Competitive Analysis With 4 C’S Assessment Answer

A hiking application — competitive analysis – with 4 C’s

Competitive Analysis with 4 C’s:

Company-

The company develops a hiking app that will help the like-minded people socialize with each other. They will be able to plan for hiking trips in US and also in the PNW area. The company manufactures this app for the people over 18 years of age and the primary target market consists of the customers mainly in the age range of 18-45 years, consisting of both males and females. The app is suitable for the beginners, amateurs as well as for professional hikers. The app needs to be filled in with all the details of the hiker such as his personal details such as interests, hobbies, area of residence, educational qualification, professional experience and a host of other information. It will also consist of information like whether the hiker is fond of short or long hikes, prefer snowy conditions or not and whether they have pets or not. The reason for assimilation of such information is that the app is targeted towards building a social platform for the people with similarities in nature and habits where they can get to know each other and plan to meet with one another such that they can undertake joint hiking trips together.

Customer-

The customers of the product will mainly be the people those love to hike and trek. The age range of the customers will be mainly young to the middle aged people. These customers should have the desire to hike and the capacity to pay for the product which will be offered to the millennial or the young generation of hikers primarily (Management Mania, 2016). These customers are driven by convenience and they are flexible when it comes to adjusting time for joint hiking trips. The product is aimed to serve a niche market of customers for those the products and services are meant only. Hiking is turning out to be a favourite outdoor activity in the US as many young Americans are undertaking hiking activities from time to time. Therefore, it is expected that the hiking app will find a prospective market for the US customers. It has been observed that the majority of the young people those undertake hiking activities in the US are in the age range of 18-25 years. In between 2006 and 2016, the total number of hikers in the US was around 42.13 million approximately (Statista, 2018).

Competition-

The major competitors of the hiking app will be ALLTRAILS, VIEWRANGER, TINDER and Climb Buddy. ALLTRAILS, VIEWRANGER and Climb Buddy are purely based on the meeting and socializing of people interested in hiking (Atlas & Boots, 2016). TINDER is an app that is used for meeting by various people all around the world. The difference is that it is not an app that is particularly focused on the socialization of people interested in hiking. It is used as a general dating or meeting app by the people (MBA Boost, 2018). The major competitive edge that the new hiking app will have over its competitors is the price and the array of features those will be loaded into the app. The apps from the rival brands do not offer such a comprehensive platform for sharing so much of personal details of the hikers over gadgets such as smartphones. Thus, the new app will have the competitive advantage over the others in terms of its features and wide scope of usability.

Climate-

The climate refers to the contextual factors such as the Macro-environmental factors or the external factors in which the organization needs to conduct its business operations. This can be further subdivided into factors such as:
• Political- The political conditions in the US are favourable for the development of apps as the government severely backs technological innovations and offers effective infrastructure.
• Economic- The economic condition of the US is stable and it is growing in terms of the lifestyle and the purchasing power of the consumers. This offers the right platform for the product.
• Social- The society consists of people who have the desire and capacity to buy technologically advanced gadgets which support various apps for smartphones. The social setup also consists of young generation of people those are fond of hiking as it turns out to be one of the most liked hobbies in US.
• Technological- The government is supportive of technological advancements and therefore, the market is favourable for the development of such apps.
• Environmental- The environmental norms need to be observed by the business and there should not be violation of such norms at any time during the development process or distribution of the app.
• Legal- The legal frameworks of business operations need to be observed and the US laws related to the use of digital and IT need to be observed when making and distributing the app to the public.

References

Atlas & Boots. (2016). 15 BEST HIKING APPS. Retrieved from atlasandboots: https://www.atlasandboots.com/best-hiking-apps/
Management Mania. (2016). Situation Analysis 5C. Retrieved from managementmania: https://managementmania.com/en/situation-analysis-5c
MBA Boost. (2018). 4 Cs Framework. Retrieved from mbaboost: https://www.mbaboost.com/4-cs-framework/
Statista. (2018). Number of participants in hiking in the United States from 2006 to 2016 (in millions). Retrieved from Statista: https://www.statista.com/statistics/191240/participants-in-hiking-in-the-us-since-2006/