Marketing Competitiveness for Marks and Spencer in Retail Sector

This report examines the trends in the environment and market of the retail sector, market structure, products offered, and competitive advantage of Marks and Spencer. It also analyzes the challenges faced by M&S to enhance its competitive advantage in the international market and provides recommendations for the same.

MARKETING
COMPETITIVENESS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Trends in environment and market for the retail sector........................................3
Market structure for the retail sector............................................................................5
Market focus including factors that contribute towards the success and the
products offered by the Marks and Spencer...............................................................8
Competitive advantage......................................................................................................9
Marketing challenges to improve international competitive position.............12
Recommendation................................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES...............................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
The potential of an organization to enhance its process of marketing
consistently in order to serve their customers better than its competitors is
known as marketing competitiveness. Marks & Spencer is a Public Limited
Company operating under retail sector. It was founded by Michael Marks and
Thomas Spencer in the year 1884. It is headquartered in London, England,
United Kingdom. M&S is one of the leading brands operating in UK with a
total of around 959 stores in UK, out of which 615 only sell food. This report
is going to examine the trends persisting in the environment and market of
the retail sector. It will study the market structure, the products offered and
the competitive advantage of the company. Furthermore, this report will
study and analyse the challenges faced by the M&S for the purpose of
enhancing its competitive advantage in the international market and provide
recommendations for the same.
MAIN BODY
Trends in environment and market for the retail sector
Because of the technological advancement in today’s world, the retail
sector is constantly going through a huge amount of change. The current
trends in the environment and market of retail sector are as follows:
Environmental consciousness
In the current scenario, the general public is aware of the harmful
effects of using a product on the environment. Thus, they avoid the use of
certain products. This has brought a change in the manufacturing processes
for retailers as they are trying to serve products made of biodegradable

substances (Coelho and et.al, 2020). Retail Industry is trying to implement
the processes which does not harm the environment.
Omnichannel retail strategies
One of the most important trends existing in the current market of
retail industry is implementing omnichannel retail strategies. It refers to
offering a seamless online platform to the customers to shop. The online
platform offered by the retail sector should be supported by different
gadgets. For instance, an online app which can be accesses through mobile
phones, laptops, iPad, new generation televisions, etc. This is important
because people use different gadgets at different times for specific purposes.
Providing a platform which can be accessed anytime and anywhere in the
world can hold the consumers and increase the customer base.
Advancement of digital payments method
A recent study by the Bank of America states that around 91% of the
people consider their mobile phones as their irreplaceable companion.
People are opting towards new age methods of digital payments for paying
to retailers. Many retailers accept payments online through digital mobile
payment services (De Vass, Shee, and Miah, 2021). But there is a need to
introduce as well as accept payment through all modes of online transfers
such as Apple pay, PayPal, Android pay, Mastercard Paypass , Google pay,
Paytm, other specific modes which are persisting in a particular country.
Providing a customized retail experience

A retail trend that is topping the list of current trends and has become
incredibly important for the consumers is the customized retail experience.
Here, the customization refers to the suggestion to the customers by the
retailers on the basis of past purchasing patterns, the surfing history,
previous orders, taste and preference on the basis of location, etc. Some
retailing brands offers chat bots to their customers in order to gain an
understanding of their preferences (Du Toit, 2018). While some send
suggestions and updates regarding new products by way of interactive and
catchy emails.
Pay attention to the escalating culture of immediacy
The advancement of technology has raised a trend in current retail
industry i.e., impatient customers. Gone are the days when consumers used
to wait for long periods for brands to refill their stock. In today’s fast-moving
world, it has become necessary for the brands operating under retail sector
to speed up and expand their services for the purpose of responding to this
immediacy (GONDA ). Retailers needs to speed up their supply chain, refill
the stock quickly, offer same day delivery, consistently offer new and unique
variety of products.
Market structure for the retail sector
Market structure can be defined as the characteristics and the level of
competitiveness in the market. The structure of a particular industry can be
determined by identify the competition prevailing in a specific industry. The
market structure of the retail industry is a follows:

Geographical spread of products
Retail Industry offers a number of products in the international market.
It includes various categories of goods such as clothing, fabrics, toiletries,
medicines, footwear, cosmetics and stationery items. It also includes items
related to supermarkets such as food packages, soft drinks, washing
powders and other houseware products. There are still many products which
are offered by the retail industry across the globe. Companies that come
under the category of retail industry import as well as export the products
worldwide. For instance, Marks & Spencer has introduced a wide range of
food products to offer the customer in international market. It currently
serves its products in around 100 countries in the world (Jain and et.al,
2021). Political factors such as the “Brexit deal” i.e., the exit of Britain from
the European Union has affected the spread of products from Britain to the
countries that are a part of the European Union.
Customer segmentation
Under the retail sector, the customers can be grouped under various
heads with the help of data related to the information of their customers. The
brands operating under this sector divides their customer base on the basis
of age, gender, income group, acquisition, location, devices used, and first
purchase. The enterprises study the consumer behaviour by tracking their
activities such as, from which device the customer is making orders, what
attracted the customer towards the company, what is the income group of
the customer. For instance, the income group of people which buys from

Zara, Mango, H&M is mainly high, the age group of people buying from these
three brands in 18 to 40 years. These brands serve their products worldwide.
Social and economic factors affect the buying behaviour of people coming
from a particular region (Kunc, and Križan, 2018). Economic factors include
inflation, rise in exchange rates and social factors include the taste,
preference of people in relation to their cultural and ethnic groups.
Competitive positioning of key global players
The key global players in the retail sector includes Walmart, Amazon
and Marks and Spencers. Walmart offers products at comparatively low
prices than its competitors. But it offers more to its customers than just low
prices. It is efficient in selling its products online as well as in-store. It has
built a large customer base which buys its range of pet products. It offers its
consumers with a broad category of financial services as compared to its
customers. Similarly, Amazon has its own set of factors which helps the
company in gaining competitive advantage. Amazon was the first retail
brand which recognized that the customers does not want to pay shipping
charges anymore. Marks and Spencer has always been in the news for
providing affordable quality to their customers. This served as an added
advantage to th e company (Martín, Pagliara, and Román, 2019). Therefore,
Amazon introduced free same day shipping services in the market.
Technological factors influence the competitive positioning of brands
operating under retail sector. As the technology changes the brands have to

focus on improving the skills of human resource in order to make them
compatible with the technology.
Market focus including factors that contribute towards the success and the
products offered by the Marks and Spencer
Marks and Spencer offer a wide range of products in the international
market. It offers clothing lines, footwears, handbags, accessories, beauty and
cosmetics, for women, men and kids. It has also diversified its range of
products over time. It also offers home furnishing, home décor, cooking &
dining accessories, furniture, flowers, gifts, food products and wine across
the globe.
Marks and Spencer emphasize on offering clothing more as compared
to food products. The clothing offered by the M&S is suitable for the middle-
aged people, it can be stated that the target market of the company involves
people aged 45+ and socio-economic group ABC1.
When M&S was first established in the late 80s, it came with ‘no frill’
strategy in the market. This strategy was based on high volume and low
profit turnover. The company made use of this strategy in United Kingdom in
order to gain competitive advantage in the industry. Later, in order to
increase the profitability of the company, M&S switched its strategy by
analysing the market demand. M&S started offering goods at affordable
prices and focused on satisfying the needs and wants of the customers in
United Kingdom (Souiden, Ladhari, and Chiadmi, 2019). Though, Marks and
Spencer is famous worldwide for its clothing line but its multi million food

industry has contributed in the success of the company in domestic as well
as international market. Other factor that contributes to the success of M&S
is that the company stays true to its value and has provided quality products
throughout its life.
Marks and Spencer’s main focus remains on selling high value
premium products to their customers. All of the above stated factors have
served the company in maintaining a position in domestic as well as
international market even in tough times and played a vital role in the
success of the company.
Competitive advantage
Competitive advantage refers to the feature that empowers an organisation
to beat the competitors in the marketplace (Buckley, Enderwick and Cross,
2018). it give assistance in accomplishing the goals of the organisation and
acquire the profitability and productivity. furthermore, due to the
competitive advantages of Mark and spencer the organization is increasing
the market, value and shareholders in the marketplace. Through the
competitive advantages the organisation satisfy the consumer demand or
the individuals needs and wants. Due to all the advantages of the company
the organisation is able to lead and emerge in the international market since
many years in a such a manner that are mentioned as follow:
High quality: the organisation provide high quality product to the consumer
in the marketplace which increase the level of satisfaction in the
marketplace. Moreover, it give assistance in increasing the value of the

brand in the marketplace. In the marketplace it is essential to satisfy the
buyer because ultimately the organization is producing the produce for the
consumers. With the better quality of the commodity or the service the
organisation is maintaining the good relationship with the consumers for the
long period of time. For the better quality product, the organisation is
continuously working on the extraction of the raw material from the market.
the other competitors are not able to deliver the fine product like Mark and
spencer deliver in the marketplace (Gerasimov, Vasyaycheva and Gerasimov
2018). For the improvement the organisation collect the feedbacks from
buyers on regular bases which help the organisation to beat the competitor
in the international as well as domestic market.
Innovation: for increasing the satisfaction of the consumer and deliver the
competitive advantage in the marketplace the organisation improve product
and services regularly. The members of the organisation believe in
innovating the services and commodity will be the key advantages of the
company. In context to that the organisation innovate the product according
to the trend of the market. For improving or innovation the organization
utilized the technology and enhance the performance in the marketplace. In
the modern era it is essential for the Mark and spencer to acquire the market
by following the trend. It is the main focus of the organisation to attract the
consumer in order to that the organisation utilized high technology. From the
unique or innovating tools and the techniques the organisation is able to
deliver premium and luxury product in the marketplace (Gillpatrick, 2019).

High skilled labour: for accomplishing the goal of the organisation, the
company hire the skilled labours or workers for the better production of the
company. Along with that the organisation provide training and development
programme for the employees in order to make more skilful and
knowledgeable person which attract the attention of the consumer.
Locality: the biggest advantage for the company is the organisation deliver
the productivity according to the locality. For instance, the company deliver
the product on the bases of the season of the locality. In winter the
institution deliver the winter attire. Simultaneously in summer the
organisation provide summer cloths to meet the demand and supply of the
market.
Digitalization: Mark and spencer utilized the social media platform for
online advertising which is the most effective process because in modern era
every one is hugely depend on the modern technology. Moreover, the
digitalization the organisation maintain the relation with the potential
customers of the organisation and make sure the buyers satisfaction Zhu
and Gao, 2019). The organisation deliver the brand awareness among the
people with the use of digital platforms which hugely attract the people of
different market.
Marketing challenges to improve international competitive position
The organization face some challenges at the time of marketing process
(Gupta, et.al 2020) . It is essential to improve that barriers in order to lead

the competitive position in the marketplace. The barriers of the organization
mark and spencer are mention as follows:
Language barrier: All over the world people belong to different, culture,
region, area speak and and understand different languages. So, it is hard for
the organization to deliver the same content in different market. for
instance, the people of China use Chinese language for the conversation so
they are not able to understand the information in the Russian language. For
the organisation it is hard to convince the client which belong to different
company and region. The competitive company taking it as the advantage
for leading the market.
Culture differences: in the international marketplace the people belong to
different region and culture which is important to considered by the
organisation in order to expend the business all over the world
(Mamadaliyevich, Bulturbayevich and Shokirjonovich, 2020). The people of
who belong to different region, cast, race, gender area prefer to buy the
product of the individual preference and it is hard for the organisation to
address each and everyone. It affect the decision making process of the
organisation because people belong to different culture product according to
the culture of the society as well as country.
Demographics: it is another factor to consider for the improvement in the
product and the services. The organisation face the issue of targeting the
consumer on the bases of the age or thinking. The cooperative companies
deliver different advertisement as per the age and income of the person.

Whereas the Mark and Spenser organisation provide the luxury or premium
attire to the people. It is one of the major disadvantages of the company
because the small and medium class people are not able to afford the
commodity of the organisation. the competitors of the organisation deliver
the product in the less price than the company.
Recommendation
The Mark and spencer have vision to stimulate and motivate the potential
consumer of the organisation and provide the positive working environment
to the employees in order to improve employability. In order to lead the
market in effective as well as efficient manner the organisation need to work
on sustainable competitive advantage to face the forthcoming
challenges(Santoro, et.al 2018). For acquiring the objective of the
organization which is to acquire the profit and enhance productivity of the
company in international marketplace. For the welfare of the organisation, it
will be recommended that the organisation need to deliver the
advertisement as per the taste and preferences of the consumer because the
consumer are the potential element which increase the profitability and
enhance the performance of the organisation. For increasing the presence in
the market, the company should asked for the feedbacks from the consumer
in form of online as well as offline. Therefore, the organisation have
opportunity to conduct the online survey which the company should use for
maintaining the relationship with the consumer and satisfy them with all the

services. From the feedback reviews the company should improve the
performance of the employees as well as production of the organisation.
For the competitive advantage the organisation improve the brand
reorganization in the marketplace. In order to the organisation provide
chatbot feature in the online application for the quick respond to the
consumer. It will give assistance in resolving the issues of the buyer which
they face at the time of purchasing the product from the outlets or the brand
showrooms of the company. Moreover, the company should provide security
to the consumer while making online payment through various online
transactional system. Along with that the company should deliver online
inspiring video content on social media like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest,
chrome, google etc. (Suchánek and Králová, 2019).
furthermore, the organisation should deliver the information with the
assistance of the influencer and celebrity as per the region because the
famous personality influence the consumer in effective as well as efficient
manner. For the proper satisfaction of the consumer the organisation should
deliver fashion influencing content in the regional language of the country.
The organisation should provide the loyalty card to the consumers in order to
encourage them to contribute in increasing production of the organisation.
Beside all this the organisation should provide alternative commodity to the
consumer which make sure that potential purchaser will not shift toward the
other brands. Therefore, with the assistance of all the recommended
suggestion the organisation can build sustainable competitive advantages.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it will be concluded that it is essential to improve
marketing competitiveness in order to acquire success and survive in the
marketplace. It will beneficial in acquiring the goal of the organisation in
appropriate manner (Yen and Hung, 2017). The present report highlighted
the factor which helping the organisation in defeating the competitors
available in the marketplace. The vision and mission of the company is to
influence the consumer and acquire the profit from the international market.
the present report also provided the recommended point which the
organisation will consider for improving the services and productivity in the
marketplace to emerge in global business. The report shade a light on the
trends in the environment and market for the sector as well as the market
structure of the organisation. Furthermore, the report highlighted the
summary of product and market focuses along with the competitive
advantages of the organisation Mark and spencer.

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