Marks & Spencer Food Product Marketing Analysis

This assignment delves into the marketing strategies employed by Marks & Spencer for its food products. It examines various aspects such as market segmentation, target audience identification, the 4Ps of marketing (product, place, price, promotion), and the effectiveness of their online marketing initiatives. The analysis highlights the growth trajectory of Marks & Spencer's food share in the market and explores the strategies contributing to this success.

MARKETING PRINCIPLES
AND TECHNIQUES

Table of Contents
1INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................................................................3
1TASK 1.........................................................................................................................................................................3
2Marketing and its diverse activities carried out in marketing department....................................................................3
3Market segmentation and different market segments...................................................................................................4
4Marketing mix apply on the product.............................................................................................................................4
2TASK 2...............................................................................................................................................................................5
1Aims of market research and market analysis .............................................................................................................5
2Types of market research..............................................................................................................................................6
3Market analysis tools and techniques............................................................................................................................7
3TASK 3...............................................................................................................................................................................8
1The methods used to e-market products and services...................................................................................................8
2Explain how companies manage their online image.....................................................................................................8
4TASK 4...............................................................................................................................................................................9
1market analysis techniques to research the target market for your own product or service........................................9
2interpret the findings of your market research and market analysis...........................................................................10
5CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................................................11
6REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................................................12

1 INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the process of promote the product which include the activity of buying and
selling. It also includes advertising and delivering of the product. It is the process which from a
customer aware about the product. Marks&Spencer is the well known brand of the UK. It is the
public limited company with retail sector. It is the big brand which sell the things likes clothing,
home products, food products etc. Its headquarter is situated in London, UK. This file will include
marketing and its diverse activities, marketing mix and market research, aims and methods of
market-research, methods which used for product marketing and many more things.
1 TASK 1
2 Marketing and its diverse activities carried out in marketing department
Marketing- It is the process of understand the needs and wants of the customer and search the
techniques which through a customer will be satisfied. Marketing is the process of doing things on
the bases of customer perceptions. It includes advertisement of the product in the market, research
about the customer needs. Process of communicating and delivering the product(French and
Bennett,2015).
Diverse activities carried out in marketing departments
In the marketing department many activities run and they are following-
Market research- It is the responsibility of the marketing department to do research about the
product which sell by them in the market. Marketing research is all about to understand the needs of
the customer, what they want from the company and what are the desires of them. Market research
also help to know about the strength and weakness of the business and opportunities which exist in
the business environment.
Product development- It is the responsibility of the marketing department to develop the product.
The product which already exist in the market, develop that with the new ideas and innovation.
Innovation makes the product good. Develop the product according to need of the consumers and it
can about packaging and labelling, price, quality etc.
Advertising and promotion- It is the major role of the marketing department. They work for
promote the product in the market which through the consumers aware about the particular product.
Advertising through video campaign, email, social media etc.
Business development- To develop the business marketing and sales department works with each
other. Marketing department works for advertisement and sales department target the market to
convene the customer for purchase the product. It is the activity which done by both of them to

develop the business.
For example, Through all of these activities a business can develop itself. Marketing plays major
role in the organisation and all the above work done by them in the organisation so if a business
want to develop itself then it can use this(Acharya,2018).
3 Market segmentation and different market segments
Market segmentation refers to breaking the market into different areas on the different bases.
Dividing the entire market into groups. Dividing the market into different segments which match
with the marketing strategies. Market with similar interest, needs or location. In each segment the
customers have same characteristics regarding the product. The different market segments are
following-
Geographical- In this segmentation the entire market divide on the basis of geography.
Geographical segmentation include segment on the basis of cities, countries, regions and counties. It
can be also divide through area like urban and rural area. The whole market can be divided or sub
divide.
Demographic segmentation- Demographic segmentation includes age, gender, size, family,
marital status, education etc. These are the variables which used to divide the entire market. Group
of different customer helps the organisation to manage the production through their needs and
wants. It is easy to measure these all points because the data of the people easily available.
Behavioural segmentation- It includes the behaviours of the consumer regarding the product. In
this segmentation the groups are divided on the basis of their response toward the product, uses rate
and loyalty status. Through many of the marketers this is the best segmentation to know about the
product reputation.
Benefit segmentation- Here the marketer divide the market into different segmentations on the
basis of quality, customer service, performance and other special features and benefits.
4 Marketing mix apply on the product
Marketing mix is the process which include main elements of the marketing. It has to think that
which segment will apply to the target market. Main elements of marketing mix called 4 p's of
marketing and they are following-
Product- Every business have the product which purchase by the consumers and it is the thing from
which the organisation runs. It is the responsibility of the marketer to know about the satisfaction of
customer and their products meets with the need of consumer or not. Understand about the

differentiation that what is the different between their product and competitors product. There si life
cycle for each product.
For example Marks&Spencer sell many products but recently the food products of Marks&Spencer
helps the organisation in earning. It is increasing day by day. But sells rate of clothing decreasing
in recent years so they have to meet with the need of customers for stability.
Price- Price is the most important element of the marketing mix. It is what the customer pay against
the product. Many customers are price conscious and organisation have to take care about it. Price
changing directly impact on the purchasing power of customer. It also makes impact on the demand
and supply of the product.
For example Marks&Spencer have strength about the food. They sell the food on the best price and
with good quality and it is liking by the customers so that the food sell is increasing day by day and
make organisation profitable.
Place- The place where the products are sold. It is an important aspect of marketing mix that how
the product sell on the different places and with different strategy. It is important that customer can
easily approach to the product.
Marks&Spencer have six brands which relates to the different places and they cover many areas for
the sales and situated many supermarkets in the different cities so that it is easy for the customers
top approach to the product.
Promotion- It is also an important aspect of the marketing mix. It is important to promote and
advertise the brand and its product. Customer awareness is the thing which from the products are
sold. The best source of advertisement of the product is social media or face to face promotion
because through it the marketer can easily understand the need of the consumers.
Marks&Spencer use this strategy for sale the products through different campaigns, audio and video
conferencing etc. Brand awareness of Marks&Spencer is too strong so that the food products sold
easily in the market.
2 TASK 2
1 Aims of market research and market analysis
Market research is all about gathering data for any special reason and collect the information
about the product, service or organisation. Marketing research is all about the needs and wants of
the consumer(Kenny and Dyson,2016.). It is for understand the situation of the brand in the market
and attitude of the people towards the product. Market research done through different methods like
survey method, focusing group, observation method etc.

Aims of market research
● Study about the needs and wants of the customers
● Understand about the attitude of the customer towards the production
● Understand about the strength and weakness of the organisations
● Develop the product on the basis of research
● Find the better strategy which suits to achieve the goal of organisation
● To crate stability in the competitive market
● Understand the value of the product in the market and situation of the market share of the
organisation
2 Types of market research
Mainly there are two types of market research and they are following-
Primary research- Primary research based on collecting and gathering new data for the research.
There are many ways to collect primary data-
Observation- It involves watching the customer and watching the behaviour of them
regarding the product. Understand about their thinking towards the product.
Survey method- Survey method has two parts online survey and offline survey. It involves
questionnaire which fills by the consumer. Questionnaire having some questions regarding the
brans and product. Online survey is not valuable because in it anyone fills what they want maybe it
will wrong or right. For this report, survey is done by asking 5 questions to 10 customers.
Interviews- It is conducted by the many companies. Face to face interviews or telephonic
interviews consider in it. It is expensive for the companies.
Secondary research- Secondary research is base on the primary research. In secondary research, a
researcher collect the old data which has already collected by anyone. Data collect from magazines,
article, newspaper, books and online sites. It collects existing data and information. It is conducted
on cheaper rate because data is already exist.

Market research appropriate for the Marks&Spencer
For Marks&Spencer the primary market research is appropriate because with a new day
preferences and taste of customers are changed. So to update with the changes Marks&Spencer has
to follow this research method. Primary research gives appropriate research to the organisation
which through they will do something relates to the products like innovation and product
development(Lilien, Rangaswamy and De Bruyn, 2017).
3 Market analysis tools and techniques
Market analysis tools and techniques consider swot and pestle analysis
SWOT Analysis
Strength- It considers in internal positive factors. Strength makes any organisation
powerful. Big strength of Marks&Spencer is food-standards. They provide the best food quality in
affordable rate and also helps in increasing the productivity.
Weakness- Marks&Spencer has weakness points in use of finance, technologies and
innovation, planning etc. Marks&Spencer has to work on their weakness.
Opportunities- The new technologies which provide opportunities to Marks&Spencer for
innovation. Lower inflation rate which through Marks&Spencer can make its stability in the market
competitor.
Threats- Threat for every organisation is competition in market. Liabilities and legal
formalities which create threat for products and market.
PESTLE-ANALYSIS - It is tool of market analysis which considers few points-
Political- Government policies always make impact on the business. Recently the
government policy like banned on the plastic bags affect the business.
Economical- Economic factors make impact on the business such as inflation rates,
deflation rates, export import rates and interest rates. These all affect the business profitability.
Social- Consumers preferences changes every day and it makes impact on the business.
Change in their lifestyles and attitude. Many organisations opened opportunities for different
categories of people.
Technological- Technology is the most important aspect for any organisation. It increases
day by day and the more any organisation used technology the more it will make profit(Armstrong

and et.al.,2014).
Environmental- It is important for the organisation to understand the environment because
damage of environment can damage the overall business and main thing is that the organisations
has to use waste disposal with use of technology.
Legal- Different type of law impact upon the organisation in different aspects. Changes in
law can impact on the business in positive and negative way. Health and safety law impact on the
business with cost.
3 TASK 3
1 The methods used to e-market products and services
Search engine marketing - It is the process which through natural search results gain from
internet. It is the process in which the organisations paid to the search engines for their
advertisement. They deal with the search engine and have to pay every time one can click to the
advertisement, it is called pay per click.
Content marketing- It is the process of communication with the customers without sell the product
and services. It educates the customers while delivering of the product and services with valuable
information.
Social media marketing- It is the latest trends which followed by many organisations. Nowadays
many people use social media applications and follow the social media. Marketers use this strategy
to online advertisement of the products. Through social media marketers can reach to the customers
and also can take feedback from them.
Affiliate marketing- It is the marketing style which through third person earn commission by
promoting the brands. Some people who like promoting the product they can promote the products
of others which they like the most(Serrat, 2017).
Email marketing- It is the easiest way of marketing. It provides direct contact with the clients. It is
easy to find the email of the people and marketers can mail the message regarding the brand and
product include in it.
2 Explain how companies manage their online image
Online reputation is form in the organisation and it is depended on the organisation that how
they performed in online marketing of the product and services. It is also about the relations and
communication between the organisation and online service provider. They both have to manage

each others' policy to regulate the business. A business can manage the online reputation through-
● Monitoring the reviews and feedbacks about their products
● It has to ensure that review of the products are positive
● Quick response to the stories and comments before they go viral
● Recognise the things which considered in law related to online divertissement
● Mistakes which made in the online marketing, an organisation have to clarify that all of then
Marks&Spencer manage there online image to do that all things and manage relations between the
service provider. Cost is the major part in managing online image or reputation. Online image is
based on the reviews and comments which give by the customers regrading specific product or
service. They ready to answer all the comments which they get on online portal and manage the
reviews and online reputation because it all depends on the customers (McClements, 2015).
For example Samsung were fined to hire the professional writers to produce positive reviews which
created by the customers.
4 TASK 4
1 market analysis techniques to research the target market for your own product or service
The Boston Matrix- Boston matrix helps to understand the situation of business in the market in
which they sell their product or service. It measures by two variables market growth and market
share.

A question mark- In this the market achieve growth but business only have small share of that
market. There is big scope for the entrepreneurs if it wants to grow. It requires expenses in market
for the establishment.
Dogs- In this the market is not growing and business has small share in the market. It is not good
for the business because it is not growing up and the business planned strategies to move out of it.
Strategy like introduce new products or develop the existing products.
Stars- It is valuable for the business because in it the business has big share in the market and
market is growing. Business can successful in the market when it is about to grow the business. It
will generate profit in the future.
Cash cow- In it the market share is high and market growth is low so business has to expenses on
the advertising to make its goodwill and stability in the market because of high share in the market.
This is mature market and it generates surplus cash. This gives the opportunity to extend its product
in the market(Gelmon, Holland and Spring, 2018).
Food products of Marks&Spencer stand in question marks because Marks&Spencer have small
share of food in the market with high growth rate and their earning increasing through it. It is the
opportunity to put big share in the market with growing because it will make advantage in future
and m Marks&Spencer has strength in food products in recent years.
Survey question:
1. How do you get information related to product?

How do you get information related to product?
Website 5
Social media 15
Interpretation: From above, out of 20 respondents 15 customers says that they uses social media
to get new product information and only 5 says through website.
2. Are you satisfied with the offered products by M&S?
Are you satisfied with the offered products by M&S?
Satisfied 15
Highly satisfied 5
Interpretation: from above, it has been concluded that customers are satisfied with
company's offered products and services.
3. What features do you look for when you purchase product from M&S?
What features do you look for when you purchase product from M&S?
Quality of products 14
Price 6
Interpretation: from above, researcher concluded that customers prefer high quality of
products which is offered by M&S. Therefore, 14 customers are agreed for high quality of products
and only 6 look for the price.
4. How often do you visit our store?
How often do you visit our store?
Monthly 12
Weekly 8
Interpretation: From above, researcher concluded that because of high quality of products,
customers visit a store regularly even twice a week.
5. Will you recommend our products to other?
Will you recommend our products to other?

Yes 16
No 4
Interpretation: From above, it has been concluded that because of band image and high
quality of products, customers would like to suggest others to purchase product from M&S.
2 interpret the findings of your market research and market analysis
From the market research and analysis it has been summarised in the form of-
Product- Marks&Spencer should continue to offering food products. The market is growing to go
with expenditure craetes by the customer. Quality of the product likes by the customer and service
is also likes by them. It contributes a lot in the profit of Marks&Spencer.
Price- Its price strategy is very good. It provides quality products with the best price. Price is not an
issue for the customer related to food. Many items are sold by them in the market and they have low
market share but all is well and good.
Place- Marks&Spencer has a wide area of sell the products. It spread of everywhere in the world.
Marks&Spencer also gives online service of food and with discount. Seasonable discounts are also
available on the online site of the company and It spread of all the nearby area in country.
Marks&Spencer marketing policies regarding the food delivery in various cities.
Promotion- Marks&Spencer provides different varieties of food in the country and it promotes its
product with special discount offers and it gives the food on cheap rate with the best quality.
Different packages available in online purchasing of the food and also in offline purchasing in
supermarkets or nearby stores. Its promotion strategy is too good.
People- People is the major part of marketing mix strategy because without people there is nothing
to be made and to be purchase. People are the persons who make the products and purchase the
product. They contribute a major role in the organisation. Food products of Marks&Spencer is
liked by everyone because of comfortable rate(Graber and et.al., 2016).
Physical evidence- It is must require for purchasing the product because before purchasing any
product people check the physical evidence of the organisation like internet websites, photo, brand
etc.

5 CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been summarised that food products of Marks&Spencer was
growing and last year it had been increased. Marketing and diverse activities which was done in the
organisation regarding the particular product. Understood about the different areas of market
segmentation which through an organisation segmented the target market on the different basis.
Marketing mix which include product, place, price, promotion and different strategies which
followed by Marks&Spencer to sale the products. Food share of Marks&Spencer was low in the
market but with the growing market. Described about the online marketing of the product which
was suitable for the organisation.