Assignment on Marketing - Communications Situation Analysis

Running head: MARKETING
Marketing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary...............................................................................................................2
2. Communications Situation Analysis......................................................................................3
Competitor Analysis...............................................................................................................3
Consumer Analysis................................................................................................................4
Market Analysis.....................................................................................................................5
Product Analysis....................................................................................................................5
Communication Analysis.......................................................................................................5
3. Target Market Profile.............................................................................................................6
4. Objectives...............................................................................................................................7
5. Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy...................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

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1. Executive Summary
The report throws light in analysing the situation analysis of Marks and Spencer
Brand which is based in United Kingdom. With the help of the external and internal
environment analysis, the different kinds of aspects need to be analyzed which will be helpful
for understanding the target market as well as objectives which needs to be achieved by the
company in competitive market. Lastly, the integrated marketing communication strategy
needs the proper analysis which will be capable of IMC plan that needs to be adopted for
improving the status of the company as a whole.

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2. Communications Situation Analysis
Competitor Analysis
As per the help of competitor analysis, the three competitors of the company Marks
and Spencer include the following:
Name of the Competitors Basis for their Positioning Impact of Positioning in
Existing communication
strategy
ZARA The way of positioning is that
the company is capable of
selling most unique design of
clothes and it mainly used the
usage-based positioning for
highlighting their customer
centric approach for
satisfying changing and
trending needs of customers
successfully (Wensley 2016)
Usage based positioning is
helpful for communicating
through the products towards
the customers regarding the
quality of the products
successfully (Weerawardena
2018)
MACY’s The company mainly
positions themselves as the
brand which mainly focuses
on the quality and price both
which is high and it targets
only specific group of
Usage based positioning
helps them in communicating
unique benefits of products
as well as services and the
goal is regarding highlighting
the powerful attributes such

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customers as the price and unique
design which can never be
adopted by competitors
CHANEL The main approach of
positioning themselves is the
style and comfort and quality
of the clothing which is
classic and suit the needs of
customers
The comfort and quality of
clothing is the main approach
which helps them in
maintaining their
communicative strategy
popular
Consumer Analysis
The major customers of Marks and Spencer include the different men and women
who are ranging from the age of 35 to 55 years old. The main reason for consumption of the
products of Marks and Spencer includes the perfect collection which is designed in basic and
simple manner. They include the plain, white shirts as well as other clothing which are
matching the needs of customers (Samiee and Chirapanda 2018). The quality of the product
is the most essential element which is looked by the customers while making the purchase
from M&S as it is the major aspect which attracts them towards the company. More than
50% of the customers who prefer to buy clothing from M&S and the segment of clothing is
highly profitable in nature which makes them one of the top companies in case of delivering
quality services and products to customers (Patrutiu-Baltes 2016).

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Market Analysis
The geographic location which will be warranting the stores of M&S are established
in the high population along with traffic areas. The major population that will be capable of
responding to the company includes the ones ranging from young generations to the ones
who belongs to the middle-aged customers. M&S is capable of offering products to the
different customers and make them feel satisfied (Olson 2018).
Product Analysis
The M&S is capable of providing the different clothing and accessories which are
unique and are the latest trend. The diversified portfolio of products includes both apparels
for men and women along with kids. M&S is capable of selling their house brand other than
the international brands which has been capable of improving their profitability and revenue
growth successfully. M&S has been using the eco-friendly packaging and they are constantly
promoting the same which has helped them in delivering the customers with sustainable
products (Morgan et al. 2019). The delivery of the products and services of M&S is beyond
the expectations of customers as when the customers purchase products through online portal,
it has been reached to customers before the estimated delivery date.
Communication Analysis
The existing brand positioning of M&S is communicated through the social media
channels along with launching different offers and it is effective in attracting the different
group of customers successfully (Kotler et al. 2018). The major strengths and weaknesses of
the respective communication strategy includes:
Strengths
 It is helpful in increasing the brand awareness

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 It helps in improving satisfaction among customers
Weaknesses
 There is lack of the qualified professionals in handling the different posts of
customers
 As it is time consuming, therefore, it impacts the performance of company negatively
(Kingsnorth 2019)
3. Target Market Profile
The segmentation of customers for M&S is done as follows:
 Demographic- Both women and men who are ranging from the age group of 15-45
years and the income is mid-range Psychographics- The ones who are interested in the trends of the fashion and have
accurate knowledge (Key and Czaplewski 2017) Attitude- The different individuals who prefers the company who follows the different
CSR practices and they are sustainable in practices in selling products Purchasing Behaviour- The different individuals who prefer to consume the products
which are trending and high in quality
The motivation of the customers towards purchasing the products include the fact that
M&S mainly tries to be eco-friendly in their approach for selling the different products in the
market. The customers in the current scenario are mainly aware regarding the different
sustainability practices as the environmental health is the main concern (Baran and Galka
2016). In addition, the customers of M&S have the consumption patterns which is related to
the launching of offers by the company for satisfying their requirements successfully. The
media consumption is the major content in case of M&S as there are magazines which are

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being taken out for making the customers aware regarding the different launches that are
done by them (Adler 2020).
4. Objectives
Marketing Objectives
 To create the customer focused products which will be helping them in differentiating
from the other competitors by bringing the fresh look to the segment of plus size
 To increase the market share of the company through selling the new segment of plus
size garments within 2021 and increases to more than 10% (MarksandSpencer.com
2020)
Communication Objectives
 To create awareness regarding the new segments which will be introduced in the
company through social media channels To help in shaping the attitude of the different customers which will be effective in
managing the sales and revenue percentage successfully and appropriately
5. Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy
Promotional Events- It is one of the IMC strategy which has been adopted by M&S
for analysing and meeting the different demands of customers in an appropriate manner.
M&S has been creating lot of buzz through organizing the unique events which will be
bringing together starts on the same field (MarksandSpencer.com 2020).
Personal Selling- It is the other IMC related strategy wherein M&S tries to adapt
continually to the different kinds of aspects which helps in resonating the different customers

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in meeting the audience’s requirements and impact the effectiveness of the company in a
suitable manner.
Public Relation- It is the other aspect which is followed by M&S in improving the
performance with the future campaign of making the customers happy with the services and
products delivered by them. As to promote the products through the usage of the social
media, M&S is helpful in creating the brand buzz in managing the growth in following the
campaign successfully.
Moreover, M&S has been capable of setting promotional budget which has been
capable of increasing the growth of the company in a strong manner and it impacted the
effectiveness of the company in a suitable manner. M&S mainly emphasizes to provide the
common message on the different mediums of communication especially which is basically
online. M&S uses the print media, the advertisements on television, mobile advertisements
along with social media campaign (MarksandSpencer.com 2020). The organization uses the
own website for promoting the brand, clothes along with women, men along with kids that
are helpful for improving the growth of the company in a successful manner.
In addition, the company M&S mainly chooses the marketing strategy carefully,
therefore, it will be aligning the advertisement campaign with the digital marketing along
with the in-store strategy successfully. The major emphasis of the M&S company has been
basically on the TV and mobile advertisements which has been capable and helpful for
improving the performance of the company in a supportive manner (MarksandSpencer.com
2020). There are different other IMC aspects which include the fact that there is a special
loyalty program which is being run by Sparks that helps in adding point to the account of the
customers of M&S on the basis of the amount which has been spend on shopping. The
reward points will be spent on the future purchases from the stores of M&S in a successful

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manner that will be capable of improving the growth of the company in comparison to the
other competitors.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that the marketing strategy of the M&S have been
capable of making the company highly effective in achieving the goals sustainably. From the
communication objectives, it has been analyzed that in order to meet the different
requirements of the customers, it will be requiring to improve the effectiveness of products
which are sold by them and it impacted their level of profitability successfully.

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References
Adler, R.M., 2020. Competitive Marketing Strategy. In Bending the Law of Unintended
Consequences (pp. 153-171). Springer, Cham.
Baran, R.J. and Galka, R.J., 2016. Customer Relationship Management: the foundation of
contemporary marketing strategy. Taylor & Francis.
Key, T.M. and Czaplewski, A.J., 2017. Upstream social marketing strategy: An integrated
marketing communications approach. Business Horizons, 60(3), pp.325-333.
Kingsnorth, S., 2019. Digital marketing strategy: an integrated approach to online
marketing. Kogan Page Publishers.
Kotler, P., Keller, K.L., Ang, S.H., Tan, C.T. and Leong, S.M., 2018. Marketing
management: an Asian perspective. Pearson.
MarksandSpencer.com 2020 Marks and Spencers (Online) Retrieved from
https://www.marksandspecer.com [Accessed on 11th March 2020]
Morgan, N.A., Whitler, K.A., Feng, H. and Chari, S., 2019. Research in marketing
strategy. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 47(1), pp.4-29.
Olson, E.M., Slater, S.F., Hult, G.T.M. and Olson, K.M., 2018. The application of human
resource management policies within the marketing organization: The impact on business and
marketing strategy implementation. Industrial Marketing Management, 69, pp.62-73.
Patrutiu-Baltes, L., 2016. Inbound Marketing-the most important digital marketing
strategy. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Economic Sciences. Series
V, 9(2), p.61.

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Samiee, S. and Chirapanda, S., 2019. International marketing strategy in emerging-market
exporting firms. Journal of International Marketing, 27(1), pp.20-37.
Weerawardena, J., 2018. Non-profit marketing strategy. Transformational Leadership and
Not for Profits and Social Enterprises, pp.142-163.
Wensley, R., 2016. The basics of marketing strategy. In The marketing book (pp. 75-107).
Routledge.