Career Research Report on Marketing Manager in Retail Industry

This report provides detailed information about the knowledge and skills needed for the profession of marketing manager in retail industry. It includes general trends impacting marketing, skills and knowledge required, and evaluation of the profession. The report also includes primary research in the form of an interview with two marketing managers from Marks & Spencer.

Career Research Report

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
ANALYSIS AND APPLICATION.................................................................................................3
General trends which impacts marketing in retail industry........................................................3
Skills, Knowledge and experience required................................................................................4
EVALUATION................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
APPENDIX .....................................................................................................................................9
Appendix 1- Job Advertisement..................................................................................................9
Appendix 2: Interview (Primary research)................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Marketing in retail sector is the procedure in which they focus on advertising and
promoting awareness about the different products and services. Generally, this carries out
activities for increasing the sales of products and services as well as improving the profit level
(Baines and et. al., 2021). Therefore, according to my perspective the profession of marketing
manager in retail industry will give me great future opportunities such as dealing with variety of
people and increasing great knowledge about different products and services available in the
market. The career in marketing will also give me chance to develop in my career as per the
changes occurring in the environment (Singh and Samuel, 2018). In this report detailed
information is taken out about the knowledge and skills needed for the profession of marketing
manager in retail industry. 2 managers are selected from Marks & Spencer as representatives as
they acquire great information about the marketing profession in retail industry. This research
carries out primary and secondary information so that relevant information can be assembled.
ANALYSIS AND APPLICATION
General trends which impacts marketing in retail industry
Globalisation: It has direct impact over marketing profession in retail industry. As it has
opened several opportunities to promote goods and services of the company (Kumar and
Polonsky, 2019). With the emergence of globalising business, level of competition has also
increased and this is related to fast production, price of goods & services, technological adoption
etc. Customers need high quality products and for this marketing manager promote their products
in such a manner that they clearly showcase the high quality of the product to customers (Deepak
and Jeyakumar, 2019). Marketing of commodities in retail industry has also increased due to
reduction in export and import taxes.
Globalisation also impacts skills and knowledge required by the recent graduates in
marketing (Nessel, 2021). These graduates need to have great knowledge about the advance
techniques so that they can promote products and services efficiently and effectively. They also
need to have skill of understanding the requirements of customers belonging from different
culture and community.
Technology: The other greatest trend in the profession of marketing within retail industry
is technology. In this competitive world, advance technology is necessary because it makes the

operations and work quite convenient and easy. In the marketing profession, technology assists
in connecting with several people of different locations, culture and community (Garg and et. al.,
2020). In advance technology, internet holds great position because through this marketing
managers can take help of social media channels for advertising their respective goods and
services (Di Gregorio and et. al., 2019). With the assistance of social media channels and
internet, marketers are able to communicate with customers about products and services in real
time.
Technology also impacts marketing profession in the retail industry because it has given
more opportunities to develop market share (Morgan and et. al., 2019). Due to frequent changes
in advance technologies, the profession of marketing requires graduates who are able to change
with the need of time, have great information about social media, internet, websites etc. This
knowledge will help company to reach out more number of customers scattered in different
place.
Skills, Knowledge and experience required
There are various knowledge and skills needed for performing the role of marketing
manager in the retail industry. This is the profession which includes many skills so that they can
have great relation with the customers as well as systematically manage information of the
customers (Freedman, 2020). Some of the significant skills, knowledge and experience required
by marketing manager are given below in a brief manner.
Key Skills: Multi-tasking skill: A marketing manager should have skill of multi-tasking because this
helps in completing multiple tasks at single time (Hole, Pawar and Bhaskar, 2018). This
will help in determining the new technique considered for marketing the products and
services as well as understanding the needs of customers in the same time. Communication skill: Marketing managers should have great communication skills
because they are the people in the organisation who are responsible for reaching out
customers (Markovic and et. al., 2019). They must be efficient enough to convey their
message properly to customers so that they can buy introduced products of the company. Listening skill: Marketing managers must have great listening skill because for
marketing products it is necessary to listen and understand the needs of customers. This is
necessary so that marketing manager learn about the requirements of customers with

great patience (Gillespie and Swan, 2021). This will include giving attention to all the
small details of every associated individual. Leadership skill: Marketing managers should have great leadership skills so that they can
guide their team members about aligning the targets of marketing with the company's
objectives (Moorman and et. al., 2019). This will help in keeping motivation level of the
employees while performing their responsibilities and roles.
 Creative skill: Marketing manager should have great creative mind-set because this will
assist in creating attractive campaigns for the organisation so that customer can be
attracted (Spanjaard, Hall and Stegemann, 2018). This will also assist in making
advertisements which are attractive as well as using latest techniques and technologies.
Key Knowledge:
 Conceptual Skill: This skill is helpful for the marketing managers for thinking in an
abstract manner and formulating creative ideas (Sarker and Ashrafi, 2018). This assists
managers to effectively operate and predict any problems in the business environment.
 Technical Skill: This skill is also needed by marketing manager to gain knowledge for
attaining various objectives of the business (Nemteanu and Dabija, 2021). This skill gives
particular type of knowledge for operating software, machines and various kind of
marketing tools
EVALUATION
This existing investigation has helped in determining the several needs required to
develop career in the profession of marketing within retail industry. There are many vacancies
for the post of marketing manager within the retail industry so that creative methods can be
formed for advertising and promoting products. It includes activities such as advertising, selling
and delivering goods to businesses and customers. My profession in future will be marketing
manager in retail industry. I have chosen marketing manager as my future profession because it
is one of the professions which has great scope. One of the main reasons is marketing that it
gives opportunity to an individual to interact with different people through different manner. The
other reason is that it is related to the management of activities directly related to the promotion
and advertisement of the products and services of the company. This ultimately helps in creating
broad understanding about the needs and requirements of the customers so that their demands
can be easily fulfilled. Moreover, it also helps in grabbing attention of the customers which is

great for meeting targets of the company (Bruhn, Kirchgeorg and Meffert, 2018). For recruiting
the right marketing manager, company makes full job advertisement for candidates so that they
can get appropriate number of applications (Lambin and De Moerloose, 2021). The job
advertisement added in the present investigation is for the vacant position of marketing manager.
I am looking job in the profession of marketing because I have great interest in this as it requires
creative mind set. Marketing has great scope because in this modern time retail industry gives
great importance to the procedure of marketing their products and services. The role of
marketing manager is emerging and it is future proofed because promoting product is necessary
at every stage of the business. In my opinion, I can make successful career in marketing
profession within retail industry.

CONCLUSION
As per the above gathered report, it is summarised that profession of marketing has great
scope and it is continuously growing in the market. Technology and globalisation are known as
the latest trends for the position of marketing manager within retail industry. This requires
communication skill as well as creative skill for performing the role and responsibility of
marketing manager. Therefore, profession in marketing has great success.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
1. Baines, P. and et. al., 2021. Fundamentals of Marketing 2e. Oxford University Press,
USA.
2. Bruhn, M., Kirchgeorg, M. and Meffert, H., 2018. Marketing Weiterdenken. Wiesbaden:
Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
3. Deepak, R.K.A. and Jeyakumar, S., 2019. Marketing management. Educreation
Publishing.
4. Di Gregorio, A. and et. al., 2019. Employability skills for future marketing
professionals. European management journal, 37(3), pp.251-258.
5. Freedman, T., 2020. Diverse Career Opportunities in the Biotechnology and Life
Sciences Industry. In Biotechnology Entrepreneurship (pp. 591-603). Academic Press.
6. Garg and et. al., 2020. Examining the relationship between social media analytics
practices and business performance in the Indian retail and IT industries: The mediation
role of customer engagement. International journal of information management, 52,
p.102069.
7. Gillespie, K. and Swan, K.S., 2021. Global marketing. Routledge.
8. Hole, Y., Pawar, S. and Bhaskar, M.P., 2018. Service marketing and quality
strategies. Periodicals of engineering and natural sciences, 6(1), pp.182-196.
9. Kumar, P. and Polonsky, M.J., 2019. In-store experience quality and perceived
credibility: A green retailer context. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 49,
pp.23-34.
10. Lambin, J.J. and De Moerloose, C., 2021. Marketing stratégique et opérationnel. Dunod.
11. Markovic, M. and et. al., 2019, June. Young Professional Aspects of the Smart
Exploration Project: Career Management, Marketing and Sustainability. In 81st EAGE
Conference and Exhibition 2019 (Vol. 2019, No. 1, pp. 1-5). European Association of
Geoscientists & Engineers.
12. Moorman and et. al., 2019. Challenging the boundaries of marketing. Journal of
Marketing, 83(5), pp.1-4.
13. Morgan, N.A. and et. al., 2019. Research in marketing strategy. Journal of the Academy
of Marketing Science, 47(1), pp.4-29.
14. Nemteanu, M.S. and Dabija, D.C., 2021. The influence of internal marketing and job
satisfaction on task performance and counterproductive work behavior in an emerging
market during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research
and Public Health, 18(7), p.3670.
15. Nessel, K., 2021. Career patterns of marketing managers in top European football
clubs. International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship.
16. Sarker, M.A.R. and Ashrafi, D.M., 2018. The relationship between internal marketing
and employee job satisfaction: A study from retail shops in Bangladesh. Journal of
Business and Retail Management Research, 12(3).
17. Singh, A.K. and Samuel, C., 2018. modelling the strengthening factors for competitive
position of apparel retailing in India. Journal of Modelling in Management.
18. Spanjaard, D., Hall, T. and Stegemann, N., 2018. Experiential learning: Helping students
to become ‘career-ready’. Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ), 26(2), pp.163-171.

APPENDIX
Appendix 1- Job Advertisement

Appendix 2: Interview (Primary research)
INTERVIEW
Q1) As per your opinion, what are the latest trends within marketing sector?
Manager 1: Manager 1 of Marks & Spencer has said that technology is one of the latest trends
in the marketing profession as it helps to determine different channels for promoting good and
services of the company.
Manager 2: Manager 2 of Marks & Spencer has responded that globalisation is the latest trend
within marketing profession. This has created the need of recruiting graduates who have great
understanding about the different culture, language and needs of the customers.
Q2) What are the main skill and knowledge needed for marketing manager within retail
industry?
You do not need 2 cover pages. Just one is sufficient.
Manager 1: Manager 1 from Marks & Spencer has answered that for making career in
marketing an individual must have great communication skill. This helps in communicating
about the brand's product to targeted customers.
Manager 2: Manager 2 has answered from Marks & Spencer that marketing manger should
have creative skills so that they can come up with new and fresh ideas that could help in
attracting attention of the customers. This assists in implementing different marketing
campaigns as per the need of organisation.