Marketing Management: Strategies for Improving Customer Service

This report discusses marketing management strategies for improving customer service. It covers topics such as marketing audits, SWOT analysis, marketing objectives, and the marketing mix plan. The report focuses on the importance of targeting the right customers at the right time.

Marketing
Management

Abstract
Marketing management plays an important role as it allow an organisation to effectively
plan and implement business activities in a proper manner. It will help companies to attain
organisational goals within specified time frame. Marketing audit is defined as a process that
examine objectives, activities and goals which is developed by companies in order to promote
product and service in market. The present report will discuss about marketing mix plan that
assist an entity to target right customers at right time. In addition to this, the report will describe
strategies which is needed to adopt by company in order to improve customer service level.

Table of Contents
Abstract ...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
TASK...............................................................................................................................................5
Audit ......................................................................................................................................5
SWOT analysis of ALDI........................................................................................................5
Strength and weakness of internal audit ................................................................................6
TOWS Analysis of ALDI and explanation of Marketing Audits .........................................7
Marketing Objectives.............................................................................................................8
Marketing Mix plan................................................................................................................9
How ALDI can improve customer service level..................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Marketing management is termed as a process that involves planning, implementing,
promoting, pricing and distributing of products and services with an aim to meet customer needs
and achieve organisational goals within specified time frame (Bagozzi and et. al., 2018).
Marketing management also involves managing and controlling objectives, strategies as well as
tactics which is related to marketing of an organisation. In the present report, ALDI is chosen as
a base company. It is a supermarket chain and offers high quality grocery and home essentials in
market. The company was established in the year 1946 by Karl & Theo Albrecht. ALDI has
high market share and has more than 12,000 stores world wide. The company have decide to
conduct 12 month marketing campaign between the tenure of 1st May 2020 to 30th April 2021
and for this its higher authorities decided a tag line “ Expressing Ourselves”. The intensive
marketing campaign is going to conduct by ALDI in order to create awareness and raise sales of
company. The report covers TOWS analysis along with explanation of marketing audits. In
addition to this, SWOT analysis is discuss in the present report with relation to company. The
report also covers the development of marketing objectives for “Express Ourselves” campaign.
Later it discuss Marketing Mix plans and strategies that help company to improve customer
service. The marketing mix involves 7P's which help company to target right customers at right
time and at right place.
TASK
Audit
Audit is defined as systematic and independent examining of various documents, records,
vouchers, books and accounts of a company. This is done on order to analyse how far the
financial statements and non financial disclosures are presenting fair concern.
Audit marketing
A marketing audit is defined as comprehension examination and analysis of the
marketing goals, activities and objectives. This audit is used for analysing the way in which
efforts of marketing are planned and managed properly. This is an important way of assessing
the marketing plan. This audit helps in improving knowledge regarding products, brand and
services. The purpose of marketing audit is to analyse the plan of marketing department and
know what is it's success rate. It is important for any organisation to know how it can use the

marketing activities and promotional events to reach the potential customers and increase sales
of the company. The higher authorities of ALDI uses swot analysis in order to examine threats
and opportunities of the company. The swot analysis is mentioned below:
SWOT analysis of ALDI
Strength: ALDI offers quality products in market at lower prices which is one of its
major strength as this technique help company to attract more number of customers and earn
higher profits. The another strength of ALDI is its global presence as it have more than 2500
stores in Germany due to which is able to raise market share easily. In addition to this, ALDI
purchases raw materials in bulk which lower down the cost and increases profit margins of
company. ALDI exist in more than 15 countries that is internationally it has around 10,000 stores
all over the world. Moreover, the strength of ALDI is its effective and talented employees which
is the main reason behind growth and success of company.
Weaknesses: The company is still small as compare to its competitors which is one of
the weakness of ALDI. The another weakness of company is poor employee satisfaction as it
employees did not receive output as per the potential or the hard work they put in order to meet
targets on time. This develops dissatisfaction between employees due to which there is increases
in attrition rate of ALDI. In addition to this, ALDI has not been able to influence globally as
compare to its other international chains.
Opportunities: ALDI has the opportunity to enter into new segments that is it can offer
organic food in market which maximize sales level. Along with this, ALDI require to spent more
amount on advertising which will lead company to beat competition in market. The company has
also the opportunity to expand its market in countries such as Asia, Africa and so on as it will
help in raising market presence as well as market share in a effective manner. Moreover, ALDI
has the opportunity to re position its brand as a affordable products instead of cheap products
which can boost its business in a best manner.
Threats: Competitors such as Walmart, Best Buy, TESCO and so on affect on the overall
performance and profits of ALDI. In addition to this, taxation and government policies impact on
business margins that decline overall market share of ALDI. The another threat of company is its
private label brand which can be tossed by well settled brands in market.
Internal environment – Internal audit helps an organisation to evaluate the internal
controls such as accounting processes and corporate governance. The internal audit conduct

activities which have compliance with laws and regulations. This is helpful in maintaining
accurate and timely financial reporting as well as data collection. The internal audits help in
providing management with tools which are essential for identifying problems and correcting
any lapse before they discover in an external audit. The internal audit is used for identification of
any department, gathering understanding of current internal control process, testing on fieldwork,
follow up with department staff sand preparation of official audit report. The assessment
techniques ensures an internal auditor which collects proper understanding of internal control
procedures.
Strength and weakness of internal audit
Strength - When a company invests in a marketing audit, there is an expert team who is provided
permission for analysing and external communication environment which thrives business. By
using the gathered data, companies are able to develop a more informed and focused marketing
and advertising plan for the company.
Weakness – This includes that Internal audit must be done regularly for checking if there is any
problem in the marketing plan.
Why audit needs to be undertaken – A marketing audit is defined as system which is helpful for
evaluating the marketing assets and activities which are linked to the organisational goals. This
audit helps in knowing whether the marketing campaigns, promotional events, strategies and
teams which are used by the company are right or not. The basic ideas behind this audit is that
more the company checks, more effective is the marketing. There are several benefits of
marketing audit to the company as marketing department knows what is the exact reason for
failure of any product or service offered by the company. This tells how marketing can be
enhanced by organising right kind of promotions to target customers. In this way, company is
able to correct the marketing loopholes and attract more number of customers towards buying
products offered by the company.
TOWS Analysis of ALDI and explanation of Marketing Audits
TOWS analysis is closely similar to SWOT analysis and covers Threats, opportunities,
weaknesses and strength of an organisation (Deepak and Jeyakumar, 2019). It assist companies
to identify opportunities & threats and then compare it with strength as well as weaknesses so
that strategic planning is developed. The higher authorities of ALDI uses this framework in order

to make effective strategies and tactics for their upcoming Marketing Campaign. These
framework is described below:
Opportunities Threats
Strength SO
 ALDI is already an
established brand that
offers high quality
grocery and house
essentials to customers.
The company have the
opportunity to enter
into new segment that
is offering organic food
products in market by
using its market
position & brand name.
 The company has well
settled supply network
as well as supplier
relations that enable
price negotiation and
lowers down
corporation tax which
will help ALDI to gain
price advantage in this
competitive market
(Gummesson, 2017).
ST
 Being a market leader,
ALDI gains
competitive advantage
at market place by
giving high discount,
offers to customers that
minimize the threat of
decline in sales and
profit.
 ALDI can raise its
market position by
satisfying customers as
well as employees. As
it will build high
consumer confidence
level towards company
that leads to positive
word of mouth in
market by customers.
Weaknesses WO
 Reducing in the level
of sales ad profitability
WT
 The sales and growth
of company declines

can be considered by
emphasising on market
trend of organic &
fresh food.
 Focusing on clean
eating and supplying
of healthy foods to
customer's assist
company to resolve its
problem of liquidity as
well as profitability.
because of opening of
more convenience and
discount stores. The
company can establish
more convenience
outlets & shut some of
its supermarket stores.
Marketing Objectives
The objective of organising marketing campaign “Express Ourselves” of 12 months by
ALDI is mentioned below:
 To increase 10% sales in coming 6 moths by creating awareness about its product and
services at global level.
 To enhance the profit of company by 5% within 8 months which will build strong brand
image.
 To differentiate and create value of product in order to gain competitive advantage from
its rivals in the coming 1 year.
Justification of Marketing Objectives
To increase 10% sales in coming 6 months by creating awareness about its product
and services at global level: The main objective of conducting marketing campaign “Express
Ourselves” is to educate as well as aware customers about companies offering at marketplace.
The higher authorities of ALDI can use different social media applications such as Facebook,
Whatsapp, YouTube, LinkedIn and so on. This will help company to reach large number of
audiences at global level that directly impact on sales performance of ALDI in a positive manner
(Baker and Parkinson, 2016). By the assistance of this, its top level management have the
opportunity to raise productivity as well as profitability level of company within short span of
time.

To enhance the profit of company by 5% within 8 months which will build strong
brand image.: The other objective of marketing campaign that is conducted by management
team of ALDI is to develop a positive mindset of customers about company product as well as
services. This can be achieved if company uses various media vehicles that spreads positive
message about products of company within the market. If the brand is correctly position in the
mind of image it will develops positive word of mouth by customers to other people that directly
builds strong brand image at marketplace (Hüttner, 2018). Moreover, it will raise market
performance as well as market share of company in an effective manner.
To differentiate and create value of product in order to gain competitive advantage
from its rivals in the coming 1 year: The marketing campaign will be organised by company
with an objective to create value of brand within the market. This can only be developed when
company keep promises and fulfil commitments to its customers. It builds trust among customers
towards the brand and they will not switch to other brands in future. By the assistance of this,
ALDI has the opportunity to gain competitive advantage at market place and fight with their
rivals in a proper manner. Moreover, this will assist higher authorities to reach on leading
position in these industry.
Marketing Mix plan
Marketing mix is basically a tool which is used by companies to sell its product as well as
services to the target market. It include strategies and tactics that is adopted by an organisation to
promote and create awareness about products and services within the market. Marketing mix
consist of 7P's that is price, promotion, process, place, product, people and physical evidence as
well. Arranging of all these elements in an effective managers assist an organisation to make as
well as develop profitable marketing decisions (Kotler and et. al., 2019). By the assistance of this
decision, companies have the opportunity to build strength and reduce its weaknesses. Moreover,
it helps an organisation to be more competitive & gains higher position within the market. This
will directly leads to raise in sales as well as profitability of an association which in turn raises
market performance and market share of companies. The higher authorities of ALDI uses
marketing mix tool in order to achieve marketing campaign objective. Acquisition of this tool for
marketing campaign “Express Ourselves” will help company to reach its target customers and
enhance sales performance in an effective manner. The 7P's of marketing mix is defined below
with relation to ALDI are as follows:

Product: An item which is produced by companies to satisfy customer needs as well as
requirement. In order to gain product success at marketplace it is important for an organisation to
identify customer demands as well as market trends and then develop product accordingly. With
reference to ALDI, they emphasise on providing high quality products in market with an to gain
loyalty of customers. The company offer grocery as well as household essential products such as
Choco rice, tea biscuits, fruits, wine, beer, fruits and so on (Olson and et. al., 2018). The
company can achieve marketing campaign objective if they maintain quality in products and
deliver it to customers within the time frame.
Price: It is an amount which an organisation charges from its customers in return of its
product and services. It is essential for an entity to analyse its competitors price and then set
price accordingly which help companies to remain in market for longer time period and gain
success. In context to ALDI, it uses competitive pricing strategy which helps them to sell
products on lower prices as compare to its competitors. The company buy products in large
quantity so that they can offer lower rates and gain the attention of customers towards it. By the
assistance of this, ALDI can raise its sales volume and generates higher profit which is one of its
marketing objective.
Place: Any location where customers can easily access as well as purchase the product. It
involves transport, distribution centres, franchise and so on. With reference to ALDI, the
company have more than 11,000 stores that serves its product all over the world. The higher
authorities of company analyse market visibility before launching the stores on particular
location (Parsons and Lepkowska-White, 2018). They also ensures that its stores are located
where availability of parking space is adequate and customers can reach easily as well as
conveniently. In addition to this, it focuses on keeping the ambience of stores simple in order to
lower down cost that affect positively on the profits of company. It raise the sales of ALDI which
will help company to achieve marketing campaign objective in an effective manner.
Promotion: It refers to the way of creating awareness and educating people towards the
organisation product and services. In context to ALDI, the company uses various social media
applications such as Instagram, YouTube,LinkedIn and many more in order to maximum number
of people and increase their sales. Moreover, the company will going to conduct advertising
campaign in order to reach large number of audiences that will enhance its overall sales and
profitability level.

Process: The layout of ALDI stores is easy which help customers to conveniently find
the products and thus reduce the use of employees to assist customers. Moreover, its product
consist of Barcodes which helps in identification of product price easily and leads to fast billing
service to customer.
Physical Evidence: ALDI is one of the store that maintain similar price of groceries in
all over the world. Along with this, it offers 20% cheaper products & maintain low price
everyday. It affect positively on the sales and market share of ALDI.
People: ALDI provides on the job training to employees so that they can easily handle
customer issues and serve high quality service to customer's. Moreover, its employees did not
help customers in product selection as its store layout is properly set that reduce the number of
staff members required on the floor (Naudé and Sutton-Brady, 2019). This assist company to
decline the level of cost and gain higher profits in an effective manner.
From the above discussion, it has been analysed that Marketing mix helps an organisation
to put right product and services on right price, on right time and on right place. This further
assist company to attain objectives within the stipulated time frame.
How ALDI can improve customer service level
The ways that ALDI can adopt in order to improve customer services is mentioned
below:
Customer Feedback: In order to give excellent service to customer, it is important for
ALDI to understand requirements and wants of customer. For this, company can take feedback
from its customer's which will assist company to know about good and bed experience of
customers (Chonko and Hunt, 2018). This will make feel customers that they are important and
valued for ALDI which in turn build trust of customer towards brand and improve its customer
service level.
Training to Customer service team: ALDI can improve their customer service by
giving training to customer service team as it will enhance their knowledge and skill which in
turn help them to solve their customer queries rapidly and effectively. This build positive image
of ALDI in mind of customer due to which their sales and profit level is increased.
Use Advanced Technology: Nowadays, technology plays an essential role as it affect on
the buying behaviour of customers towards the brand. In order to improve customer service, the
higher authorities of ALDI can make use of advanced technology which help company to

interact with customer at any place or at any point of time (Zahoor and Qureshi, 2017).
Moreover, it also help company to solve issues and grievances of customer in a rapid and
effective manner. In addition to this, it will increase number of loyal customer of ALDI that
further enhance the sales as well as profit level of company.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been analysed that marketing plan involves all the strategies
and actions that is needed to attain particular marketing objective. Marketing audit assist
companies to identify the factors that affect on their overall performance. Moreover, 7P's of
marketing mix helps an organisation to achieve their objectives within stipulated time frame. In
addition to this, there are various ways which assist organisation to improve customer service
level that is customer feedback, using of advanced technologies, enhance skills of customer
service team and so on. Furthermore, SWOT analysis assist companies to identify strengths,
opportunities, threats as well as weaknesses. It will also help company to enhance its sales as
well as profit level.

REFERENCES
Books&Journal
Bagozzi, R.P., and et. al., 2018. Marketing-Management. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
Deepak, R. K. A. and Jeyakumar, S., 2019. Marketing management. Educreation Publishing.
Gummesson, E., 2017. From relationship marketing to total relationship marketing and
beyond. Journal of services marketing.
Pasquier, M. and Villeneuve, J. P., 2017. Marketing management and communications in the
public sector. Routledge.
Quelch, J. A., 2017. Global marketing management: a casebook.
Usui, K., 2017. The development of marketing management: The case of the USA c. 1910-1940.
Routledge.
(Bagozzi and et. al., 2018) (Deepak and Jeyakumar, 2019) (Gummesson, 2017) (Pasquier and
Villeneuve, 2017) (Usui, 2017) (Quelch, 2017)
Baker, M. J. and Parkinson, S. T., 2016. Organizational buying behaviour: purchasing and
marketing management implications. Springer.
Hüttner, M., 2018. Marketing-Management: allgemein-sektoral-international. Walter de Gruyter
GmbH & Co KG.
Kotler, P., and et. al., 2019. Marketing management. Pearson UK.
Olson, E.M., and et. al., 2018. The application of human resource management policies within
the marketing organization: The impact on business and marketing strategy
implementation. Industrial Marketing Management, 69, pp.62-73.
Parsons, A. L. and Lepkowska-White, E., 2018. Social media marketing management: A
conceptual framework. Journal of Internet Commerce, 17(2), pp.81-95.
Zahoor, S. Z. and Qureshi, I. H., 2017. Social media marketing and brand equity: A literature
review. IUP Journal of Marketing Management, 16(1), p.47.
Naudé, P. and Sutton-Brady, C., 2019. Relationships and networks as examined in Industrial
Marketing Management. Industrial Marketing Management, 79, pp.27-35.
Chonko, L. B. and Hunt, S. D., 2018. Reflections on ethical issues in marketing management:
An empirical examination. Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science, 28(1),
pp.86-95.
Charter, M., 2017. Greener marketing: A responsible approach to business. Routledge.