Consumer Experience of Marks and Spencer: Value Proposition, Six Pillars Model, and Strategic Recommendations

This report analyzes the value proposition of Marks and Spencer and how it delivers consumer experience. It also applies the six pillars of consumer experience model on M&S and provides strategic recommendations to enhance consumer experience.

Consumer
experience

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
1) Value proposition of Marks and Spencer ..............................................................................3
2) How value proposition of M&S delivers consumer experience.............................................4
3) Frequency of use by key demographics of M&S and their relation to value proposition and
consumer experience ..................................................................................................................5
4) Six pillars of consumer experience model..............................................................................5
5) Critical application of six pillars of consumer experience model on M&S............................6
6) Implications of digital disruption to delivery of consumer experience for M&S ..................8
7) Strategic recommendation to enhance consumer experience of M&S ..................................9
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
The brand impression formed by consumers throughout various stages of consumer
journey is refereed to as consumer experience. It creates brand image of the company and
impacts various factors associated with the bottom line including revenue (Agarwal and Singh,
2018). M&S is the selected company for this report. M&S was established in the year 1884 and
is currently operating in 29 countries. This report describes the value proposition of M&S and
how it manifests to deliver consumer experience. The link between consumer demographics of
M&S value proposition and consumer experience is also described in this report. In addition to
this, six pillars of consumer experience model is described and applied on M&S in this report.
This report includes implications of digital disruptions for consumers experience of M&S and
strategic recommendations for improving consumer experience at the company.
MAIN BODY
1) Value proposition of Marks and Spencer
Business firms are able to ensure that the commodities offered to the consumers are
positioned around the consumer values and requirements with the help of value proporityion
canvas. The consumer profile along with value proposition of Marks and Spencer and identified
below by the application of value proposition canvas:
Consumer profile
 Job to be dome: The focus of consumer profile is on the primary requirements of the
consumer, emotional and utilitarian objectives that the consumer wants to achieve,
(Cheung, Fang and Wang, 2021). In case of the target consumer base of M&S the
utilitarian objectives include buying inexpensive mundane products. On the other hand
the emotion centred objectives of the target consumer base of M&S is to maintain strong
bonds with effective retail organization who provides them good products in a timely
manner. The primary needs of the consumers is to get high quality, household, grocery
and fashion products at good price from single place without any discomfort.
 Gains: The positive nature of the buyer which the firm aims at building by providing
defective consumer experience is covered in this element of the value proposition canvas.
The elements of customer experience which improve their emotional state and brings
them joy are provided in the gains section of value proposition canvas. The gains for

consumers of M&S revolve around fitness food offerings, sustainable commodities and
good choice of products at an inexpensive range. Retail consumers in this age decide the
impressiveness of the offerings on the social media success of the products. This criteria
for measuring efficacy of the products focuses on social media trends to determine
efficacy of the products. Pains; This part of the consumer profile focuses on the components of consumer
experience which are annoying to the customer. (Amoroso, 2020). At Marks & Spencer,
the main components of consumer experience which are annoying for the target
consumer base are faulty commodities, time consuming customer services, delay in
delivery of commodities and misconception with the consumer service.
Value proposition
 Products and Services: The first component of the value proposition focuses on the
commodities provided by the company for their target consumer base. M&S provides
diverse range of clothing, food, daily use and interior decoration products under the
company label at their stores. This when compared to business rivals such as Lidl and
TESCO, M&S offers quality goods at an affordable price (Supermarkets compared: How
Dunnes, Lidl, Tesco and M&S measure up, 2020). Apart from this, M&S provides
effective e-commerce services. M&S has also offered environment friendly clothing line,
diverse range of vegan food products and is offering speedy home delivery of products by
collaborating with OCADO.
 Gain Creators: Swift home delivery offered by Marks and Spencer along with presence
of diverse range of good quality inexpensive products under single store is a primary gain
creator for the British retail company M&S. This is because consumers are able to
purchase every mundane item and good quality fashion products at inexpensive prices at
the store or through company website. Apart from this, M&S has also created
environmentally responsible product lines including clothing products which provides
additional value to consumers because consumers are able to participate in responsible
shopping. Social media marketing of M&S also increases gain creators of the firm as it
helps the company release products as per social media trends and increase social media
popularity of the products. This enhances gain of the consumers because it efficacy of
clothing products are measured by their success on social media.

 Pain relievers: Marks and Spencer offers premium choice of goods at low cost under
single roof which is major pain reliever for the consumers because they are able avail top
quality goods at right prices. The highly talented and experienced consumer services
workers employed at Marks and Spencer work excellently in order to enhance consumer
experience which is another pain reviler. Fast home delivery of products also relives pain
faced by consumers as they are able to get their purchased products in time.
2) How value proposition of M&S delivers consumer experience
The value proposition offered by M&S plays an important role in increasing consumer
experience as it completed every consumer requirement and provides additional value to the
consumer. The fast and on time transfer on products to the location provided by M&S as
customers gain the ability to buy items of their choice comfortably from their homes. Apart
from this M&S has created diverse eco-friendly fashion range which is popular on social media
because of effective influencer marketing by M&S. This improves consumer experience as they
are able to select clothes from diverse and environmentally responsible clothing range at
affordable pricing M&S provides extensive range of food products including exotic and domestic
items supplied from excellent quality suppliers and offered under budget prices. The consumer
experience is elevated because of this as it leads to consumer satisfaction without paying
premium prices.
3) Frequency of use by key demographics of M&S and their relation to value proposition and
consumer experience
The primary demographical segments of M&S in relation to income includes
remunerative consumers, middle class and upper middle class consumers. The premium nature of
the products at M&S along with the commitment of the company towards personalization helps
enhance consumer experience of remunerative consumer demographic. The middle class
consumer demographic of M&S are satisfied because of the affordable prices of the product
range at M&S. Young generation are key clothing consumer demographic for M&S, the firm
offe3rs environmentally responsible clothing line which is also trendy on social media. This
helps the enterprise attract and enhance consumer experience of consumers from young age
group as responsible shopping and following social media trends are the primary concerns of
young age consumers. The consumer experience of young aged consumers is also positively
affected because of the digital skills as young consumer demographic is easily able to buy

products from the user friendly website of the company. The vegan and fitness focused food
product range launched by M&S helps the company attract and satisfy middle class consumers
this demographic primarily focuses on maintaining fitness and acquiring sustainable products.
4) Six pillars of consumer experience model
The six pillars of consumer experience provides information about te elements which
play an important role in consumer experience (Demsar and Brace-Govan, 2017). The
components of this model are permanently interrelated and the combination of these components
provides enterprises a system to determine the degree of effectiveness offered by the consumer
experiencer of the company. The utilization of this model by organizations enables them to
maintain stable profitability for a long time period as it helps create the most suitable consumer
experience for each individuals consumer The explanation of six pillars of consumer experience
is given below: Integrity: As per the six pillars of consumer experience model, the primary component of
an excellent consumer experience is integrity. The integrity of the consumer experience
model focuses on the presence of trust and believability in the relationship between the
consumer and the company. Resolution: The direction of this characteristic inherent in excellent consumer experience
centres around executing course of action to eliminate negative consumer experience and
enhance emotional state of the consumer for total improvement of their journey. This
component of excellence consumer experience is attained by being accountable for the
barriers faced by a consumer and resolving these barriers on a high priority basis
(Gammoh, Jiménez and Wergin, 2018). Expectations: It is essential for business firms to understand expectations of each
individual consumer and making a course of action to best meet the needs of consumer
and reach beyond their expectations. This part of the consumer experience model looks at
exceeding consumer expectations about how consumer needs will be fulfilled by the
company. Time and Effort: One of the primary factors which creates negative consumer experience
is wasting precious time of the consumer. This component of successful consumer
experience looks at creating smooth consumer experience which ensures effective usage
of consumer time and leads to minimum efforts from the consumer. This component

plays an important role in enhancing consumer experience as it helps the consumer easily
shop for their desired products without any wastage of time (Holt and et. al., 2018). Personalization: Developing emotional connection with the consumers in order to
increase their satisfaction and enhance their experience is the main focus of
personalization. This involves specifically tending to the needs of each individual
consumer and providing them personal consumer experience. This is a critical component
of effective consumer experience as each consumer feels valued because of
personalization.
 Empathy: The creation of empathy between the consumer and the enterprise is the central
focus of this component of superior consumer experience (Kharat et. al., 2019). Empathy
is an essential part of superior consumer experience as it involves prioritizing consumer
well-being and understand the circumstanced faced by the consumer. This helps the
company build close bonds with the consumer and improve consumer experience.
5) Critical application of six pillars of consumer experience model on M&S
M&S has been present in the retail industry from 1884 and the company has survived
difficult financial times to become leading retail brand not only in UK but also in different
international markets. Positive consumer offered by the company because of value proposition
and other efforts have played as significant role in the success of the company. The six pillars of
consumer experience model is critically applied to M&S below:
 Integrity: The UK based retail organization has been successfully in creating consumer
perception that their products are superior, the tag-line of the firm is “Quality worth every
penny”. The company has disclosed data about various suppliers of their food products
and also informs the consumers about the actions which enhance quality and hgelp
become environmentally responsible. The supplier training programmes of the company
are included in this data along with industry wide collaborations of the company which
increase sustainability and lead to more ethical supply chain. This helps the firm build
relationship based on trust with the consumers and increases credibility. The consumer
experience is positively affected because of this as consumers have the surety about the
claims made by the company about responsible and sustainable supply chain
management The company is able to attract and satisfy high income consumer because of
this as they are aware of the evidence about the sustainability initiatives of the company.

 Resolution: The respective company has created quick to response and skilled staff
which has helped the firm swiftly resolve any consumer queries and problems. In order to
successfully resolve consumer issues as quickly as possible the UK based retailer utilizes
advanced technology. A palm technological appliance is present at every floor of the
physical M&D stores which helps quickly gain information about any in-store products
and resolve consumer queries (Marks & Spencer gets real about customer-centricity,
2019). The consumer service staff at the company is also highly responsive which further
helps the company clear any barriers or problems faced by the consumer as quickly as
possible. The activities undertaken by the company to resolve consumer queries through
digital channels as well as any inconvenience faced by the consumers in physical stores
play an important role in enhancing consumer experience as consumers are sure that any
inconvenience will be handled in minimum time.
 Expectation: The professional environment experienced by the consumers at their
physical tore along with user friendly digital website which enables easy on;line ordering
helps the company reach beyond consumer expectations. M&S has been able to exploit
its British roots by offering consumers archetypal British experience to their consumers
all over the globe which provides the firm culturally different brand image and assists in
exceeding consumer experience.
 Time and effort: The at the spot payment method provided by M&S during COVID-19
to reduce consumer efforts, create safe environment and reduce time wastage is an
example of efforts taken by the consumer to enhance consumer experience (PAY WITH
ME: M&S BECOMES THE FIRST UK FOOD RETAILER TO LAUNCH ON-THE-SPOT
PAYMENT SOLUTION TO MAKE SHOPPING QUICKER, EASIER AND SAFER IN
THE FINAL FEW DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS, 2020). This information has displayed
the commitment of the company towards consumer experience and high responsiveness
of the retailer in utilizing new technology to quickly minimize various problems faced by
the consumer. The quick payment service alternative provided by the company in their
stores during the pandemic enables hassle free shopping experience and helps the
company sway consumers of their industry opponents who do not posses such
technology. .

 Personalization: One of the main contributing factors which ha helped the company
achieve success in highly competitive retail market is personalization. The sparks loyalty
card scheme of M&S is an example of personalization efforts made by the company. The
loyalty cards offered by the firm plays an important role in ensuring highly personalized
consumer interaction as it involves providing consumers offers on the basis of their
personal purchase history and providing them preview of latest clothing lines. The
consumer experience is elevated because of this type of personalization. The reason
behind this is that it helps the company interact with consumers according to their
requirements which lowers consumer efforts and has positively influences consumer
experience.
 Empathy: M&S commitment towards empathy can be seen by their training initiatives
which focus on increasing emotional intellect of the staff members. Creation of empathy
between the consumers and the organization is essential in providing excellent consumer
experience and consumer comfort. The high emotional intellect of store employees at
M&S helps the company deal with consumers from diverse backgrounds easily to
improve consumer experience of every consumer.
6) Implications of digital disruption to delivery of consumer experience for M&S
Digital disruption in the retail sector has not only increased the intensity of
competitiveness in the industry but has also affected consumer experience. This is because it has
created new touchpoints in the consumer journey and revolutionised interaction between
business and consumers (Li, X., Zhao and Pu, 2020). Voice search, social media, search engine
optimization are some tools which can be used by retail firms to interact with consumers and
enhance their consumer experience. M&S is able to enhance personalization and resolution
because of this digital disruption. The strong social media presence of the company helps the
firm directly communicate with consumers whereas the usage of Chatbots and AI helps M&S
resolve consumer problems quickly. This ensurers that every consumers leaves satisfied after
shopping in the company. The role significance of the customer is also enhanced because of
digital technology they have the ability to inform others about their negative experience and
negative brand perception (Obilo, Chefor and Saleh, 2021). The respective company has utilized
digital technology effectively so that consumer experience of both digital consumers and
consumers in physical stores is enhanced. Digital technology such as the palm technological

device and the swift payment services help M&S increase speed of their services and offer
consumer better experience. This has affected retail sector and introduced digital change as firms
with digital capabilities are able to provide better costumer experience in comparison to firms
which lack digital capabilities. Digital technology reduces consumer time wastage and helps
improve consumer experience.
7) Strategic recommendation to enhance consumer experience of M&S
 The British retail firm M&S create dedicated delivery channels which help the firm
quickly deliver various perishable and non-perishable products to consumers all over the
globe as quickly as possible. This is justified recommendation as it will help the company
provide consumers personalized experience and timely deliver products to increase
consumer sanctification.
 M&S is recommended to invest in voice search technology so that the consumers are able
to complete purchase of M&S products through voice search features during online or
physical store shopping. This is an effective recommendation as it the voice search
technology will soon become popular (Scanlan et. al., 2020).

CONCLUSION
From the above report it is determined that offering exceptional consumer experience is
characteristic of successful brands. It is important to align value proportion of the company with
consumer experience in order to exceed consumer expectations and gain consumer trust. The
value proposition canvas can be used to determine alignment between consumer experience and
value proposition. The six pillars of disruption is an effective tool used for creating exceptional
consumer experience. The characteristics of effective consumer experience as per this model are
integrity, resolution, expectation, time and effort, personalization and empathy. Digital
disruption in the retail industry has changed consumer experience and this issue needs to be
addressed by business firms during implementation of plans to enhance consumer experience.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Agarwal, A. and Singh, M. R., 2018. The relationship between retail experience, customer
satisfaction, and behavioral intention: Exploring the consumer shopping behavior in
unorganized retail settings. Indian Journal of Marketing, 48(1). pp.9-27.
Cheung, C., Fang, C. C. and Wang, Y. C., 2021. Consumer behavior and mobile payment: An
empirical study of the restaurant industry. Journal of China Tourism Research, pp.1-21.
Amoroso, S., 2020. Chronicles of consumer-brand experience: a systematic review and
research agenda. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 11(1). pp.100-100.
Demsar, V. and Brace-Govan, J., 2017. Sustainable disposal and evolving consumer–product
relationships. Australasian Marketing Journal, 25(2). pp.133-140.
Gammoh, B. S., Jiménez, F. R. and Wergin, R., 2018. Consumer attitudes toward human-like
avatars in advertisements: The effect of category knowledge and imagery. International
Journal of Electronic Commerce, 22(3). pp.325-348.
Ahrholdt, D. C., Gudergan, S. P. and Ringle, C. M., 2019. Enhancing loyalty: When improving
consumer satisfaction and delight matters. Journal of business research, 94. pp.18-27.
Syrjälä and et. al., 2020. Gamified package: Consumer insights into multidimensional brand
engagement. Journal of Business Research, 119. pp.423-434.
Singh, A. and Pathak, G. S., 2020. The quest for consumer engagement via cause-related
marketing: A mixed method study in an emerging economy. Journal of Retailing and
Consumer Services, 55. p.102128.
Kumar, J. and Nayak, J. K., 2019. Consumer psychological motivations to customer brand
engagement: a case of brand community. Journal of Consumer Marketing.
Draganova, I., 2018. Influencer Marketing: Consumer Perception on Influencers and Its Role in
Digital Communication Management. Webster University.
Online
PAY WITH ME: M&S BECOMES THE FIRST UK FOOD RETAILER TO LAUNCH ON-
THE-SPOT PAYMENT SOLUTION TO MAKE SHOPPING QUICKER, EASIER
AND SAFER IN THE FINAL FEW DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS, 2020. [Online]
Available through<https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/media/pressreleases/
5e0f046f7880b21924350282/pay-with-me-m-and-s-becomes-the-first-uk-food-retailer-
to-launch-on-the-spot-payment-solution-to-make-shopping-quicker-easier-and-safer-in-
the-final-few-days-before-christmas>
Supermarkets compared: How Dunnes, Lidl, Tesco and M&S measure up, 2020. [Online]
Available through
<https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/food-and-drink/supermarkets-compared-
how-dunnes-lidl-tesco-and-m-s-measure-up-1.4394359>
Marks & Spencer gets real about customer-centricity, 2019. [Online] Available through
<https://www.retailconnections.co.uk/articles/marks-spencer-gets-real-about-customer-
centricity/>