E Commerce & Contemporary Marketing Practice

This document discusses the application of marketing process, reflection of current marketing practices, relevant omni channel marketing theories and models, and recommendations in the context of E Commerce & Contemporary Marketing Practice.

Business Management (top up)
BMP6006
BMP6006 E Commerce & Contemporary
Marketing Practice
M&S Trade Journal Article Critical Review

Table of Contents
TITLE - "E Commerce & Contemporary Marketing Practice.”.........................................................3
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY......................................................................................................................................3
(a) Application of marketing process.....................................................................................3
(b) Reflection of current marketing practices........................................................................6
(c). Relevant omni channel marketing theories and models.................................................7
(d). Recommendation.............................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................................9

TITLE - "E Commerce & Contemporary Marketing Practice.”
INTRODUCTION
E-commerce marketing can be considered as a practice that helps in driving top-
of-funnel traffic, which gets converted among both customers and sales. Considering
the Search Engine Optimization along with organic traffic are being utilised where
Facebook and Google advertisement are said to be the elements that drive targeted
traffic. In present context, a company could effectively utilise mix and match paid
strategies, which are non-paid strategies all in an effort to figure out which mix converts
the most people into customers for the business organisation (Laudon and Traver,
(2013).
For this report, Marks & Spence (M&S) has been chosen which has its
headquarters in London, United Kingdom. Along with this, report is going to be enclosed
with the application and critical analysis of marketing process, which will be done
focusing upon analysing the actual marketing approach or the process that has been
utilised by Marks and Spencer (M&S). Along with this, evaluation will also be performed
on the role of contemporary marketing practice and this will be done considering the
reflection of current marketing practices of the business organisation and through
adopting the relevant omni channel marketing theories and models, that will aid in
pulling out favourable outcomes in regards to the chosen topic.
Lastly, the recommendations that will be presented in regards to Marks and
Spencer will be on advertising so, that company could effectively enhance the sales of
products and services among online channels.
MAIN BODY
(a) Application of marketing process
Marks & Spencer is a successful company which has presence in different
international countries for carrying its business. It is engaged in selling premium quality
clothes, home products and food items. Furthermore, it is also listen on London Stock

Exchange and been included in FTSE 250 index. It holds a leading position in the
industry of retail and textile which is giving major competition to other companies in the
same industry.
As its has been mentioned above, the it sells food products as well in order to
fulfil the needs of customers of having good quality foods. Marks & Spencer has
planned to relaunch its food porn moments for the customers in order to attract them to
the company (Chaffey, Hemphill and Edmundson-Bird, 2015). It wish to provide the
delicious foods and taste which majority of the population have been missing for about
12 years now. This section of the company have been disappeared for 12 long years.
The products in this field has been launched with the tagline “this is not just food”. For
this purpose, it has to do marketing at an extensive level in order to attract the
customers to the foods that are going to be produced by it.
Marketing process refers to the steps which helps an organisation in analysing
the opportunities in the market that can be explored. It is assists in choose target market
so that effective strategies can be formulated. It is important in focusing on one market
segment which are most likely to get attracted to the products and services.
Transformations have occurred in this which Marks & Spencer is a successful company
which has presence in different international countries for carrying its business. It is
engaged in selling premium quality clothes, home products and food items.
Furthermore, it is also listen on London Stock Exchange and been included in FTSE
250 index. It holds a leading position in the industry of retail and textile which is giving
major competition to other companies in the same industry.
As its has been mentioned above, the it sells food products as well in order to
fulfil the needs of customers of having good quality foods. Marks & Spencer has
planned to relaunch its food porn moments for the customers in order to attract them to
the company (Chaffey, Hemphill and Edmundson-Bird, (2015). It wish to provide the
delicious foods and taste which majority of the population have been missing for about
12 years now. This section of the company have been changed traditional approaches
and in place of which new approaches have come. The time is changing so it is
important to make modifications in the strategies being followed otherwise desired
results cannot be achieved within the prescribed time.

With the use of this M&S can accomplish its targets of increasing customer
bases for the products which were present 12 years ago. The focus is on relaunching
food brand by reducing the prices which are considered as premium by the customers.
It is focusing to target family-orientated individuals. The marketing process began with
identification of customers who are living family. It has opted for an advertisement which
shows people daydreaming about their favourite food product of M&S. It helps in getting
closer to them. It has tried to capture and bring innovation in the ad for persuading
people to imagine the food while watching the advertisement. With the ad, it has tried to
show the target audience that new taste have been introduced in the food brands for
bringing something new (Boone and Kurtz, (2013).
Apart from this, it has used social media as a way to reach large number of
people by displaying the ad on online platform. It has considered radio, print media and
new-look in store marketing for attracting customers towards the products. Furthermore,
it has sponsored Britain's Got Talent as this is the easiest way to raise the awareness
about relaunching. People may have fade memories about the food brands of M&S,
therefore, displaying this on such a huge platform large number of individuals can
become aware about the same. Also, it is going to help the potential customers to make
evaluation of foods that are being relaunched. This is an initiative to create positive
brand image by making the announcement at such a famous TV show which is watched
by millions across the world.
Furthermore, it is planning to add ice cream and humous so that kids can also be
added to the target audience. Having close ad healthy relationship with suppliers,
retailers etc. have always proved to be good for the success of the company. Therefore,
M&S wish to bring the retailers close to its family so that all the activities can be carried
properly (Persson Ridell, (2013). This also going to help prevent any delay in the
products being displayed at the store. It is trying to make the food less expensive by
making changes in the costs estimation of raw materials and other operations. Many
new products are likely to be seen as a part of reintroduction so that the perception of
people can be changed.
From the data, it has been observed that M&S stands in top three on the basis of
quality, reputation and satisfaction. These three are important for creating loyalty and

retaining them for a long time. One of the main aim is to develop value proposition as
past records and strategies show that it has failed on the aspect of value. In other
words, the main challenge is about value. Value proposition is a concept which states a
promise by an organisation to the target audience. It includes efforts for making the
customers understand the reason of making purchase of particular products (Parsons,
Maclaran and Chatzidakis, (2017).
It should be equipped with all the benefits that can be attained from such goods
or services. In simple terms, it helps a company in communicating the features of the
products for attracting customers by forming a comparison with goods of competitors. It
helps in achieving competitive advantage by appealing customers in making decisions
in the favour of a specific entity. In the context of M&S, it has use different mediums to
reach to target customers in order to make them familiar with new taste and products
range.
(b) Reflection of current marketing practices
Marketing practices are the functions or actions which are carried by the
marketing department in in order to influence customers for making purchase of goods
and services (Chaffey and Smith, (2013.). It comprise activities such as market
research, advertisement, etc. for raising the awareness about the products or services.
Every organisation has their set of marketing practices which can be modified according
to needs and requirements of the entity. Such practices keep changing with the time
which should be considered.
The current marketing practice of M&S in relaunching food items brand reflect
that it has used online media platform for increasing the awareness. It has its websites
wherein people can stop and see the items sold by its (Järvinen and et. al., (2012). This
is a new approach which has made it easy for individuals to see the options and make
decision to buy one of them. It can use Facebook and Instagram for advertising the
products in this range. This is the new way of showing the features of a newly launched
product.
Furthermore, one of current market practice has been noticed which is about
sponsoring the famous TV reality shows as large number of individuals watch them.

Sponsoring Britain's Got Talent is an effective action to present the information about
reintroduction of food items that are going to be launched by it. It is likely to save costs
in giving advertisements to different places for making people familiar with the launching
of food brans after 12 long years. It has launched touchpoints which can help the M&S
to review the comments of the customers. It is beneficial in preparing strategies that
may help it achieving the goals and objectives.
(c). Relevant omni channel marketing theories and models
Omnichannel marketing refers to creation of unified and integrated brand
experience for from all sorts of channels for the customers. It have touchpoints which
are used by entities for increasing the experience of people that are connected with the
brand. It has been defined as a part of the marketing strategy which helps in having
increased interaction with customers. Some of the examples for the same are social
media which is a popular thing which can be done by internet. The main aim is to have
in-person interactions (Manser Payne, Peltier and Barger, (2017).
In the context of M&S, it has used omnichannel theory because it has used
multiple channels for marketing its products with a view to sale them. It has used social
media, reality show on TV, radio, Etc. for advertising the goods. The main aim is to
increase mass demand for goods which are sold by it. In other words, both online and
offline channels have been used for providing better experience to the customers. It is a
concept that has emerged because of transformation in digital technology. Now that
majority of population has become active on internet, promoting goods on internet is
beneficial for reaching huge audience.
Marks and Spencer is a luxury brand which is focused on using this theory so
that with the use of limited resources it can attract as many customers as it can. Apart
from this, it has used new-look in store marketing which allows the customer to visit a
physical place to see all the new items that have been launched in the market. Along
with this, offers are also given to customers such as discounts, buy one get one,
bundled products etc. This is an entirely offline marketing which is included in traditional
approaches. It may prove to be successful because there are many people who still rely
on offline shopping (Royle and Laing, (2014).

Apart from this there are different theories of digital marketing such as digital
branding which is used for increasing the customer base for the newly launched
products. It is useful in raising the recognition in the target market. Also, there is digital
marketing research by which companies can carry research by extracting the
information and data from there online database. This is going to help in understanding
their behaviour and buying pattern along with their demands and choices. In this way, it
can formulate better strategies for achieving the goals and objectives.
(d). Recommendation
The above matter has been analysed and by considering the M&S should invest
more funds in advertising about the goods online. It should find out the online platform
which is being used by majority of the population so that large number of individuals can
be reached. It should explore the opportunities of business because of digital
transformation. There should be not compromise with the quality of the food. Also, the
prices should be kept moderate for as long time. It can make collaborations with other
entities in order to promote the food brand.
For example, it can form an agreement with successful bakeries which sell
exclusive products. There can be offers like, free M&S products on shopping of a
certain amount. In this way, it can achieve its target expeditiously.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that marketing practices are the
activities which help making a product or service famous. With the right strategies a
company can reach large number of population and make the target product popular.
Furthermore, omnichannel marketing is a concept by which different channels can be
used to promote the products which ultimately help in saving the costs that can be
incurred in if the advertisement is done on individual channels. Furthermore, there
should be proper use of digital technology as most of the people are active on internet.
So this can serve the purpose by which M&S can successfully relaunch its products
after such a long time.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals:
Laudon, K.C. and Traver, C.G., (2013). E-commerce. Pearson.
Chaffey, D., Hemphill, T. and Edmundson-Bird, D., (2015). Digital business and e-
commerce management. Pearson UK.
Boone, L.E. and Kurtz, D.L., (2013). Contemporary marketing. Cengage learning.
Persson Ridell, O., (2013). Who is the Active Consumer?: Insight into Contemporary
Innovation and Marketing Practices(Doctoral dissertation, Department of
Business Studies).
Parsons, E., Maclaran, P. and Chatzidakis, A., (2017). Contemporary issues in
marketing and consumer behaviour. Routledge.
Järvinen, J., and et. al., (2012). Digital and social media marketing usage in B2B
industrial section. Marketing Management Journal. 22(2).
Royle, J. and Laing, A., (2014). The digital marketing skills gap: Developing a Digital
Marketer Model for the communication industries. International Journal of
Information Management. 34(2). pp.65-73.
Chaffey, D. and Smith, P.R., (2013). eMarketing eXcellence: Planning and optimizing
your digital marketing. Routledge.
Manser Payne, E., Peltier, J.W. and Barger, V.A., (2017). Omni-channel marketing,
integrated marketing communications and consumer engagement: A research
agenda. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing. 11(2). pp.185-197.