Union Station

Union Clothing Store situated on the campus of St. Francis Xavier in Anitgonish, Nova Scotia has a very select target market including present students, alumni dispersed nationally and internationally, as well as tourists to Nova Scotia. This environmental scan will examine the target markets and how they are affected by the technological, economical, demographic, natural and cultural forces. We will analyze each of these forces and layout past and future trends and how they may affect the target market and the retail clothing industry, beginning with the technological forces affecting the market.

Technological Forces

The technological environment is constantly changing and improving in every area of our everyday lives. As technology improves, so does our ability to produce new products and expand on existing ones. Looking back only ten years we can see that people rely much more on the use of technology not only for business use but personal as well. "The ability to step outside of our current boundaries via technology will have a fundamental effect on the evolution of society and culture." As technology evolves so does the way we conduct business and look at different markets.

The clothing market is growing more and more with every year and competition between major companies is growing along with it, which makes it that much harder for smaller privately owned businesses to compete in this market. Companies such as Nike are able to put millions of dollars into advertising and mass production of their products while smaller businesses don't always have that luxury. "As the making of clothing developed into an industry and the concepts of work-study were applied to the sewing process, the differences between a basic and a "skilled and motivated" sewing machinist were quantified." Other advancements including the ability to make customized clothing have caught the eyes of many young consumers in the clothing market, "New technologies have helped mass customization operations, such as precise measurements of individual consumers."

With today's technology we don't even have to go into any specific store to purchase our clothing we can simply log onto any computer with Internet service and you will easily be able to find an online site on which you can purchase anything from a watch to a new pair of shoes. These are some of the things a smaller business looking to expand into the mainstream market should look at from a technological standpoint. Businesses such as the "Union Station" should look into expanding to the online market as more and more people are gaining access to computers and the Internet. It could prove to be a very useful tool in broadening their customer base, and in doing this they could also keep a better relation to their alumni who make up 15% of their overall sales. An online store would make it easier for those alumni living in other parts of the country to access the store and its merchandise. "The technology that will be in use in 2025 will be similar to systems portrayed in science-fiction dramas." It will be essential for Union Station to keep up with the changes in technology as it progresses into bigger and better things. Next, we will examine the economic forces of Antigonish County, Nova Scotia, and Canada as a whole.

Economic Forces

We will begin our economic analysis of the union clothing store with some relevant data pertaining to first the province of Nova Scotia and then Antigonish County.

The province of Nova Scotia has a mostly service-oriented economy with more than three quarters of the GDP coming from the service industry. Standard of living in Nova Scotia as measured by GDP per capita was only $25560, well below the national average, however Nova Scotia had the highest enrolment of 19-25 year olds in post-secondary education. From this data we can reasonably conclude that high levels of student loans are used to pay for tuition and such. Students attending universities in Nova Scotia such as St. Francis Xavier in Antigonish, are usually away from home for the first time with a sizeable loan. These students would be one corner of the Union Clothing stores target market.

Another corner of the target market would be alumni spread out nationally, St. Francis Xavier has produced many great leaders in thee political and business realm as well as television personalities (including Brian Mulroney and Seamus O'Regan host of CTV's Canada AM). Many of these alumni who have gone on to great success hold a very special place in their heart for their almi mater. Theses alumni are part of the upper class and seek different products than present students of the school, as well as citizens of Antigonish County and outlying areas. In order to gain a large market share companies must cater to each classes needs. For example offering a variety in the quality of clothes such as, sweatshirts with a silk screen logo marketed for the lower and middle class consumer and a sweatshirt with an embroidered and stitched logo for the upper class consumer.

Another large share of the market includes tourism industry, from 1994 to 1997 Nova Scotia enjoyed an increase of about 200 thousand visitors. St. Francis Xavier boasts a very high reputation and tradition and being situated in the small town of Anitgonish ot has become the identity of that town. One of Nova Scotia's largest tourist attractions is the Cabot trail on Cape Breton, and Antigonish is situated about a 45 minute drive east of Cape