Marketing Audit and Analysis

The given assignment is focused on marketing audit and analysis, covering various topics such as SWOT analysis of Marks & Spencer, Pestle Analysis, Five Forces Model, demographic segmentation, and marketing strategies used by Marks & Spencer. The assignment includes references to several academic articles and online resources, providing a detailed overview of the subject matter.

Marketing Audit
Marks & Spencer

Table of Content
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK...............................................................................................................................................1
1. Marketing audit of the business’s current performance and organisations current marketing
strategy and position in the market.........................................................................................1
2. Market segmentation of Marks and Spencer......................................................................6
3. Marketing strategy use to meet the requirements of the suggested segments and move the
business forward.....................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Marketing audit is consider as a analysing and evaluating marketing strategies, plans,
activities which is going to conduct, objectives and many more. Along with this it also evaluate
and interpretate marketing environment of an organization. Marketing environment can be both
internal and external. It also includes principles and objectives which are develop to resolve or
face any problems, opportunities or any particular situation (Moore and et. al., 2012).
Organization taken for this assignment is Marks and Spencer which is founded by Michael
Marks and Thomas Spencer in year 1884. They are dealing in retail industry and it’s headquarter
is in London, United Kingdom. The respective company serve their products in worldwide
market. This company offer products like home products, clothing and luxury food item. This
report going to explain topics like market segment and marketing strategy which is appropriate
for respective company for attracting customers and selling product to them. Along with this it
include analysis of customer’s behaviour in order to get positive result and also helpful company
to improving their performance accordingly.
TASK
1. Marketing audit of the business’s current performance and organisations current marketing
strategy and position in the market
For an organization it is essential for an organization to conduct marketing audit because by it
they able to know about their business, target customers, competitors and market need and
demand. This will help them in developing strategies in effective and appropriate manner in
order to satisfy their customers and attain goal and objectives in effective manner (Radulescu,
2012). There are various methods and theories are use in order to conduct appropriate marketing
audit. Mangers of Mark and Spencer use PEST analysis, SWOT analysis and Porters Five force
model for conducting marketing audit in proper manner. Explanation of all these theories or
model are given below:-
SWOT Analysis
Strength-
 Brand image is clear: Marks and Spencer is one of the leading and fast growing brand
which offer quality products and affordable price which attract more and more customers.
Products offer by respective company are of good quality, stylish, trendy and modern
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which make clear brand image of company and make customer sure what they are
expecting from respective company.
 Private labels: The Marks and Spencer are also offering their product and services with
additional premium brands. Such as Louis Vuitton, Versace, Per Una, North Coast and
many more (SWOT analysis of Marks & Spencer, 2019). These brands help respective
company in awaring customers about Marks and Spencer and enhance brand recalling.
Weakness-
 Inability to succeed in foreign country: Marks and Spencer is operating their business
operations and function in effective manner at Europe, United Kingdom as well as United
State. But they are not succeeding in Asia and Middle East because they are only offering
western cloth not traditional.
 Customers Satisfaction: Customer of respective company are not too satisfied because
they face major issues in returning policies and also store experiences are not also good.
This will decrease brand loyalty of customers and due to this they are switching to
another brands.
Opportunities-
 Start new segment: This can be one of the major opportunities for Marks and Spencer to
expand their business in new segment in order to attract more customers (Saeed, Bekhet
and Dhar, 2017). Such as now they are not dealing in ethical or traditional clothing but if
they start dealing they can also expand their business at Asia and Middle East countries
in effective manner.
Threats-
 Competition: For Marks and Spencer major threat is there competitors because they are
also offering same product ranges at effective price. Some main competitors of respective
company are Gap, ZARA, United Colors of Benetton, Tommy Hilfiger and many more.
PEST Analysis
 Political- When respective company conduct their business operation in worldwide
market they have to face various political factors which is related to government rules
and policies. According to BBC new in year 2006, Marks and Spencer become first retail
store which conduct their business with fair route for both clothing and foods. The fair
trade policy which respective company introduce, include cut salt and fats form their food
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products. Along with this they take care of animal welfare and they also recycle
packaging.
 Economical- This related factor which affects economy of a company too, it include
factors like recession, inflation, change in taxes and many more. Marks and Spencer also
get affected by this when recession occur they have to closed their numbers of stores and
also cut off 2 percent jobs from their 70000 staffs. They also decide to provide 20 percent
discount in order to get of recessions period. Along with this Marks and Spencer also
change their ways or style of marketing.
 Social- Marks and Spencer changing their style according to change in trends and time.
In 2006 Chief Executive of Marks and Spencer expand their company ranges. For which
they planned to sell their food products through online platform in order to become multi
channel retailer and this make them different form its competitor ASDA (Pestle Analysis
On Marks Spencer, 2019). Respective company also do analysis and develop products
accordingly in order to attract more and more customers.
 Technological- Marks and Spencer have very strong and quality research and develop
team which help them in conducting their business in effective and appropriate manner.
Respective company also adopt various new techniques to attract with their customer in
order to take feedbacks and suggestions. Marks and Spencer also have celebrity face
Myleen Class which attract customers and encourage them for purchase products.
Porters five force
Figure 1Porters five force
(Source: Porters five force, 2016)
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 Bargaining power of Suppliers- It refers to those factors which indicate that situation
when suppliers demand money according to themselves. They may ask for high price for
low quality products. In context of Marks and Spencer power of supplier is low in term of
food and clothing because respective company manufacture there food product and cloths
themselves so they are not too dependent on suppliers (M&S Five forces mode, 2019).
But in case of technological or specialized products power of suppliers get high.
 Barraging power of Buyers- It refers to condition when customers have more power
from company. In this customer can ask for high quality products at low price and if
company not do accordingly they shift to another competitive company. In context of
Marks and Spencer barraging power of buyers is high because there are many other
companies who offer same variety of products such as ZARA, Forever 21, Forever New,
ASDA, United Colors of Benetton, Tommy Hilfiger and many more.
 Threat of new entry- It is a situation which show how easy any new company enter into
particular market to operate their business operations and functions. When there is less
restrictions and rules any company can enter into market effectively and easily. In context
of Marks and Spencer threat of new entry is low because in United Kingdom it is difficult
to start new business. Along with this it is not easy to establish business and customers
bases like Respective Company in less time.
 Threat of substitutes- It refers to situation when there is availability of substitute or same
product is high at a market place. In this condition customer can shift from one company
to another to get same product at low price. In respect of Marks and Spencer threat of
substitutes is high because there are many other companies who are offering same variety
or range of product at low price. Such as Forever 21, ASDA, Forever New, United Colors
of Benetton, Tommy Hilfiger and many more.
 Rivalry- It is a factor which is related to competitors of a particular company. If
competitive company is offering same product at low or same price then rivalry factors is
high or else it is low of for that particular company (Sargeant and MACQUILLIN, 2016).
In respect of Marks and Spencer rivalry factors if low because there is no or less
competitors who offer exact same services and products to customers. But there are
companies who offer products and service same as respective come differently.
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Along with this to understand and analyses current perform managers and leaders of Marks and
Spencer analysis there last year annual performance which is given below:-
Interim Results
30/09/2017 29/09/2018
Turnover 5,125.60 4,966.90
Pre-tax Profit 118.30 126.70
Normalized EPS p 9.62 9.62
Dividend per Share p 6.80 0.00
Income Statement
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Fiscal Year Ends 31/03/2014 31/03/2015 31/03/2016 31/03/2017 31/03/2018
more...
Turnover 10,309.70 10,311.40 10,555.40 10,622.00 10,698.20
EBITDA 1,206.20 1,249.90 1,166.50 866.10 742.80
EBIT 701.50 699.80 589.70 276.60 162.20
Operating Profit 741.90 762.50 784.90 690.60 670.60
Pre-tax Profit 580.40 600.00 488.80 176.40 66.80
Profit After Tax 506.00 481.70 404.40 115.70 29.10
Profit For Financial Year 524.80 486.50 406.90 117.10 25.70
Retained Profit 251.20 205.80 105.20 -260.40 -277.70
Normalized EPS p 34.74 32.48 34.92 24.79 15.36
Balance Sheet
more...
Total Assets 7,903.00 8,196.10 8,476.40 8,292.50 7,550.20
Total Liabilities - - - - -
Total Equity 2,706.70 3,198.80 3,443.40 3,150.40 2,954.20
Current marketing strategy and position in the market:-
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Figure 2Top 10 clothing store in UK
(Source: Top 10 clothing store in UK, 2019)
Marks and Spencer is one of the leading and fastest growing brand of United Kingdom
that is established in year 1884. They are dealing in retail industry and offers products like
cloths, luxury food and home products. In respect of company performance there are approx
1035 stores which are situated in different locations of UK and around other 430 stores which is
running across globe. There are various plans which are developed and use by Marks and
Spencer in order to make effective marketing strategy and positioning. Such as they are
transforming there marketing team into specialists rather than make it generalists, for enhancing
their positioning they start mobile payment system at their stores (Marks and Spence, 2019). This
all activities help them in attracting more and more customer in order to enhance their market
share and profitability. Along with this they also able to do positioning in effective manner by
analysing market.
2. Market segmentation of Marks and Spencer
Marketing segmentation refers to process and techniques by which an organization can
divide and identify their potential customer into target group. By which they able to develop
products and services in effective as well as appropriate manner. Segment or group that develop
by a company are of same interest, need or location of customers. In context of Marks and
Spencer they conduct analysis and evaluation of all market segments and then decide which is
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appropriate as well as effective for them. Evaluation of all market segments in context of
respective company is given below. Along with position and targeting method of company is
also given:-
Segmentation-
Segmentation of consumers is divided by a company on the basis of four major factors
that are demographics segmentation, geographic segmentation, psychographics segments and
behavioural segmentation (Routledge and Dado, 2013). In geographic segment company divide
or select their customers according to location, region or area. Whereas in demographic
segmentation customers are selected on basis of age, gender, occupation, income, group and
many others and in behavioural segmentation an organization select their target customers on
their behaviour of purchasing. Along with this in psychographic segment customer are targeted
on basis of personality, lifestyle, class and attitudes.
Figure 3Market Segmentation
(Source: Market Segmentation, 2018)
In context of Marks and Spencer they are targeting their customers on the basis of
demographics segmentation and psychographic segment (Marks & Spencer. M&S uses
demographic segmentation, 2015). Respective company design their products according to age
such as they are offering clothing for kids, women and men. They also targeting and segmenting
customer’s base according to income of customers because they are mainly focusing higher and
middle income group peoples who want to wear quality products. Along with this Marks and
Spencer also focus customer on the basis of psychographic segment such as they design cloth
according to current trends and lifestyle.
Targeting-
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Marks and Spencer is famous for their products and services which they develop
according to need and demand of customers, along with this they also consider latest trends. But
according to analysis they are not effectively doing at a marketplace form last ten years (M&S to
lose its decades, 2019). So to get overcome from this company is going to start new range of
products for those men who have limited amount of money for buying cloths. Respective
company mainly want to produce goods which are not only cost effective as well as it is trendy.
They are also targeting kids, women and men with their attractive design and quality. Such as if
a customer wash their cloths or shirt they get another new colour which gives them a new look
with one shirt. Although cost is bounded in this but it helps respective company in enhancing
their sales and profitability on gradually basis with in a limited time duration. Along with this
Marks and Spencer also able to enhance their business operations and function in large market
place with huge customer’s bases.
Figure 4M&S to lose its decades
(Source: M&S to lose its decades, 2019)
Positioning-
It refers to the process or techniques which are adopted by a company in make their
products visible in a market place. In context of Marks and Spencer, they are focusing their
customers by doing appropriate positioning strategy. Such as for targeting women, kids and men
they use various advertisement media such as digital, print and social media. Along with this for
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proper positioning respective company develop proper store which have attractive ambiance.
They also select location which is well known by customers so that they can find stores easily.
3. Marketing strategy use to meet the requirements of the suggested segments and move the
business forward
Marketing strategy is refers to the plans of action which is adopted by a company in order to
attract customers in effective manner which help them in enhancing profitability ratio and
customers bases. It plays an important role in developing and maintaining a business in effective
manner by executive plan in proper manner. Marks and Spencer reduce their performance in last
few years which hamper their profit and customers base. To overcome this situation respective
company has to develop new marketing strategy which attract more customers and increase their
profit. Near quarter of Christmas Marks and Spencer face reduction in their sale, in which foods
products sells decrease by 0.4 percent whereas merchandise’s sales reduced by 2.8 percent.
Overall respective company face reduction in sales at United Kingdom by 1.1 percent.
According to researcher the major reason behind decreasing in sales of company is that their
advertisement and promotion activities are more focusing on brand name and image instead of
focusing on their products and segments (Marks and Spencer's marketing strategies, 2018). To
overcome this situation the respective company started a campaign which is known as “Leading
Ladies”, due to which customers get attracted towards the brand. There are various marketing
strategies which Marks and Spencer can adopt, some major of them are explained below:-
 Social media marketing: Now a day this is consider as most effective and appropriate
method of marketing products and services of an organization. By this company able to
communicate and connect to their customers in effective and appropriate manner. That
helps them in identifying need and demand of customer in effective and appropriate
manner (Wilson and Gilligan, 2012). In context of Marks and Spencer they can advertise
and promote their products at social media by which they able to target huge population
of audiences in effective manner. By social media they also able to connect customers in
order to take advice and feedbacks which help them in developing products according to
customers.
 Content marketing: According to this method company able to attract customers by the
help if their attractive content which is written at an organization’s websites, blogs or
articles. In respect of Marks and Spencer Company try to create values for their products
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by using content of their websites or blogs. It is responsibility of content writer of
respective company to update their company websites and blogs with their writing in
effective manner.
 Email marketing: It refers to method of marketing in which company using email to
market or promote their products and service in effective manner. It is also very popular
method use by a company (Webster and Lusch, 2013). In context to respective company
they update their customers about products or discounts by using email. By this methods
customer can also able to communicate with company in effective manner. This will help
Marks and Spencer in attracting and retaining customers in effective and appropriate
manner.
By adopting above mentioned marketing strategies Marks and Spencer able to attract more
and more customers in effective and appropriate manner. Along with this they also able to
enhance their profitability ratio and market shares.
CONCLUSION
Form the above discussed point it can be analysis and evaluate and conclude that for running
a business in effective manner a company must do marketing audit. This is so because by it they
able to understand and analysis various aspects of a company and then accordingly manger and
leader can develop strategies. For conducting marketing audit company can adopt various
theories and methods such as PESTEL analysis, SWOT analysis and Porters five forces model
and many more. By this company able to get aware about their customers need and demand
which help them in designing products and services accordingly in order to fulfil need and
demand of consumer in effective and appropriate manner. By conducting marketing audit
company also able to know about appropriate market segment for their company and then they
develop strategies accordingly in order to satisfy consumers need and demand.
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REFRENCES
Books and journals
Moore, M. C., and et. al., 2012. National Beef Quality Audit–2011: In-plant survey of targeted
carcass characteristics related to quality, quantity, value, and marketing of fed steers
and heifers. Journal of animal science. 90(13). pp.5143-5151.
Radulescu, V., 2012. The Role of Market Analysis in Developing Efficient Marketing Audit.
International Journal of Academic Research in Economics and Management Sciences.
1(5). p.222.
Saeed, M. A. Y., Bekhet, H. A. and Dhar, B. K., 2017. Constructing model to explore the
influence of marketing audit on organizational performance–An innovative arena of
marketing. International Journal of Business Society. 1(1). pp.37-47.
Sargeant, A. and MACQUILLIN, I., 2016. Marketing for nonprofit organisations. In The
Marketing Book (pp. 555-576).
Routledge.Lipnická, D. and Dado, J., 2013. Marketing audit and factors influencing its use in
practice of companies (from an expert point of view). Journal of competitiveness. 5(4).
Webster, F. E. and Lusch, R. F., 2013. Elevating marketing: marketing is dead! Long live
marketing! . Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. 41(4). pp.389-399.
Wilson, R. M. and Gilligan, C., 2012. Strategic marketing management. Routledge.
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