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Marketing Mix of Shading Technology Products:
Shades and Blinds in the USA
1. Introduction
The aim of this report is to present the marketing mix of blinds, shades and shutters in the United States. As a result of the real estate boom over the last decade in the USA during which house prices (especially near affluent, developed metropolitan areas) have steadily increased while mortgage rates have continuously declined, a significantly larger segment of the population had both readily available discretionary spend and financial incentive to upgrade their homes. Homeowners continuously re-financed existing mortgage loans to lower rates (thus lower monthly payments), freeing up available monies otherwise allocated for house payments. Additionally, more and more lenders began offering "home improvement" loans at very attractive rates. These factors have contributed to a significant upturn in the sales of shading technology products, such as blinds, shades, curtains and other interior decorations in the consumer sector. To a great extent, the consumer market growth has offset the even or slightly declining demand of the commercial sector. This report's focus will be the consumer products of shading technology, rather than commercial or industrial applications.
Let us start out with the basics, by giving a short definition of what marketing mix is, what it means. Marketing mix is the combination of elements that are used to market a product. The term marketing mix became popularized after Neil H. Borden published his 1964 article, The Concept of the Marketing Mix. Jerome McCarthy later established four categories as the 4 Ps of marketing, as product, price, place and promotion. These fou ...