Higher managerial, administrative or professional, e.g. company director
- Social grade B- Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional, e.g. middle manager
- Social grade C1- supervisory, clerical, junior administrative or professional, e.g. bank clerk
- Social grade C2- Skilled manual workers, e.g. plumber
- Social grade D- Semi and unskilled manual workers, e.g. labourer
- Social grade E- State pensioners with no other income, widows, casual and lowest grade earners, e.g. unemployed
This type of segmentation divides the market into groups according to customers’ lifestyles. A number of potential influences on buying behaviour, and attitudes, expectations & activities of consumers are taken into consideration. If these are known, then products and marketing campaigns can be customised so that they appeal more specifically to customer motivations.
The main types of psychographic segmentation are:
Lifestyle – As you would expect different people would have different lifestyles and patterns. In addition, as we go through different stages of life. E.g, a family with young children is likely to have a different lifestyle to a much older couple whose children have left home, and there are, therefore, likely to be significant differences in consumption patterns between the two groups. One of the most well-known lifestyle models, the “sagacity lifestyle model”, identifies four main stages in a typical lifestyle. These groups are than further subdivided
- Dependent (e.g., children still living at home with parents);
- Pre-family (with their own households but no children);
- Family (parents with at least one dependent child); and
- Late (parents with children who have left home, or older childless couples).
Opinions, interests and hobbies – This covers vast amount & includes consumers’ political opinions, views on the environment, sporting and recreational activities and arts and cultural issues. Opinions that consumers hold and the activities they engage in will have a huge impact on the products they buy and marketers need to be aware of any changes. Good recent examples include the growth of demand for organic foods or products that are (or are “perceived” to be) environmentally friendly
Degree of Loyalty – This is when you have loyal customers. They are willing to buy from one of the many brands they buy from, but they frequently use this brand and this makes them valuable to the firm/business. This type of segmentation allows firms to adapt to market and retain their customers and it is easier than trying to promote and get new customers. Often in the business world, it is argued, “That it is ten times more profitable selling to existing customers than trying to find new ones. So the moral is – work hard at keeping your customers.”
Occasions – This segmentation simply looks at when a product or services is purchased or consumed E.g some people only buy certain products such as wine at celebration times other people will tend to consume it on daily basis. Firms/businesses often try to change customer perception of the best time to consumer a product by promoting alternative uses for a product. E.g. a lot of dairy products are said to be not only for daily uses but as medicals for diseases such as cancer, acne, etc.
Benefits Sought –The main benefits that consumers look for in products needs to identified and understood. E.g. toothpaste is not only bought to keep clean teeth and gums but also to keep good taste in mouth and fight bad breath!.
Usage – Certain markets can be segmented into light, medium and heavy user groups. This simply means that how much a consumers uses a product so e.g. a business traveller will use a 2 door car more than a four door car.
Geographic segmentation
This type of segmentation divides markets into different geographical units. Units that are included are:
- Regions: e.g. in the UK these might be England, Scotland, Wales Northern Ireland or (at a more detailed level) counties or major metropolitan areas
- Countries: perhaps categorized by size, development or membership of geographic region
- City / Town size: e.g. population within ranges or above a certain level
- Population density: e.g. urban, suburban, rural, semi-rural
- Climate: e.g. Northern, Southern
This type of segmentation is very important to my business because my business is a multi-national business and this type of segmentation looks micro-economics and macro-economics. Many businesses will have program’s which adapt their products, advertising and promotion to meet the individual needs of geographic units
1. GENDER
2. AGE (FILL IN THE BOX)
3. HAVE YOU EVER BOUGHT A CONSOLE?
4. HOW MUCH DO YOU SPEND ON YOUR CONSOLE?
5. HOW MUCH DO YOU PAY APPROXIMATELY FOR A GAME?
6. WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO BUY THE NEW PRODUCT?
7. HOW MUCH WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO PAY FOR A CONSOLE WHERE YOU PAY MONTHLY FOR GAMES, MOVIES, VIDEOS, MUSIC, ETC? DIRECTLY ONLINE AND NO CD, DVD's, ETC NEEDED.
8. HOW MUCH WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO PAY FOR MONTHLY CHARGE WHICH ALLOWS UNLIMITED DOWNLOAD OF GAMES, MOVIES, VIDEOS, MUSIC, ETC?
9. WHAT WOULD YOUR OPINION BE TO THIS TYPE OF CONSOLE?
Analysis of Research
Primary Research – Questionnaire
The table above shows answers for 31 people who answered the questionnaire.
The table above shows Mean, Median and Mode for all numeric questions asked like cost of console, paid for game, etc. Mean age is 21 which is not the age group I will aim age because majority of people they have taken the questionnaire are teenagers. There were only two 21-year-old people who actually took the questionnaire. Mode and Median for the age were 16 and 18, which is about right because majority of people were teenagers. All three averages for previously spent on console were about the same because majority of people had approximately £250. The three averages for paid for a game were about the same and I does reflect on how much to charge for monthly cost. The one question I should have ideally asked was how many games do you buy a monthly this would have helped me work out more accurately how much they would be willing to paying for monthly cost of membership. I could work on average how much people would have spent on games monthly and set monthly cost from that. The averages for willing to pay for my console were pretty much level as well. There was only a difference of £14 between mean and mode/median. Looking at the graph for this majority of people were willing to pay £250 to £300, so it would be sensible to set it at £250. The three averages for willing to pay for monthly cost were completely different but not very far apart from each other. There was only a difference of £10 max, which was between mode and median. Looking at graphs majority of people were willing to pay up to £55 so I think it would be sensible to make £50 the monthly charge. Because it falls right in the middle of mode and median.
Question 1:
Gender
This pie chart below shows the percentage of males and females I have asked. From the 31 randomly asked people 10 were females and 21 were males. This means that 32% were females and 68% were males, therefore majority of people were males. This is helpful when I am setting my marketing objectives regarding who to aim at and when I am setting the marketing mix the promotion because it would simply be pointless if promotion were to be aimed at the wrong gender.
Question 2:
Have you bought a console before?
This pie chart simply shows the people who have previously bought a console. 97% or 30 people said “YES,” This means they did buy a console before. This shows that there are still people who buy consoles and they would possibly buy a new console.
Question 3:
Age
The graph below simply shows the different age groups that answered the questionnaire. Majority of people that answered the questionnaire were teenagers adding up to 19 people this is 61%. This is more than half of the people. As you can see from the trend line as the age goes up less and less people want a console. I know this because before asking people the questionnaire I mentioned to them that the questionnaire was about a new console that is going to be released on the market. So they could decide on whether or not to fill in the questionnaire. This question would help me do my marketing mix, because it helped me find out the potential age groups that would buy the console. Therefore for the 4 P’s Price, Place, Promotion, Product. The promotion will be definitely aimed at teenagers. Console will need be made so that it is appealing to them. E.g. example bright pink console with a picture of Barbie on it would not be something that male teenagers would be ready to buy, so design of the console will have to be something teenagers desire. For place, the console will need to be placed on window shelves in retail shops and especially in video games shops such as Game, GameStation, HMV, Entertainment Exchange, etc. This is simply due to teenagers tend to hang around in town centre and this will attract them, because the console can be seen more easily from a window rather than going inside a shop. This graph data is very important when setting the price, because too high prices are very bad for teenagers simply because they cannot afford to pay high prices. These teenagers would mostly be students.
Question 4:
How they previously spent on a console?
The bar graph below shows the how many people spent how much on a console? The majority (13) of people spent £250 chart, this is approximately 41% of people who paid £250 previously for a console. This shows that £250 is average price people were willing to pay if the price is higher than £250 than people who only willing to pay £250 will not pay anything more. Therefore, to get high possible sales and to capture the market, I will by using premium pricing strategy, than slowly move onto price skimming and then stick to fixed pricing. I have to keep in mind that the Stroxbox is highly aimed at teenagers therefore too high pricing means that teenagers will not buy the product simply because they will not pay high pricing.
Question 5:
How do you approximately pay for a game?
The chart below shows how much people have paid previously for a game. As the graph show 11 people were paid £30 for a game. This is 35/36 % of people out of the lot of 31 people. 6 people paid £20 and 8 people paid £40. This shows me that people were willing to pay variety of prices for games. The prices range is £30 up or down. This tells me that on average people were willing to pay £30 on average. This would help me do my price strategy when setting monthly charge for the console.
Question 6:
Would you buy my console?
The graph below simply shows how many people would buy my console. I introduced the people to my questionnaire and told them about my proposed console, so they knew what the console was about. As you can see from the graph below only one person said, they would not buy my console. The person who said “No” had never bought a console before, so I would expect this answer. This means that 97% people would buy the console, therefore there is anticipation for a console like this on the market. This is helpful when I am going to talk about whether the console release is going to be successful and this will help me set the price, because people would buy my console. I can get away with charging high prices and as people who can afford to buy, the console with high price will buy it and as I can get high sales at the start, Prices will be dropped again, so people who are not willing to pay high price will be also able to afford the console.
Question 7:
How much they were willing to pay for my console
The chart below shows how much people were willing to pay for my console. The majority of people were willing pay £250 to £300. 12 people were willing to £250 this is 40% of people and 9 people were willing to pay £300 and this is 30% of people. This work out to majority of people which are 70% were willing to pay £250 - £300. This tells me that in reality I should set my prices in this region. So I think the pricing strategy which I mentioned before should in the Analysis of question two will actually work.
Question 8:
How much they are willing to pay for monthly charge for subscription.
The graph below shows how much people were willing to pay for monthly cost for subscription. As you can see from the graph most people, (12) were willing to pay £55. Then 10 people were willing to pay £45 and just six people rated the package at £35. This is quite low. I previously predicted from graph data for question five setting price around £30 would be good, but looking at this, I can positively say that I can set a higher charge between £45 - £55. This graph has over 50% of people wanting to pay and valuing the package over £35.
Question 9:
How do you rate my console?
This was the final question, which was asked. The graph below shows what people thought of my console. There was not a single person who thought that the console was poor, so this is a good and positive thing to know. Excellent which was the best rating type was most chosen than Very Good was chosen. Adding the amount of people that have answered these two rating system are 25 people; this is around 90% of people who though the console was very good, this shows there is anticipation for a console like this on the market.
1. GENDER
2. AGE (Fill in the Box)
3. WHERE WOULD YOU EXPECT CONSOLES TO BE SOLD?
4. WHERE WOULD YOU EXPECT TO SEE THE PRODUCT?
5. WHERE WOULD YOU EXPECT THE CONSOLE TO BE ADVERTISIED?
6. DO YOU PREFER TRADITIONAL PACKAGING? (RECTENGULAR BOXING)
7. IF 'NO' DO YOU PERFER DIFFERENT TYPES OF PACKAGING STYLES SUCH SQUARES BOXES?
8. WHEN YOU BUY SOMETHING YOU DON'T KNOW, ARE YOU ATTRACTED BY THE PACKAGING OR THE INFORMATION ABOUT IT OR BOTH?
Analysis of Research
Primary Research – Questionnaire
Above is a pie chart representing male and females in my questionnaire results. I asked surveyed exactly 31 people. From which 12 were females and 19 males. 31 people were chosen, as I wanted to keep the same amount of people that I had before, for the questionnaire regarding the proposal. Majority of people in this questionnaire are males. This questionnaire is more balanced as Males do not over balance females, as it happened in the previous questionnaire, because there were 21 males and only 10 females.
On the previous page is a graph representing the different age groups. I had a target age group of 14-19 because that is the targeted age group for my proposal. I would be pointless to ask anyone out of the age range as it would give unrealistic results. From the random selected people there were 9, eighteen year olds, which is the most.
The graph above is for question 3, which asked where they would expect the consoles to be sold. The choices were online, in retailer shops, in video game shops, at supermarkets or all the places mentioned. Everyone ticked all of the place mentioned, this goes to show that it is possible to sell the console everywhere, because this is what people expected.
The fourth question that was asked is where would they see the product, this means that where could they possibly view the product on demo or test it out, they were really only given two choices either in shop windows, on demo inside the shops or both. Again with this question everyone I asked ticked “both places mentioned above”. This again shows that the product could be promoted anywhere really.
The graph above is for question number five “Where would they expect the console to be advertised, the choice were: in shops, T.V. commercials, radio commercials, online, papers, specialist magazines, and general magazines. Yet again, everyone replied “all of the above.” This goes to show that advertisements can be placed anywhere as people expect them everywhere. It’s in Microsoft’s nature to advertise on T.V. but majority of advertisements on the internet.
Question six asked whether people preferred traditional packaging (rectangular boxing). The graph above shows the results for the question. Majority of people replied or ticked “No.” This is 16 people and 15 people actually preferred the traditional packaging, I have a choice of whether to go with the traditional packaging for the console or have a new type of packaging. I think it would be in a way better to go with a different packaging and “S” would be the idle packaging. It obviously stands for Stroxbox and I think this packaging+ will not only attract customer as it could stand out from rest of the product but also it will save extra-unused space.
The bar graph above simply represents the answers for question 7. This question was a link on to the previous question. Customers were asked to answer this question if only they answered ‘No’ to question six. 16 people answered ‘No’ and all they replied ‘No’ to this question, this goes to show, that the people who answered ‘No’ previously did not actually like the traditional packaging and this question proves and verifies it.
Finally, the last question to finish off the questionnaire it asked them how they bought their products, was it attraction of packaging, information or both. Majority answered information, which goes to show that people did take into information that they knew what they were buying.
Secondary Research – Internet/Websites
Source 1 – guardian.co.uk 23rd October 2009
“There we find that things are rosy at the Windows and Windows Live division ($2.6bn revenue, $1.4bn profit), Server and Tools ($3.4bn revenue, $1.28bn profit), the Business division ($4.4bn revenue, $2.86bn profit), and even at Entertainment and Devices - home of the Xbox and, um, Zune ($1.89bn revenue, $312m profit).
But what about the Online Services division? Different story. $490m revenue - which is down from $520m in the same period last year - and losses of $480m, an increase against last year's $381m loss.
In other words, for every $1 that Microsoft's online services division brought in, it spent $2.”
Above is a little extract from an article on the guardian website, which talks about Microsoft’s yearly results for their different departments. As you can see there was a huge profits in most of the areas but not as big profit in the Entertainment and Devices only profit of $312m which is quite low compared to billions in other areas. This is why Microsoft wants to release a new entertainment device, which will bring in extra profits.
Source 2 – timesonline.co.uk 23rd January 2009
“The company said that total revenue edged up 2 per cent to $16.63 billion, as software for corporate computer servers helped offset an 8 per cent drop in revenue for PC software.
Microsoft's online services division, which includes the web portal MSN and its online advertising sales, continued to lose money - $471 million in the quarter, as the company continued its battle with rival Google and Yahoo!. Mr Ballmer said the company would continue to invest in search but there was no news about the company's much-discussed move to buy Yahoo!'s search business.
Revenue from Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, which includes the Xbox 360, rose 3% over the same period a year earlier.
Sales of the Xbox 360 gaming console were excellent, Microsoft said, with a record 6 million consoles flying off the shelves in the quarter.”
This article looks at Microsoft’s revenue, which went up by 2% making it $16.16 billion; this was the revenue for computer software. One of Microsoft’s aims is to take over search engines but this is not going very well because first quarter of 2009 a loss of $417 million, which we hope will recover due to launch of BING. Microsoft’s recent innovation of taking Yahoo is not really a good idea as said by Mr Steve Ballmer (CEO), but he was not willing to give out more information. There was a 3% rise in XBOX 360 sales. First quarter of 2009, there were 6 million sales, which is quite high. This shows that the Microsoft’s console market is growing so it would be a good idea to add another console to the line.
Source 3 – gamespot.com 27th August 2009
“[UPDATE] Microsoft confirms $100 price cut of 120GB console begins Friday, 60GB model $249 "while supplies last"; 31 million 360s sold; HD cables no longer packed in; avatar store "exceeding wildest expectations."
Following months of rumours and weeks of retail leaks, Microsoft has made it official. Starting Friday, August 28, the 120GB Xbox 360 Elite will only cost $299.99, down from its current $399.99 price point.
[UPDATE] The new model will remain largely the same as the previous configuration, other than the fact that, like the PlayStation 3, it will no longer be bundled with either an HDMI or an component HD AV cable. "We have found that many Xbox 360 customers were not using the HD cables included in the Xbox 360 Elite box, so we removed them," said a Microsoft rep of the change. While HDMI cables can be purchased for under $10 online, the 360 component HD AV cable is $39.99 new.”
This article is a specialised report created by a website called “GAMESPOT.” They specialise in gamers needs. They give reviews on consoles, games and many other gaming related things. The article on the previous page talks about Microsoft cutting prices for the X-BOX 360. Which I can agree with because the sales for XBOX were slowing down. To sell we had cut some prices, this would be a good thing because Christmas is approaching, and there will be massive sales around that time. We hope to regain sales and revenue. The cost of the top of the range model of XBOX had been cut from $399 to $299. Which is a drop of $100, this was due to extra stuff given with the XBOX which some of the customers did not feel the need to use while others did. This is why there was a price cut so customers whom not need the extra stuff can buy the XBOX at a reduced price. Dropping price is risky because if we do not manage to get the sales than we will have to increases the prices again which is ethically wrong because we will lose customers. Therefore, it is essential to bring out another console, which has never been though off, this would be a backup plan as well as a leader for console markets. Backup because if we do not get the sales from XBOX then there is still sales to come from the “Stroxbox” and if it is successful than it will be leader in the home entertainment industry.
Source 4 – vgchartz.com 25th September 2009
“Microsoft has released its figures for quarter one of the year ending June 2010. The Xbox 360 performed well, leading Microsoft's entertainment division to strong profit in the quarter.
“Microsoft just released its financial results for the first quarter of its new fiscal year. The Entertainment and Devices Division (EDD) which houses Microsoft's videogame ambitions had a strong quarter. Microsoft shipped 2.1m Xbox 360s worldwide in the quarter, bringing lifetime to date Xbox 360 shipments to 33.5m worldwide. This makes the userbase of the Xbox 360 larger than the N64 (32.93m LTD), putting the Xbox 360 as the largest 'second place' console userbase ever.
Revenues for the EDD portion of Microsoft were flat from the September 2008 quarter at $1.89b. However, profit increased substantially. In the September 2009 quarter, EDD profited over $300m, roughly double the figure of the previous September quarter. The profit jump was based on software, such as Halo 3: ODST making up a larger portion of EDD revenues in the current quarter than in the September 2008 quarter. Microsoft claims an attach rate of 8.7 on slide 15 of its September 2009 results powerpoint, up from 8.6 through June 2009. No region or source is given for this figure, so we are assuming it is Xbox 360 game shipments worldwide through September 2009. This would mean 291.45m Xbox 360 games have been shipped worldwide, up from 270m through June 2009.
Microsoft's shipment figures are in line with expectations. Vgchartz had expected Microsoft's figures to reach 33.3m hardware units (1.9m July-Sept), and 293m games (23m July-Sept), so the actual figures for the quarter were only off by 1.5m units of software and 0.2m units of hardware. We're expecting Sony and Nintendo figures to be similarly close next week.”
VGChartz is a website, which keeps weekly track of sales of console software and hardware by region. This article talks about Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division (EDD) sales. According to this website 33.5 million Xbox’s were sold. Apparently, this is more than Nintendo 64’s sales. Therefore putting Xbox second with the largest user base ever. They also talk about the sales. September 2008 quarter revenue was $1.89 billion and they increased significantly. A year later in September 2009 quarter EDD profited just over $300m nearly double since last year. This profit increase was due to new software’s released which includes games like Halo 3: ODST, this made up majority of the profit. Around 291.45m Xbox games have been shipped out since June 2009. Microsoft’s sales figures were only off by 0.2 million for hardware as 33.3 million were sold and only 1.5 million off for software as 291.45 million games were sold.
Source 5 – totalvideogames.co.uk 24th July 2009
“The Xbox 360 has shifted 30.2 million units since its worldwide launch in November 2005, easily surpassing the sales of its predecessor.
Microsoft appears to know how to shift units during the crucial winter/holiday period. In 2006, 2007 and 2008 Microsoft enjoyed upwards spikes in sales in the holiday run-up, suggesting a regular pattern that is beyond coincidence. Of course, it's probably no surprise that these periods saw the release of Gears of War, Halo 3, and Gears of War 2 respectively. Further analysis of the Xbox 360 sales curve indicates that Microsoft made strategic price cuts during August 2007 and September 2008 during lulls in sales.”
The article from source 5 on previous page and this page is a specialist report created by Total Video Games (TVG). Gamers rate this website quite highly because of the quality of information they provide. According to TVG since the launch of X-BOX 360 in 2005 there have been 30.2 Million sales, which are surpassed very highly to its predecessor. They plotted all amount of sales of for every three month since Jan-06. They have kept on steadily gone up and still going up. They have also shown a graph showing sales for the three main consoles X-BOX 360, Nintendo Wii, and Sony Play station 3. Even though X-BOX 360 was released before the other consoles, it still has managed to have high sales. Its sales are not as high as the other consoles have managed to get. Even though PS3 has had less sales than XBOX 360, in its two years it has already managed to get around 25 million sales which is only 5 million or so less than X-BOX 360’s sales. Nintendo Wii launched around the same time has managed to get very high sales. By the time, we got 30 million sales Wii got extra 20 making it 50 million sales, but this is due to its low price tag of around £150.
Source 6 – microsoft.com 28th May 2009
“Over the course of this console generation, U.S. consumers alone have spent $14.5 billion across all categories on Xbox 360 at retail. This number reflects strong interest in a comprehensive entertainment offering that includes the ability to connect with others socially and to digitally download entertainment, be it games, TV shows or movies. To date, consumers have downloaded nearly 1 billion pieces of gaming and entertainment content from Xbox LIVE Marketplace, including a broad array of premium high- and standard-definition movies and TV shows from top studios and networks around the world.
In addition, Xbox 360 continues to be the platform of choice for the industry’s top games, generating $5.9 billion in sales to date at U.S. retail for third-party publishers, which is more than those of current-generation consoles combined. Xbox 360 also leads current-generation consoles in game purchases, with consumers owning an average of 8.3 titles each.”
Above paragraph is from an article on the Microsoft website. This article talks about record growth of sales for Xbox 360. Microsoft spent $14.5 billion alone in the US on Xbox console, games, and accessories. It further goes on to say this is because of strong interest in downloadable content from Xbox. Approximately 1 billion pieces of gaming/entertainment content from Xbox Live, which is quite good. If the new console “Stroxbox” is actually released this number will probably be 10 times more, because of amount of thing it will offer. In addition to this Microsoft says that Xbox has been the top console for game makers and creating $5.9 billion dollar for retail third-party publishers.
SWOT /PEST Analysis
S.W.O.T Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
Strengths: - Definite strength of Microsoft is its name itself and rapid growth of its software’s. It has most recognized line of products is Microsoft Windows, as of July 2009 it has nearly 93% market share (source: WIKIPEDIA). Some strengths of Microsoft are its name recognition and its rapid product development. The Microsoft Office productivity suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.) are widely used throughout the business community. Microsoft is also known for releasing new product updates and product fixes throughout its network.
Weaknesses: - Search Engines is Microsoft’s main weakness, this is because they did not realize how much internet would grow and Google forecasted it and they took lead in search engine, since their release.
Opportunities: - There are opportunities to growth and expand into the home entertainment side of things. Recently launching Xbox 360, which allowed them to gain massive market share. Actual launch of the proposed console should turn this into strength.
Threats: - Sony and Google are possible and main threats, because they have the lead in their specialized markets. Sony is a threat because of their growing console market, which can crush the console market for Microsoft. Google is another threat because their search engine is more widely used than ever. Internet World Stats shows that 1,668,870,408 users use the internet. This is 24% of world’s population. This is the statistics since June 30th 2009, so these figures are not that out of date. Since the year 2000, the users of internet have grown by 362.3%, which is very rapid development of internet. Therefore, this reflects on Google’s search engine usage.
P.E.S.T Factors (Political, Economical, Social, Technological)
Political Factors
1. Microsoft must comply with the legislations of European law. It restricts Microsoft to legal sales methods. The restrictions on advertisement are more rigorous in Europe than in the USA.
2. Higher depreciation of capital such as buildings and machinery have forced Microsoft to make increasing use of its extra terrestrial posts in Hyderabad, I : Haifa, ISR : Venbek, DN: Cambridge, ENG.
Economic Factors
1. Recession hitting UK meant that the general uncertainty about the future of the European economy caused consumer consent to fall to a historic low. Consumers are more aware of price and value, many people revised their purchase priorities, and fast moving electronic consumer goods are the first to feel the effects of such economic implications.
2. Europe’s game is by far the largest games market as a study has show in August 2009. Europe has been in a consecutive recession for the last nine years or so, but in due to global crisis between the phase of 2007-2009 recession was very bad. GDP growth has been under the EU requirement of 3%, levelling at a mean of less than -4.8% annually unemployment has been steadily rising (9.8%) since the privatising of the public sector in the 90’s minimizing the potential market for buyers.
3. The high value of the Euro in comparison to the dollar makes it less profitable for American investors such as Microsoft to sell products in Europe.
Social Factors
1. Europe is suffering of a declining population, the birth rate is lower than the death rate, and the annual population growth is at 0.2%. The percentage of the population under 30 is 27% and declining.
2. The recession has resulted in a decrease of state subventions to the health system and insurance system in Europe; the expenditures on this level have flattened consumer-spending power.
3. The steady increase of cost for electricity, gas and petroleum on the world market has furthermore decreased consumers’ willingness to spend as the hopes for reliable oil shipments from the east are sinking.
Technological Factors
1. There have been new developments in the area of wireless communication such as Wi-Fi, mobile broadband that are aimed at increasing product utility in terms of simplicity in connecting devices to the internet and to other devices.
2. New mediums have been developed with higher saving capacities (3-D saving HDDVD, BluRay etc) allowing games of much higher quality and level sizes and enabling producers to incorporate features such as movie trailers updates demos etc. on their game discs.
3. The capability of the internet has reached amazing standards, at some localities broad band connections have transmitting capabilities of over 100m/bit per second. Moviemakers have long started to sell movies of DVD quality via the internet.
