TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1 MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1 LO1 Role of marketing and its inter relation with other functional units of organization..........1 LO2 7 P'S of marketing mix to achieve the overall business objectives....................................3 LO3 Developing and evaluating a marketing plan.....................................................................7 CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12 REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13
INTRODUCTION Marketing is the process through which goods and services move from concept to the consumer. It involves creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that provide value to the consumers. Marketing is extremely important as it helps the organization in identifying their potential customers and developing products according to their needs and wants. Marks and Spencer is a British Multinational fashion company that sells high quality clothing to its customers (Unnithan and et.al., 2018). The organization has more than 1400 stores worldwide and its provides employment to more than 80,000 people globally. The current study will focus on the role of marketing in the success of an organization, importance of marketing mix to achieve the goals and objectives and also the evaluation of marketing plan for Marks and Spencer. MAIN BODY LO1 Role of marketing and its inter relation with other functional units of organization. Marketing has played a significant role in the success of Marks and Spencer company because M&S used appropriate marketing strategies in order to develop the products and services.Marks and Spencer company also restructure their marketing team to improve their performances in the market and expand their business globally. The best marketing team can build the market structure of an organisation. Marketing can plays an important role to increase the productivity in the company. It also creates a big platform for the company to promote their products and services in a very effective and efficient way.The company identifies the needs and wants of its customers and then manufacture the clothes at a competitive price in order to achieve an edge over other players in the market (van Helden and Alsem, 2016).Marketing helps the organisation to promote their business and to reach the large customers, community and investors for the great expansion.Marketing includes promoting, researching, distributing and selling the organisation's products and services. Role of marketing in the success of an organization: Engaging customers: Marketing helps in attracting customer towards the products and services. Certain marketing activities like developing of an innovative product or service, promoting it in a unique manner automatically leads to consumer engagement which further leads to consumers buying that product or service.Marketing helps to develop value for customers and also assist in to build a customer relationship. Marks and 1
Spencer take necessary actions with the help of marketing and promote customers experience and satisfaction.Marks & Spencer has always been a pioneer of creating new designswhichhashelpedinattractingcustomersandincreasingtheirsalesand profitability (Ryynänen, 2016). Boost sales: The most important role of marketing is that it has not only helped Marks and Spencer in attracting new customers but the company also successfully retain its previouscustomerswhichhasincreasedtheirsalesandprofitabilityincessantly. Marketing plays a crucialrole to encourage the customerstowards the company. Marketing helps the Marks and Spencer company to promote their products and its features across the big market. So, customers can know and understand the product characteristic and advantage deeply.With its unique promotional strategies and quality of products and services, the company has been successful in establishing its brand image which further lead to increasing sales and customer base. Communication channel: Marketing acts as a communication channel through which an organization informs its customers about the products and services offered by them, its uses, price and the value created by them.Marketing is a great source to provide the all information and features of the products and services of theMarks and Spencer company. Marketing is very helpful for the company to advertise their product and service globally. With the help of marketing, customer approach the company's products and services, it also very helpful for the customers and it also provides the information regarding the product's advantage and disadvantage.Adequate communication between Marks and Spencer and its target customers helped the organization in achieving customer loyalty and also led to competitive advantage in the market (Russo, 2016). Inter relationship between marketing and other functions of management: Marketing and Production functional units:The production department is concerned with manufacturing of goods and services that are to be sold to the potential consumers. Both marketing and production department are the pillars of Marks and Spencer as the company would fail without the presence of any one functional unit.Marketing can promote the production activities in the company. Effective marketing strategies will increase the customers and then company should have to increase the production activity in their organisation. In the organisation, production process totally depended on the 2
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marketingactivities.AccordingtoTomsandZhang,(2016)bothmarketingand production unitswork closelywith eachother because the marketingdepartment communicatestotheproductiondepartmentregardingthequalityanddesign specificationsoftheclothesaslaiddownbytheconsumersandalsohelpsin communicating the total units to be produced within the particular time schedule. With the help of marketing, company can know the customer's needs and requirement, so it provides huge help to the production department that they work according to the customers desires. Marketing and Finance functional units: In the view point ofSparks, (2018), the finance unit at Marks and Spencer is concerned with allocation and distribution of funds to different departments therefore it is imperative for both of these departments to work closely as marketing department provides information to finance department regarding the budget needed for the purpose of research, promotion and distribution of goods and services.Marketing helps the organisation to develop effective financial management by providing the important and essential data to the finance department. It also assists in to create efficient financial management system to balance its operations. Marketing and human resource functional units:Human resource department deals with the recruitment and selection of employees in the organization. TheStead and Hastings,(2018)hasstatedthatmarketingdepartmentofMarksandSpencer communicates the human resource department regarding the skills and talent required in the organization in order to meet the customer needs effectively and efficiently. Also, the marketing unit provides information to the HR department regarding the training and development of the individuals.This can provide the major benefit to the organisation by providing high skilled and talented employees and it improves the production activities and operations in the organisation. LO2 7 P'S of marketing mix to achieve the overall business objectives. The marketing mix is concerned with a set of actions or tactics used by a company in order to promote the product or service. The main objective of marketing mix is to control the company's market plan. Marketing mixMarks and SpencerBurberry ProductM&SsellsanddistributesBurberry is a leading fashion 3
clothes for people and children ofallageandgender.The companyalsomanufactures andsellfoodproducts, household items and groceries. Forgainingthecompany's objectives, Marks and Spencer company maintained the high quality of the product and also takenecessaryactionsto managethequalitystandard accordingtothequality regulation. brand in UK that mainly deals in manufacturing and selling of clothesandaccessories.The range of products offered by Burberryascomparedto MarksandSpencerarevery lessandalsotheyareless concernabouttheproduct qualityandtheirstandards (Ahmed, 2016). PlaceMarks and Spencer has more than 1400 stores worldwide so that it can distribute goods and servicestoitscustomers throughaneffective distributionchannel.Marks and Spencer follows the best processtoprovidetheir product.MarksandSpencer alsoinvestigatethe geographical area and discover thecustomerwholook forward to their product. AccordingtoJonesand Comfort,(2019),Burberry owns more than 475 stores all aroundtheworldwhichis muchlessascomparedto MarksandSpencerthusit signifies that the company has asmallercustomerbaseas compared to Marks & Spencer. As compared to the Marks and Spencer, the Burberry are not concernaboutthecustomers and their requirements. PriceThe Marks and Spencer follow competitive pricing strategy in its marketing mix portfolio as it helps them in achieving an The Burberry organization has established an image for itself as a luxury brand therefore the products are highly priced for 4
edge over other players in the marketthusincreasingtheir overallprofitability.The effectivepricingpolicycan helps the organisation to build a huge market and also helps theMarksandSpencer company to provide products in a affordable rate, all these activitiescanenhancethe customer interest towards the organisation(Datta,Ailawadi. and Van Heerde, 2017). its target customers. The target customers of the company are very small compared to Marks and Spencer's.Burberry offers their products and services in a veryhighrateso,the customersinthemarket dissatisfied with them. PromotionM&S spends huge funds when itcomestopromotingtheir productsandservices.The organization targets both kids and adults therefore they use various promotional tools like advertising,printmediaand socialmediatoincreasethe salesoftheirproductsand services(McDonaldand Wilson,2016).With the use of social networking sites, they canpromotetheirproduct largely and in a very effective manner.Bythehuge promotion Marks and Spencer company increase their market Burberryheavilyrelieson celebrityendorsementsto promote its fashion line. The companyenjoysastrong goodwillinthemarket thereforethereisaless requirementforthemto promoteitsproductsthrough variouschannels.Also,it reduces the marketing cost of thecompanyandincreases their profits.It can also increse themarketshareofthe organisationandreflecttheir positive image in the market place (Schlegelmilch, 2016). 5
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share and net worth. PeopleM&Semploysmorethan 80000 skilled employees and alsoprovidethemwith incentivesandrewardsto boost their productivity to do thejob.MarksandSpencer alsobuildthestrong relationshipwiththeirstaffs and employees and encourage themtowardstheeffectively achievementofcompany's goal. They organize the special training and skill programme to inspire them for the unique innovations. Burberryemploys10,000 employeesworldwideand providethemwithadequate traininganddevelopmentin ordertoimprovetheir efficiencyandeffectiveness. Withthehelpofthis developmentprogramme employeeswillableto fulfilling the customer's needs and demand(Bernon, 2018). ProcessM&Sfollowasystematic process to sell their products andservicesthroughan effectivelogisticssystem whichhelpthecompanyin achievingcompetitive advantage.They also develop asmoothprocessforthe consumerstoprovidethem easy path and by which they canreachthecompany quickly.MarksandSpencer alsoofferthecustomercare executiveservicetotheir The manufacturing and selling procedureofBurberry companyiscomparatively expensive as the company has asmallercustomerbase thereforeitfailstoachieve economiesofscale.This companyhasalengthyand complex process to remove the customers issues and that can create a negative impression of theorganisation(Išoraitė, 2016).. 6
customers so that they solve their queries quickly. Physical evidenceThephysicalstoresand products of M&S distinguish themselvesfromthe competition as they are more colourfulandhavean attractivelogo.Marksand Spencerhasuniquedesign logo that attract the customers towards them. This also crease thebestresultsforthe company.Alltheattractive logosanddesignare promotingthecompany globally and the customer are recognized the company by its logo (Choi and Kim, 2015). The products of Burberry are of premium quality and also thestoresareverybeautiful whichfurtherattractsthe customers.Burberryalso emerge the beautiful logo that areveryeyecatchyand encouragethecustomer towards theirorganization.It canpromotethecompany worldwideandprovidethe great identity to their products. LO3 Developing and evaluating a marketing plan Executive summary:-The marketing plan includes the marketing strategy of a company that will help them in achievement of organizational goals and objectives.Marketing plan have included objectives of M&S with its respective segmentation, targeting and positioning. Further it has included Pest and SWOT analysis of Mark and Spencer with its estimated budget for new product development. Plan have also included marketing mix, marketing program and further monitoring and evaluation is also included. The marketing plan of Marks and Spencer is as follows:- Vision:- To have quality, value, innovation in its product with effective services that builds trust of customers. Mission:- To provide quality products with depth and range of its product Objectives:The objective of M&S is to build a sustainable business by providing good quality products to its customers and thus maximizing the profitability of the organization. 7
STP Analysis:STP analysis involves segmentation, targeting and positioning i.e. how a particular company intends to present their product in a particular market segment in front of the targeted customers. Segmentation:- Amongst the four major segment used to segment consumers i.e. demographic, geographic, behavioural and psychographic and Marks and Spencer can use the demographic segment by targeting a specific age group of people. Targeting:- Company is targeting middle aged women by offering different fashionable cloths. They are providing branded and occasional items to young women with diverse and wide range of offerings. Company is using wishy-washy approach in order to target there respective customers (Choi and Kim, 2015). Positioning:- Marks and Spencer is having good reputation in market due to its quality of products and that have resulted in loyalty of its customers. There products and services are differentiable in market and this helps the organization to have effective positioning in market. They are positioned as premium products with innovative strategies and attract its customers with its quality of products. PEST analysis Political factors: According to Sulaiman and Syahrivar, (2018),The political factors can affect the growth prospects of the company because of BREXIT. BREXIT will lead to increase in tax rate and would hamper the smooth operations of the company in European countries. Economic factors: The economic factors include inflation and change in interest rate. The inflation in the UK has affected the sales of M&S and the company needs to reduce its prices in order to increase their market share (Išoraitė, 2016). Social factors: Social factors include the attitude, buying behaviour and income level of the people in a society. With the increasing change in socio cultural factors it is important for Marks and Spencer to analyse these factors timely and then develop the products and services accordingly. Technological factors: The Marks and Spencer must use latest and upgraded technology like selling of products and services online and use of artificial intelligence in order to promote their products as it would help in increasing their sales and also reduce the operating cost of the company. SWOT Analysis 8
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Strengths: The company focuses on providing the best possible experience to its customers which has helped themin not only adding new customers but also retaining their previous customers. Marks and Spencer provides huge variety of goods and services for children and adults of all age group (both men and women) which has increased their market share to 8.1% thus making it the largest clothing retailer in UK (Datta, Ailawadi. and Van Heerde, 2017). Weaknesses: The company needs to reduce its overall production cost as it has led to reduced revenue and a significant decline in their market share. The employees at Marks and Spencer resist to change which has significantly reduced the sales of the company therefore it is imperative for the organization to motivate its employees so that they can successfully implement the changes. Opportunities: The company enjoys a strong brand image and has the opportunity to expand its operations online which can lead to adding of new customer base and increase profits significantly. Threats: The increasing entry of new players into the market has increased the competition level and reduced the market share of M&S which has led to shutting down of stores. Therefore, it needs to reduce their prices and improve its marketing strategy (Byskata, 2017). Marketing mix:- Product: According to Bernon, (2018)M&S provides variety of products to its customers that create value for them. The company provides different products and services like clothing, household items and groceries as it helps in increasing their sales. Mark and Spencer is working to introduce sustainable jeans and customers demand is increasing for sustainable products. This product development will help the organisation in bringing competitive advantage as already company is having good reputation in market and with these efforts they will rise there reputation. As it is international brand it is beneficial for the organisation to have sustainable products and sustainable products have huge demand in global market. 9
Place: Marks and Spencer operates in more than 50 countries with over 1400 stores thus it helps the company to provide better services to their customers and also it reduces their overall cost through adequate supply chain system.Company is also producing its products in global market as the demand of sustainable products have raised in market. Price: In accordance withAhmed, (2016), Marks and Spencer sells its goods and services at competitive prices in order to increase their overall market share. The aggressive pricing strategy has been a major reason behind company's success.They are providing its product at premium price that helps the organisation to have maximum possible revenue. Promotion: The company promotes its products and services through various sources likeTelevision,internet,corporateeventsandsponsorshipprogramsbecause promotional activities have played an important role in company's success and growth. Theyareusingdifferentmarketingprogramslikedigitalmarketing,commercial marketing and also direct marketing in order to attract the customers. They take help of email, messages and different social marketing platforms like Facebook, Instagram, you tube channel in order to promote there products. Company have to focuys on digital marketing tools in order increase its profitability. Marketing program:- Marketingchannel Direct marketingWith the use of email, messages to respective customers Digital marketingWith the help of different social marketing platforms like Facebook, Instagram, you tube channel Commercial marketingWith the use of television and magazines Budget:- ParticularsAmount Raw material cost250 10
Direct cost300 Overheads350 Marketing cost600 Total1500 Pounds Monitoring and Evaluation:- Cost benefit analysis:- After the market plan it is essential for the organisation to monitor and evaluate the strength and weaknesses of different approaches in order to achieve the benefits. It is essential for Mark and Spencer, to monitor whether the plan have benefited the organisation or different approach is in need. Sales analysis:- It is also essential to evaluate that the plan have helped in effective sale of the business or not. This helps the business to analyse whether the marketing plan have successfully worked or not so that effective changes can be brought for the business. 11
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CONCLUSION From the above study, it can be concluded that marketing plays an important role in the growth and success of the organization. It helps in identifying the needs and wants of consumers and then developing a product accordingly which also helps in increasing the sales and profitability of the company. Marketing is also inter related with all other functional units of an organization. The report further included comparison between 7P's of marketing mix of Marks and Spencer and Buerberry in order to identify the growth objectives of the organization. Also, it included a marketing plan that can help improving the profitability and reduce the cost of M&S. Thus, it can be concluded that marketing plays a very important role in increasing the sales of a product and also helps the company in achieving competitive advantage. 12
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