Marketing Essentials: Role of Marketing Department and Interrelationship with Other Functional Units

This document discusses the concept of marketing, the role of marketing department in H&M, and its interrelationship with other functional units. It also compares the marketing mix strategies of H&M with its competitors. Additionally, it provides a basic marketing plan for H&M.

Marketing essential

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
L O 1 ...............................................................................................................................................4
Concept of marketing...................................................................................................................4
Overview of marketing processes................................................................................................5
Key roles and duties of marketing department in context of marketing department...................5
Interrelationship of marketing department with other functional units.......................................6
Relation with information technology department-.....................................................................8
Critical analysis of the interrelationship between different departments.....................................8
L O 2................................................................................................................................................9
Compare the ways in which company and competitors apply marketing mix............................9
Different tactics used by companies to achieve objectives........................................................12
L O 3..............................................................................................................................................12
Basic marketing plan for the company......................................................................................12
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Marketing refers to the activity , processes, set of institutions for developing, delivering,
communicating and exchanging the product or service that have value for partners, customer’s,
clients, society at large (Kerin and Hartley, 2015). The essentials of marketing are distribution
planning, promotion, inventory management etc. The Report is based on H & M company. It
belongs to retail industry. It was founded in year 1947 by Erling Persson. Headquarter of the firm
is located in Sweden. It offers wide range of products such as accessories, clothing items etc.
Currently, it is offering products at approximately 4,9,58 locations in the world. The firm is also
having significant online presence and currently, it is serving nearly 33 countries. The Report
will outline the role of marketing and its interrelationship with other functional units. Further, it
will describe ways in which companies uses marketing mix and basic marketing plan for the
company.
MAIN BODY
L O 1
Concept of marketing.
It refers to the process, activity or set of institutions for delivering, developing,
communicating and exchanging the goods or services which is valuable for the buyers. It can
also be defined as activities performed by firm that is related with buying and selling goods or
services (Kerin and Hartley, 2015).
Current and future trends.
There are various current and future trends in marketing function such as -
Relationship marketing :
It focuses on customer satisfaction and retention rather than the number of sales made by
organization. It is different from other types of marketing because it is extended beyond
messages developed for promotion of goods or services.
Industrial marketing :
Under this type of marketing business offer its products to other organizations to resell it
later on or to use them for developing complex items or to improve their quality for reselling
them. Revolution in technology is the major reason behind these marketing trends (Zhang and
et.al, 2016).

Overview of marketing processes.
The process of marketing consists of different types of elements such as planning of
marketing mix, strategic marketing analysis, implementation of marketing and controlling the
marketing process. There are various components of marketing mix such as product, price, place,
promotion, process, physical evidence and people etc.
Key roles and duties of marketing department in context of marketing department.
Marketing department of H&M performs various types of roles and responsibilities.
These are described below -
Development of marketing strategies -
One of the most important role of senior member of marketing department is to develop
plan of action for promoting goods or services. They helps in developing marketing mix which is
an important tool to determine what products or service H&M should offer to target customer’s.
For example – strategy of the firm may be developed for increasing market share of the
business.
Designing and developing products -
It refers to the development of products with different characteristics that offers new
benefits to the clients. Marketing department of H&M is responsible for modifying existing
goods or to develop new products to satisfy the needs of customer’s. Firm whose goods are
designed attractively is able to gain competitive advantage over competitors (Karjaluoto,
Ulkuniemi and Mustonen, 2015).
Branding -
It can be defined as the practice of marketing like name, design or symbol that
differentiates the product of company from other goods. There are various types of brands like
service brand, individual brand, group brand etc. Marketing manager of H&M plays an important
role in branding of items that helps to secure better market position as compared with other
firms.
Determining best distribution channel -
The term distribution means the activities through which company offers its products to
the customer’s with the help of different channels. Marketing department of H&M plays a major
role in determining the locations at which products are to be offered to ultimate buyers. It also
assist firm to determine the channels through which product will reach to the customer’s\.

Packaging and labelling -
It is used by businesses to influence the buyers for purchasing the product. Packaging is
used for transmitting information and providing convenience to buyers. Marketing department
helps in developing Attractive packaging of products helps to influence customer’s to purchase
the items.
Interrelationship of marketing department with other functional units.
The role and duties of marketing department of H&M are related with wider
organizational context in different ways. These are as follows -
Relation with production department -
The function of production department is to produce goods or services on the basis of
need and demands of clients. Marketing department of H&M provides relevant information
regarding demands of customer’s that helps production department to develop products to satisfy
their demands. Moreover, marketing manager also performs survey that assist in collecting
information regarding the things are not liked by customer’s. This helps production manager to
modify and innovate products and improving the features, benefits and quality of items. Further,
Figure 1 : Relationship between marketing and other
departments. 2018
Source : (Relationship between marketing and other
departments, 2018)

department of marketing function also help production department in determining the locations
at which products will be offered to target segment of buyers (Appiah-Adu and Amoako, 2016).
Relation with human resource department -
The department of human resource performs variety of functions such as looking at
different aspects of employment, managing human resource, administration of benefits for
employees. It also performs functions like conducting training and development programmes etc.
The marketing manager of H&M company is required to perform its functions in collaboration
with human resource department. Interrelationship between department of human resource and
marketing department is essential to ensure that employees that are working in marketing
department have necessary skills and abilities. The collaboration is important to communicate
the brand of the firm to employees.
Relation with finance department -
Finance department is a major part of the business that helps to manage funds. It is
responsible to perform various functions like planning, auditing, organizing, controlling the
funds of the company. It also helps to prepare the financial statements of firm. Marketing
manager works in collaboration with finance department to ensure that adequate funds is
available for performing different activities of marketing such as advertising, promotion,
distribution etc. The manager of marketing department concentrates on improving the volume of
sales and market share of the firm. Whereas, finance manager focuses on covering the cost of
production, paying back investment, increasing cash inflow etc (Okonkwo, 2016).
Relation with information technology department-
For marketing department, information technology department provides the facilities of
database development, marketing automation, data analysis, website development etc.
Technology is very helpful in developing marketing plans and programmes for promoting the
products and services (Karjaluoto, Ulkuniemi and Mustonen, 2015).
Relation with research and development department-
Research and development department cannot function with the information regarding
taste and preference of customers, environmental opportunities, challenges and threats. This
information is provided by marketing department to research and development department.
Marketing division also provides the outlet for commercialization of the product.

Critical analysis of the interrelationship between different departments.
There are different elements of function of marketing like place, promotion, product,
price etc. All these elements plays a major role in promoting the marketing of the brand. Another
three elements that are process, physical evidence and people are also important for achieving
the goals of company (Karray, 2015).
There are various advantages of relationship of marketing function with other
departments of H&M such as it helps to improve the quality of products and services that helps
to satisfy demands of buyers. Further, there are some limitations like there may be chances of
lack of cooperation and coordination between different departments.
L O 2
Compare the ways in which company and competitors apply marketing mix.
Marketing mix -
Basis H &M ZARA
Product It offers products like clothing
for children, men, women etc.
in different countries across the
globe. The product concept of
the company is EDLP
(everyday low price product).
It is one of the top apparel
brands. The range of products
offered by H&M involves
basic jumpers, pants, fashion
shirts, jackets, shoes, t – shirts
etc (Panigrahi and Sharma,
2019).
The company is also called
Coca cola of the fashion. It
offers goods for men, children
and women. Such as shoes,
accessories, T-shirts, trousers,
jeans etc. It is one of the stop
solution for every type of
buyer. It has launched nearly
10,000 new designs per
annum. It believes in
sustainable development.
Price The products of the company
are available cheap rate and are
affordable for every category
of customer. H&M uses the
The company follows
premium pricing strategy for
offering the items to ultimate
buyers. Under this strategy,

cost of production for
determining final selling price
of the product. Under this,
either a percentage of total cost
of manufacturing or fixed
amount is added as the profit to
the total cost of item to
calculate selling price.
company keep the price of
products or services higher as
compared with similar
products offered by other
firms. This strategy is also
called skim pricing (Haug,
2018).
Place Year 2016 seems to be eventful
year for the company as it has
added 427 new stores to
existing line of stores. It is
following an omni-channel
strategy as it is having physical
stores as well as online
channels. It has unique
portfolio of 4300 stores for
offering products to
customer’s.
It is a vertically integrated
retailing firm as it develops,
manufactures and distributes
the goods itself. It is present in
nearly 30 countries such as
India, UK etc. More than 90%
of the stores are owned by the
company. Therefore, clients
get same environment when
they enter in the stores.
Promotion Company has integrated
physical and digital for
improved sales and marketing.
This has been done for
providing better experience to
the customer’s. Digitization
strategy involves online buying
and returns in stores. It also
uses digital services for better
The marketing policy of Zara
is Zero investment in
marketing. The company
majorly focuses on word of
mouth advertising more than
any other company does. The
reach of company to social
media platforms is quite
exceptional. There are more

marketing. It also uses social
media platforms for promoting
the products. Such as
Instagram, Facebook etc.
than 2.5 million followers on
Facebook and approximately
1.5 million followers on
Instagram (Mayrhofer and
Roederer, 2016).
Physical evidence Company offers its products
with the help of attractive
packaging. Moreover, the
interior design and layout of
the retail layouts at different
locations is very attractive that
helps to influence buyers to
buy the products. Attractive
packaging of the items helps to
protect the items.
Physical evidence refers to the
things that are easily visible to
buyers of the organization.
Company uses attractive print
advertising and catalogues etc.
that works as a physical
evidence. Layout and furniture
of the stores are very attractive
that helps to influence
customer’s to purchase the
goods. Further, company
provides all the details on the
website.
People Human resource of the
organization is one of the main
resource that support business
to offer its products or services
to the customer’s. Human
resource department of H&M
recruits skilled and talented
workforce for developing and
selling the clothing and other
items at various locations.
The sales force of the firm is
responsible for the success of
marketing processes and
activities of the company. The
manager of Zara plays a major
role in formulating the
effective strategies for
marketing function with the
help of different techniques
and tools.
Process The term process can be
defined as the procedure
There are different types of
direct and indirect activities

adopted by the firm to keep its
buyers happy with the help of
convenient purchasing of items
through offline as well as
online channels. Company has
adopted the policy of directly
purchasing the inputs from
suppliers and offering the
products directly to retail
customer’s.
that are performed by the
company that assist the firm to
offer better shopping
experience to the buyers. It
also developed the process of
selling goods through online
channels for delivering the
items to ultimate buyers. On
the basis of products ordered
are shipped to customer’s
from the company.
Different tactics used by companies to achieve objectives.
The term tactics can be defined as the actions that are used by the organization to achieve
a particular objective.
H&M company -
One of the major tactic adopted by the business is that it offers the products at affordable
price and at cheap rate so that, every category of customer’s can buy the products of the
company. Customer’s can conveniently interact, browse and order the products and services at
any time and anywhere.
Zara -
The major tactic adopted by the company is that it continuously develops new products
and services for the customer’s. Business delight their buyers with of the minute clothing.
L O 3
Basic marketing plan for the company.
Marketing plan :
It can be defined as the document that defines the strategy related with advertising the
products or services of the business. It helps organization to reach target market. It describes the
activities of business that are involved in achieving particular marketing objectives within a
particular period.
Vision -

 The vision statement of company is to bring a change towards a renewable fashion
industry while being an equal company.
Mission -
 The mission statement of the firm is to bring a positive change and to improve the
standard of living by investing in innovative ideas, people and communities.
Objectives -
 To reduce the cost of operations by 10% till year 2020.
 To increase the sales of product by 15% till year 2021.
SWOT analysis – It refers to the tool that helps business to identify and evaluate strengths and
weaknesses of the business and threats and opportunities that are present in external environment
(Samson and Sheela, 2016).
Strengths -
 One of the major strength is that it offers a wide range of items under different categories
such as shoes, accessories, apparels etc.
 It has unique identity for all the brands such as COS, Monki, H&M etc (Mierzejewska,
2017).
Weaknesses -
 One of the major limitation of the company is that it is dependent upon third party
suppliers for its goods.
 The affordable pricing of the products affects the quality of clothes and other items of the
company.
Opportunities -
 It has opportunity to focus on expansion of the business for expanding the base of clients
across the globe
Threats -
 Major threat from evolving fashion trends that is quick changes as trends keep on
changing quickly.
Segmentation -
It refers to dividing the whole market into different segments on the basis of similar
characteristics (Camilleri, 2018). H&M will use demographic and psycho-graphic segmentation
to reach target segment of customer’s.

Targeting -
The next step after segmentation is targeting. It refers to choosing a particular segment to
whom company will offer its products or services. Company will target people that belongs to
age group between 20-45 years age. Target market for clothing and accessories will be women.
Positioning -
It refers to the marketing strategy in which company aims to develop a brand that
occupies distinct position as compared to competitive brands in the minds of buyers. It will
create brand image in the minds of buyers with the help of different strategies related with price,
product, promotion etc.
Marketing Mix :
It is defined as the actions, tactics that are adopted by business for promoting the product
or brand in the market. It involves 7P's of marketing. These are as follows -
Product -
The company will launch a new chain of stores which is known as Collection of Style.
This new chain will have same brand of the company. It is one of the upgraded version of the
current stores through which firm is offering its products to target segment of customer’s.
Price -
Firm will offer the items through new chain at low price as compared with competitors.
This will allow buyers to buy the items according to their budget. The company has adopted low
cost strategy that helps to maintain cost of items as low as possible.
Place -
Firm has launched the new chain of stores that is Collection of Stores initially in UK.
After the success of new chain in UK it will then launch in other countries also. Products will be
directly offered to customer’s there will be no involvement of distributors.
Promotion -
The marketing department of the organization will use different types of tools and
techniques for effective marketing of products that will be offered through Collection of Style.
Firm will promote the items through social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram etc.
Budget -
Expenses Amount (£)
Social media 500

Salary and wages 1000
Print advertising 500
Total 2000
Monitoring and controlling -
The marketing manager of H&M company will use different tools and techniques for
effectively monitoring and controlling the performance of marketing plan. Systems of
monitoring will be built so that, efforts of the company will not be wasted. Tracking code will be
put in the website of company to monitor sales.
CONCLUSION
The above Report has outlined that marketing is an important function that helps business
to promote the sales of products and services in the market. Relationship marketing and
industrial marketing are the major trends that are prevailing in the industry. Further, it has been
concluded that marketing department of H&M helps in developing products or services,
developing strategies for effective marketing, branding of the goods, selecting best channel of
distributing goods to clients etc. The way of marketing products and services of H&M company
is different from Zara on the basis of product, price, place, promotion, physical evidence, people
and process etc. Further, it has been concluded that there are various tools and techniques that
assist the marketing manager of the company to monitor and control the marketing plan.
Further, it has been analysed that company has segmented the market on the basis of
psycho-graphic and demographic factors. It has targeted people belonging to age group between
20-45 years age. Moreover, the Report has explained that one of the major weakness of firm is
that it offers products at affordable prices that affects the quality of goods.
REFERENCES
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Camilleri, M.A., 2018. Market segmentation, targeting and positioning. In Travel Marketing,
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Mayrhofer, U. and Roederer, C., 2016. Zara: The international success of fast-moving fashion
[Zara: Le succès international de la fast-moving fashion] (No. hal-01316137).
Mierzejewska, J., 2017. Analysis and evaluation of marketing strategies for clothing companies
on the example of Zara and H&M (Doctoral dissertation, Katedra Procesów Zarządzania).
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