Understanding the Essentials of Marketing

This assignment delves into the core concepts of marketing. It examines various marketing functions, such as market research, product development, and promotion. Students will learn about the marketing mix (4 Ps) and its application in different business contexts. The assignment also covers consumer behavior, market segmentation, and the impact of digital marketing on contemporary businesses.

MARKETING
ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Key roles and responsibilities of marketing function ...........................................................1
P2 Inter-Relation of marketing function with various organisational department......................5
M2 Importance of inter-relationship between marketing and other functional unit...................6
D1 Critically evaluate the key element of marketing function ..................................................7
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P3 Compare marketing mix of two different organisation .........................................................7
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................11
P4 Produce basic marketing plan .............................................................................................11
D2 Design marketing plan with the use of 7Ps ........................................................................13
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
The word “Marketing” refers to the process stimulating the interest of potential buyers
and clients in company's product or services. It is a set of activities for creating, delivering,
communicating and exchanging offering that creates values for partners, society and customers
at large (Baker and Saren, 2016). It is considered as an important function in all organisation and
businesses and is becoming increasingly essential to attain success in modern economy. Business
Enterprises uses marketing so as to develop, keep and fulfil the needs and wants of customer.
According to the Chartered Institute of Marketing “ The term “marketing” can be described as a
management process that is mainly responsible for determining, evaluating & satisfying
consumer requirement profitably”. It includes researching, selling, distribution and promotion of
products and services in an effective manner.
The chosen company for this project is ALDI which is leading discount supermarket
chain operating their business practices in more than 18 countries with over 10,000 stores. The
report covers roles and responsibilities of marketing function, its inter-relation with other
functional department, how ALDI is gaining competitive advantage over their rival LIDL with
the help of marketing mix and lastly how with the help of detailed marketing plan chosen firm is
accomplishing their goal systematically.
TASK 1
P1 Key roles and responsibilities of marketing function
The concept of marketing refers to the process by which an organisation creates value for
target audience and establish strong relationship with them so to capture value from them in
return. In simple words it means bringing product to the market with an aim of satisfying
customers needs and wants in an effectual manner. In-fact the whole idea of marketing laid
emphasize on needs, demands and wants of potential buyers.
 Need: This is something important for an individual to live stable and healthy life. When
they are unable to fulfil their need, its results in death or dysfunction.
 Wants: This is something which a person is wished, desired or aspired to. However these
are not essential for survival but often shaped by peer-group (Brassington and Pettitt,
2013).
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 Demands: It describes buyer's willingness and desire to pay a price for particular product
or services.
Business Enterprises identify the need of customer with the help of marketing and then frame
decision so as to satisfy them better than their rivalry firm. Marketing umbrella consists of
public, relation, promotion and advertising (Desai, 2013). The aim of every entity is to earn
higher profits which can only be possible via higher lead generation by marketing process. With
the help of this, company is able to stimulate the interest of consumer. Below mentioned are the
key roles and responsibilities of ALDI's marketing function:
Illustration 1: Marketing Function
(Source: Different Function of Marketing)
1. Marketing Information System (MIS): In the competitive era, needs and demands of
customer is frequently changing (Desselle, Zgarrick and Alston, 2016). Companies
requires to understand their likes and dislikes so that they can alter their product or
services as per their requirement. MIS is a system that gathers, anticipate & distribution
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information concerned with distinct choices of target audience to administrator so that
they can make strategic decision for firm (Dibb and Simkin, 2013). Marketing
Information System enables ALDI to determine what exactly consumer wants, in what
quantity and at what price. According to Peterberk “It is a system that assess and analyse
marketing information on continuous basis from both internal and external sources”. For
example: ALDI, with the help of this tool determines at what price their competitors are
selling same product so that they can set their price according to that. Also they
determine trend customer choices and wants.
2. Product or Service Management: It means maintaining and enhancing the service or
product mix concerned with various marketing opportunities that are available for
specific product and service in the market. ALDI is offering product at discounted rate as
compared to other supermarket. They usually buy product in bulk quantity from selected
supplier and then branded as their own so to have better control over their production
unit. In addition to that their store layout and free home-delivery aid in managing their
product and services in a structured and thorough manner.
3. Financing: This function is related with ALDI is managing their investment or fund in
order to operate its day to day function in an effectual manner. There are various sources
through which fi can raise significant funding such as debentures, loan, equity and angel
investor. As ALDI is a large organisation they mainly raise their fund via debentures,
equity and long term borrowing.
4. Promotion: Promotion means educating and informing target customer about the
company's product and stimulate them to purchase these products and services.
Generally there are four methods of promotion namely, personal selling, publicity, sales
promotion and advertisement. Decision taken by marketer in this context affects the
overall sales (Rowley, 2011). Now with the introduction of various social media
platform, company's promote their product through Facebook, Instagram etc. However,
ALDI's promotion strategy is little bit comprehensive as they spent almost negligible
amount on promoting their product. They mainly advertise their product via Supper Buy
Offers, Swap and Save etc.
5. Marketing Planning: In order to accomplish business objective in context of marketing,
every marketeer takes the help of marketing plan. For example: ALDI has a market share
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of 20% for a particular product (Hauer, 2011). Now the firm wants to raise it to 35%. In
order to attain this, marketer needs to develop effective plan in regards of its level of
promotion and production efforts. In addition to that, company will also figure out who
will do what, how and when.
6. Pricing: The most essential role of marketing manager to set a price for particular
product. Product price is mainly affected by its rate of profit, competitors price, its cost,
government policy etc. ALDI is selling their product mainly at lower price as compared
to its competitors. Their pricing strategy includes market penetration, unit price strategy,
loss leader pricing, psychological pricing and competitive pricing.
M1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing in context of ALDI marketing environment
Marketing Management refers to the process planning, designing and execution of
different marketing concept. These concepts mainly include distribution, sales, promotion,
pricing etc. which compliments the potential buyer of an organisation. Below mentioned are the
various roles of marketing:
Marketing Strategies: The first & foremost role of marketing is to state effective marketing
planning and strategies for business concern. The manager of ALDI needs to understand the
needs and wants of potential buyers and serve them goods and services accordingly.
Monitoring of Marketing Environment: The process of marketing plays essential role in
determining new evolution in marketing environment. These new development includes external
and internal changes of market, changing market traits, legal and political change, socio-
economic forces etc.
Market Research: It is considered as a vital role of marketing. It mainly includes gathering
particular knowledge about the product, consumer and price so as to communicate best product
with best prices in the market.
Market Segmentation: In the modern scenario of globalisation, market is unpredictable and
volatile, thus companies with the help of marketing concept identifies its accurate segmentation.
The marketing manager of ALDI assist in customer identification in wide diverse market and
encourages its product and services among them (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2011).
P2 Inter-Relation of marketing function with various organisational department
An organisation is consist of various department such as HR, sales, information
technology, R&D etc. that collectively works together in addition with marketing function so to
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as to attain business objective in an effective manner. The heart of a business concern lies in its
marketing. The concept of marketing not only aid in promoting goods and services among end
consumer but also assist in managing the functionality of various organisational department. The
main purpose of every firm is to yield higher profitability ratios and this can only be possible via
higher lead generation (Malhotra, Birks and Wills 2013). With the help of marketing, manager of
ALDI stimulate the interest of potential buyer and encourage them to buy their product. In-fact,
the concept of marketing proves to be beneficial for various department of company such as it
aid HR in finding best and talented employees for the company. In addition to that, with the help
of marketing tool, ALDI's manager can easily figure out the needs and wants of potential buyer,
competitor analysis, value analysis etc. Mentioned below is the detailed explanation of how
marketing is inter-related with several organisational department:
Marketing and Human Resource Department: Company emphasize on attracting profitable
clients and customer to attain fair sales figures which can only be possible via hiring most skilled
and talented personnel. HR manager of ALDI uses marketing tool so as to attract applicant and
encourage them to apply for job in the company. Refereed firm can select appropriate marketing
channel where they can publish their advertisement. Market changes and so do the expectation of
employee. Therefore, company requires to change themselves as per the worker expectation. One
need to stay on top even if it is related with salary data, higher competitive edge etc.
Marketing and IT Department: In order to gain higher competitiveness level, ALDI is taking
the help of innovative and advance technology. They have launched their mobile application
which saves the time and energy of both company and customers. Technology is regarded as the
cornerstone for the department of marketing as this enable firm manager to intimately understand
the different needs and wants of target audience and their respective buying behaviour so to
enhance the relationship exist between customer and brand (Mihart, 2012). ALDI can gather
information related buyer and their purchasing pattern through CRM system so that they can
make their product accordingly.
Marketing and Sales Department: Sales and marketing department are inter-linked with each
other as they bridges the gap between buyer and end consumer. If customer faces any problem or
wants any change in the product, they can simply discuss it with sales manager of ALDI. This
further enable respective entity manager to convert customer demand into product specification.
With the help of different types of promotional tools, sales manager can easily alert production
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department according to the increased demand of product (Novak, 2011). ALDI is offering their
product comparatively at lower price from other supermarkets which gives higher competitive
advantage.
Marketing and Operation Department: Marketing department of ALDI provides accurate
information regarding customer taste and preferences and also about the demand and supply of
particular product to operational unit. Sales manager provides ground level information to
operational manager who further carry out their activities in an effective manner. With the help
of information given by sales which they have gathered through marketing tools aid ALDI
manager in effectively managing their resources.
Marketing and Research & Development: Marketing is considered as the new R&D because
of its immediate approach towards buyers behaviour and reaction. Earlier, likes and dislikes of
customer was identified by focus group or survey. But in modern era, with the help of various
newly introduced marketing tool, firm can easily figures out the current preference and wants of
customer through print media, electronic media, digital media etc. For example: ALDI is mainly
offering their product at lower price which makes customer think that they must be selling goods
of poor quality which is actually not. So now ALDI will laid stress on clearing its image in the
mind of target audience.
M2 Importance of inter-relationship between marketing and other functional unit
Functions of marketing are closely inter-related with different functional unit of business
organisation. The growth and success of any company depend upon how effectively they
marketed their product among target customer. The marketing function need economic resources
for evaluation, research, planning and implementation of marketing strategies among company, it
is mainly provided by the finance department of the company. The function of marketing cannot
work properly until and unless financial team provides them accurate information (Ormrod,
2014). Similarly, the functioning of marketing department is closely related with other function
as well. Production department needs to provide accurate description regarding the product and
services of the company.
D1 Critically evaluate the key element of marketing function
According to McDaniel, 2011 “Marketing can be viewed as business philosophy in which
the existence of company depends upon how effectively they satisfy the needs and wants of
target customer.” However, this is not the only responsibility of marketing unit, other
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departments needs to link with marketing function and attain business objective in an effective
manner.
Marketing consist of number of activities such as product design, pricing strategy,
advertising and others. There are some essential element that seems to be important for
marketing success are research, tactics, planning and strategy. With the help of all these crucial
element ALDI can achieve their business target in an effective manner.
TASK 2
P3 Compare marketing mix of two different organisation
Marketing Mix can be defined as set of tactics that organisation uses in order to promote
their product or brand in the market (Papasolomou and Melanthiou, 2012). In simple words, it
refers to putting right product at right place at right time. It generally consist of 7P's namely
product, price, place, promotion, physical evidence, process, people. In addition to that, it aid
firm in gaining higher competitive advantage over their rivals.
The biggest rival of ALDI is LIDL. Both the firm aims at selling product at discounted
price. Marketing-mix of both firms are mentioned below:
Elements of Marketing Mix ALDI LIDL
Product Company provides good
quality of products to the
customers. Products are
received from various vendors
and then company brands the
product and it can control the
production cost. Thus it
charges low cost for their
products as compared to other
shops. Company modify the
products according to different
season. It also offers other
products other than food items
such as fruits and vegetables,
LIDL is offering their products
at discounted rate which
makes them one of the
cheapest supermarket retailer
in the sector. Products sold by
LIDL is often similar to the
other supermarket such as
TESCO and ALDI. However,
customer have negative
perception about their product
quality because of its low
price.
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health and safety,household
and soft tools. It is the largest
retailer of the wine in
Germany.
Price Company charges lower
p[rices of all the products in
the market. Due to this it can
give strong competition to
other firms. Firm uses different
pricing strategies such as unit
pricing which means it fixes
prices of all units of products
so that customers can easily
compare the price of all food
items. Organization uses
market penetration in which it
charges low prices for all the
products so that it can
increases the profits and
market share.
One of its key competitive
strategy is its clever pricing
strategy. They entered into the
market on the ground of being
value-driven supermarket in
the country. Because of
incredible low pricing strategy,
consumer thinks that they are
offering cheap quality product
at discounted price which is
actually not.
Promotion Company do not spend the
money on the promotional
activities to pro0mote the
products. Firm can do the
promotion through the daily
newspaper in which it provides
super buys offer to various
customers. Newspaper are
available in different stores
and they are give to customers
LIDL does not have any
loyalty schemes in UK
because they believes that their
pricing model is sufficient to
incentivise target customer.
Rather than promoting their
product on social media
platform, they have designed
their own store promotion
techniques which
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directly. It also uses the Email
marketing where it promotes
the products through
attractive details and new
offers.
automatically attracts large
number of customer.
Place Company has different stores
in various countries in the
world. Firm keep simple look
of the store so that customers
have to pay less cost. It takes
products in bulk from many
vendors and stores in different
warehouses and evaluates that
product quality. It tries that
there is good transportation
and less wastage. It also give
online services to customers so
that they can check the details.
They mainly plenty of stores
across the Europe and UK.
Depend upon the market
condition of the country, they
operate their business practices
in different segment ranging
from higher to lower price.
They have ample of
distribution hub across Europe
and UK that maintains
constant level of inventory.
Their business model focuses
on selling maximum number
of goods at shorter time.
People Aldi has minimum
em,employees to handle the
customers. Firm has put the
layout of store in proper
sections which reduce the
requirement of all the
employees in the store. It
gives training to the employees
and pay higher compensation
to the employees as compared
to the competitors. Employees
They provide attractive salary
to its employees but for this
they need to work really hard.
The amount of time they take
to scan a particular product is
considered as their
performance indicator.
Training has been given to
employees so that they can
scan product more quickly and
satisfy customer need in an
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sat on a computer and then do
the billing work hence they
can deliver the good services
to the customers. Thus
company can easily increase
the sales.
appropriate manner.
Physical Evidence Company keeps the minimum
high quality products in the
stores so that customers do not
have confusion in selection of
the goods. Through this
consumers can easily select the
goods among all the items
available. These products have
barcodes through which
products can be identified very
easily by the customers and
consumers can also do the
quick billing of their product.
The layout of LIDL store is in
traditional and linear manner.
This help buyer in finding their
products as soon as possible.
Also they have evidence their
brand colour in almost every
surrounding areas which
makes easier for a customer to
find their stores or outlets.
Process Company uses the
standardisation in their
business processes and mostly
items are created by the
company themselves. It has
good furnitures and shelves
where items are keep in proper
places. Thus it can attract
many customers.
LIDL primary process is to
buy and sell large number of
goods at an affordable price.
The involvement of customer
in their business operation is
very less.
M3 Evaluate different tactics chosen by ALDI to achieve business objective
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Marketing Mix consist of set of various activities that help company in promoting their
product and services in the market (Perreault, 2010). It consists of 7 P's which include product,
price, place, promotion, people, process and physical evidence. With the help of this tool, ALDI
can gain higher competitive advantage in the market over their rivals. It serve as a guide that is
useful in enhancing the business activities.
TASK 3
P4 Produce basic marketing plan
Marketing Plan: It is comprehensive document that outlines company's marketing &
advertising efforts for the coming year so to attain its business objectives in a significant manner.
Company Overview: ALDI is the leading discounted supermarket chain that operates their
business practices in 18 countries with more than 10,000 stores. The company was established in
the year 1946. The company deals in selling products like foods, beverages, household goods
and sanitary articles as discounted rate or lower rate as compared to other supermarkets.
Mission and Vision Statement:
Mission: ALDI is highly efficient and successful that is operating their business practices
overseas and mainly offers products at discounted rate.
Vision: ALDI aims at gaining higher competitive advantage by selling products at moderately
cheaper price (Pike, 2015).
SMART objective:
 Sells maximum number of product in minimum time-frame.
 Explore the marketing opportunities of international market.
 Expect growth of 5% annually.
STP Approach:
Segmentation Customer prefer to buy grocery at competitive price.
Targeting Household Groups
Positioning ALDI is selling product under the brand of their own private label. As
the company is strongly famous in Germany, its time for them to explore
different markets.
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SWOT Analysis:
Strength:  Claim ton offer product of top quality
 Offers product at discounted price
 Strong market presence in Germany with more than 2500 stores.
 Operating cost is low
 ALDI is having over 8000 stores in Europe & other countries
Weakness:  Lack of global presence in other international market
 Sometime considered as store that provide low or cheap quality
product at lower price
 Negative view perspective of target customer
Opportunities:  Needs to spend more in advertisement so to gain higher
competitive edge.
 Expanding their business operation in developing economies
such as Asia, Africa etc.
Threat:  Cannot cater the demand of customer who is looking for
complete shopping experience.
 Strong Competition from other supermarket store.
Competitor Analysis: Their main competitors are LIDL and TESCO.
Budget: In order to manage business operation in an effective manner, ALDI needs to prepare
effective and efficient marketing budget that aid in attaining company's objective in a structured
manner.
Marketing budget
Particulars 1st year 2nd year 3rd year 4th year 5th year
Initial money 4000 6000 8000 10000 15000
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Investment 13000 22000 31000 14000
Total 4000 19000 30000 41000 29000
Marketing outlay
Promotion 5000 2000 4000 3500 2000
sales publicity 3000 3000 3500 2500 3000
Direct selling 4000 3000 4000 3000 4000
Total 12000 8000 11500 9000 9000
Monitoring and Controlling: Once the company has implemented its marketing plan, their
manager needs to examine whether all the activities are going as per the defined standard or not
(Rossi, Allenby and McCulloch, 2012). Also if they found any error, then corrective action plan
will be developed by the marketing manager so as to perform all activities in an effective and
efficient manner.
M4 Produce detailed marketing plan for ALDI
Marketing Plan is detailed document that blueprints ALDI's marketing tactics and
strategies in order to achieve its business objective in an effective manner. It laid stress on
particular period of time and includes variety of details regarding marketing function such as
goals, cost and action plan (Silver and et. al., 2012). ALDI's marketing plan consist of its mission
and vision statement, objectives, STP approach, SWOT Analysis, overall budget and monitoring
and controlling tools.
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D2 Design marketing plan with the use of 7Ps
Marketing Plan is a blueprints that describes company's efforts in marketing their product
at comparatively lesser rate. It covers how marketing tools effectively covers all 7P's name price,
product, place, promotion, process, people and physical evidence in an effective manner. This
makes easier for firm to evaluate the needs and wants of customer in an effective manner.
Marketing Mix considered as the key element of marketing mix (Swenson, Rhoads and Whitlark,
2014). With the help of this, ALDI can figure out the importance of marketing mix in context of
attaining its business objective.
CONCLUSION
According to the given report it can be concluded that marketing plays vital role in
advertising product and service in the market. Company yield higher returns from the customer,
therefore it is very essential to determine their likes and dislikes. With the help of marketing,
firm can capture large market share of both developed and developing economy. Success of any
company rely on who marketed their product in the market which gives them higher competitive
advantage.
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