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Introduction to Marketing Assignment - Marks & Spencer
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Added on 2020-11-23
Introduction to Marketing Assignment - Marks & Spencer
Added on 2020-11-23
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INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
CONTENTSINTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................................4Company profile (Marks & Spencer) .................................................................................................4Marketing objectives and goals ........................................................................................................5Market Environment .........................................................................................................................5Competition ......................................................................................................................................7Market research and consumer behaviour .......................................................................................7Market segmentation .....................................................................................................................10Target market and positioning strategy...........................................................................................11Marketing strategy..........................................................................................................................11CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................12REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................13
INTRODUCTION Marketing is referred as a set procedure through which value of the product andservices is communicated or socialized to the customers with a sole aim to sell themerchandise. It is being regarded as a critical function of business that pays attention towardsattracting the clients. Better results in the form of increased brand image, sales and higherrevenues can be attained if marketing is properly planned and executed within theorganization (Kotler, 2009). Pertaining to this, the current research report also aims tounderstand different areas of marketing, their relationships and application in internationalbusiness organization. Concerning this, Marks & Spencer is being taken under consideration.It is one of the leading UK’s retailer of clothes, food, financial services and home products.The company has a record of profitability and success since its establishment. As a worker inthe marketing department of M&S, marketing audit of the current performance of the firmwill be carried out. Current marketing strategy as well as position of the company will beevaluated significantly. Further, market research will be performed to determine two sets ofmarket segments and target market and buying behaviour will be comprehended in the laterpart of the research.MARKETING AUDIT Company profile (Marks & Spencer) Michael Marks in the year 1884 has set up Marks and Spencer, which is a leadingmultinational retailer of UK today with around 1382 stores all across the world. They deal inclothes, food services, financial services and home products both in store and online. Theyhave around 33 million customers in two divisions i.e. food and general products (Marks &Spencer, 2015). Talking in reference with the market of United Kingdom, it is a marketleader in lingerie, womenswear and menswear. M&S has 468 wholly-owned, franchised andjointly-owned stores in Europe, Middle East and Asia. At the time of financial crisis,company continuously focused on its strong brand momentum through maintaining premiumpricing and investing huge in advertising. In the year 2008, there were slight decline in thesales and share price of the firm and thus, many other competitors’ retailers grabbed themarket of M&S. in addition to this, the social, ethical as well as environmental businesscommitments also supported the organization to create a string brand image and positioningin terms of waste reduction, responsible sourcing and community care (Sinkovics and Ghauri,2009).
Marketing objectives and goals The main aim of Marks and Spencer is to drive like-for-like growth in UK andexpanding in the international market.Figure 1: Corporate Objectives(M&S Annual Report, 2013).The food business of the company has delivered good performance regardless of thefall in the revenue of general merchandise in the year 2013 by 2.4 percent and market sharelosses in the clothing business. Thus, the main emphasis of M&S is on clothing business andachieve long term growth in this sector. The most of the revenue of the firm comes from UKthough it is expanding in international market and thus, the current focus is increasing theirsales volume and revenue in the clothing sector in UK (Wheelen and Hunger, 2008). Market Environment The down turn of the company in the year 1990 and 2008 was mainly because of theexternal factors in the market environment and the inability of the firm to adapt them. Thus, itis very essential to analyse the external market environmental factors that affects thefunctioning and operation of Marks and Spencer and these are as follows: Political – The Company is being influenced by European Commission free tradeagreements, as they can import their products easily. However, the sales of the firmwas decreased due to run-up and outcome of British SY referendum in the year 2016.Further, because of comparatively higher cost structure, the market share of M&S wasalso reduced and they have faced losses at the time of entering into new market(Makos, 2014). The overseas operation of the firm was also affected by geopoliticalunrest, uncertainties and substandard infrastructure. Economical – The competitors of M&S like Aldi, Tesco and Morrisons consideredthe strategy of discounted pricing at the time of financial crisis of 2008 while M&Sfocussed on satisfying the customers through high quality products and services.Because of this strategy, there were short term decrease in the sales of the companybut there is increase in the confidence of the British customers in long term.
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