Digital Marketing Strategies for Online Fashion Retail Brands

This document provides an analysis of the best practices in digital marketing for online fashion retail brands. It discusses the use of social media platforms as a promotional tool and the techniques of inbound marketing. It also presents a strategic approach for Marks and Spencer, a multinational retail brand, to improve its donor acquisition and retention through digital marketing.

Digital Marketing

Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................3
Sector Review.............................................................................................................................................3
Detailed analysis of the best practice in the online fashion retail sector..................................................3
Strategic Approach....................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................10
Recommendations...................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Marks and Spencer us a multinational retail brand that is having its headquarters present in
London, England. This is a brand that is having specialization in clothing, food and home
products. They are present on the London stock exchange and are part of the retail industry. They
are serving various locations worldwide (Munandar and Firmansyah, 2018). According to year
2020, there are approximately 80,000 employees who are working in different locations of this
organization. There are lot of changes that are taking place in both the external and internal
environment of various retail brands that is affecting their overall functioning.
There are both challenges and opportunities that are present in the macro environment.
Such, it can be seen that in recent years there have been a slightly fall in sales that have procured
for this brand after there have been risen in their food sales because if axing of St. Michael under
their own brand name (Hlaing and Kham, 2020). This organization also started their range of
Kellogg corn flakes in the year 2008, November that lead to more rise in the sales of food
products but there has been a slight decline in the overall sales of the nonfood products that are
part of this brand. With the advent of technology and the growth of internet there has been a
complete shift in the way organizations are using digital technology as a strategy for marketing
and promotion of their brand. It has led to increasing use of digital media for the purpose of
enhancement of overall sales (Silva, 2018).
Sector Review
Detailed analysis of the best practice in the online fashion retail sector
There are many practices that can be used by fashion retail brands for marketing their
products but the use of digital media is one of the most popular measures that can be adopted by
organization for purpose of marketing their brand. Detailed analysis of the best practice in the
online fashion retail sector
Digital marketing has in a very important for present marketers are involved in using
traditional marketing strategies. Digital marketing is a tool that has become more popular
because of different types of tools that are associated with the marketing. There are different
types of data part of strategies that can be used by online Fashion retail brands for enhancement
of their sales and increasing their sales. There are many practices that are part of online retail

fashion brands that have been a long time but because of the uses of Internet and growing
preferences of millennial towards such E-Commerce sites have resulted into complete
transformation in the way that social media tools into digital marketing tools so here below
discussed is one of the best practice that has been identified according to the present changing
economic scenario for global fashion brand.
Digital marketing being used as a promotional tool has many different aspects that are
associated with it and can be applied by organization. But the most important tool that is
becoming popular and applied by many organizations is the social media platforms. The
Integrated Marketing strategy of many fashion retail brands who are operating online has been
related with use of various applications such as Instagram, Facebook, snapchat, YouTube,
Linked in that are popularly used for the purpose of marketing their brand.
Social media marketing is a practice that can be very helpful in building long-term
meaningful relationships with the customers (Varakas, 2017). The fashion brands have been
growing more with the preferences of millennial generation who are referring to find products
rather than visiting physical stores as they approach search online sites 24 and 7 and they don't
believe in visiting to Physical stores. Organizations and many such fashion brands are using
social media marketing as a tool to approach and make their target segment of customers that is
these millennials to enhance their overall sales.
Such as in case of Facebook it allows various marketers to run various advertisement and
track the performance of their advertisement by uses of some special features that are being
present for search willing to use the medium to promote and market their brand.
There has been also use of various social media management tools for example buffer that help
in integration with such platforms and making the schedule of various social post and measures
the overall engagement of customers towards such post that are being added on the social media
pages of such brand.
Inbound marketing is a term that is associated with the social media marketing and
gaining lot of popularity. Inbound marketing is basically related with three steps that have to be
performed in order to engage the present customers and retain the new customers for a longer
duration of time.

There is use of some approach what has been based on three steps of inbound marketing as
mentioned below:
1) Attracting of customers: In the first step there is attracting of new customers by making them
aware of the new brand or something innovative and creative about the brand with the help of
social media providing them something like new offer or special discount on first purchase it
helps them in attracting to customers who have not been associated with the brand till now. The
special discount is a technique which makes and persuades a new buyer to get attracted towards
the brand (El Rassy, Billaud, and Saury, 2019).
2) Engaging of customers: This is the second step of inbound marketing in this the already
existing customers have to be engaged in such a way that they are not willing to switch from this
brand to any other brand (Hasan, 2018). This can be done by organising time to time online
campaigns free giveaways and special discount offers for set loyal customers so that they are not
preaching their preferences and are associated with the brand for longer period of time. Such
base of loyal customer also acts as a marketing tool as one customer helps in attracting more
number of customers with the help of such as mouth publicity.
3) Delighting leads: It is the third and the last step of the technique of inbound marketing in
which there is delight yes that is provided to the leads that have been generated by the brand with
the help of social media as their marketing tool (Konyk, 2016). It is a technique that is very
helpful in making the customers write product that they are in need of and better options in terms
of uses and the after experience that they get usage of product.
Above discussed are the techniques of inbound marketing and social media marketing that is
associated with one of the best practices that can be used by any Organisation in the changing
present scenario and can help them in attracting more number of customers apart from the
present base of customers.
Strategic Approach
A marketing strategy can be defined as a long-term approach or plan that an organization
basically develops in order to achieve goals and objectives. It helps in identifying effective
channels that can be used in order to promote products and services. Not having a marketing

strategy can lead to a company losing out against competitors as well as various growth and
expansion opportunities (The Importance of a Marketing Strategy for Businesses in 2019 &
Beyond, 2018). The management of the company will not be able to take effective decisions
which can lead to it also losing out to potential customers.
Marks and Spencer is one of the oldest fashion brands that has not only been able to keep
up with competition but also has been able to keep its customers satisfied. Since online sales has
been increasing in the market, it has become difficult for companies to maintain a competitive
advantage (Alavi, 2016). Apart from offering offline services through its retail outlets, Marks
and Spencer also offers products online through various channels like website, social media
platforms etc. a digital marketing strategy for the company in order to improve its donor
acquisition and retention cost effectively is explained below with the help of marketing mix.
Product – Marks and Spencer is among the widely known fashion retailers that has
operations across different parts of the world. The company is primarily focused at providing
high quality products to its customers at affordable rates (Palos-Sanchez and et. al., 2018). It
offers household, clothing, food and beverage products to the customers. In order to improve its
retention costs and donor acquisition, the company will provide its existing customers the facility
of becoming a member through a membership account. Once they sign in and become a member,
they will receive various offers, benefits and rewards. While for the new customers, the company
will offer the basic facility of creating an account wherein they can avail various offers that will
be available site wide (Baker and Hart, 2016). This strategy will help Marks and Spencer in
attracting potential customers by displaying various offers and discounts on the different
products available on the website.
The potential customers will get attracted to the discounts and would feel encouraged to
purchase the products. While customers who are already loyal to the company will get a chance
to explore products at prices that are only restricted to them and not the new users. They will
receive discounts relating to specific brands of the company. Also, if the refer a new
customers/user, a certain amount will be credited in their account. The account will be beneficial
for both existing as well as new customers because they will get a chance to shop for products at
low rates. Also, the company will gain the benefit of attracting new potential customers and be
able to retain existing customers without having to invest in large amounts of money. By

adopting the strategy of providing the facility of creating an account on the website, the existing
customers will also be able to get the facility of a faster and on time delivery without any kind of
delay.
The product strategy will define what should the adding the feature of creating and
account should achieve and how will it support the organization (Dahiya and Gayatri, 2017). The
account that will be created by the new users will also have an option of personalization and as a
result the customers will be able to set the theme etc. according to their preference. For the
company an added advantage will be that its customer base will increase and it will able to
understand their needs and expectations. The product strategy is important because it can help
the company in setting specific goals and plans. This can also lead to an increase in its overall
profitability. Not only this, it will also provide a clarity for the company so that it can deliver the
best and desired output (Product Strategy, 2020).
Price – A company can use various pricing strategies while selling products or services
online. Price of a product can either be set in order to maximize the profitability for each product
that is sold in the market or it can also be used to increase market share within an existing
market. As far as Marks and Spencer is concerned, it currently uses competitive pricing. It sells
products at a higher rate than its various competitors, but the facility of creating and account on
its website will be provided for free and no amount will be charged. But the charges will
somewhat be included in the products that will be offered to both, new as well as existing
customers. This strategy will take into account the ability of customers to pay a certain amount,
input costs, trade margins, condition of the market, actions of the competitors etc.
This particular strategy will help the company in determining the overall return, sales
volume, demand and also in addressing to the competition posed by different brands in the
market (Liu, Perry and Gadzinski, 2019). Pricing play an important part and thus should be
considered carefully. In order to get a permanent membership through the account, the existing
customers will be asked to pay a certain amount of money, while the new customers will not be
asked to do so as they will get an opportunity to create the basic account on the website.
Permanent members will get an extra discount or bonus on the website and the company will
make sure that it is able to retain its existing customers through this approach. And also, at the
same acquire new customers by offering them certain benefits other than discounts. It will be

made sure that the company does not charge for any kind of amount from its customers while
registering and creating the regular amount. Although customers who wish to upgrade to
becoming a permanent member will be asked to pay a certain amount to be able to avail benefits.
Place – The facility to create the account will be offered on the company’s official
website and not on any other website (Lobstein and et. al., 2017). This is because the company
wants to retain its existing customers and also acquire new ones at the same time without having
to invest in unnecessary amounts of money. The company currently sells its products through
both offline retail stores as well as its official website. The customers who come to shop at retail
stores will also be provided with the option of creating an online account during the billing
process. This will be beneficial for them as they will be able to shop all the latest styles along
with various offers and discounts. This way the company can increase its online sales and also
engage customers by posting regular updates on the website. The company will have to ensure
that all its products are available online on the website.
Apart from this, the company can also open more retail stores that are operated by it
which will help it in saving costs and as well as retain customers for an increased period of time.
A place strategy outlines where the products will be placed so as to enhance over all share within
the market. Respective company should take this strategy seriously if it wants to increase the
number of people in its customer base (Philip, 2017). Marks and Spencer should clearly define
its new product, i.e., the account feature so that all the potential customers will have the idea and
knowledge about the same. Also, it should pay attention towards upgrading its website by adding
attractive features so that a large number of people are attracted to create an account and shop
from the company’s official website. This can be done by adding user friendly features and thus
making it easier to use (Shaltoni, 2016). The information about the new account facility can also
be posted on various platform of social media. Therefore, this is one strategy that can be used by
the company to retain its existing customers as well as attracting new ones. This will further lead
to an improvement in the overall cost retention of the company.
Promotion - It is important for an organisation to select best promotion strategy because
it provide them assistance in attracting more and more customers. With the assistance of a factor
promotion strategy company can increase their customer base, profit margin as well as sales also
get increased (Chaudhuri and et. al., 2018). In addition to this coma promotion mix is set of

several marketing approaches which marketer developed for optimising their promotional efforts
as well as reach large number of audience as much as possible. In promotion mix task of
marketer is fine best suitable promotional strategy for their brand. Moreover, developing
promotional mix need several skills as well as experience with the marketing area. It is important
for marketer of an organisation that he should have he or she have to complete various studies as
well as gather large number of data about particular company implementing better promotional
mix strategy. For example, it is important for marketer to first identify target audience, workout
on their budget which company can afford for promoting their product and services as well as
decide most suitable marketing channel for their audience (Yousaf, 2016). Promotion mix is
more expandable approach within five element of marketing mix.
In addition to this, promotion mix include several elements such as advertising, personal
selling, sales promotion, public relation as well as direct marketing. Thus, company can utilise
any of the promotional mix tool which totally depend on nature of products as well as overall
objectives of company (Attia and et. al., 2018). For market and spender advertising is most
suitable tool which help them in attracting new customers and retaining existing. Moreover,
advertising is any paid type of non-individual introduction and advancement of products and
enterprises by the distinguished support in the trading of an expense. Through publicizing, the
advertiser attempts to construct a force technique; wherein the client is impelled to attempt the
item at any rate once. The complete data alongside the alluring designs of the item or
administration can be appeared to the clients that catch their eye and impacts the buy choice.
Mark and Spencer will going to do advertisement for their latest promotion strategy on
website of their company in which strategy is implemented for retaining existing customers as
well as attracting new (Kelesbayev and et. al., 2017). For existing customer respective company
bring new membership card in which few percent of amount will be added to customers
membership card at the time of purchase which they can use on their next purchase. In simple
term it's kind of gift awesome discount which Mark and Spencer is giving for attaining their
existing customers as well as also for satisfying them. On the other hand, for their potential
customers to whom company want to attract they are implementing discount on specific products
as well as services for attracting new customers. I am behind implementing such strategy is to

retain their existing customers and attract new customers because it have them in increasing their
sales as well as profitability ratio also.
Through this, marketing mix tool company will be able implement their latest strategy of
attracting more and more customers in effective manner. Along with this, they can also retain
their existing customer for lifetime by providing them better services in appropriate way. Each
and every elements of marketing mix is important for Mark and Spencer. Because the concept of
attracting customers through website which include membership for their existing customers out
of their purchase some points will get added in their membership card which they can use in next
purchase. On the other hand, for new customers Mark and Spenser provide extra discounts on
some specific products which help them in attracting large number of customers in more
effective manner. This entire strategy respective business firm will be able to implement through
elements of marketing mix in better manner.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above discussed points that there are many changing
requirements according to which all organisations that are part of fashion retail brand have to
adapt themselves. The external environment is completely dynamic and is affected by various
economical and changes that are taking place across different parts of the world so it is very
important to take benefit from such changes organisations are able to compete with other big
competitors and survive in this era of high competition. About discuss are some of the common
strategies that can be used by fashion brands to maintain their present level of sales it has been
identified that digital marketing is one search strategy that is gaining a lot of importance and can
help organization in surviving and increasing their new that is being perceived by their
customers.
In case of present retail brand there has been a discussion about the two basic strategies that
can help in retaining the existing customers and generating the newly for organisation is willing
to use social media as a tool for attracting large number of customer and at the same time it helps
in keeping with the pace of cost effective techniques for attracting search new customers.

Recommendations
After going to entire this question there are some recommendation for Mark and Spencer
and it is important for them to implement all these things which will going to be discussed below
for their effective operation as well as increasing sale. Explanation of these are as follows
 For Marks and Spencer it has been recommended that they have to use digital platform
for attracting new customers and preventing existing within their working. Because it is
not enough for company to attract new customers and involve them within the
organisation their existing customers attention is also important because they are the loyal
part of company as they provide assistance in marketing of business firm. In addition to
this, implementation of digital technology is not enough for an organisation they have to
analyse this in effective manner as well as have to conduct market analyse so that they
can work with that digital technology in appropriate way.
 Furthermore, Mark and Spencer have to implement some attractive digital marketing
strategy for their company which help them in attracting customers more and more as
well as also in increasing their sale. Apart from this by implementing digital strategy of
lifetime membership for existing customer and discounts for new respect company will
be able to attract large number of customers. Along with this retain their existing also.
 In addition to this, Mark and Spenser have to make their website more attractive as per
the trend because it will help them in attracting large number of customers in effective
manner. Because website give first impression on the customers mind as well as they
should also focus on customer feedback column which included in website of company.
Through above mention all the recommendation Mark and Spencer will be able to attract large
number of customers as well as can serve them in better manner which make them satisfy. Along
with this, such practices also help in increasing sales, profitability, customer base and many
more. Therefore, the company is also recommended to upgrade and make its website appealing
so the more customers are attracted towards it and are encouraged to purchase the products by
creating an account on its website. This way it will be able to attain desired goals and objectives
which will further lead to an increase in the customer base as well as overall profitability.

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