Introduction to Marketing

Marketing is a management process through which company distributes their goods and services to target customers and market. It is related to various activities, set of institutions and process for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that serve value to customer, clients, stake holders, etc. This assignment focuses on expanding Lidl business in UK retail market to compete their rival teams. It includes market research on grocery market of UK, SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis, competitive matrix, and segment profiles.

INTRODUCTION TO
MARKETING

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is a management process through which company distributes their goods and
services to target customers and market. It is related to various activities, set of institutions and
process for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that serve value to
customer, clients, stake holders, etc. It helps to satisfy needs and requirements of customers. It is
essential for marketing department to manage their marketing strategies effectively so that they
can reach to their customers as well as fulfill their demands on time. By using appropriate
distribution channel, company can provide their goods and service to their customers on time.
Marketers can also apply different marketing concept and marketing mix to make their strategies
more productive. Lidl is leading discounted supermarket chain based in German. Company was
founded in 1930 with its headquarters in Neckarsulm, Germany. It has been operating in more
than 10,000 stores especially across Europe and USA. This company is biggest competitor of
Aldi. This assignment will mainly focus on expanding Lidl business in UK retail market to
compete their rival teams. They provide low cost and affordable goods to their customers. This is
the reason Lidl has a strong reputation in the market with such a large number of loyal and
satisfied customers. Appropriate research on retail industries is done to provide critical
information about rivals to Lidl. Models like PESTEL, SWOT, Ansoff Matrix, Boston
Consulting Group Matrix, etc are used under this project to analyze opportunities, threat,
weakness, strengths, political, economical, social, and legal and other information factors that
can influence Lidl business and growth. Research on UK population has been given which can
provide maximum benefit to Lidl Company and encourages their sales and profits. Different
marketing model and marketing mix are used to provide relevant approaches to marketing
strategies are covered under this assignment.
TASK 1
Market research on grocery market of UK by different tools

SWOT ANALYSIS: It is a strategic tool which is used to identify internal factors such as
strengths and weakness of company as well as external factors like opportunities and threats.
These factors help company to find out the core strengths of company to deal with other
competitors in market and stay ahead of their rivals whereas what are the weak areas which
company should pay attention to improve those areas, so that they can come up in effective
manner. What are the different opportunities which a firm can get and some threats while
competing in market? This helps in better comparison of internal and external factors with
business objectives and goals and gives precise idea about favorable and unfavorable situations.
Before formulating any strategy in relation to business expansion, growth, new product launch,
etc, managers use SWOT Analysis to find out the chances of profit and loss to company.
Retail market of United Kingdom is a very large platform where numerous competitors
are present and this main strategy is to attract as many customers towards their products and
service as possible. Retail companies are using SWOT analysis to identify better opportunities
and threats of their company form other competitors. It is really a tough task to manage
everything and achieve success. With the help of this analytical tool, various strengths,
weaknesses, threats and opportunities of retail market of UK can be identified who can influence
sales and marketing of Lidl. Following is the SWOT analysis:
STRENGTH (Internal factor of organization)
It is an internal factor which is very crucial for Lidl to identify. As it is one of the leading
supermarkets, they have to continuously upgrade their strengths areas to retain their position. To
expand their business in markets of United Kingdom, they have to make whole lot of planning to
make the expansion successful. As Lidl has a strong reputation in market, it can be easy to start
their new business in UK. They have to focus on target customers and market areas where they
can get maximum profits and sales. This company has strong online presence and is available
online. This is a greater strength of Lidl to enhance their market online as maximum number of
people buy products online and digital marketing has a great scope in present as well as in future.

WEAKNESS (Internal factor of organization)
If Lidl wants to achieve maximum growth in retail market, then they have to focus on
weak areas also because these factors can prevent company to achieve desired success. Managers
and superiors should pay attention to their weakness and try to improve it as soon as possible. If
they are proficient and talented in their functioning then they can their followers in effective
manner. Weakness of Lidl Company is that they are relatively small as compared to other brands
like Aldi, TESCO, etc. They have not expanded their business globally and are limited to United
Kingdom and USA. They should try to open up their stores globally so that they can give tough
competition to other rivals companies. As they have large number of store in UK but they lack
sufficient employee workforce to attend customers and answer their problems at the stores. This
decreases customer satisfaction and tend to prefer other rival companies for better assistance.
Above were some weaknesses, which the company needs to focus to achieve desired success.
OPPORTUNITIES (External factor of organization)
It is necessary for companies to overcome all their weaknesses to become a successful
leader. As retail sector is ever growing market, so company has great opportunities to expand
their business. They can shift their business to countries which have growing economies.
Managers can formulate effective market strategies to grow their business and acquire large
market share in retail market.
As they have strong hold on online marketing, they make it more effective and customer
friendly by doing some modification and making unique products available in their website.
With the help of Search Engine Optimization, they can register their websites with famous
search engines. This will customers to reach the company within a shit time period. Organization
can focus on great opportunities lying in front of them and start their actions in that direction of
getting success.
THREAT (External factor of organization)
There are challenges which company has to face on daily basis. Lidl has a growing
supermarket chain and many competitors are already present in the market which have well

established business and have a large market share. This can impact on growth of the company.
Many changes can occur in government rules and regulation, policies, guidelines related to retail
industry. If any global brands expand their company international, then it might pose threat to
Lidl and this will become more difficult to expand their business. Manager can identify what
factors can be dangerous for them and will prevent them from growing their business. In that
case they need to analyze all those factors and formulate best strategies to encounter all their
threats.
Retail sector involves much threat and is unpredictable. Even a single change in shopping
habit of customer can cause major threats to retailers. It is necessary to keep company updated
with regular changes in market and modify their plans according to that.
Above was the SWOT Analysis which represents strength and weakness of company and
some opportunities and threats which firm has in the market place. Below is another tool to
analyze external environment and its influence on Lidl enterprise.
PESTEL Analysis
This analysis of retail industry provides company with relevant information about factor
which can influence the growth and success of industry.
Political factor: It mainly includes laws and regulation of country which affect revenues
and profitability. Retail industry is ever growing sector and have been concerned with
employment laws which are set by government. Political stability is necessary for business as
their disruption can lead to supply chain and sales problem. Over some years, organization
which are dealing in UK retail industry have to face policies and regulation. It has been noticed
that, companies which have strong hold in market, tend to dominant and exploit employees due
to larger market share. The government has then responded back by implementing some laws
against employee’s safety and competitiveness of industry.
Economic factor: UK supermarkets are greatly influenced by economic conditions of the
country. A company has to consider all economic factors while making their strategies as a
single change can lead to huge loss or profit to them. There is a continuous swing in external

environment which leads to instability of retail industry. Various factors like inflations rates,
unemployment policies, and monetary policies greatly influence economic condition of Lidl.
Social factor: Buying patterns of UK customers pose great impact on Lidl Company. As
they manufacture goods which have affordable prices, consumer prefers them over costly retail
supermarkets. This increase their profits and sales. But sometimes customers can have the
perception of bad quality as products are available at very low cost, so they might not prefer
them.
Technological factor: There has been a great advancement in technology in past
decades. It is crucial for retail industries to have recent equipments and technology to compete in
the market. They can execute innovative ideas by taking help of equipments and produce unique
products. This also increases quality and productivity of goods and services.
Environmental: Various factors have influenced the supermarket industry. For example,
weather conditions greatly effects the growth of crops, fruits, vegetable, etc or possibly destroy
them. This sometime led to shortage of supply and increases the prices in supermarket. Company
also produces so much of carbon discharge which arms the nature, so they should minimize and
manage their waste and effluents.
Legal: These factors are very important for retail industry. There are many laws which
effect the functioning of companies. Legal scenario of UK is really complex and retailer has to
be very cautious as any violation can lead to huge fine.
COMPETITIVE MATRIX
It is an analysis tool which is used by companies to establish competitive advantage and
it gives an idea about actual position of that firm in market place.
BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP MATRIX

BCG is a global management consulting firm and is world’s largest advisor on business
strategy. They connect with clients which are from various sectors like public, private, non-
profit and give them advice about their opportunities in market. They help companies to achieve
sustainable competitive advantage, build more and capable firms and maximize their
productivity and profitability. BCG matrix helps organization to achieve desired success by
planning effective long term strategies by reviewing its portfolio of products where to invest, to
discontinue or develop products. The matrix is mainly divided into four section and are known
as, Star, Question mark, Cash cow and Dog. These elements are described below:
 Star: In this those companies or products are included which earn huge profits and are
most popular in market. They ensure high sales and maximum revenue as they have
strong market share and high growth rate. If a company is in this stage, then they have to
invest huge amount of funds to maintain their position. Aldi is one such company who
has high sales and is highly powerful in retail industry.
 Question mark: This includes those company or products which are in growing stage
and require huge investment to get stability. They have low market share that is why they
earn less revenue. Question mark is also referred to problem child and these companies
have the potential to gain market share and become a star. Lidl comes under this stage as
it is in growing state and have high capacity to become a star.
 Cash cow: These companies have high growth rate and generate more cash then they
consume. They help company to become market leader.
 Dog: These companies have low market share and low growth rate. The neither generate
cash nor they consume cash.
ANSOFF MATRIX
This tool represents corporate growth strategies and present potential markets and
products. Company uses this tool to grow their business in new and existing market with
their new and old products. They provide four different growth strategies and are given
below:
Market penetration: In this company try to achieve success through existing products in
their current market and aim to increase its market share.

Market development: Firm focuses on achieving growth by targeting its existing products to
new market.
Product development: Company develops new products for existing market segments.
Diversification: Firm expand their business by developing new products for new markets.
Task 2
Identify those consumer segments who are driving this growth, and using relevant
socio-demographic, psychographic, and behavioral variables, develop detailed
segment profiles
Market segmentation is one of the most efficient and effective tool for the business to
fulfill the needs and requirements of the target group. It is so because market segment make it
easy for the firm to customize their market strategies and campaigns by to focus on capturing
the attention of consumers in most appropriate and cost effective manner. It leads to specific
planning and thus give out better outcomes. Segmentation is done by dividing the population
into various sections and sub sections on the basis of certain characteristics such as such as
age, gender, income, place, occupation, usage, lifestyle etc and then selecting the target
audience for the business. IT ensures that business draft better products according to needs of
the segment there are certain way factors on the basis of which segmentation is carried out in
order to analyze and search out most ideal set of requirements and behavior of the selected
customer group. The key point to be emphasized upon while grouping segments is that they
should be homogeneous i.e. there needs to be some similarity among the people of the
sections that can capitalize by the firm. Also as every individual is unique marketer need to
ensure that people belonging to same segment should have identical reactions in similar way
as other individuals of same segment have for the stimulus. Mentioned below are some of the
prominent types of market segmentation:-
Socio- demographic factor: - Socio- demographic segmentation is one of the most
significant marketing divisions since it the information is easily available and drastically
affects the buying behavior of the customers. This segmentation divides market on the basis
of customer personal characteristics such as age, family size, gender, income , religion, race,

occupation, nationality, etc. The marketing department of almost every industry like beauty
products, mobile phones, automobiles etc. conduct this segmentation as customer’s buying
behavior is largely influenced by these factors.
Behavioral Factor: - It is the practice of dividing consumer’s group on basis of attributes
like usage, loyalty, preference, knowledge, choices, , purchase patterns and decision making. It
can be utilized in number of ways as in case segmentation is based on awareness an enterprise
might send influence customers behavior through customized ad campaign or in case it is based
on occasion a firm can target it price sensitive at time of special events like graduation, festivals
and so on. The knowledge of the product and its usage impacts buying decision of an individual.
The audience can be divided into segments like one who already knows about product, ex-users,
potential users, people who are currently using he products, people using it for the first time etc.
By gaining knowledge of preferences and requirements of each kind of the individual company
has to formulate policies and procedure so as to attract more and retain most of its consumers by
being more relevant and producing messaging that will induce the desired target market to make
the purchase.
Psychographic Factor: - It is far less realistic as compared to demographic as attributes
used are less tangible. Psychographic Segmentation divides the customers group on the basis of
their lifestyle, attitude and personality. It works on the premise that consumers purchasing
behavior is largely influenced by their personality traits and lifestyle which they follow. It
defines personality as the combination of different characteristics that form an individual’s
distinct character and includes his attitude, habits, traits, temperament, etc. Lifestyle on the other
hand depicts how a person lives his life. Psychographic information is often gathered via
extensive surveys that ask individuals about their interests, opinion, activities, attitudes, values,
and lifestyles. One of the most well-known psychographic surveys is Value, Attitude, and
Lifestyle Survey. Based on their responses, consumers are segregate into following categories,
each characterized by certain buying behaviors.
 Innovators- Innovators are active customers who are most receptive to new ideas and
knowledge and technology. They are change leaders who are conscious about self esteem,

successful and image. Their purchase reflects sophistication and they prefer upscale, niche
products and services.
 Thinkers- Thinkers are mature, satisfied reflective people who value knowledge,
responsibility and order. They are motivated by ideals and are conservative, practical
consumers. Their preference while making a purchase is durability, functionality, and value
in the products.
 Achievers. Achievers have goal-oriented and they value compromise, predictability, and
stability over risk, intimacy, and self-discovery. Because of their hectic schedule they prefer
time saving devices and have a taste established, prestige products and services that exhibit
success to their peers..
 Experiences - Experiences are motivated by self-expression and one of their prominent
features is that they quickly become enthusiastic about new possibilities but are equally
quick to calm down. They look for variety and excitement and spend a high portion of their
income on fashion, entertainment, and socializing and having “cool” stuff.
 Believers- Believers are conservative, conventional people with practical approach and they
follow traditional routines which revolve around family community, and social or religious
organizations to which they belong. As consumers, they choose familiar products and
established brands. They are the loyal consumers.
Lidl being one of the world’s leading discounted grocery retailers give prominent
emphasis on target segmentation to find out the needs of its target customers and meet
them by designing most effective marketing mix strategies. Based upon the market
segmentation mentioned below are some specific details about Lidl-
Target Audience - Lidl’s target audience are the middle market consumers the
budgeting families and local residents.
Strategy - The market strategy portrays it as a reasonable brand which gives quality
products at low price so as to sell more and more goods and attract large audience to get
higher profits.
Characteristics- Lidl sell more own branded products having high quality at affordable
prices. It stocks limited but high class brands / foods so at to reduce the selecting time of
the consumers.

TASK 3
Marketing mix model and relevant strategies
Research in marketing helps an organization to make potent planning and strategies for
their business activities. Marketing research requires deep intellectual ability to understand
concept and theories and apply them in performing business research for organization. Lidl can
use different marketing model and apply them in their business activities to gain competitive
advantage in their business activities. Some of the model enterprise can use in enhancing market
researchers are as follows
 Product description- It is a type of modeling technique where description about the
product are underlines. This involves providing all the necessary details about the product
to the clients to create transparency in business activities. As the company is dealing in
retail stores it is necessary for them to provide basic information about the product to
generate trust factors among customers. As customers in geographical boundaries have
different living standard , so price description will help them to choose best product at
suitable price
 Brand Image- It means they popularity of a company and the values it possesses in
market in given business market. Serving people with defined value will help company to
explore new geographical boundaries. Brand image of any organization can be defined
under brand Keller’s brand equity model that provide a framework defining relationship
and resonance with customers, their responses, demand of services and products.
Creation of better relationship by satisfying customer’s wishes with ethical approach will
help Lidl to create good brand valued in different business market. The company has
already satisfied people with good quality retail product in all over Europe and wish to
expand more to new geographical region in future run.
 Pricing Objective Strategy – A pricing objective strategy is included in pricing process
that has to be made by proper planning of finance, marketing, customer expectation of
prices and product goal. This strategy is defined under 4 broad divisions for generating
more revenue from products. Lidl use this price strategy according to potential of people
and demand of market in different geographical region. 4 elements od pricing strategy are
Profit oriented – Company must determine prices at an affordable range so that
they can fetch more people towards their business.

Volume oriented – Prices are set according to selling of required volume of
products. A company does not want their manufactured item remain unsold or spilt.
Image oriented- Prices of product should be on brand image that an organization
possesses. Price diffract can be seen between organization depending on their brand
image.
Price stabilization – It is necessary because there are many people in market who
are prices sensitive so any changes in pricing strategy can hamper productivity of
organization.
 Retailing and distribution objectives and strategies- Distribution strategy of any
organization goes parallel to 7Ps strategy of organization, so it becomes more important
to have a better supply changing management for distribution of product in market. Lidl
must make sure that they place right product at right place by analyzing demand of that
product in given business market. So for distribution of product effectively company has
to follow a defined process so to fetch more revenue from business market. The
distribution start with manufacturer who desires to sell their product, then it goes to
wholesaler, responsible of distribution of product to desired retailer then it ultimately
distributed to customers.
 Integrated marketing communications objectives strategies- it is an effective tool for
an organization to communicate with people and promote their brand value in different
business market. Lidl use different communication medium to reach out to people in
different business market. They can also make their product presentable in business
market through different communication practices. There is several advantage of using
integrated marketing techniques. Some of them are as follows
 Development of brand awareness
 To increase demand of their product among customers
 It can also help in changing customer attitude and belief
 Increase purchase action among the customers
 Helps in customer retention
 Enhance customer traffic in their retail stores across different geographical
area.

 Increase brand image in different market.
 Enhance sales practices
 Helps in reinforcing purchasing decisions of people
Lidl can use all these factors in their business activities to enhance their approach in
business market and gain more revenue.
 7P’s Marketing Mix- Marketing mix for an enterprise helps in enhancing brand offering
and product. It will help Lidl to establish their business in marketing place by following
different strategies according to marketing mix. Elements of marketing mix are as
follows-
 Product – It is an element on which organization perform sales practices in
business market. As Lidl is working in retail sector it is dealing with variety of
products to perform their sales activity. Company must design product according
to the demand of customers in different market.
 Place – It is important to determine place of performing marketing activity. Lidl
is growing their business in many part of Europe by analyzing demand of type of
product and helps in placing them effectively.
 Price- Strategies related to prices can be made by proper evaluation of business
market. Enterprise must plan to provide high standard product at reasonable price
so that it can able to fetch more customer towards their retail store.
 Promotion – It is an effective tool helps in informing about company's business
activity in different market. Effective use of different medium for promotion of
products will help organization to expand their business activity in different
competitive market.
 People – For doing business an organization must estimate and analyses demand
of customer in that marketing place so that they can easily make products
according to need and want of customers.
 Process – It involves type of approach a company will follow in their business
activity. For performing retail activity a systematic opting for right process will
help Lidl to increase their business activity in market.

 Physical evidences – For having smooth flow of business transparency must be
there that will help generating faith and belief among their customers towards the
organization
RECOMMENDATIONS
As above mentioned, Lidl is a growing company which has to establish a stable market in
UK as well as in other countries also. For that they need to identify many things before going for
expansion. Some of the analysis had been already described above in the assignment such as
SWOT Analysis where various strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats can affect growth
and success of organization. The company needs to focus on these factors to make effective
plans.
Another analysis tools is PESTEL Analysis where company identifies some critical areas
such as political, economical, legal, political, environmental and legal which help company to
get accurate idea about what is going on in external environment and what should be inculcated
in organization to make their functioning more effective.
Other tools are BCG and Ansoff matrix which help company to analyze about target
market and growth opportunities and formulate strategies according to that.
Managers of LIDL need to formulate their expansion strategies to ensure
successful business in future. For this they can apply 7P’s of marketing mic in their plans to
make it more precise and accurate and achieve desired growth in market. It is important to decide
their distribution and supply chain activities to ensure timely availability of products to market.
For developing a new product, managers has to design products and organize their production
plans products should have the capacity to fulfill and satisfy consumer needs. Better the sales of
product, more are the profits to company which lead to establishment of strong brand image in
market. Lidl can perform proper research and analysis to execute their best plans and expand
their business globally.

CONCLUSION
Form the above assignment, it can be concluded that Lidl is a fast growing supermarket
chain in UK and other countries also. It requires several tools and techniques to expand their
business in competitive market successfully. They can prepare their business plans with the help
of expert’s advices, certain marketing tools, research and analysis of external environment.
These all things provide company with essential information, which can be useful to make
effective strategies and desired steps towards successful journey of company. They need to be
very careful as many competitors are already present in the market and operate according to that.

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