Every time you complete a strategic marketing review you should review and update your standard PESTL analysis. Trawling through Government and other official and market reports can be a pain but you can make life easier by keeping an eye out for relevant media reports as you read the newspapers or scan your social media updates. Here’s a few reports that caught my eye recently:
Divorce at 40 year old low – Fewer couples are divorcing than at any time since 1974 because they can’t afford to do so. The number of divorces in England and Wales rose in most years from the late 50s to the 90s but since 2003 the number of legal separations has plummeted by 34% from 153,065 to 113,949 in 2009. Average legal fees in the UK are an estimated £13,000 but can rise to £50,000 in difficult cases.
Mental incapacity – There will be over a million people with Alzheimers by 2015. Two thirds of people with dementia are women. The proportion of people with dementia doubles for every five year age group. One third of people over 95 have dementia. 60,000 deaths a year are directly attributable to dementia.
Population growth – The population of Britain rose by more than 470,000 last year, its fastest rate in nearly half a century. The total now stands at 62.3 million – over 3 million more than 10 years ago. London’s population rose by 71,600 to a new high of 7.8 million. Nearly half the national increase was the result of net migration, which was the highest recorded since 2005.
Technology – The worldwide smartphone market is forecast to grow 55% year over year in 2011. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors will ship a total of 472 million smartphones in 2011 compared to roughly 305 million units shipped in 2010. That figure will nearly double to 982 million by the end of 2015. PC shipments will only grow by 4.2% this year compared to 2010, according to IDC, which has almost halved its forecast from a 7.1% prediction in February.
Economy – HM Treasury forecasts GDP growth of 2.1% for 2012 with an RPI inflation rate of 3.5% and unemployment of 1.52 million.
