MKTG3506 · Digital Marketing & Social Media
The Online Marketplace
Before you plan any moves you can control, you scan the world you can't — that is the job of situation analysis. This chapter runs the two environment frameworks the course leans on hardest. The macro-environment is scanned with PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental forces), and the micro-environment — the competitive arena a brand operates in — with Porter's Five Forces. Both feed a SWOT and a marketplace map, and the chapter shows how to benchmark competitors online. These are signature short-essay frameworks: a prompt about 'macro forces' wants PESTLE, and one about 'setting up online' or the 'micro-environment' wants Porter.
What this chapter covers
- 012.1 Situation analysis — three layers feeding one SWOT
- 022.2 The macro-environment — PESTLE, force by force
- 032.3 The micro-environment — Porter's Five Forces
- 042.4 The online marketplace map
- 052.5 Competitor benchmarking online
Scanning the macro-environment with PESTLE — mark by mark
- +1Name the model. PESTLE scans six uncontrollable macro forces: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental.
- +1Political & Economic: local content quotas and media regulation; the strength of consumer spending and exchange rates that set price points.
- +1Social: language, viewing habits and what genres resonate — the cultural fit of the catalogue.
- +1Technological: broadband penetration and smartphone use that decide whether streaming is even viable.
- +1Legal & Environmental: data-privacy and licensing law; energy/sustainability expectations of data centres.
- +1Conclude: PESTLE frames the situation analysis that feeds the SWOT — you read the world before planning the moves you control.
Key terms
- PESTLE
- A macro-environment scan of six forces a brand cannot control: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental. It frames the situation analysis that opens a strategy and feeds the external side of a SWOT.
- Porter's Five Forces
- A micro-environment framework that gauges the competitive intensity (and profit potential) of an industry through five forces: rivalry, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, buyer power and supplier power.
- Situation analysis
- The opening diagnostic of any plan: a structured scan of the macro environment (PESTLE), the micro/competitive environment (Porter), and the brand's own internal capabilities — pulled together into a SWOT.
- SWOT
- A summary grid of internal Strengths and Weaknesses and external Opportunities and Threats. The external row is populated from PESTLE and Porter; it bridges analysis into strategy.
- Benchmarking
- Systematically comparing a brand's online presence (site, content, channels, metrics) against named competitors to surface gaps and best practice that the strategy can act on.
The Online Marketplace FAQ
When do I use PESTLE versus Porter's Five Forces?
PESTLE scans the broad macro-environment (forces no firm controls); Porter scans the micro-environment (the competitive arena a firm operates in). A prompt about 'macro forces' or 'the wider environment' wants PESTLE; one about 'the industry', 'competition' or 'setting up online' wants Porter.
What are Porter's Five Forces?
Competitive rivalry, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of buyers, and bargaining power of suppliers. Together they gauge how attractive (profitable) an industry is and where a brand's pressure points lie.
How does situation analysis connect to the rest of the plan?
It is the first step: PESTLE and Porter populate the external half of a SWOT, which then sets up the strategy frameworks (STP, RACE). Skipping it produces a plan with no grounding in the actual marketplace.
Exam move
Drill PESTLE and Porter's Five Forces until you can deploy either on cue from the prompt's language. Practise applying each to an unseen brand with one concrete example per force, and always close by linking the scan to a SWOT. The decoder move is recognising which environment the prompt is asking about: macro → PESTLE, competitive/micro → Porter.
