Marketing Essentials: Roles and Responsibilities of Marketing Unit of Morrisons plc

This document discusses the roles and responsibilities of the marketing unit of Morrisons plc, a supermarket chain in the UK. It explores the interrelationship between marketing and other departments, compares the marketing mix strategies of Morrisons and Tesco, and provides an effective marketing plan for Morrisons.

MARKETING
ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
P1 Roles and Responsibilities of marketing unit of Morrisons plc.............................................4
P2 Interrelationship between marketing and other departments of Morrisons plc.....................6
TASK 3 ...........................................................................................................................................8
P3 Comparison of marketing mix strategies of Morrisons and Tesco........................................8
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P4 An effective marketing plan for Morrisons.........................................................................10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is an activity which every business undertakes to promote their products and
spread awareness in public. Marketing includes many activities like buying and selling of goods,
advertising, delivery of products or services and distribution. Companies hire professional for
conduction marketing duties as it's a disciplinary action and needs proper expertise to perform.
Basically, marketing is done to attract people towards the organisation and its products and
convert them into their customers. Marketing units are present in different organisations having
various jobs, roles and responsibilities which varies from company to company. Marketing
function is performed in relation with other departments and their tasks are interrelated with each
other therefore, marketing departments work in line with other units(Babin and Zikmund, 2015).
In this assignment Morrisons plc plc is used for understanding various concepts of marketing and
its implications. Morrisons plc is a supermarket chain in UK, which is the fourth largest of its
kind. It was founded in 1899 by William Morrison, serves to millions of customers everyday.
Morrisons plc headquarters are in Bradford, England. It is public limited company and listed on
LSE (London Stock Exchange) also, it is a part of FTSE (Financial Times Stock Exchange).
Morrisons plc stores are located in different location and has around 498 stores.
TASK 1
P1 Roles and Responsibilities of marketing unit of Morrisons plc
Marketing process to attract and develop interest of customers in products or services of
organisation. It's a proper process which is made of different actions which are Researching,
Promoting, Selling and Distributing. All these tasks are performed by marketing professionals
engaged in marketing department of company which are very essential for organisations(Mueller
and et. al., 2015).
Marketing concept is a philosophy that says, entities should analyse and evaluate the
needs of their customers and then make plans, products and services to satisfy those desires.
Marketing concept includes five elements which helps marketing and making this strategy
success for company. These concepts are as follows:1. Production concept- It depends on the assumption that buyers always favour those goods
or services which are highly affordable by society and easily available. Production
concept is the oldest which works as guide for sellers or businesses.

2. Product concept- Assumption behind this concept is that consumers will favour those
products or services which are of good quality, innovative and performs well. All the
marketing strategies and plan made by company's will be focused on making continuous
product improvements and enhancement.3. Selling concept- This is based on the thought that consumers won't buy goods or services
until the promotional and selling activities are not done on large-scale and enough efforts
are not made.4. Marketing concept- It holds the idea of attaining goals and objectives of organisation and
understanding the need of people. This will enables company to achieve its aims and
reach to higher position in marketplace amongst its competitors(Baker and Magnini,
2016).
5. Societal concept- This factor looks after and takes care of customers short term needs and
consumers long term wants. Also, it maintains a balance between both, making processes
and plans easy for company.
Different Roles and Responsibilities of marketing function:
Roles1. Meet customers needs- First role of marketing department is to meet the needs to wants
of consumers associated with organisation and attract more buyers towards it. Marketers
identify the needs of public and then make goods or services accordingly for satisfying
the desires of people(Muralidharan and Raval, 2017).2. Ensures the growth, survival and expansion of organisation- Another very important role
marketing function has is to manage the customers and retaining them for survival of
business. As it helps in fulfilling customers needs which leads to growth and expansion
of firm as they know their clients and understand them.
3. Face competition- As market is changing and more and better goods or services are
coming in marketplace. Therefore, role of marketing unit is to face new emerging and
existing competition. They do this by making effective plans after conducting proper
research of external environment.
Responsibilities1. Conduct research- Marketing department responsibility is to perform research activities
on behalf of Morrisons plc. These research will include various topics like understanding

the needs of people, evaluating the preferences of their customers, analysing the market
and competition and other related information. All this data will help company to
enhance its processes and make better effective strategies for business
operations(Campbell, Martin and Fabos, 2018).2. Being creative and innovative- Marketing professional of Morrisons plc needs to be on
their toes all the time to create something innovative. These innovation can be in any
form either in their plans, processes of company, bringing innovative ideas or developing
fresh innovative products or services according to the needs of people. This innovative
and creative approach will help Morrison to survive in market, opens new opportunities
of growth and expansion.
3. Communicate with other departments- Another responsibility of marketing unit is be
communicative, they have to be in touch with other functional units which are present in
Morrisons plc. These communication channels have to be very effective and the need for
communication is because of the linkages of tasks of different department with jobs of
marketing unit. All plans and strategies made by marketing units should be in relation
with other departments for better functioning of operations(Perreault, 2018).
P2 Interrelationship between marketing and other departments of Morrisons plc
Morrisons plc is a huge organisation serving to millions of people everyday from its
different stores located in several locations. It is the fourth largest supermarket chain of UK and
operating on huge level. This shows that it has various functional units performing their assigned
tasks in order to achieve the predetermined objective and aims of Morrisons plc. Therefore, all
these departments has to work in accordance with each other, as they support actions of one
another. Interrelationships exists in functions they perform. All these linkages of actions are
being explained in relation with marketing department of Morrisons plc and other functional
units which exist in it.
Marketing and Research and Development (R&D) Department
R&D department is the engine of every business entity which develop new ideas,
innovate new products or services and perform research action for finding new effective ways of
doing business. Research and Development unit explore new opportunities and chances on
behalf of company for better operations and provides competitive edge to organisation for facing
competition. All the efforts of R&D unit are closely linked with the actions of marketing and

product development functions. Main interrelationship between R&D and marketing unit exist
while new products or services are being developed. Their linkage starts from creation of ideas
goes on till final stage till goods or services being developed. Their actions are linked because
R&D professional works on new ideas but for those ideas to be analysed the needs of people
should be considered and that is the job of marketing professional to perform. They conduct
research for knowing the preferences and wants of people and transfer that data to R&D unit for
generation of effective products or services(Eng, 2017).
Marketing and Finance Department
Money is one resource which is required by all departments for performing their
activities, this resource comes in basic requirements of every function which takes place in
company. Financial departments role are to perform all monetary related activities, they make
budgets for different units, forecast their needs in relation to tasks and allocate funds
accordingly. Finance department of Morrisons keeps balance between the expenses and income
of organisation and maintain balances for present and future needs. Marketing team also need
money for performing assigned activities on behalf of company and that's where both
departments interrelates. Plans which are made by marketing professionals includes major
finance dimensions. They conduct research for Morrisons about the market for understanding the
customers and external situation, this takes huge amount of money which is allotted by finance
unit(Pike, 2015).
Marketing and Production Department
Production function and marketing functions have dual relationships, they works in line
with each other for attaining better results as individual department. Production team determines
the number of units which are being produced and can be marketed. They predict close or
sometimes accurate sales numbers for each goods or services which Morrisons serve to public.
The interdependency of finance and marketing department is seen when new goods or services
are being developed. At the time of new product development stage both the departments needs
each other for executing and implementing plans. Marketing team make plans for promoting new
goods created by company, these strategies and promotional activities are made according to the
products and data made available by production team.
Many other departments are and their actions interrelates with marketing, some of those
interrelationships are shown in above section. All these linkages and interrelationships are really

helpful for company but sometimes proves to be disadvantageous. Extreme involvement of two
or more departments with one another can sometimes create conflicts amongst them. These
conflicts and different ways of working hinders the operations of Morrisons and stop them from
reaching to their goals. Negative effects can be seen in performances of employees, their attitude
and delays happening in work or jobs to complete(Faßmann and Moss, 2016).
TASK 3
P3 Comparison of marketing mix strategies of Morrisons and Tesco
Marketing mix is a techniques which involves various action and unique tactics for
promoting the brand and products or services they offer. This tools has different factors which
are useful for organisations and covers most of the criteria which are important for company to
cover. Earlier it just had four elements which were Product, Price, Place and Promotion
according to market situations(Pike, 2016). But due to new emerging trends and changing market
conditions three new additional factors are introduces as Process, People and Physical Evidence.
A comparison is shown between Morrisons and Tesco's marketing mix plans. Tesco is also a
supermarket chain which is situated in UK and one of the biggest competitor of Morrisons.

Basis Morrisons Tesco
Product The product strategy of Morrisons is
focused on fresh food. They are value-
led grocery and keep fresh food with
good quality for buyers. The
organisation has their production units
or factories. Therefore, they produce
and sell fresh food to people or their
consumers. They do not compromise on
their quality as this is their main
focus(Lane, 2016).
Tesco has various store and they are
of very different styles, so their
product strategies depends upon the
stores. But one common plan is to
serves vast variety of goods to wide
range of consumers in different
areas. These offering of products are
catered by analysing and evaluating
needs of population and their
preferences.
Price Pricing strategy of Morrisons is the
most attractive feature which brings
attention of consumers towards it. They
serve best quality goods, with regular
innovation and creativity at lower
prices then others.
Pricing strategy followed by Tesco is
of cost leadership. They provides
goods or services to public at lowest
price and at the same time offer good
quality and maintains it.
Place It refers to the distribution channels
used by Morrisons. Organisation serves
to millions of customers everyday from
its huge number of stores present across
UK. Their strategy is wide geographical
presence and distributing its offering to
huge customer base.
Tesco is operating in various
countries and has almost 6900 stores
around the globe. Therefore, it is
very clear that they serve to huge
population of world situated in
different places(Puddle, 2015).
Promotion It relates to the activities Morrisons
perform for spreading awareness about
different products company serve. The
company works with their suppliers for
getting all information and
understanding market. This way they
Tesco has a really strong image
which is because of its pricing
strategy and that is used as basis for
the promotional actions. They also
use Television, newspapers and
charitable events for conducting

stay competitive and achieve suitability. promotional activities.
Process Many processes are their in Morrisons
through which company perform
different tasks for obtaining its
objectives. Morrisons use multiple sales
processes and channels, recently they
have started selling goods online.
The processes which Tesco practice
is attaining task and aims behind
those and they concentrate on that
only.
People Employees of company are considered
here. Morrisons have good expertise
with it, they try and create employment
opportunities for local public. They are
open for new talents to come in and
make company more effective.
Company has huge employee base
looking at its size and operations.
They appoint number of employees
on regular basis as they open new
branch or any requirement come in.
Physical
Evidence
All the activities company perform and
undertakes works as physical evidence.
Morrisons has its stores in various
location of UK, now it started selling
through online applications and use
advertisements for promotional actions.
All these works as physical evidence
for it
The logos, advertisements, labels,
distribution channels and other
activities it conduct works as proof
for its physical evidence(Lanier and
Lanier, 2017).
TASK 4
P4 An effective marketing plan for Morrisons
Company's overview
Morrison is multinational supermarket spread in all across UK and operates from various
locations. It has many stores in UK, by which they serves millions of people on daily and weekly
basis and satisfying their needs or desires. It is the fourth largest retail store in England, who's
having its operations on this big level(Purvis, 2015).

Now Morrisons is bringing new Integrated Automatised systems which will provide
convenience to consumers they so not need to wait in long lines. Buyers can be very comfortable
while shopping as they can generate their bills while picking up the items. Then while the
customer is leaving the store they can generate bills and pay them there and then by self check
counters. This way huge chaos can be reduced and more effective operations can be maintained,
cost can be saved as less employees are required because of most of the work is taking place on
the new systems.
Vision
The vision of Morrisons is to be the best food specialist brand for everyone, this is its
differentiating feature which also works as competitive advantage for it. It has huge expertise
associated with it who are preparing good quality food for selling purpose. This way they are
moving in direction of attaining highest position in market(Larson and Draper, 2015).
Mission
Morrisons mission statement refers to their aim of providing best quality goods and best
value for money to their regular customers. They also aim to provide convenience and ease to
people who are walking in their stores.
Strategic objectives
Morrisons is using SMART for defining its objectives related to its new integrated
system:
1. With introduction of this new system company is expecting 20% raise in sales and
customer foot falling(Rancati, Gordini and Capatina, 2016).
2. More effective results and better operations are expected which will enable organisation
in saving cost and using it in other activities.
SWOT analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
 It will provide cost benefits to
Morrisons, which they can use in
performing other tasks.
 Attracts more and more customers and
satisfy needs of larger population.
 Low research and development.
 Employee dissatisfaction on
introduction of new systems as it will
result in termination of staff.

Opportunities Threats
 Open new doors for Morrisons to
expand if gets successful.
 Brings better growth chances as
company can open new stores in other
locations with same technologies.
 Risk of failure if systems doesn't work
as expected.
 If public is not technology driven their
first choice won't be Morrisons and that
will be act as huge threat.
STP (Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning)
Segmentation is done on various basis for the new system, Morrisons has chosen and
implemented this new integrated automatised systems in urban areas and segmented through
geographical areas.
Target of Morrisons is all those consumers who has very short time for shopping because
of their daily hectic schedules. People who are more technology driven and who has very less
time for themselves are targeted(Malhotra, 2015).
Positioning strategy is very simple Morrisons in case of this integrated automatised
system, as it is a process which can only be made available in stores rather than any other way.
Marketing Mix
Product- This is a new service which is offered by Morrisons for ease and comfort of people and
their customers. Therefore, time saving and less chaotic services are made available to buyers.
Price- This is a new system which company is bringing in there stores, so they have use price
penetration strategy. Initially prices which are charged from customer for this service is really
low and affordable by all sections.
Place- Its an instore system which company is bringing for buyers comfort who are shopping
from the stores and therefore it is implemented in different retail shops of Morrisons.
Promotion- The biggest promotional platform nowadays is social media same is used by
Morrisons to promote Integrated Automatised systems.
Process- The system is very easy to use and that's the motive behind it, these systems are user-
friendly and very effective. Its easy to learn and need very little support if people are using it for
the first time.
People- All required training and development secessions are conducted by Morrisons for the
employees to get the hang of new systems and work with them in proper manner.

Physical Evidence- The promotional actions which Morrisons undertook worked as evidence for
company's new system.
CONCLUSION
Above report is about marketing and it can be concluded that marketing plays a vital role
in organisations and effective business operations. Marketing process is a very efficient method
which every company undertakes to analysis the needs of buyers and performing its function
accordingly for attaining success. Marketing department has many roles and responsibilities
which directs the entity towards their goals and enables them to achieve them in very effective
manner. Marketing mix concept is another tool which has seven elements and by following them
a company can make appropriate plan for their products or services. Elements of this tool
highlights various aspects which enables a company to make its product a success and survive in
market. Marketing mix technique helps many entities to grow and expand their business in vast
areas and be effective enough along with obtaining their objectives and earning more profits. At
last, a marketing plan is made on behalf of organisation for introducing a fresh product in
marketplace and to spread awareness in public about it. This marketing plan has many factors
which will help company to work in an effectively and efficiently.

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