Marketing Management Report

This report analyzes the marketing strategies of Marks and Spencer, a major British retailer, through a PESTLE analysis, SWOT analysis, and a detailed examination of their marketing mix. It identifies key areas for improvement and suggests new marketing mix actions to enhance M&S's competitive advantage.

MARKETING
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Background Information..............................................................................................................1
Marketing Audit...........................................................................................................................2
Marketing mix of M&S...............................................................................................................6
Marketing mix actions.................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Marketing management is defined as the discipline that every organization focuses on
especially on practical applications of marketing techniques, orientation, methods used inside the
organization. It plays a vital role in success of an organization especially in retail sector.
Retailing can be defined as a process through which products or services are sold to customers
through various channels in order to earn profit. In this assignment marketing analysis of Marks
and Spencer organization will be done which is a retail firm (Lucas and Soler, 2016). This
assignment will lay emphasis on background information of M&S, Marketing audit, marketing
mix of Marks and Spencer and new marketing mix actions in order to achieve gaps between
M&S's present marketing strategy and external environment.
MAIN BODY
Background Information
Retail sector industry is a part of countries economy where businesses sell consumer
goods or services to public through stores, internet etc. This industry is responsible for
distribution of finished goods, products or services to their customers (Stobbs, Weller and Zhou,
2016). Marks and Spencer is one of the major British multinational public limited organization
that operates in retail sector. Their main headquarter is in London and operates in more than
1450 locations present globally with more than 80,500 employees working with them. Out of
those 1450+ stores approximately 950 stores are present in UK and within those 950, 615 of
them sell only food products. Marks and Spencer was originally founded in 1884 by Thomas
Spencer and Michael Marks who lived in Leeds United Kingdom. Main products sold by M&S
are high quality home products, cloths, food products. In 2008 they also started selling branded
goods like Kellogg's corn Flakes. Marks and Spencer is present from more than 135 years but
they gained establishment in 20th century. In 1988 they were the first British retailers who made
pre-tax profit of £ 1 billion but after this whole company fell into a slump due to which its
stakeholders were surprised and shaken.
Marks and Spencer are famous for their high quality cloths but their cloths are mostly
famous in older generation and are marked as a non trendy stores (Camilleri, 2019). Most of the
people think that they sell out fashioned and non trendy cloths which least attracts younger
generation. However their high quality and low price products attract more customers. They sell
wide variety of products which is also one of the reason that attract more customers as people get
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more and more choices to choose from whether it is for cloths, food products or home products
they have wide variety of products. They have more than 1200 suppliers that provides them with
wide range of products to be chosen from. M&S consist of wide range of popular designer
brands such as Big&tall, Collezione, Blue Harbour etc. These brands together helps Marks and
Spencer to grow and strength their market presence globally (Palmer, 2016). As per recent
statistics their overall revenue is £ 10,300 million. They also consist of popular food brand
named under then which is M&S Energy and also have their own Bank named as M&S Bank
which is owned by HSBC bank. Currently they are trying to expand their business more by
selling wide range of kids wear, lingerie etc.
Marketing Audit
Marketing Audit can be defined as a thorough review of a companies marketing plan,
strategies, objectives, current activities etc. Main goal of marketing mix is to identify areas that
are working and the areas that need improvement and are not working. Here marketing Auditing
of Marks and Spencer will be conducted an the basis of marketing strategy (Marx and Wouters,
2015). There are many components of marketing Audit which are described below of Marks and
Spencer Organization.
Macro Environment Audit- PESTLE Analysis
In this all the external factors are included that can influence marketing performance of
the company. These external environment forces have a major impact on M&S and these forces
will be explained with the help of PESTLE Analysis. It is a framework that will helps in
identifying problems that can be experienced by Marks and Spencer.
Political Factors: M&S has been favoured through European committee for free trade flow
agreement among European countries and all the other countries that comes under foreign trade
regulations. This has reduced their overall sourcing cost and has made importing products much
more easier and can be done in less time as compared then before (Bocken, 2017). One of their
major disadvantage is their high cost structure in international market due to which their
competitors have taken a huge advantage of their high cost structure and a but of its market share
as well. Due to lack of clarity of UK government on energy efficiency scheme M&S initiatives
have been negatively affected.
Economical Factors: One of the major negative economical effect on M&S is their competitors
discounted price. As Marks and Spencer is only focused on high quality products due to which
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their overall cost of products increases and as a result their competitors take an advantage of this
situation and offer more discounted rate than them because most of the customers are attracted to
both quality and price and if any one of them are missing then it can affect their business. If
M&S wants to sustain their sales they need to go with the market flow and need to work on both
quality and price of their products together (Obase, 2019). Nowadays most of the costumers
prefer both online and offline shopping so they also need to work on their online presence as
well in order to gain economic benefits.
Social Factors: Today customers perception and concept has changed completely their demands
have changed completely and are more focused on fashionable clothes which has created a need
of new market segment. As they are already named and non fashionable and non trendy store and
moreover their high pricing strategy is lowering their costumers interest towards their brand.
However there is one positive effect of social factor which is that they sell organic and green
products which is liked by people more and more today. Due to which their food products
demand has increased more.
Technological Factors: Marks and Spencer has strong online presence which has helped them to
increase their customer base as today customers are more focused towards new technologies
especially towards new mobile technology. This online presence of M&S has increased their
online sales and has also helped them in increasing their online presence with increased customer
base. They nowadays prefer to do shopping on mobile through e-commerce websites or through
mobile applications more as compared to in store purchasing (Iwata and et.al., 2017). They need
to strengthen their online/digital presence as there are many issues that are faced by M&S which
weakens their online presence like their online security issues etc.
Legal Factors:
Brexit has affected many UK retailers along with Marks and Spencer and faced many
legal actions. As a result of this European Union exit they need to bring lots of changes within
their legal plan as it is affecting their marketing and sales of their products. Another legal factor
that is affecting Marks and Spencer marketing is laws such as health and safety act, tariff and
trade law, environmental laws and national minimum wages etc. are affecting their business in
many ways. They in fact faced charges as per the health and safety act for not considering safety
and security within their working environment. This affected their overall reputation and as a
result this further affected their sales.
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Environmental Factors:
Today many consumers or customers are focusing towards environmental friendly
products and ethically green practises. As a result they want organizations to adopt environment
friendly practises and produce environmental friendly products as well. M&S has a well
structured policy and produce products that are suitable for the environment. Not only people in-
fact many countries are increasing their environmental rules and regulation that all the businesses
need to adhere these rules and regulations into their business practises. Marks and Spencer has
adopted this as their backbone and run their business as per these regulations.
Marketing strategy Audit
This marketing strategy audit helps in checking business feasibility by checking
organizations mission, vision, goals, objectives, marketing strategies etc. as it has a direct impact
on organizations marketing performance. This marketing strategy audit will check business
feasibility of Marks and Spencer in various phases i.e. in pre-audit phase clear idea of companies
goals will be analysed. Then companies strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats will be
identified, then marketing strategy audit will be done. This will be done by conducting a SWOT
analysis of Marks and Spencer
Strengths: Marks and Spencer has many strengths which helps them to build a better marketing
strategy in order to deliver better products. They are one of the highest recognized and well
known brand in UK due to the high quality products that they provide to their customers
(Shrestha, 2017). They also provide wide variety of products to their customers not only in
clothing section but also in home products and food section, so that they can choose the best
among them. Another one of the strength of M&S is that they have large number of outlets and
stores all over the world as they have more than 600 stores in UK and more than 300 stores in
over 35 plus countries. They consist of many designer brands such as autograph etc.
Weakness: There are many weaknesses of M&S that work as a hindrance in their success. One of
their major weakness is that they have been tagged as non trendy stores and sell products for
older people. Due to this wrong assumption people think that their products are not for younger
generation and as a result their business is affected in a drastic manner. Some people even says
that Marks and Spencer is for sixty plus age people not for people of age group lower than 40
years. Another weakness of Marks and Spencer is that they still follow old manual working
techniques which increases their overall operating cost. Many bigger organizations have adopted
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new techniques due to which their efficiency of work has been increased, overall production cost
have been reduced with lowered logistics cost.
Opportunity: Marks and Spencer have various opportunities through which they can increase
their business. M&S can try to invest in developing countries this will increase their overall
sales. They can reshape their clothing segment so that their image of non trendy store can be
removed (Boting, 2015). They can also adopt new technologies which will help them to reduce
their production cost which will eventually lower their products prices as well.
Threat: Changing trend in clothing section is one of the major threat for M&S as they are already
named as non trendy store plus this changing trend in clothes can become a major threat for
them. Increasing number of competition is also one of the major threat for M&S as they can lose
their scope in business. Toughest competition for Marks and Spencer is Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury
etc. This can increase in threat for Marks and Spencer as reputation can get degraded and they
can even lose their business.
Task Environment Audit
Tasks environment audit mostly focuses on all the factors that are closely associated with
the organization such as: customers, market, distributors, competitors, retailers etc. As these
factors mostly affects the overall efficiency of marketing programs (Tete, 2018). This tasks
environment Audit will be explained with the help of porters five force Analysis of Marks and
Spencer.
Threat of new entry: In retail sector new entry is tough as it requires huge investment. For M&S
threat to new entry is quite low as they have an established brand image and sell high quality
products to their customers due to which it becomes quite difficult for the new players to break
loyalty of marks and Spencer customers. New entrants need to provide better quality products at
lower price as compared to M&S in order to steal Marks and Spencer's customers.
Threat of substitute product: This is one of the major threat to M&S as they ned to bring
continuous innovation within their products in order to maintain their image so that their
customers remain loyal to them and do not opt for substitute products. As in retail sector it is
quite easy for the customers to switch from one companies product to another if they get the
same product in lower price and better quality. They need to work on their products continuously
so that their customers choose M&S products instead of their competitors products.
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Bargaining power of buyers: Bargaining power of customers is high for M&S as their switching
cost from one brand product to another is quite easy (Buckley, 2016). They have various kind of
alternatives present other than Marks and Spencer. M&S need to work continuously on their
products in order to retain their customers. Their competitors are focusing more and more on
customer relationship which can increase threat for decreasing customer base as their complete
business is based on customers demands, needs and supply.
Bargaining power of suppliers: This power has a quite low impact on Marks and Spencer as they
have more than 1200 suppliers which decreases their cost and weakens the power of suppliers on
the Organization as they have outsourced many suppliers and as a result of switching of M&S
suppliers has decreased.
Intensity of competitive rivalry: In retail sector competition is quite high as there are many retail
organization chains that increases competitive rivalry for Marks and Spencer (Capon and Go,
2016). This competition is further enhancing due to growing opportunities in online retail
segment. M&S need to work on their products, shopping experience of their customers so that
they can gain the competitive advantage in order to give tough competition to their customers.
Marketing mix of M&S
Marketing mix mostly focusses on 7 P's which are price, product, place, promotion,
process, people, physical evidence of an organization which helps in identifying marketing
strategy of the companies. Here marketing mix of Marks and Spencer will be explained in detail.
Product: M&S is one of the most popular and top retail chain of UK with global presence
(Thakur, 2016). Product mix of Marks and Spencer covers many and different variety of
products for their customers. M&S includes clothes for women, men, kids of all age group for
example Women section products includes jeans, Blazers, Cardigans, cashmere, shirt, skirts,
linen and many more items. They also include footwear for kids, men and women as well. Other
than clothing section they also have home products such as furnitures etc. and Food sections as
well. They sell food in variety such as beverages, main course etc.
Price: Marks and Spencer follows competitive pricing strategy for their product portfolio. As
they have their own in house brand products so the prices of such products ranges from medium
to high because of their high quality. But still they follow competitive pricing strategy as
nowadays customers have increased number of options due to increased competition. They need
to maintain their product prices accordingly in order to remain in the competition. Another
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pricing strategy followed by Marks and Spencer is dynamic pricing strategy during seasonal time
as they provide variety of discounts on their products in order to attract more customers. They
use this strategy only on older stock products not latest or new products.
Place: M&S is an international brand that operates in more than 50 countries and has more than
1400 stores but their major business lies in UK with more than 850 stores (Heath and
McKechnie, 2019). Other than UK they have 50 plus stores in India as well. Some other
countries where they have got their presence is Spain, Hungary, Finland, Turkey, Spain etc. They
have also got their own website and mobile application where customers can buy any product
and through home delivery those products are delivered to them. They also provide options for
international delivery for limited number of products.
Promotion: M&S have chosen their marketing strategy in such a way that their digital marketing
and advertising campaign aligns with each other. They uses television, print media, social media,
mobile advertisements etc. for promotion of their products. They also provide an option of
providing fashion tips that can be given by the customers on their websites. They also provide
special discounts, reward points to their customers such that they can use those points or
discounts in their future purchases.
People: Marks and Spencer has more than 1400 stores present globally and has got more than
83000 employees working for them. They pay good wages and special attention towards their
employees and also follows competitive payment policies so that they can retain their employees
within their organization (Negri, 2016). M&S also provide many types of rewards to their
employees such as health insurance etc. and a positive working environment for their employees
such that they can feel comfortable working with their organizations.
Process: M&S can be found in sub urban areas, malls etc. and are organized excellently. They
have also divided their store into sections so that it becomes easy for their customers to find the
right product. Customers can first select all the products that they want to purchase and then pay
for those products at last. While billing their products they can also redeem the reward points and
special discounts as well.
Physical Evidence: All the stores of Marks and Spencer acts as a physical evidence where they
provide wide variety of products to their customers (Carnegie, 2017). Their stores are also much
more attractive as compared to pantaloons etc.
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Marketing mix actions
This refers to the factors that can be controlled by the Marks and Spencer and influence
the consumer behaviour regarding products and services. It comprises 7ps namely, Product,
Price, Place, Promotion, Processes and People.
Product - The products range of Marks and Spencer are consists of various categories. It
includes the items of clothing, food products and home products. The company provides superior
range of diversified products. This allows customers to select best quality product which suits
them. There clothing products includes Blazers, Jeans, Shirts, Cardigans (Marks & Spencer
Marketing Mix (4Ps) Strategy, 2019). The footwear includes the boots for women, range of
sandals, heels and loafers. Accessories includes handbags, jewellery and sunglasses whereas
furniture section consists of Bedroom decors, living room accessories and lighting. Thus, it
makes difficult for the customers to distinguish products of Mark and Spencer with other brands.
Therefore, it is recommanded to Mark and Spencer to provide options for more customised
products to the customers. Through doing innovation the company can take competitive edge and
it helps to lead organisation towards profitability.
Price - Mark and Spencer currently following a pricing strategy that sets a competition in the
marketplace. The products of the company generally ranges between medium to high because of
their high quality standards. The firm is facing intense competition with online retailers and with
existing market player of retail industry (Wongleedee, 2015). Thus, it is recommanded that the
company can opt for dynamic pricing strategy where during occasional and festive season such
as Christmas eve they will give various discounting and flat pricing offers to its customers. The
company can opt for premium pricing strategy. As the old stock can put on sale and this
comparable charge low costs for the company. The discounting offers will give a privilege to the
company to cut off their competition in the market. This will help to attract potential customers
towards their products.
Place - Mark and Spencer has global presence. There outlets and stores are spread widely over
various geographical locations. Currently company is providing its products through both
external and internal distribution channel (Marks & Spencer Marketing Mix (4Ps) Strategy,
2019). This strategy is really effective for garbing competitive advantage at the marketplace but
the company has threat from online retailers which are dealing or operates in same industry
(Heimbach, Kostyra and Hinz, 2015). Therefore, Mark and Spencer should explore its online
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existence by facilitating its customers with effective delivering experience. The company can
minimise its online delivery charges to cut off the competition with other brands. The company
can open its store 24 hours so that customers online retail experience can improved. The time of
deliver can also be reduced to increase their brand image in mind's people (Wongleedee, 2015).
They can adopt the strategy of ''Fast and furious'' where they provide timely delivery of products.
This leads to increase customers satisfaction in the company. They can also make their stores
look more attractive in order to retain customers retention towards their products.
Promotion
Mark and Spencer used the various types of promotional activities in their business such
as sales promotions, discount vouchers, advertising in television and newspaper. Therefore,
These all promotional activities provide the advantages to the company but firm can generate the
few numbers of customer. They want to generate the high international customer base. Thus,
firm expand their product in globally it is recommended that they must using the social media
platforms to increase the number of customers. Firm should operate their own social websites to
enhance their sales (Ahmed, 2016). They enhance their presence on international market the
social media platform is one of the best platform to increase the sale and customer base.
Furthermore, mark and Spencer also improve their advertising and promotional activities they
can also use the different tag lines to attract the customer of different culture For example, firm
can also use the best tag lines in relation with different cultures. So this promotional activities
helps to the high customer base.
Process
Marker and Spencer use the direct and indirect methods for delivering the product to the
customer. Firm also use the online and offline methods but there also some problems' customer
face during the purchasing the product. For example. In online shopping customer faces the
problem of damaging the product and in offline services' customer faced the problem of wait
during the billing and packaging process, so these all process is created the negative impact on
the customer (Heimbach, Kostyra and Hinz, 2015). Customers are dissatisfied with this type of
services and that is the reason company must improve their services and satisfying the
customers. For improving the quality of services mark and Spencer can use the self service
machine, so customer use this machines and make payments timely and receive the product at
their own.
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People
The human resource department of mark and Spencer manage the people effectively at
work place. Firm provides the different types of training and learning programme to the
employees but this process is take so much time(Fan, Lau and Zhao, 2015). So firm can use the
technical method to providing the training facility to the employees. By the use of technology
employees are attracted and they easily understand. Firm also uses the different types of HRM
practices in their business to manage the people further they can also use the international human
practices in the business to enhance the presence in globally by achieving the goal of the
company.
Physical evidence
Mark and Spencer expand their business by providing the different society benefits. For
example firm can give the charity to the NGO(Heimbach, Kostyra and Hinz, 2015). Further
more, firm expand their business in globally they can use the unique logo which reflect the
environmental friendly. So this is the best way organization improve their physical appearance in
all over the world.
CONCLUSION
From the above assignment it has been summarized that Marks and Spencer is one of the
biggest retailer of UK. As per their marketing audit there are various factors that affects the
marketing strategies of the company. Further according to the marketing mix of M&S, they have
opted variety of strategies in order to remain competitive in the market. According to the gaps
that have been identified a new marketing mix actions have also been discussed.
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<https://www.mbaskool.com/marketing-mix/services/17122-marks-and-spencer.html>.
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