Report on Marketing Planning of H&M

MARKETING PLANNING
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction.............................................................................................................................3
Task 1.....................................................................................................................................3
Changing approach to marketing planning (1.4)...........................................................3
Evaluation of H&M’s capability for planning the future marketing activity (1.2)............3
Examination of techniques for organizational auditing (1.3).........................................4
Application of organizational audit techniques (1.4).....................................................5
M1. Audit report to chief executives..............................................................................6
D1. Critical evaluation of capabilities.............................................................................7
Task 2.....................................................................................................................................7
Barriers facing marketing planning managers (2.1)......................................................7
Examining to overcome these barriers (2.2).................................................................8
D2. Critical illustration of the importance of the marketing planning.............................9
Task 3.....................................................................................................................................9
Executive Summary.......................................................................................................9
Role of Marketing Plan in Corporate Strategy...............................................................9
Techniques for New Product Development.................................................................10
Product Description.....................................................................................................10
Pricing Strategy............................................................................................................11
Distribution strategy.....................................................................................................11
Promotion and communication strategy......................................................................11
Implementation ...........................................................................................................12
Ethical considerations..................................................................................................12
D3 ...............................................................................................................................12
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................13
References...........................................................................................................................15
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INTRODUCTION
Marketing planning is an important element of every business plan because it
communicates about the intended business and a way in which that business will be able
to succeed or not. This report is focused on the marketing planning of H&M which is a
fashionable retail store. Discussion has been made on the ability of H&M to do the
marketing audits and to understand the main hurdles of marketing planning. Further, it has
been discussed that H&M is able to formulate the marketing plan for a product or service
and it understands the ethical issues in marketing which can affect the functioning of the
organization.
TASK 1
Changing approach to marketing planning (1.4)
Marketing plan is a business document which is written for the purpose to describe
the current position of market in which the business works along with the marketing
strategy of that business. H&M has also employed the marketing plan and has changed it
according to the changing environment. Traditional marketing planning focuses on certain
factors such as initiatives, costs and funding, return on investment, market conditions,
competitor analysis, etc. but modern marketing planning focuses on these factors along
with the welfare of society while earning profitability. H&M does marketing planning by
analysing its competitor, that is, ZARA (Aljukhadar and Senecal, 2011).
Pricing of H&M is lower than that of ZARA because it wants to provide its product to
all the customers who wish to be fashionable without any hindrance of price. H&M made
its strategy in a modern environment by analysing the customer's need and brought a
concept that it is possible for every customer to find their own dressing style from their
collection. It also offers a wide range of products at lower price but with good quality and
follows the concept of EDLP as well (Brooksbank, 2009). It uses the latest technology for
promoting its goods and also provides the facility of delivering goods worldwide if shopped
through its online website.
Evaluation of H&M’s capability for planning the future marketing activity (1.2)
While planning for the future marketing activity, capability of H&M's should be
evaluated in terms of human resources, financial resource and physical resources. These
resources are required in order to carry out the marketing function in the future. First of all,
the capability of human resources should be evaluated that is employees of the
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organization must be capable enough to carry out the marketing functions. For example,
employees should have the ability to forecast the market and must plan out the
assumptions accordingly (Drejer, 2000). Then, they need to convert those assumptions
into the plan and require implementing it for future expansion. If these skills are not
possessed by the existing force then new workforce should be recruited in order to carry
out the future task.
Secondly, it is to be evaluated that whether company is financially strong or not. To
carry out the future marketing activity, fund is required. It should analyse the financial
resources from where fund can be availed and the source that has least cost involved.
Other physical capabilities such as machineries are technologically upgraded to cope up
with the future market plan. Along with that, a detailed evaluation should be done. In case
if it has become obsolete then new machineries should be installed with the latest
technology (Jones and Hillier, 2008).
Examination of techniques for organizational auditing (1.3)Organizational audit
means scanning the organization's environment both internally as well as externally.
Marketing manager of H&M does the audit of company to know its capabilities in terms of
HR, finance and other physical resources to carry out their marketing functioning in a
dynamic environment. Company's capabilities in accordance with the market opportunities
is being analysed during organizational auditing. Various techniques are used to do the
auditing of firm (Mason, 2007). Internal technique is SWOT analysis which is applied so
that company would come to know about their strengths and weaknesses as well as
opportunities and threats that are prevailing in the market. It is very advantageous for the
organization to do SWOT analysis because it helps in understanding H&M in a better
manner. Also, it addresses the weaknesses so that company can overcome it.
It allows the firm to analyse the opportunities prevailing in the market and to grab
them in an easier manner. It also helps in detecting the threats that can harm the
organization's activity (Proctor and Kitchen, 2008). For external assessment, tool of
PESTLE analysis is used which is the most beneficial technique to analyse the political,
economic, social, technological, ethical and legal environment which affects the
functioning of H&M.
Application of organizational audit techniques (1.4)
Strengths Weaknesses
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