Marketing Consultancy for Morrisons: SWOT Analysis, STP Analysis, Marketing Mix and Recommendations

This report provides a marketing consultancy for Morrisons, covering SWOT analysis, STP analysis, marketing mix and recommendations for the retail industry supermarket.

Marketing
Consultancy
(Morrisons)

Executive Summary
This report is about the marketing management and the marketing activities which the business
has to perform in order to create the brand awareness for the company. This will cover the
SWOT analysis which will provide the information about the strengths, weakness, threats for the
company. The other is the STP analysis which is helpful to identify that if the products and
services are placed in a market in a correct way and what will be the strategies of the company in
order to provide the benefits of the products. Marketing mix will be the another factor which will
be explained in relation with the actions which will be performed by the company to make the
promotion.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
SWOT analysis............................................................................................................................4
Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning (STP)..............................................................................6
Marketing mix.............................................................................................................................7
Recommendations ....................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Marketing management is the strategy which is used for making planning, and creating
those activities which will help in achieving the business goals and the objectives of the business
(Abdullahi, 2019). The main objective for any business is to ensure that they are making good
brand awareness of the products and services which they are providing to the customers. It is
very important for the business top make the planning for the marketing as this will provide the
consumers the information about the company and about the products which they will be
offering to the people in the market. If the business is successful it is because of the products and
the quality which they are providing to the customers and also because of the promotional
activities. The marketing department of the company has to work in various sectors in order to
identify the channels of the marketing. The aim of the report is to explain the SWOT analysis
which will provide the information on the strengths and weakness, the segmentation, targeting
and positioning of the company and the ways by which the products are positioned in the market,
the marketing mix and the recommendations. Morrisons is a retail industry which is a
supermarket and provides all the things which are required by the people in their daily life. It was
founded on 1899 and the headquarter of the company is in Bradford, England, UK. This report
will cover the SWOT analysis of the organisation, the segmentation, targeting and positioning
(STP), marketing mix and the recommendations on the issues.
MAIN BODY
SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis is the best tool for the business as this helps in providing the overview of the
company and the changes which has to be made in order to develop the competitive advantage in
the market (Chakraborty and Jha, 2019). This is the best way by which the company can make
strategic planning because this tool provides the way by which the company gets to know the
weakness and if that weakness will be identified then the main focus of the business will be on
removing that weakness. Thus, the weakness will be removed or will be reduced and with this
the company would be able to make the strategic planning for the marketing. Morrisons also

knew the importance of the making the SWOT analysis for the company. This is because it will
be provide them the useful information about the core competencies of the company and that will
be the basis for the company success.
SWOT analysis on Morrisons-
Strengths Weakness
 The strength of Morrisons is their
supply network and distribution chain
which helps in delivering the products
at the right time and in the right place.
Supermarkets or any other business has
to keep a check on the stocks so that the
flow of good from the store to the
consumers does not stops.
 The company is having variety in its
products and that too with the
innovating style. They are the one
which provides different products
including the food, clothes, beverages
and many more. Providing large variety
of things at one single place helps the
consumers also as it saves their time.
 The brand positioning in the market is
also great because consumers know
about this brand and this has happened
because of the marketing and the
promotional activities.
 The market reach of Morrisons is quite
less as compared to the other brands.
This might be possible that the
company does not want to make the
expansion in the other country markets.
It is important for business firms to
expand internationally in order to gain
success (Cho, Fu and Wu, 2017).
 It is very important for the Morrisons to
make investment in the technology. It is
because the present time is the time of
technology and if the business is not
able to make the upgrade version of
their technology then it might be
possible that their cost of making and
producing the things will reach high
which will ultimately result in higher
cash flow.
 They are the one who are unable to
make the marketing of goods in a
correct way. No doubt, the sales of the
products is good but they have to work
more of positioning and unique selling.
Opportunities Threats
 There are many opportunities for  The major threat in the increase in the

Morrisons and mainly it includes to
provide the organic products to the
consumers. People are very conscious
about their health and fitness and if
Morrisons will be able to provide the
organic products to the customers then
their demand will be going to increase.
 The other is to make expansion in the
other country which can provide
success to the business. This will be the
best way by which the company can
increase its size and the business in the
other markets (Colicev, Kumar and
O'Connor, 2019). But for that it will be
important for the company to identify
the factors which can provide the
opportunity to make the expansion.
size of the competitors in the market
which can create problem to the
business growth and success in the
market.
 There are some products which
provides high value to the company but
are only available for particular seasons
only. This creates the main problem
because Morrisons would not be able to
earn good at that time when there be no
seasons for that products.
 The e-commerce business have been
increased in the market and this is the
other factor which has caused the rise in
the competition. This is because people
likes to order online rather than to tale
the products on an offline mode.
Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning (STP)
The segmentation, targeting and positioning of the products means to attract right consumers in
the right market (Cortez and Johnston, 2019). This is the best model as it is the one which helps
the business in providing the best segment of the market and after which they make the
positioning of the product.
Segmentation- The segmentation of the market means to divide the market into different
segments which has the growth opportunity for the business. Every business wants to target that
market which can provide them with the profits and success. It provides the basis to the business
in which they can make the segregation of the business according to the consumers which they
want to target and which can help the team of marketing in making the significant marketing
planning. Morrisons have always looked for that market of consumers who wants the variety in
the products and who requires freshness. As the company is the biggest supermarket of UK so
for that it becomes very important to make the study on the market so they could be able to learn

more about the customers and what they demands from the supermarket business. It is because if
they would be able to identify that which segment of consumers they have to target then they
will be focusing on that particular group only. When the market will be known by the company
then at that stage they would be able to develop their competitive image which the Morrisons
have developed and have always used those strategies which will be best for them.
Targeting-It is an obvious fact that it is not compulsory that all the products will be liked
by the consumers (Das, 2021). There are always different set of consumers to whom the
companies wants to make the targeting and for the Morrisons they always wants to target the
households, women and those people who are more into purchasing the products. Target market
is basically to make and clear the understanding of the market and to check as to which product
will suit the best for the segments which have been decided in the first stage . Target market is
that market in which the customers will be interested in making the purchases of the product. In
the segmentation the market gets divided which is according to the company and after the
segmentation the other step for the company is to make the identification as to the selected
segments which market they have to target in which they would be able to satisfy the needs of
the customers.
Positioning- This is the final element of STP analysis and focuses on creating brand
perception in the minds of the consumer which helps the company gain competitive advantage .
The positioning strategy of a company is aimed at establishing defining brand attribute in
relation to industry opponents. Brand positioning of Morrisons in UK retail industry focuses on
changing consumer perception about food (Food can be a force for good’: Morrisons launches
first ad as part of new brand positioning, 2021). The positioning strategy of the company centres
around the quality and freshness of sustainable groceries offered by the company. This
positioning will help the company gain competitive advantage because of the increasing
consumer concern about how their food is sourced. Morrisons will be able to establish a brand
image of sustainable retailers who offer products of highest quality with the help of this type of
positioning. In addition to this, family households and women who are target consumers of the
company will be attracted towards the company as the firm offers fresh food produce directly
purchased from farmers.
Marketing mix
Product

This component of the marketing mix describes the products or services offered by the
company. Product design, guarantees, warranties and product life-cycle are part of this
component of the marketing mix. Morrisons offers wide range of products under brand name of
M Kitchen, Morrisons Cellar, NuMe and M Signature. Apart from this the company offers
sustainable grown fresh groceries at their stores. Product life-cycle is defines stages a product
goes through from its introduction to decline in the market. The four stages of product life-cycle
are introduction , growth maturity and decline (Farrukh and et. al., 2021). In relation to
Morrisons the introduction stage involves release of new product in the market and
understanding initial consumer response. The firm invests heavily in marketing activities to
increase consumer demand amid low competition. In the growth stage the demand of new
product offered by Morrisons increases. New competition arises in this stage which lowers prices
of the product and the respective firm has to adjust their pricing strategy to attract maximum
consumers. Morrisons have to keep investing in advertising and marketing in this stage because
of the stiff competition in retail industry. The next stage of maturity in which demand of the
products starts to drop due to market saturation. Morrisons focus their marketing strategy to gain
upper-hand on business opponents. In addition to this product innovation is conducted to fulfil
the needs of new demographics. The firm target every consumer segment in this stage and aim ti
increase maturity stage as much as possible. The final stage is decline, the consumer demand for
the new products is minimum at this stage. Morrisons focuses on marketing the product to loyal
consumers in this stage in order to gain maximum profitability even in decline stage.
Price
The amount paid by the consumer to gain maximum satisfaction from a commodity
offered by the company is defined as the price of the commodity. Business firms have to look at
various factors such as cost of production, government regulations, price of competitors to
determine suitable pricing strategy of the product (Lim, 2018). Morrisons aims to implement
pricing strategy which ensure that consumers never leave the company for competitor. This is
done by offering high quality products ate affordable prices. The pricing strategies adopted by
Morrisons are premium pricing, product bundle pricing and promotional pricing. Premium
pricing involves offering products at higher price compared to competitors. Morrisons has
utilized this pricing strategy for its Safeway legacy premium brands Best and M Signature. This
strategy helps the company create a perception that the products are of higher quality as they are

priced hinger. Product bindle pricing involves selling group of products as single unit for one
price. Morrisons utilizes this strategy for bundle offers on daily use grocery and household items.
This pricing strategy helps the company attract consumers as many products are sold as single
unit. Promotional pricing involves reducing price for specific products for certain time period to
attract consumers. This strategy is used by Morrisons to attract consumers during festive seasons
such as Christmas in which sale of Christmas to large number of consumers.
Place
This component of the marketing mix centres around how the consumer will receive the
product. Enterprises focus on making their products and services accessible to the target
consumer base. It is important for organizations to select appropriate distribution strategy in
order to increase accessibility and maximise sale of the products (Maison, 2018). Morrisons has
adopted intensive distribution strategy. In this strategy products are sold at maximum number of
retail locations. Large number of products are available at multiple locations which increases the
accessibility of the products and helps the company generate high amount of sale. Morrisons has
adopted this strategy by constructing more than 400 stores in UK and becoming the fourth
largest retailer in the country. In addition to this online delivery of the products is completed by
Ocado which has services agreement with the company. This intensive distribution strategy
enables the company to reach every consumer in UK which is essential for gaining competitive
advantage in the retail industry. Apart from this the company is able to gain increased revenue
and enhance brand awareness with the help of this distribution strategy.
Promotion
The promotional mix of the company falls under this component of the marketing mix
which includes strategies used to create brand image and increase brand awareness. Advertising
sales promotion, direct marketing, personal selling and public relations are part of promotional
mix of enterprises (Palmatier and Steinhoff, 2019). Morrisons utilizes digital and traditional
advertising for marketing it's products. This includes TV advertisements and search engine
optimization. Morrisons utilizes price incentives as a sale promotion technique which includes
buy 1 get 1 free offers. Direct marketing helps Morrisons communicate with consumers
effectively and initiate consumer action to boost sale of different products. Public relations is an
important part of promotional mix as it helps business firms construct a positive brand image and
gain goodwill. Morrisons has implemented various campaigns to build positive public relations.

This includes changing product packaging to encourage recycling, this helped a company create
responsible and sustainable brand image. Personal selling involves in person communication
with consumers. The personal selling efforts at Morrisons are facilitated by highly rained staff at
stores who encourage communicate with consumers to increase sale and consumer retention.
Recommendations
 The firm needs to build an effective international marketing strategy to ensure
successfully international expansion. This is justified recommendation for Morrisons as it
will help the company internationalize and gain success in other countries. The firm will
be able to eliminate the weakness of low market presence and reduce reliance on UK
business cycle by developing suitable international marketing strategy and
internationalizing successfully (Parsons and Lepkowska-White, 2018).
 Morrisons needs to build unique selling proposition outside of fresh quality of groceries
and sustainability. This can be done by utilizing latest technology to enhance consumer
experience at every point in the consumer life-cycle. The company needs to gain accurate
consumer insight from social media and enhanced personalized marketing by using
digital marketing channels. This will help the company build personal relationship with
the consumers, develop unique brand perception, and increase consumer retention.
 Morrisons need to develop competitive marketing orientation in order to face intense
competition from e-commerce and international retailers. This recommendation will help
the company build large consumer base and secure beneficial position in UK retail
industry. This can be done by re-enforcing positive perception and messaging through
branding and adopting competitive pricing strategy to attract consumers (Purwanto and
et. al., 2019).

CONCLUSION
From the above report it is determined that marketing consists of wide range of activities.
It is important to conduct environmental analysis before developing marketing strategy and
determine various factors which impact the company. SWOT analysis can be used to determine
environmental factors affecting the company. SWOT analysis describes the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats impacted business firm which can be sued to develop
effective marketing strategy for the company. In addition to this environmental analysis of a
company can be used to determine effectiveness of marketing strategy and offer recommendation
for improvement. STP analysis is used to determine the segmentation techniques, target
consumer base and brand positioning of company. Segmentation is defined as the process of
dividing consumers into different segments. Targeting is defined as identification of target
consumer base from different market segments. Positioning refers to creation of brand perception
in the minds of the target consumer. Product, price, place and proportion are four elements of
marketing mix which describe set of promotional tactics used by an enterprise. Product life-cycle
is part of product element of the marketing mix. Selection of suitable pricing strategy is part of
price component and implementation of effective distribution strategy is part of place
component. The promotion component includes the promotional mix which covers marketing
activities of the company. This includes advertising, sales promotion, direct selling, public
relations and personal selling.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Chakraborty, A. and Jha, A., 2019. Corporate social responsibility in marketing: a review of the
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Cho, Y. J., Fu, P. W. and Wu, C. C., 2017. Popular research topics in marketing journals, 1995–
2014. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 40. pp.52-72.
Colicev, A., Kumar, A. and O'Connor, P., 2019. Modeling the relationship between firm and
user generated content and the stages of the marketing funnel. International Journal of
Research in Marketing, 36(1). pp.100-116.
Cortez, R. M. and Johnston, W. J., 2019. Marketing role in B2B settings: evidence from
advanced, emerging and developing markets. Journal of Business & Industrial
Marketing.
Das, S., 2021. Search engine optimization and marketing: A recipe for success in digital
marketing. CRC Press.
Farrukh and et. al., 2021. Shaping social marketing research: a retrospective of the journal of
social marketing. Journal of Social Marketing.
Lim, W. M., 2018. What will business-to-business marketers learn from neuro-marketing?
Insights for business marketing practice. Journal of Business-to-Business
Marketing, 25(3). pp.251-259.
Maison, D., 2018. Qualitative marketing research: understanding consumer behaviour.
Routledge.
Palmatier, R. W. and Steinhoff, L., 2019. Relationship marketing in the digital age. Routledge.
Parsons, A. L. and Lepkowska-White, E., 2018. Social media marketing management: A
conceptual framework. Journal of Internet Commerce, 17(2). pp.81-95.
Purwanto and et. al., 2019. Study the importance of business ethics and ethical marketing in
digital era. Journal of Critical Reviews, 6(5). pp.150-154.
Online
Food can be a force for good’: Morrisons launches first ad as part of new brand positioning,
2021. [Online] Available through <https://www.marketingweek.com/food-can-be-a-
force-for-good-morrisons-launches-first-ad-as-part-of-new-brand-positioning/>