Essentials of Marketing and Business Research

This assignment provides an overview of essential concepts in marketing and business research. It covers a range of topics, including marketing theory, social media marketing, entrepreneurial marketing, services marketing, and the impact of emerging markets on marketing. The assignment also includes a brief introduction to media essentials and a guide to doing your research project. It is suitable for students looking to understand the basics of marketing and business research.

MARKETING ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1. Roles and responsibilities of the marketing function ...........................................................3
M1 ...................................................................................................................................................5
D1 ....................................................................................................................................................6
P2 How roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to organisational context.......................6
M2 ..............................................................................................................................................8
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
P3. Comparing the ways in which ALDI applies marketing mix to market plan.......................8
M3.............................................................................................................................................12
D2..............................................................................................................................................13
TASK 3 .........................................................................................................................................13
P4 Producing and evaluating a basic marketing plan for ALDI...............................................13
M4.............................................................................................................................................16
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................16
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is defined as a process by which products are made available from
manufacturer to consumer. It is an activity which creates, communicates and exchanges the value
to customers, clients and partners. It includes buying and selling of products through advertising
and promotion of products and services. Employees which are concerned with marketing
department formulate strategies to attract more customers towards their products. Aldi is a well-
known company in the market of United Kingdom. It is one of the biggest retail shops in
Germany. Aldi was established in 1913 with its headquarters in Germany. It has a small grocery
store in early time and today, it has become one of the largest grocery stores with affordable
products (Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne, 2014). They offer high quality of products at the best
price to its consumers. This assignment will mainly focus on the role and responsibilities as well
as their analysis of marketing functions and different ways how Aldi applies marketing mix to
marketing plan to achieve their business plans. Evaluation of marketing plan of company has
also been described in this assignment.
TASK 1
P1. Roles and responsibilities of the marketing function
As mentioned above, marketing is a process through which products and services are
distributed to customers from manufacturer. Company manufactures desired products which suit
with the needs and requirements of customers. To maintain a strong position in the market,
company should have marketing department with managers and employees having high
marketing skills. Only then, they will be able to achieve their objectives and goals. Aldi is a
leading grocery store in the United Kingdom because it has managers and employees with
desired marketing skills as well as they are successful in implementing their skills in their
strategies (Ormrod, 2014). To lead in the market, it is necessary for supervisors to first identify
their strong and weak points and after that, identifying their target market as well as customers
with formulating strategies accordingly.
Aldi has talented staff and managers which have capabilities to identify all their strong
and weak areas. By improving and working on their weaknesses and enhancing their strong
points, they can achieve competitive advantage over others. Aldi has become successful in
building positive relations with their customers by fulfilling their needs through products which

they manufacture. It is not necessary that they formulate good strategies every time. Hard work
and team working are required to make efficient marketing plan to achieve maximum benefits
for company. At the time of designing marketing plan, they consider some critical marketing
function which provide them with exact idea about target market and customers. Marketing
functions are mentioned as below:
Analysis of market information: It is a critical function of marketing. Before designing
a product, it is necessary for managers to understand about customer’s needs and wants, their
target markets, distribution channels, various advantages for launching that particular product,
different advertisement and promotion tools, the best price suitable for that product, etc. Proper
analysis of these factors enable marketing managers to decide properly and design their plans by
considering these factors (Hair, 2015). As Aldi is a leading grocery store, they have to know
about preferences and requirements of their customers and fulfilling their needs while providing
those products to them. Before manufacturing any products in Aldi, this type of research is done.
This makes their products and services more suitable and affordable for customers.
Market planning: This function is performed after analysis of target market. If Aldi
wants to achieve its goals and objectives, they need to devise effective plans so that they can
retain their position in market. It is the major responsibility of a marketer as they are directly
related to loss and profits which will occur to company. For maximum benefits coming to
company, it is necessary to analyse all key factors related to plan and formulating the best market
plan. They can also upgrade their equipment and production strategies to next level and brief
employees about that modification. They can also plan effective advertising and promotional
activities which will attract customers towards them and this will ultimately lead to increase in
their sales and profits.
Product designing and development: Attractive designs of products are mainly
responsible for attracting number of customers towards them. So, company should have creative
and talented product design and development team which can manufacture products according to
the preferences of customers (Terpstra, Foley and Sarathy, 2012). People tend to lose the interest
in those products which have unattractive designs. So, Aldi should focus on this matter to
increase their profits.
Standardisation and grading: Standardisation helps in evaluating various standards which are
necessary to design a product. These standards are size, design, weight, raw material, quality,

etc. that should be considered accurately while manufacturing a product. These display unique
features of every product. If any product has similar features then they are placed in a category or
grade. This placing is known as grading. For example: if Aldi produces(y), having three grades
i.e., A+, B+ and C. These grades will represent three levels of quality; best, medium and
ordinary. If customer wants the best quality then it will show 'A+' grade to product. This will
make purchasing easier as it will exclude low quality products. Grading system is mainly used in
food, agriculture, cotton, tobacco and fruit industries.
Packaging and labelling: Packaging is done to provide strengths and support to contents
which are present inside the product. Its main aim is to provide a particular product to suitable
customers without any breakage. Proper packaging avoids all types of breakage, damage,
spoilage, degradation, etc. of products during the time of transportation. Packaging material
mainly includes glass, jute box, plastic containers, wooden boxes, tin, bottles, etc. Marketer
should also focus on effective packaging of products and also, ensure that every product has a
label which includes every specification related to the contents (Papasolomou and Melanthiou,
2012). Label represents about details of products and should be written accurately. Label mainly
include manufacturing and expiry dates, ingredients used in formulation of product, batch
number, license number, price, etc. This helps in providing the relevant information about
products to customers.
Branding: Every company wants to build their name in the minds of customers as well
as in market. To accomplish this, they make efforts to make their production, marketing,
advertising, promoting and other activities efficient so that they can attract the attention of
customers. Aldi has a well name and is a great brand in markets of UK and customers prefer
them over other retail store. This company has put their hard work in establishing their brand in
market over a long period of time (Martin, Campbell and Harmsen, 2014). Consumers prefer
those brands which provide services and products with utmost quality and fulfil their demands on
time. Aldi is successful in fulfilling all demands and requirements of customers. It is also
necessary for company to retain their brand in the eyes of customers because there is tough
competition and any competitor can come up with their effective products and services.
M1
Aldi critically evaluate their market and formulate strategies according to that. They
implement all necessary market functions in their plans to make it more effective and productive.

It is important for Aldi to stay alert and formulate effective strategies. They should give prime
attention to customer requirements so that they can satisfy their customer with their products.
D1
According to Baker and Saren (2016), there are various necessary functions which should
be considered while formulating strategies as it gives a proper direction for developing a good
plan. Proper analysis of those functions can lead to success of company. All marketing functions
are inter- related to each other and manager should make sure that each function is implemented
in strategies.
P2 How roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to organisational context.
Marketing is an essential tool for an organisation to increase their sales and profit. It
include activities that make available different products to customers. These activities basically
includes market research, design and development of product, formulation of procedure and
processes, etc. Marketing manager have important roles and responsibility which they have to
perform at the time of formulating market plans. Effective plans lead to better distribution of
products and customers receive their desired products. If customers are satisfied with
performance of company then they will prefer them over others. This will leads in increasing
number of loyal customers. Marketers uses above marketing functions to enhance their
productivity and growth. Aldi uses certain marketing tools to make better plans based on
customer's needs and wants (Jones and Rowley, 2011). Company have a strong marketing
department as they become successful in fulfilling all desires of consumers but they should keep
on upgrading their strategies so that they can retain their position in market. Below are some
roles and responsibilities of marketing manager:
Strategy: Managers and head of marketing department are mainly responsible for
making strategies which results in more profits and market share to company. They should
analyse all critical function which are required for making strategies and then plan according to
that. They should also upgrade strategies with possible changes. Only strategies are responsible
to achieve visions and missions of company in effective manner.
Product development: It is important for a company to develop new products at some
interval of time to seek attention of their customers. Product development team work in
association with marketing team to design and market their products. They also identify any gaps

between current and desired product range. Marketing department are responsible for providing
relevant information about customer preferences, their likes and dislikes etc., to product
development team, so that they can develop product according to desires of customers. After
product development, appropriate price is set of a particular product and launched in market with
help of marketing department.
Communication: It is necessary for every department to have strong communication
between them. It facilitates smooth flow of information among departments. This speeds up the
process of activities and help organisation to achieve their goals within specified time limit.
Events: Marketing department are mainly responsible for organising events that can
attract more customers towards their products. These events can be seminars, workshops, sales
conferences, exhibitions etc. In these events, employee brief customers about their products and
services with their benefits and advantages it is offering and try to retain customer attention
towards their product (Babin and Zikmund, 2015). Sometime, they can plan to launch their
products to customers. These type of events greatly impact positive effect on company.
Above were the critical responsibilities that should be performed by marketer to
effectively market their products and services and to increase revenue and sales of company.
They can take support of various marketing concepts while formulating strategies. Those
concepts are described below:
Product concept: In this concept, managers should try to develop new products at some
interval to attract customers. They should ensures that with each new products they are offering
more features with highest quality. Aldi is a grocery store which has different varieties of
products available at one place. Manager can come up with more brands which can link to their
stores so that customer only prefer them instead of going to other retail shop. More availability
of products at store increases more profits ad revenue to company.
Selling concept: If products are available at one place then it is obvious that store will
sell more products to customers and this will lead to increase in profitability. In this concept,
managers try to sell more of their products. For that they plan events, attractive product designs,
etc. to attract customers.
Marketing concept: This requires delivering of suitable products and services to target
market and consumer. Marketing manager should have effective marketing skills to sell their

products. Better availability of products to customers will leads to increase in profits and revenue
to company.
Marketing have some role which decides effectiveness of a company and they are
mentioned below:
Marketing information system: MIS provide critical information about various factore
that include - planning, implementation, product, controlling and managing marketing strategies.
This system help managers to effectively manage and plan their strategies.
Monitoring marketing environment: Managers should monitor marketing conditions
and make strategies by considering relevant factors which can affect their sales. By proper
research, managers can develop strategies to launch their products in the market.
Marketing research: It is critical for marketing department to carry out for proper
development of strategies as well as products. This help in knowing about likes, dislikes,
preferences, needs and wants of customers and according to that they can make their plans.
M2
According to Wilson (2014), it is clear that all functions of marketing are inter- related to
each other. Each function have its own importance and should be considered by managers at the
time of formulating plans. These functions provide higher efficiency of plans and enhances
profits to the company. Marketing departments are responsible for effectively marketing and
launching company's product in the market.
TASK 2
P3. Comparing the ways in which ALDI applies marketing mix to market plan.
Marketing mix is a all about forming a right combination or right product , at right
place ,at right time with a right price. It is a complex set of strategies and actions related to 4P's
& 7P of marketing that an enterprise uses to promote its product by meeting the demands of the
customers. The marketing mix serves as an essential tool in the formation and execution of
various marking plans and strategies that can be used as a major factor for influencing the buying
behaviour of the new customers and to retain the old ones. It comprises various tactics related to
manufacturing products and services as per customers requirements, launching that product in
the target group audience and then creating its brand image through suitable sales promotion
tool. Aldi being one of the world's leading supermarket chain gives critical importance in

planning its marketing mix strategies. To meet the needs and wants of its consumers and to have
a edge over its competitors, Aldi strives to create a unique blend of producing a right product,
with a right price, to be available at right place , at the right time by opting for the most suitable
method of promotion. The main motive of the enterprise is to provide quality within the
affordable prices (Armstrong and et al, 2011).
Mentioned below is a comparative study of Aldi with one of its leading competitor Lidl Stiftung
& Co. KG. about using various types of strategies of marketing mix .
Marketing mix
tools
ALDI LIDL
Product Aldi aims at providing best quality of
food products at affordable prices to its
customers. Besides dealing in food items
like fresh fruits & vegetables Aldi also
stock non- food products like health and
beauty products, electronic products,
clothes, household items as well as soft
tools. The peculiar feature of Aldi is that
it has its own brand label which helps the
firm in reducing its expenditure on
products.
Lidl is the 7th largest and cheapest
grocery retailer chain in Europe.
It is also one of the biggest
competitor of Aldi. Lidl
distinguishes itself from its
competitors by providing its
customers with an opportunity to
buy a wide variety of products
from across the world under one
roof.
Price Aldi's marketing policy of providing
quality goods at affordable prices has lead
the firm to develop a strong customer
base. As demand for its goods are readily
available, Aldi is able to sell large
volumes of its produce to its consumers
resulting in reducing its cost of production
and generation of higher profits.
The pricing strategy of Lidl is
quiet distinct and smart. Being a
private label brand Lidl don't have
to spent on middlemen
commission which reduces its over
all cost. The firms centre of focus
is to reduce its products price to
sell high volumes to its consumers.

Place Aldi has around 8000 stores in over 18
countries worldwide. Aldi gives prime
focus in positioning its stores ensuring
that they are in the centre location to
make it easily visible for its customers to
reach them. It also conduct regular checks
to make sure that store maintains proper
stock levels confiding with firm's aim to
sell as many product as possible within
short time period (Huang and Sarigöllü,
2014).
Lidl has more than 650 private
brand stores and over 10,000
stores across Europe. The firm
area of expertise lies in its regional
distribution centre network assures
delivery of quality product all
across UK.
Promotion Aldi incurs negligible expenditure on its
product promotion by carefully evaluating
the efficiency and effectiveness of each
of its activities. It uses a combination of
above the line and below the line
promotional strategy through weekly
newsletters, print media, ads commercials
etc. for communicating its super buy
offers to its customers.
This firm make use of integrated
promotional schemes by the means
of TV campaigns,website
promotions, social media etc. to
make its customers aware about its
weekly offers.
People An effective and efficient public relations
plays a significant role in creating a
positive brand image of a product. Aldi
although has a secured record coverage
but it stores management lacks behind
when it comes to customer service.
Therefore it is of crucial importance for
the business to implement strategies that
divide the task among the workers so to
avoid any one employee getting over
This firm management related to
its sales promotion and public
relation is well coordinated.
However a high standard training
program needs to be developed so
as to enhance the employees speed
to scan products reducing the
customer's waiting time .

burdened leading better customer
services.
Process When it comes to store Aldi has giving
immense attention in designing its layout
which is simple yet very effective from
consumer's point of view. The store is
divided into separate sections having
stock of limited brands which are of high
quality but in reasonable prices which
reduces the selection time taken by
customers as they don't get confused
among making choice from a wide range
of brands (Leonidou, Katsikeas and
Morgan, 2013).
Lidl objective is to provide
reasonable prices to its customers.
The store layout is well
coordinated assisting consumers to
choose from a wide variety of
products from across the world
under one building. However
customers are not involved in any
of its process which gives them
limited power over operations of
the firm.
Physical
Evidence-
based
ALDI is a global brand which is known
for its simple uncomplicated business
operations, quality products and
reasonable prices. It adopts a very
distinctive marketing strategy which aims
to keep low price everyday in all its
outlets across the world. It is one of the
very first stores that maintains same
prices for the groceries too all over the
world.
The layout of lidl store is
very tradition and liner in
design which complements
a customers shopping
experience as they find it
easy to locate and select
products. To capture the
attention of the people and
to make it easy for its
customers to recognize the
store, Lidl uses its brand
colour blue and yellow in
its stores layout and in
areas surrounding the store.

Marketing planning process:
marketing planning is a systematic process which includes making plans and strategies for
analysing the opportunities related to marketing, setting up marketing goals and then
implementing and d controlling those plans and strategies. It is critical for any business to
formulate and implement an efficient and effective marketing plan as it assists the firm in
identifying sources to gain competitive edge, ensures coordination among different functions etc.
that all contributes in achieving growth and success (Menegaki, 2012). It is a comprehensive
document that includes preparation of strategies related to pricing, selling and distribution
products and services produced by the company by making use of suitable sales promotion tools.
Mentioned below are the steps followed for preparing a better marketing plan :
Analysis: This is the initial step of planning process which is concerned with associated
with evaluating the present position of the firm. It includes detail analysis of marketing audit,
internal as well external market competencies, customers, competitors etc. to identify the current
market trends and available opportunities for business.
Planning: Planning phase includes preparing a blue draft about the mission, market
segmentation and about marketing strategies related to selling and distribution of goods and
services. It serves as a useful tool for the business while taking important decisions regarding
products price, budget, methods of marketing mix that are to be used etc.
Implementation: Implementation phase is the step where planning is put into actions. It
involves implementing all the plans and strategies together for attaining organizational
objectives. A company should carefully execute and monitor this phase so as to elude
overlapping of activities.
Controlling: Controlling is the last and the most crucial step in marketing planning. It
begins with the formulation of marketing plan and includes activities that needs to be
continuously checked for any lacking or errors and to take corrective actions in case any gaps are
detected. It involves comparing actual performance with the desired performance on the basis of

pre determined errors and t rectify any loopholes so as to ensure that the plan is implemented
successfully leading to timely achievement of company's goals.
M3
For attaining growth and success it is of vital importance for an enterprise to carefully
define its vision, mission and objectives. To enhance consumers satisfaction the firm is required
to formulate certain strategies and plans for creating a positive brand image of its products. Aldi
to attract new customers and retain its existing loyal consumer works on the policy of providing
high quality goods at affordable prices which helps it to gain competitive advantage over its
business rivals (Pomering, Noble and Johnson, 2011).
D2
As per Gordon (2012), marketing plan includes a perfect blend of 7Ps for attaining
consumers satisfaction by a firm. It lead an enterprise to formulate strategies keeping in mind
the essential marketing elements i.e. people, price, place, promotion, process, product and
physical evidence . The marketing plan defines over all performance of an enterprise in relation
to various internal and external factors.
TASK 3
P4 Producing and evaluating a basic marketing plan for ALDI
Marketing plan is a written document which define overall view of entire marketing
strategies which used by the manager to evaluate company performance at market place.
Basically it is also known by blueprint which aid in defining marketing tools to attain future
aspects of the company. Along with this marketing plan help business organization to attain
competitive advantage. In context of ALDI, it deal in retail industry and sell its features products
and services to its customers in order to attain their higher satisfaction level (Lovelock, 2011).
Further, there are effective marketing plan of ALDI which include various elements are as
follows:
Vision of ALDI: It is an important statement which define future aspects of the company
where they wants to see itself in upcoming time. In this, vision of ALDI is to become leading
retail store in UK market. For this they serve higher quality of products and services at
affordable cost. With the help of this company increase their market share.

Mission of ALDI: This statement is also an effective statement which helps in improving
overall performance level of the company. In this mission of ALDI is to provide quality and
variety products and services to its customers at cheapest price in order to create strong
customers base.
After these, it is important for ALDI manager to gather relevant data as well as information by
analysing company SWOT analysis are as follows:
SWOT analysis of ALDI
Strengths:
 Provides high quality of goods and services .
 Prices offered are reasonable fitting to people pockets.
 Aldi operating cost is low due to the fact that company has economies in scale, giving
company an edge over its competitors Aldi has over 8000 stores in around 15 countries worldwide.
Weaknesses:
 Aldi lacks in making a global impact because of its limited chain of stores.
 Aldi's products reasonable and affordable are allegedly taken to be of substandard
quality. Aldi providing limited range of products as compared to its close competitors like Lidl
which overs wide variety of products from across the world.
Opportunities:
 Aldi requires to increase its brand promotion activity by investing more funds so as to
gain competitive edge over its business rivals.
 Aldi by adopting expansion policy should open more express stores i.e. small stores
which has essentials that customers requires.
Threats:
 The biggest threat to Aldi is regarding its inability to fulfil the need of the customers
who are looking for a complete shopping experience under one ceiling
 Another threat to Aldi is from its business rivals who have a number of Stock Keeping
Units.

 Aldi been a private label brands cannot compete with big establishes brands like
TESCO,Walmart etc.
Goals and objectives of ALDI
Objectives are the goals, purpose or the outcomes which an organization strives to
achieve within a specific time frame by putting al its efforts and resources to achieving them
Aldi point of focus is promotion of its stores at a much larger level so as to capture the attention
of prospective buyers who are not currently using the brand and to increase it sales by
influencing their buying behaviour (Enache, 2011).
The major objective of ALDI group is to provide its consumers with goods and services
which they desires for with highest quality at reasonable price so as to earn attain customer
satisfaction and higher profit returns.
STP of ALDI
Segmentation: It is process of dividing a market into various segments or groups
according to different characteristics. It is one of the most efficient strategy that assists a business
to customized their market campaign plans to focus on the needs and wants of their target
audience. The target market segment of Aldi group are the consumers who wants to purchase
grocery at competitive prices.
Target group: By making use of segmentation Aldi is trying to sell the household items to
its target audience.
Positioning: Aldi is one of the leading private label brands of Germany with a strong
customer base in around 18 countries across the world. Through its brand expansion policy Aldi
is now trying to built its position at international level.
Marketing mix of ALDI
Product: Aldi deals in a wide range of food products with best quality. Besides food and
beverages Aldi also deals in clothes, stationary, health and beauty products, household products
and soft tools.
Price: Aldi with its various pricing strategies like market penetration, unit pricing,
competitive pricing etc.
Place: Aldi operates more than 8000 stores in 18 countries worldwide.

Promotion: Aldi invests very minimum cost on its promotion activity. Aldi evaluates the
effectiveness of each of it promotional tool such as electronic, display and print media etc. so as
to attract the new customers and retain the old clients.
Marketing strategy: It is business plan is a summary of company's objectives, mission,
purpose and essential policies and plans that helps the company to focus its limited available
resources to increase its sales by producing maximum outputs that matches customer needs
sand wants. Marketing strategy needs to be effective and efficient enough so as to support
business in identifying its target audience and catering their needs for earning higher returns.
Execution: - This phase includes systematic and proper implementation of all the
activities and strategies that are planned by a manger to achieve the ultimate goals of the
business.
Evaluation: In this step, each step of marketing plan is evaluated to find out any
loopholes or lacking and to rectify or take corrective actions to eliminate them.
M4
Marketing plan enables an organisation to identify its futures potential consumers. It
comprises a variety of activities ,procedure and strategies which enhances the performance of a
firm and supports it in meeting its goals and objectives. A marketing plan formulated by Aldi
assists the managers in taking important decisions related to performance of the company, way to
improve its productivity to increase its growth (Sheth, 2011). Hence, an effective marketing plan
is the key factor in determining the probable market threats along with changing market trends
that can be study and analysed so as to take effective and accurate decisions on crucial matters
related to sales and production, product ,pricing policy etc.
CONCLUSION
From the above project, it can be concluded that marketing functions are of vital
importance for an organization to attain growth and success. ALDI is one of the market leaders
in discount supermarkets which its base of operations in Germany. By implementing it expansion
policy, Aldi is now working towards expanding the brand at global level. which has placed its
position in Germany and now, it is going to expand its business at global level. Marketing mix
serves as an effective tool for creating awareness and for communicating various company's
offers to its customers. It also helps the company to build positive brand image. Aldi being a

customer centric company aims at providing various goods and services to its consumers at
affordable price for attaining customer delight.