Situation Analysis Checklist External Consumer Analysis:

• What are the major segments? Provide a comprehensive understanding of:

Demographic data – age – gender – income – marital status – education – ethnicity, etc

Geographic data – Where they live

Psychographic data – What are their values? – What do they like? – How does the product fit into their lives? – How do they go about their daily routine? – How do others influence them? – What are their: personalities?, attitudes?, lifestyles?

Consumers are guided by one of three orientations according to lifestyles:

Principle Oriented – Guided by abstracts, idealized criteria, rather than by feelings, events or desire for approval by others.

Status Oriented – These consumers look for products and services that demonstrate their success to their peers.

Action Oriented – These consumers are guided by a desire for social or physical activity, variety or risk taking

• What are their motivations and unmet needs?

– How do they think and feel about the products they use and buy? • How do they think about the product?

– To what extent are they aware of the brand? – Do they know about the brand’s special features, qualities?

Situation Analysis Checklist Pg. 2

– Do they understand how the product/service works? – Do they understand the brand’s superior qualities?

• How do they feel about the product? – What is their attitude toward the product category? – What is their attitude toward the specific brand? – To what extent do they like or desire the product or brand? – Do they trust the brand to deliver the promised benefits? – Do they have a preference for this brand? – What image or personality do consumer’s associate with the brand? – What do consumer’s feel the brand essence is?

• How do they use the product?

– How do consumers use the product – Where do consumers use this product – When do consumers use this product – Are there alternative uses for this product – Under what condition would the consumer use more of this product

• Who makes the decision to buy the product?

• Who influences the decision to buy the product?

Competitive Analysis: • Who are the direct and indirect competitors?

• What key benefits do they position themselves around?

• What is our position relative to the competition?

• How big are their ad budgets?

• What message/media strategies do they use?

• What strategic groups can be identified from the competition?

• What are their sales, shares, profits?

• What are their growth trends?

• What are their current and future success factors?

• What are their strengths and weaknesses? • What is their product portfolio?

Market Analysis:

• What is the current size of the market?

Situation Analysis Checklist Pg. 3 • What is the projected growth/decline of the market?

• What is the potential profitability of the market?

• What are the barriers to entry?

• What are the key trends and success factors?

• What industry trends are significant to your strategy selection?

• What are the channels of distribution and their relative strengths? Environmental Analysis:

• What are the technological trends affecting the product category?

• What governmental legislation affects the product category?

• What are the information-needed areas?

• What are the major strategic uncertainties operating on the category?

Internal Analysis:

• What is the company’s mission?

• What is the company’s culture?

• What is the company’s identity?

• How ambitious is the company?

• How much risk is it willing to incur?

• What is the state of the company’s financial, managerial and technological resources?

• What are its sales trends over the past few years?

• How profitable has the company been?

• Has the company’s share of the market gone up/down/remained the same over the past few years?

• What is the company’s existing business portfolio?

• What has been the company’s level of investment with its various products/services?

• What have been the company’s previous promotional objectives?

• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the company?

• What are its key benefits?

• Does it have a unique selling point?

• Who does the brand package its image?

Situation Analysis Checklist Pg. 4

• What are the company’s major points of differentiation?

• How can the company’s offerings be: – differentiated? – value-added in the minds of the customer? – enhanced through perceptions of quality?