Marketing Essentials: Roles and Responsibilities, Marketing Mix, and Interrelationships with Other Functional Units - Desklib

This report focuses on explaining the key roles and responsibilities of marketing function, interrelationship between marketing and other functions, production of marketing plan, marketing mix, and different tactics used by organization. Organization chosen for this report is Sainsbury. Task 1 explains the key roles and responsibilities of marketing function, while Task 2 focuses on the marketing mix of the organization. The report also analyzes the significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional units of the organization. The report concludes with an analysis of the key elements of marketing function. Course code and college/university not mentioned.

MARKETING
ESSENTIALS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................2
TASK 1......................................................................................................................................2
a. Explain the Key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function...............................2
b. Explain roles and Responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational
context:...................................................................................................................................3
M1 Analyse the roles and responsibilities of marketing in the context of the marketing
environment using the organisation of your choice...............................................................4
M2 Analyse the significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional
units of the organisation of your choice:................................................................................4
D1 Analysing and evaluating the key elements of marketing function.................................5
SCENARIO 2.............................................................................................................................6
TASK 1......................................................................................................................................6
a) Marketing mix of the organisations...................................................................................6
b) Evaluating the different tactics used by the organisations.................................................9
TASK 2......................................................................................................................................9
A) Producing marketing plan for the company......................................................................9
B) Evaluating marketing plan..............................................................................................11
M4 Producing detailed marketing plan................................................................................11
D2 Designing strategic marketing plan applying use of 7 P's of marketing........................11
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is an essential tool for companies to maximise sales. It is extremely
important for organizations to focus upon marketing as it directly helps them in promoting
their products and services, attract more number of customers and enhance their overall
revenue and sales. Present report will focus upon explaining key roles and responsibilities of
marketing function are explained, interrelationship between marketing and other functions,
production of marketing plan, marketing mix, different tactics used by organization.
Organization chosen for this report is Sainsbury. Sainsbury is the second largest supermarket
chain of UK founded in 1869 whose main headquarter is in London, UK.
TASK 1
a. Explain the Key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function
The marketing process of an organization consists of four steps, which aim to recognize
potential opportunities and develop strategies to help implement the marketing plans. The
steps are situation analysis, marketing strategy, marketing mix decision and implementation
and control.
· Situation Analysis – occurs when there a company is in the process of identifying
marketing opportunities, which are realistic and the firm has the ability to implement them.
· Marketing Strategy – when the marketing opportunities are chosen, the needed strategies
should be developed.
· Marketing Mix Decision – consist of the elements of the marketing mix, such is price,
product, place and promotion. Decisions on how the product will be developed and
distributed should be made. Also, the product distribution is another factor that should be
taken into account.
· Implementation and Control – the last step of the marketing process is implementing the
marketing plan developed through the help of the steps above, so that results can be seen. The
work of the people who put the plan in action is supervised to avoid mistakes or unwanted
circumstances.

Furthermore, another important aspect of the marketing process is the Marketing Mix, which
has already been mentioned above. The marketing mix consists of four elements – product,
price, promotion and place, so it is also known as the 4 P’s. The four P’s will be explained
below:
· Product – the first element of the marketing mix tells us all about the product and this
includes all of the “tangible and intangible attributes”. For instance, the design, size, quality,
colour, style, packaging and etcetera. In addition, “the product differentiation, standardisation
and grading, product lines and etc.” are also taken into account. (Jain, 2009)
· Price – when a brand is marketing their products, such as H&M, they have to determine
the right price for the product. This is because, the price is one of the most important factors,
which contribute to the customer’s decision whether they will or will not buy the product.
The ‘price’ aspect includes pricing objectives, pricing and discount policy, price margins and
others.
· Promotion - the promotion of a product is simply defined as the way, in which the
advertiser of a product communicates to the customers. There are two types of promotion –
personal and impersonal. Personal promotion is when the seller talks to the customer face to
face and impersonal promotion occurs when there is no direct communication between the
seller and buyer. Examples of impersonal promotion are Public Relations and Advertising.
Both personal and impersonal promotions have benefits and limitations, so the choice which
promotion type to follow depends on the product, product nature and on the circumstances.
· Place – the location where a product is sold may have a noticeable influence on the sales
and profits from this product. A good location will be somewhere, where customers go and it
should be easily accessible for clients. In addition, the ‘place’ aspect of the marketing mix
also includes the channels of distribution, retailing, inventory, transportation and etcetera.
Some of the main roles and responsibilities of marketing functions for Sainsbury are:
 Formulation of strategies for management process: one of the main functions of
marketing functions is formulation of strategies for achievement of main goals and
objectives in order to achieve main vision of organization and enhance their overall sales
and marketing.

 Effective application of Marketing System: Effective marketing system applications helps
in determining ways in which data is used for driving strategies and decisions.
 Developing the pricing, promotion and distribution strategies: Another important role of
marketing function is to evaluate current marketing trend, customers preferences, and
then on the basis of this research develop an appropriate distribution, promotion and
pricing strategy so that their overall sales, profitability and revenue can be enhanced.
 Monitoring the market environment and give customer what they want: Another
important role of marketing function is to conduct detailed market research in order to
understand and monitor continuous change in marketing environment, preferences of
customers. So that Sainsbury can bring changes within their products and services and per
the current marketing condition.
 Meeting with customers’ requirements profitably: It is one of the most important role of
marketing function of Sainsbury which is to ensure that marketing of products
requirement in order to attract a greater number of customers and enhance profitability.
 Changing role of marketing through relationship marketing: Due to increasing importance
of customer relationship marketing in which organizations like Sainsbury focus upon
developing relationship with their customer through free word-of mouth promotion in
order to generate leads. It is directly changing ways in which Sainsbury did marketing as
well as it is also changing main role of marketing.
b. Explain roles and Responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational context:
A market-oriented approach is a marketing strategy that focuses on responding to customers’
demands and leaving them satisfied. Usually, all of the companies who develop and sell
products aim to achieve customer satisfaction, but this approach may have some limitations
as well.
One of the best advantages of the marketing oriented approach is the fact that it responds
exactly to consumers’ demand, which means that a firm would develop and launch the
products that are most likely to be wanted by consumers. To some extent, this eliminates the
forecasting of “product trends and consumer demands for goods”. (Small Business
- Chron.com, 2015) In addition, depending on the type of good, the inventory turnover may
be quicker, which is cost-saving.

Moreover, another benefit of this approach is that it allows for a company to build stronger
brand image and customer loyalty. Customer loyalty may be one of the best competitive
advantages of businesses, because when customers are loyal they are more likely to repeat
purchases and shop one’s brand products, rather than going for the offers and sales their
rivals provide.
On the other hand, as perfect as the market-oriented approach sounds, there are some
limitations that an organization should consider before applying this marketing method. For
instance, to find out consumers’ needs and want and in order to have accurate data, an
extensive and expensive marketing research should be implemented. This suggests that the
research will be costly and time-consuming, which may not be suitable for some companies,
especially smaller firms.
Furthermore, by increasing the value of a product, usually the quality is improved or more
features are added, which will also be costly for companies. In addition, even a firm wishes to
provide excellent customer service, they need to finance staff training to ensure they deliver
the best service to consumers. This may result in less profits and more expenditure for
organizations.
M1 Analyse the roles and responsibilities of marketing in the context of the marketing
environment using the organisation of your choice
As Sainsbury is one of the leading retail chains across UK, so marketing plays very
crucial role in this organization. Thus, it is the accountability of marketing department to find
out further growth opportunities of business and customers expectation. Such updated
information provides high level of assistance in improving the quality of existing products
and services. Marketing is also very much important in Sainsbury pertaining to drafting
strategies which helps in gaining competitive edge over others (Lancaster and Massingham.,
2010).
M2 Analyse the significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional
units of the organisation of your choice:
Marketing and strategy:
Both the aspects are interrelated in many ways; one of them is that strategies cannot
be formed unless and until marketing is done. Thus, through marketing Sainsbury comes to
know about the requirements and need of customers through which proper strategies can be
formed to fulfil all needs and requirement of customers of Sainsbury.
Marketing and finance:

Marketing is important for financing because without marketing cash flow cannot be
done properly. Thus, without marketing assessment it will be difficult to forecast future
consequences of finance in Sainsbury.
Marketing and Human resource: Marketing function has direct relationship with human
resource function because any kind of skill, talent or requirement of human an employees for
carry out all the main roles and responsibilities of marketing, marketing functional
department ask human resource functional department Sainsbury to recruit, select and train
new employees for marketing function.
Marketing and Sales: Marketing function has direct relationship with sales function because
effective marketing can help in attracting a greater number of costumers which will
eventually help in enhancing overall sales of Sainsbury. Sales of products and services of an
organization is completely dependent upon effective marketing.
Marketing and production: marketing helps in generating awareness among customers about
organizations products and services. This data is then provided to production department so
that they can produce products, manage quality of products and per the needs and
requirement of customers.
D1 Analysing and evaluating the key elements of marketing function
The main role of marketing is to conduct research and gather information about needs
of consumers. Once needs have been analysed then entity circulate information to the
production department and the make modification in the existing products so that enterprise
can meet with the expectation of consumers. Another main function of the marketing is to
circulate information about products to consumers (Piercy, N., 2014). This helps in attracting
them towards the brand and raising profit of the firm. This is closely related with finance
department of the firm because this impact on the cash flow activities of the company. Thus,
this is interrelated with other functional unit of the organization.
Pricing is the major element that can impact on functioning of marketing because if
company is offering products at high cost then it might influence decision of the consumers.
Whereas products quality is the major component, if products of the firm are satisfying needs
of customers then it may attract them towards the brand without conducting any marketing
strategies.
SCENARIO 2
TASK 1
a) Marketing mix of the organisations

Product: Sainsbury's is a chain of supermarket in UK which has the stock collection of more
than 30,000 product line from which the own-labelled goods are 20%. The range of
diversified products includes- fruits and vegetables, fish and meat, dairy and bakery products,
beer, wine spirits, health and beauty essentials. The firm has every type of product for its
various needs of customers. Whereas, as per the expansion of customer base through
attraction of more customers is very essential to Morrisons. It can be done easily approached
by improving the existing product and introducing more products for new rising demands of
customers. Sale is expected to improve with expansion of its new product line.
Place: Sainsbury has started its business in the year 1922 in the Drury Lane, London and was
one of the largest grocery store in UK. According to the report, organisation has 608
supermarkets and 806 convenience shops taking to 1423 shops. The market dominance
covered by the entity is mostly in the areas Wolverhampton, Enfield, South-East London,
Dartford, Redhill, Guildford, Swindon and Torquay. Customers can even choose the products
online and also with the help of phone calls (Baker, M.J., 2014). Whereas for Morrison it is
very important for every customer to choose the right market. The organisation needs to
understand the right market for its products. Research on market segmentation has to be
carried out and various distribution channels has to be decided for the products.
Promotion: The strategy adopted by Sainsbury's is both BTL and ATL to promote the
product in consumer market. The sales promotion is used with the help of incentives and
database marketing as an essential part of the marketing strategy. The official site of the
organisation is the best promotional tool. In order to build sales Sainsbury's has introduced
Nectar Reward Card and increase the consumer base. The slogan like 'quality perfect prices
lower' attract the customers most and describes the organisation in the perfect way. Whereas,
Morrison adopt various techniques to promote the brand nationally as well as internationally.
Techniques includes direct and indirect marketing and different type of advertising has been
adopted in order to attract numerous customers (Du Plessis, C., 2015).

Price: Sainsbury posted revenues and operating income of the organisation was pound
26.224 Billion in the year 2017 respectively. The strategy of price mix offers value for money
to its customers, therefore there have been various prices set for different products. The
quality of products has been maintained to ensure the stability in customer retention by the
organisation. On the other hand, Morrison’s customers have the view point to pay negotiable
prices for substitute products in the market. Morrisons is the organisation which has been
always ahead in offering ng the goods at lower prices as compared to its competitors.
Furthermore, pricing strategy includes giving discount at various rates, offering coupons and
providing the best reduced prices.
People: For Sainsbury it is one of the main extended Ps of the marketing mix which is
concerned with the workforce of Sainsbury's. The organisation takes care of it employees in a
very well manner and always tries to motivate them by offering different financial and non-
financial incentives. For Morrison when the services being delivered by the organisation, the
person delivering it is not a unique one rather than the staff. The entity mainly invests in
defining and training the appropriate kind of person in order to fulfil the service roll
Process: Sainsbury processes are being clearly delivered by the service providers of the
organisations. An individual defines the areas of customer preferences (Swoboda, B. et.al.,
2015). On the other hand, Morrisons has the ability to offer the services, handles the protests
and resolves the issues before they actually happen. The process mix of the organisation is a
versatile and a strong one
Physical Evidence: for Sainsbury it is the vital element which is very perfectly adopted by
the company. There is a kind of inviting and is very simple to explore if being sold on the
pricey side. Whereas Morrison efficiently uses this element takes location of the services
delivered very significantly. Entity offers good level of comfort and attractive products to its
customers
b) Evaluating the different tactics used by the organisations
The marketing mix applied by the organisations has broadened the marketing
management for the entity. It is a very familiar marketing tool has been applied very
effectively by the organisations to pop up the offerings of services and products to its
potential buyers. Marketing is an activity which continuously evolves discipline in the cited
companies in order to plan the future ahead in the competitive environment of the market
(Human, G. et.al., 2016).

TASK 2
A) Producing marketing plan for the company
Executive Summary
Sainsbury's Plc will produce new clothes segment and will sell in the market. It will
focus on the customers of households and would attain profits accordingly and maintain its
market position in the best possible manner. It will be able to attain income by maintaining
leadership in supermarkets.
Company Overview
Firm is engaged in retail and lifestyle sector and has good market share. Moreover, it
is headquartered in UK and is market leader and earns good quantum of profits. The tagline
of company is Good food costs less at Sainsbury's. It focuses on providing and selling goods
at low prices. This would be beneficial for company in selling goods in effective manner and
accomplish goals.
Objectives
 To attain 10 % of growth in revenue in the first quarter of financial year.
 To position goods at affordable prices to attain customer's base
 To provide quality goods and become market leader
SWOT analysis
Strengths
 It has employee's base of more than
180,000 people.
 Good advertising techniques
 It has good leadership team
Weaknesses
 The food prices have risen in the world
market and thus, company is selling it
at higher prices.
 Competition is increasing in retail
sector.
Opportunities
 Sainsbury's can effectively enter new
markets by taking partnership or getting
into joint ventures.
Threats
 Globalisation has increased which has
posed challenge to firm.

 It can expand in nations like Asia,
Africa.
 It has to source for better quality
products to outreach its rivals.
Target Market
The target market of Sainsbury's is to reach into households of UK so that customer's
base can be increased and as such, profits could be achieved in effective manner. Moreover, it
is required that organisation should make strategies to attain market share.
Segmenting: The target segment of company is people who shops on online basis and also on
traditional basis.
Targeting: Target market of company will be households who will buy the clothes from
company.
Positioning: The cost leadership strategy will be implemented to provide goods at low prices.
Budget forecast
Particulars Amount
Online Advertising expenses 2000
Operational expenses 1000
Marketing costs 2000
Total 5000
B) Evaluating marketing plan
The marketing plan is prepared which will be beneficial for the company in attaining
good quantum of growth by launching its new product. After making a strong strategy and
implementing it, then only Sainsbury can survive in this competitive market and would
become able to enhance customer base. A good and strong strategy can lead to bigger growth
opportunities. Hence, company would attain profits (Wirtz,2012.).

Evaluation and control: In order to evaluate marketing plan success return on investment will
be evaluated. ROI will directly help in evaluating whether marketing plan results were
profitable or not. Further in order to bring improvement within current marketing plan and
control its outcomes, feedback from customers will be collected. Customer feedback will
further help Sainsbury in indenting factors in which they need to bring improvement, factors
that were liked and preferred by customers. Lastly in order to evaluate profit generated with
the help of new marketing plan, profit generated will be evaluated and measured so that
success of marketing plan can be evaluated in an accurate manner.
M4 Producing detailed marketing plan
The marketing plan is prepared by taking into account and conducting SWOT analysis
and target market is listed which would provide company with increased sales in the best
possible manner. Budget forecasts and objectives are devised which will be helpful in
attaining marketing of commodities quite effectually and product would be successful (Fill,
2011).
D2 Designing strategic marketing plan applying use of 7 P's of marketing
Strategic marketing plan can be taken by conducting 7 P's of marketing. The Product
mix can be achieved by targeting product in the market. On the other hand, price mix could
be attained by following cost leadership strategy. Furthermore, promotional mix can be
attained by devising advertising (Berkowitz, 2010). Moreover, place would be able to sell at
markets where company could attain profits by increasing customer base.
Product: Main focus of Sainsbury is to provide high quality cloths in lower cost to their
target customers which will not only help in enhancing overall sales of organization but will
further help in enhancing overall profitability.
Place: Sainsbury will launch new product in UK and will make it available for their target
customers online, who prefer shopping online in cheap price.
Promotion: Sainsbury will focus upon promoting their new product on social networking
sites and application and it is one of the most effective way of engaging with customers,
enhancing overall awareness of customers.
Price: Lowest pricing strategy will be adopted by Sainsbury for their new clothing products
in which they will be selling their product in lowest possible price.

People: People involved in this marketing plan are employees working in marketing
department and IT department. Marketing department employees will be working upon
ensuing marketing plan is implemented successfully whereas IT department employees will
ensure that social networking promotion of product is done in an accurate manner, response
of customers is recorded properly and will further ensure that product is available online for
their target customers.
Process: All the customers will be providing with an online platform where they can buy new
product, provide feedback. Other than this, customers will also be provided with free home
delivery service.
Physical Evidence: Physical evidence will online platform where new product will be made
available to customers for shopping.
CONCLUSION
Hereby it can be concluded that marketing is considered as one of the most essential
function of business unit. Marketing function is closely related with other functional unit of
the firm. Due to the fundamental, logic of the elements of marketing mix, it helps the
companies in being financially as well as ethically sound in the marketing environment and
helps to adapt the changes in the market in each field like in social media, the essential
updates in the places where the companies can easily sell the product according to the
expectations of potential customers in a frequent changing environment.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Du Plessis, C., 2015, July. An exploratory analysis of essential elements of content
marketing. In Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Social Media. (pp.
122-129).
Fill. C. 2011. Essentials of marketing communications. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Financial
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Human, G. et.al., 2016. Strategic drivers of a network-orientated approach to the organisation
of marketing in business-to-business firm. Management Dynamics: Journal of the
Southern African Institute for Management Scientists. 25(3), pp.33-45.
Lancaster, G. and Massingham. L. 2010. Essentials of marketing management. Routledge.
Malhotra, N. K., Birks, D. F. and Wills, P., 2013. Essentials of marketing research. Pearson.
Piercy, N., 2014. Marketing Organisation (RLE Marketing). Routledge.
Swoboda, B. et.al., 2015. Successful GAM Organisation for Companies that Supply
International Retailers and the Role of international Marketing Strategy. Im European
Retail Research. (pp. 27-47). Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden.
Wirtz. J. 2012. Essentials of services marketing. FT Press.
Online:
Marketing Mix: Definition, 7Ps (Extended Mix), 2017. [online]. Available through:
<https://studiousguy.com/marketing-mix/>