e an evaluation of the organisations current marketing strategy and position in the market On Mark and Spencer

All the information are in the file I uploaded

EVALUATION OF
CURRENT MARKETING
STRATEGY AND
POSITION IN MARKET
ON MARKS AND
SPENCER

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Undertakes marketing audit of business current performance and evaluate current marketing
strategy and position in market...................................................................................................1
Market segmentation that is useful to target the business within retail marketplace..................4
Demonstrate buyer's behaviour to meeting requirements of suggested marketing segments to
moving business forward............................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Marketing refers to an essential approach for the business enterprise to buying and selling
of goods and services. It also provides the information related to customers and market trends to
company so that they can satisfy the customers to high extent and sale their offerings proficiently
for longer sustainability in business industry. This report is based on Marks and Spencer that is
one of the largest multinational retailing company in United Kingdom that was established on
1884. This company offers the variety of products that are foods, clothing, home wares with their
own label. The project report undertakes the several task that includes marketing audit which
helps in analysing current performance of market which helps in gaining profitable results.
Further it includes two sets of market segmenting that helps in successfully targeting the
customers so that firm will gain the profitable results in their longer survival. At last it includes
the understanding of buying behaviour that can justify the marketing strategy and helps in
moving the business to new heights (Blythe and Martin, 2019).
MAIN BODY
Undertakes marketing audit of business current performance and evaluate current marketing
strategy and position in market
Marketing audit refers to a systematic, analysis, interpretation and evaluation of
organisation marketing environment so that goals and objectives of the business enterprise can
be attained on specific period of time. It is comprehensive in nature that can covers all
information related to marketing area where firm will face the issues. Marketing audit is to be
systematic in nature that can evaluate external and internal environment which influence the
performance of marketing. In context of Marks and Spencer, marketing manager can conduct a
marketing audit by analysing internal and external environment so that they can get the higher
success and also gain competitive advantage within retail marketplace (Armstrong and et. al. ,
2018).
The mission of Marks and Spencer, is to provide aspirational quality to customers so that
their trust on company is to be maintained. The organisation values trust, innovation, quality and
service. The objective of M&S is to develops the overall profits and revenues by satisfying the
demands of customers to segment the market effectively and efficiently. It includes PEST,
1

SWOT Analysis to analyse the market audit of organisation. The marketing audit of Marks and
Spencer can be presented below:
PEST analysis of Marks and Spencer
 Political factor- In UK, European committee decision that is free flow of trade among
other foreign countries under the foreign exchange regulation act that can makes the
companies to import their offerings easier it would affect the Marks and Spencer because
of high cost structure. Due to this competitors can take advantage of it and it will reduce
the concerned firm market structure.
 Economic factor- This factor includes interest rate, spending power of consumers etc. In
this rivals of Marks and Spencer can take the advantage of capturing the market as they
specialised in consumer focus and also niche marketing that can highly satisfied the
demands of consumers. As competitors of concerned company can import the products
from foreign countries that can saving the cost. It will highly negative for Marks and
Spencer to provide the cost disadvantage for their quality products (Deepak and
Jeyakumar, 2019).
 Social factor- In this customers and society play a major role because company can
offers their products and services as per the current market demand so that customers
requirements are to be fulfilled effectively. In terms of Marks and Spencer, Consumer
perception is change frequently that will affect the sales and profit margin of concerned
company. In this Marks and Spencer can face the issue in their clothing sector that cannot
fulfilled customers demands due to this their financial performance is to be drop in the
current year. In their retailing they can focus on improving their fashion trends so that
profitable results can be enjoyed.
 Technological factor- This factor is very prominent in current business industry because
of enhancing customer base and profit margin. In case of Marks and Spencer, marketing
manager can adopts the use of technology in promoting their products and services that
helps in analysing current demand so that profitable results can be enjoyed.
 Environmental factor- In context of Marks and Spencer, company can highly focus on
reducing the impact of environmental losses within the year. In this they can reduce the
15% carbon footprints, 15% water footprint and 3.5 % reduction in waste in overall
2

product life cycle. It helps in enhancing the overall profits and sales so that it will survive
for a longer period of time (Tuten, and Mintu-Wimsatt, 2018).
SWOT Analysis of Marks and Spencer
Strength Weaknesses
 The major strength of Marks and
Spencer is that they can sell their
products with own brand labels and
also their products and services values
for money due to best quality and
design.
 Another strength is the global presence
having 80000 employees who works
effectively for gaining profits and sales.
 Marks and Spencer can face the major
competition within retail industry that
can affect the market share and position
in negative manner.
 Company can face the major losses due
to poor supply chain and non
availability of products and services.
Opportunities Threats
 Major opportunity for Marks and
Spencer is to develop their online
website to attracts large base of
customers.
 They mainly focus on new market
segments that helps Marks and Spencer
to gather more profits and revenues
(Pires, and Stanton, 2018).
 The major threat for Marks and
Spencer is large number of competitors
are to be present within market as they
offer the products and services on
reasonable cost as compare to Marks
and Spencer.
 Fluctuation in government policies for
retail industry can affect the company
profits and sales.
With the above analysation, marketing manager of Marks and Spencer can examine the
current marketing strategy and position so that company will sustain for longer time period. In
this the they can takes digital focus with “Its On” on Christmas campaign that is useful and
attractive to capture the attention of huge base of customers. In this customers on global market
can scrolling and shopping the products of company. It will develops the sales and also creates
trust in the people mind to shop the company products and that can enhance the sales and profit
margin. The company has to face the issue of strategic wear out feature because they can fail to
3

meet the customers demands due to this market position is to decline in recent years. As they
also invest low on communication with market due to which they can face the issue of not
satisfying the market demands and gaining competitive advantage. For Marks and Spencer, India
is the second largest market where they can enjoy large amount of profits and revenues after the
UK market. But the overall profit of the company can declined because it of their high cost
(Chaffey, and Ellis-Chadwick, 2019).
Illustration 1: source: Profit before tax of the Marks & Spencer group worldwide from 2014 to
2020
Market segmentation that is useful to target the business within retail marketplace
Market segmentation refers to a marketing process that is useful for dividing the target
market into small group so that needs and demands can be easily fulfilled. In this customers
segments can be done into small group of people that can share similar preferences, trends, needs
or a location. The segmenting can be done basically on four groups that are demographic,
geographic, behavioural and psycho-graphic nature. This helps in targeting the customers easily
and selling the products and services that are useful to enhance the growth and sustainability in
marketplace. In retail industry, segmenting is very essential to gain the profitable results and
4

gaining competitive advantage in business industry. In this marketing manager of Marks and
Spencer can research the market so that segmenting can be done successful. In this they can
majorly focus on analysing the customer preference so that segmenting can be done effectively
and in favour of company sustainability (Berdiyorov, 2020). Because on the basis of this firm
will targeting the customers and enhance their overall growth. In this Marks and Spencer can
mainly targets the customers on the basis of Geographic and demographic aspects that helps in
successfully targeting the market for gaining profitable results.
 Geographic segmentation- It refers to that type of market segment in which companies
can segmenting the customers on the basis of climate, country, region, weather. It is a
type of marketing strategy in which firm will targets the people who wants to shop the
products and services in a specific location. In case of Marks and Spencer, this type of
segmenting is effective because today's people are highly brand focused as they buy the
branded products mainly in retail industry. As the products of concerned company is
mainly marketed in all over the globe specially in European and Asian markets. Due to
this fresh supply of products can be done within these location to attracts the large
number of customers and enhancing growth. This will catering the demands of people as
user in these areas effectively. On the basis of country based segmentation, Marks and
Spencer sell their products and services according to preference of customers. In this
Marks and Spencer can segments the market by focusing on spending power of
customers. For instance- People in European market are attracted towards the quality of
products as compare to their price. In this manager of company can targets the customers
according to that by offering the quality products so that large base of customers are to be
attracted. On the other hand, within Asian markets people mainly focus on price and
quantity of products which they buy (Park, 2020). In this organisation manager can
targets the customers by using several types of offers. On the basis of Population based
segmenting-In this Marks and Spencer can segments the markets on the basis of
population of country that means they can segments those customers who are highly
brand focused and focus on quality of products this will enhance the overall market
growth of concerned company. As they generally focused on Asian countries where there
hige population and where women do the shopping where Marks and Spencer can targets
5

the women to buy the company offerings so that that they can enjoy large amount of
profits and sales (Lee, Lee, and Garrett, 2019).
 Demographic segmentation- It refers to that segmentation in which organisation can
divides the market on the basis of several aspects that are age, race, religion, family size,
income, education etc. It reflected as a first step in which creating customer profile that
helps the organisation to better the quality of products so that large base of customers are
to be attracted. In this Marks and Spencer can segments the markets by focusing on
Gender, age, Socio economic status etc. that helps in gaining the new heights for business
enterprise. On the basis of Gender Marks and Spencer can focus on targeting men and
women by providing the goods and services as per them. It is the best way to directly
connect with the consumers and develops the brand image within marketplace. In retail
market this market segmenting is very effective to targets the huge number of customers.
On the basis of age Marks and Spencer can mainly targets the adults and youngsters who
are highly attracted towards buying good and services that reflects their status in the
society. Satisfied customers can lead to expanding the market share that can increase
stability in their long term survival (Roberts, Kayande, and Stremersch, 2019). As
Marks and Spencer can deals in several types of product range that are clothing, food,
financial services, home ware etc. that highly attracts the women because they purchase
the company products collectively for their family members. It will enhance the brand
image due to this firm will face the large market growth and share that are useful to beat
the competition within the retail industry. The concerned company mainly targets the
women with the age group of 30-55. In terms of Social economic basis, Marks and
Spencer can offers their products and services to customers on premium pricing that will
reduce their customer base in recent year because of low economic condition. The price
of products are for upper middle class to middle class people that mainly attracts the
European markets because there people are not focus on price of products but they
emphasis on the quality (Hollensen, 2019).
From above analysis it is analysed that by segmenting the customer market on the basis
of demographic and geographic aspects, Marks and Spencer can gain their knowledge related to
international market which is highly essential to develops the brand image and gaining high
amount of profits and revenues. In this firm will focus on country based segmenting that helps in
6

attracting the customers as per their preferences and needs so that successful outcome can be
enjoyed (Lahtinen, Dietrich, and Rundle-Thiele, 2020).
Demonstrate buyer's behaviour to meeting requirements of suggested marketing segments to
moving business forward
The key resolution of segmenting the market into smaller groups and dividing the
population is to make sure to target the most suited audiences according to the offerings of the
organisation and in favour of simultaneous incrementation of their revenue units. In regards to
Marks & Spencer the company make geographical segmentation in which two basis are taken up.
The country based geographical segmentation is a value adding approach for the brand with the
perspective of understanding the need and preferences of all and larger customer base of the
company in a wider location areas. This gives brand the access to larger customer base which
further improve the firms ability to keep their consumer loyal to the organisation. Along with it
another key benefit attached to it is the goodwill of the brand which automatically increase with
enhancing presence in different markets and wider accessibility is provided to potential, loyal
and regular consumers of Marks & Spencer (Dobscha, 2019).
Population segmentation is the suitable concept which is useful for Marks and Spencer in
order to originate the suitable field for the business and marketing in which suitable products and
features are effectively tailored in terms of meeting the innovative needs of customers
undertaking several market areas. In terms of Marks and Spencer, they tends to create suitable
development on the basis of prominent growth of products by focusing on the suitable quality of
products which is useful in terms of improving the effective marketing growth and image which
is prominently concerned regarding the success of company. Along with this, by targeting the
market area is beneficial for Marks and Spencer is useful in terms of making their area specific
in regarding the launch of suitable product and services that helps in achieving suitable success
of company. Hence, on that basis population is the major factor for Marks and Spencer in order
to launch their product and acquire large market area (Khwaja, Mahmood and Zaman, 2020).
It is very essential for the manager of Marks and Spencer to examine the segmenting and
targeting so that firm will move towards the new heights. In this company can focus on fulfilling
the requirements of buyers so that profitable result can be enjoyed. In this manager can highly
focus on demographic segmenting where they adopts the use of age and gender aspects. In case
of Marks and Spencer, manager can segments the markets on the basis of their age where they
7

targets the age group of 30-55. It is very effective for company because this age group people are
mainly shopping addicted that helps in enhancing the sales and profits margin of the overall
organisation within the global market. In this consumer can behave actively to shop the company
products because they can develops their living standards that are highly beneficial for the
organisation to increase their customers base and profit margin that helps in gaining the
competitive advantage for a longer period of time. In terms of gender basis company can mainly
targets the women in Asian market because the firm selling home ware, clothing, food product
that helps the women to get the products and services at one roof. To influence customer buying
behaviour Marks and Spencer adopts the promotional strategy and marketing campaign that can
mainly attracts the number of customers which supports the organisation overall financial;
resources in positive manner ( Kadekova and Holienčinová, 2018). Segmenting the market is
very essential to develops the company growth and revenues. It is very effective to retain the
customers for a longer period of time and also produce the goods and services as per the
requirements of customers so that increasing the customer attention is simple and firm will see
the new heights in retail business industry.
CONCLUSION
From above explanation it is concluded that marketing is an essential concept for the
business organisation. It helps in evaluating the organisation current marketing strategy and
position so that it can be survived for a longer period of time. Marketing helps in analysing the
demands of customers so that firm will offer the qualitative products and enhance their profit
margin. It inculcates the market audit that helps in analysing the current behaviour of customers
so that company can segment the market according to that that helps in enhancing the profit
margin and market share. Further it inculcates the best marketing segments that provides the
success to business in their long term survival. At last it acknowledge the customer buying
behaviour that is useful to enhance the enterprise market share and position.
8

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Armstrong, G.M. And et. al. , 2018. Marketing: an introduction. Pearson UK.
Berdiyorov, T., 2020. Ways of Using Innovative Marketing Technologies in the Passenger
Transport System. Архив научных исследований, (32).
Blythe, J. and Martin, J., 2019. Essentials of marketing. Pearson UK.
Chaffey, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F., 2019. Digital marketing. Pearson UK.
Deepak, R.K.A. and Jeyakumar, S., 2019. Marketing management. Educreation Publishing.\
Dobscha, S., 2019. Introduction to the Handbook of Research on Gender and Marketing. In
Handbook of Research on Gender and Marketing. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Hollensen, S., 2019. Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Kadekova, Z. and Holienčinová, M., 2018. Influencer marketing as a modern phenomenon
creating a new frontier of virtual opportunities. Communication Today .9 (2).
Khwaja, M.G., Mahmood, S. and Zaman, U., 2020. Examining the Effects of eWOM, Trust
Inclination, and Information Adoption on Purchase Intentions in an Accelerated Digital
Marketing Context. Information .11 (10). p.478.
Lahtinen, V., Dietrich, T. and Rundle-Thiele, S., 2020. Long live the marketing mix. Testing the
effectiveness of the commercial marketing mix in a social marketing context. Journal of
Social Marketing.
Lee, R., Lee, J.H. and Garrett, T.C., 2019. Synergy effects of innovation on firm performance.
Journal of Business Research .99. pp.507-515.
Park, S., 2020. Marketing management (Vol. 3). Seohee Academy.
Pires, G. and Stanton, J., 2018. Ethnic marketing. Routledge.
Roberts, J.H., Kayande, U. and Stremersch, S., 2019. From academic research to marketing
practice: Exploring the marketing science value chain. In How to Get Published in the
Best Marketing Journals. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Tuten, T. and Mintu-Wimsatt, A., 2018. Advancing our understanding of the theory and practice
of social media marketing: Introduction to the special issue.
9