Marketing Process and Planning for Sainsbury: A Strategic Approach

This report discusses the marketing process and planning for Sainsbury, including the concept of marketing, marketing function, role of marketing, interrelationships between marketing and other functional units, external and internal environment, marketing mix, and produce a strategic marketing plan for Sainsbury. It also covers the significance of marketing mix and media plan to achieve marketing objectives.

Marketing Process and
Planning

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................4
TASK...............................................................................................................................................4
Concept of marketing..................................................................................................................4
Marketing function .....................................................................................................................5
Role of marketing........................................................................................................................5
Interrelationships between marketing and other functional units .............................................6
The external and internal environment.......................................................................................6
Compare the ways in which different organisations apply the marketing mix .........................7
Business objectives ....................................................................................................................7
Marketing mix significance.........................................................................................................8
Marketing Plan............................................................................................................................8
Marketing mix to achieve marketing objectives.........................................................................9
Produce a strategic marketing plan for an organisation ............................................................9
Media Plan-...............................................................................................................................10
Marketing campaign-................................................................................................................10
Social media channels for communication..............................................................................10
Quantitative and qualitative criteria.........................................................................................11
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Marketing refers to the set of activity of communicating,delivering, identifying and
deciding on its price which is based on customers preferences. It is a business term that is
related to selling and buying the products and services (Baines, Fill and Rosengren,2017). It is
the process of getting people interested in the service and product of your company. To know the
customers needs and wants , the company should go through marketing research , analysis and
conduct research and development. The main objective of marketing and priority of a company
is focusing on to satisfy their customer need and maximizing profits. This report is based on
Sainsbury,it is one of the UK's second largest chain of supermarkets, it is founded in 1869 by
John James Sainsbury. This report includes the role of marketing,the concept of marketing along
with external and internal environment in which the marketing function operates in Sainsbury. In
addition to that it define the marketing mix to the marketing planning process to achieve business
objectives. At last this project report covers the multimedia plan based on quantitative and
qualitative criteria.
TASK
Concept of marketing
Marketing is a business term that is related to selling and buying the products and
services. It is the activity of communicating,delivering, identifying and deciding on its price
which is based on customers preferences. Marketing is finding out the needs and wants of the
potential buyers and providing providing goods as well as services that meet to their
expectations.(Gesualdi, 2019). Marketing operations sets the direction for workflows,process and
internal communication. The role of marketing refers to coordinating and producing materials
that represent the business. Marketers use mass communication tools for marketing such as
advertising,sales promotions ,social media,direct marketing etc. Direct marketing involves the
delivery of personalized and often interactive promotional materials to consumers individually
via channels such as email,telephone, internet and direct-response advertising. The marketing
function works with other business units such as marketing with finance,marketing with sales
and marketing with human resource department. Marketing function in Sainsbury ensures that
the sales department are selling products that meet the need and preferences of customers. As the

functional areas in any business can't work alone,they interact with other departments also and
have communications with them. For example the finance department checks the invoices of the
suppliers before they are making payments to ensure that there are no mistakes .The Human
Resource department is responsible for hiring employees ,training the staff etc. The company
also ensures that the customer service and sales staff must be able to provide good customer
service to Sainsbury's customers.
Marketing function
The marketing functions are closely linked with the other functional units of business
organizations. The sales service and customers service is relates to to each other in Sainsbury
because sales staff is able to respond the queries and question customers have(Alanzi, 2018).It
can also be explained with an example of finance department connection with Human Resource
department as well as Marketing functions -
 Human resource is link to the finance department in the Sainsbury,as it is responsible for
payroll of the staff. They decide whether the employee get bonuses or not,then they tell
the finance department how much to pay each employee. The main function of Finance
department is to record all money which earned from sales. They send out invoices to the
customers after knowing the deliveries are ready to go or dispatched. Banks are also
contacted to the finance function in case of facing any issues related to loan facilities and
bank accounts.
 The marketing functions are closely linked with the other functional units of the business
in Sainsbury. The marketing function requires economic resource for planning, research
and implementation of marketing strategies of business organization , it is also provided
by the finance department of the company.
Role of marketing
The marketing Environment is a mixture of internal and external forces or factors which
affect the company's operations directly or indirectly. The role of marketing plays an important
role in the context of marketing environment.
Internal environment- The internal environment are those forces or factors which occurs inside
the organization and affect its marketing operations. It can be illustrated that internal

environment is in the control and plays an crucial role for the business such as human resource ,
sales,manufacturing,marketing,finance department etc.
External environment-The external environment are refers to those factors which the marketer
has no control and it relates to the external factors to the business. External environment is
divided into two parts- micro marketing environment which includes
customers,suppliers,partners,public etc. and macro marketing environment which includes the
pestle analysis.
Interrelationships between marketing and other functional units
The functional areas in any business can't work alone,they have to interact with other
departments also and communications with them. Marketing is not only selling of product and
services it also encompasses the whole business. Because the entire business seen from the
customers point of view. It is important for the marketing department to work closely with others
functional units of Sainsbury. Finance department have the whole organization finance related
brief including budget,salary ,cash flow, market share etc. Marketing department needs to
focuses on gathering information about all these financial capabilities to increase sales
volume(Yardley and Bishop, 2017).The marketing department will need to work intimately with
HRM to ensure that proper skills and staffing levels are in place to create ambitious and effective
sales team, research and develop innovative product etc.
The external and internal environment
The external and internal forces effect the functioning of the business environment in a
positive or negative way. In business analysis, PESTLE analysis describes a framework of
macro-environmental factors used to gain a macro picture of an industry environment. Pestle
analysis defines as the external factors that influences the organization such as
political,economical,social,technological,legal,environmental factors. While SWOT analysis
combines internal or external factor that defines Strengths,weaknesses,opportunities and threats
The swot analysis of Sainsbury are below-
Strengths- The company has able to attract lot of customers because of customer relationship
management and its high quality of product and services.

Weaknesses- During pandemic Sainsbury faces issues in supply chain distribution and labour
shortage.
Opportunities-Using machine learning and AI is a game changer for Sainsbury to predict and
deliver street level requirement(Teoli and Sanvictores , 2019).
Threats- The worldwide lockdown in Covid19 took place and led to the closing of many of
Sainsbury’s stores across the UK which decrease its annual revenue.
Compare the ways in which different organisations apply the marketing mix
The ways by which Tesco and Sainsbury apply the marketing mix to achieve business
objectives such as Tesco provides a huge range of products under their own brand. While
Sainsbury offers required product to the customers but it also ensures customers satisfaction.
Tesco and Sainsbury both use the competitive pricing strategy in which they provide the good
quality of products and services in affordable price. Tesco has been use the direct marketing for
promoting their product and services on the other hand Sainsbury conducted the marketing
through channels such as TV , radio for advertising the products. Sainsbury also make use their
nectar loyalty cards which not only help them to retain customers but also allow the company to
collect the shopping related useful information of their customers. Both organizations use
marketing mix strategy,it is a tool for considering different elements that helps into promoting a
brands & its products. The seven p's of marketing mix are-
Product,Price,Place,Promotion,People,Process and physical evidence. These p's founded very
useful to a deep understanding of the targeted audience.
Business objectives
Sainsbury should looked at the quality of the food they provide to the customers and try
to improve the taste of the products. The innovative products and changes in their services can
acquire customers attention to the target market. By providing best customer services to the
customers,the company will able to meet their customers needs and wants which is helpful in
enhancing the growth and success of the company. The company should conduct research and
development ,by doing this activity company will remain competitive in the market place.
Marketing research links competitors to consumers to solve marketing challenges, supplying
marketing information and help in decision making process. Tesco applied the new product

launch strategy to reach its potential customers .It can achieve their business objectives by
providing good quality products and services to the customers at low cost .The company has able
to maintain an image of better quality and achieve their business objectives.
Marketing mix significance
The marketing mix strategy is crucial for achieving overall business objectives which
helps the business to make use of their strengths and plan a successful product offering to the
customers. Marketing mix provides a roadmap to the company and help the business in
marketing the right product , to the right people, at the right time and place. Sainsbury has been
able to develop large internet shopping website and achieving business objectives by providing
products and services online to their customers. Through market research the company will able
to know about targeted customers needs and wants which help them to acquiring right product
for customers and satisfy their needs.
Marketing Plan
Marketing plan defines the marketing,promotional and advertising strategy by which a
business will implement to sell its products and services. The main purpose of the marketing plan
is to clearly define the marketing objectives of the business that align with the organization's
mission and vision. Sainsbury ensures customer retention and satisfaction to providing them the
quality of products and services in competitive pricing policy. There are many key elements of
marketing planning for an organization to achieve marketing objective ,some of them are- market
segmentation,target market selection,monitoring and control measures etc. Market segmentation
indicates the process of identifying,choosing and creating value for potential customers, whereas
the market selection is the process of deciding which markets to invest in and pursuing. Target
market selection is important because it enables the company to do its resources to those
customers who are interested in the product and loyal to the brand. Monitoring and control is a
process of measuring performance and also ensures that the business is on the right direction to
meet its gaols. It plays an important role for the organization as it take corrective action to make
business effective for a long period of time. The market share analysis is a evaluation tool which
is used to compare a company's sales with its competitors and with total market sales while sales

analysis is the tool which provides insights into the present ,past and future performance of a
business. Basically ,it is a process of understanding the performance of business in terms of sale.
Marketing mix to achieve marketing objectives
The extended marketing mix of Sainsbury to achieve marketing objectives are mention below:
Product-
Sainsbury sell wide variety of product and services such as bakery,meat,drinks,healthy&beauty
products,clothing and many more. It has over 15,000 own brand products. Many customers buy
products from Sainsbury because of the quality(Mintz, et.al., 2021).
Price-
It offers premium pricing which is often seen in many of its products. However many of the
products of Sainsbury is cheaper as compare to other competitors in the market.
Place-
The company has 600 supermarkets and 800 stores . Customers can buy products by visiting its
stores/supermarkets. Sainsbury also has online channels to sell products which acquire
customers.
Promotion-
Sainsbury uses variety of media to deliver messages to its targeted audience by
TV,internet,radio,newspapers and other platform for advertising purposes. By doing this, it
persuade customers to buy its products and services.
Produce a strategic marketing plan for an organisation
The main purpose of the marketing plan is to clearly define the marketing objectives of
the business that align with the organization's mission and vision. Key performance indicator is a
metric which is used to measures the performance of every area of the business such as finance
to HR and marketing to sales. (Shawky, et.al., 2019). It helps the people across the organization
make better decisions. It is an important metric for the organization to keep your teams
aligned ,hold teams accountable,provide a health check and make adjustments to clearly see the
success and failures .So the company can do more of what's working and less of what's not.

Media Plan-
Media planning is the process to determine how,when and to where an audience is given
the selected advertising messages(Chernev, 2020).The process includes identifying and selecting
media outlets such as newspapers, TV,websites,radio and other social networking channels.
It is highly recommended to the company that in order to reach their potential customers and to
target customers. They should more focus on creating the social media channels more effectively
which helps to acquire the new generation attention as well the existing customers. The company
should also not stop to promote its product and services on the television by news channels or
advertisements because some people watch TV on their daily basis which includes news and ads.
It will beneficial in gain competitive advantage and maximizing the company's profit.
Marketing campaign-
Market campaign refers to promote the brand,products and services. They are the sets of
strategic activities to achieve the business goal or objectives. The main purpose of marketing
campaign is to increase the brand awareness and bring new customers in the organization.
Social media channels for communication
The most appropriate channels for communication between digital,offline and social
media is Social media channels because it is the cheapest platform and peoples take more interest
in surfing the internet on daily basis. As 21st century is the era of internet ,people begin to active
on social media such as you tube,Instagram and Linked-in etc. The Best Social media channel
for communication is Instagram, the company should deliver their messages to acquire
customers by creating hashtags, stories,feeds and uploading pictures by which customers may
excited to buy product and services from your company.(Schlager and Christen, 2022).It is more
efficient way to reach targeted customers and to know about the customers needs and
preferences. By doing this company will easily reach to their potential customers and create
brand awareness.

Quantitative and qualitative criteria
Quantitative research is helps the company to gather data in numerical form and its all
about numbers and use of mathematics analysis(Opresnik, 2018).The qualitative criteria helps
the Company in its data information process as well as the number of people who are interested
in the service ,at which level the brand awareness takes place,the number of email
subscribers,buying habit of targeted customers etc.,while the qualitative criteria is very different
from qualitative .It involves language,words with pictures and observation. In this research the
numbers and numerical data are not included but it relies on observing,collecting opinions
motivations for developing depth ideas.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it has been concluded that the marketing and marketing
operations of business plays very important role in the development of the organisation. This
report includes the concept of marketing and the marketing mix strategies in relevant to
Sainsbury. The marketing function of Sainsbury also coordinates with other department such as
HR and marketing working together to create strong brand awareness of the organization. HR
department provides training to the new employees and prepare them for deliver excellent
customer services in Sainsbury. Then it consists internal and external environment of the
organization which are pestle and swot analysis. At last the report includes the multimedia plan,
and an appropriate channel for communication between digital, offline and social media
channels.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alanzi, 2018. PESTLE Analysis. Project Management.
Baines, Fill and Rosengren,2017. Marketing. Oxford University Press.
Chernev, 2020. The marketing plan handbook. Cerebellum Press.
Gesualdi, 2019. Revisiting the relationship between public relations and marketing:
Encroachment and social media. Public Relations Review, 45(2), pp.372-382.
Mintz, et.al., 2021. The right metrics for marketing-mix decisions. International Journal of
Research in Marketing, 38(1), pp.32-49.
Opresnik, 2018, July. Effective Social Media Marketing Planning–How to Develop a Digital
Marketing Plan. Social Media (pp. 333-341). Springer, Cham.
Schlager and Christen, 2022. Market Segmentation. In Handbook of Market Research (pp. 939-
967). Springer, Cham.
Shawky, et.al., 2019. Using social media to create engagement: A social marketing
review. Journal of Social Marketing.
Yardley and Bishop, 2017. Mixing qualitative and quantitative methods: A pragmatic
approach.
Teoli and Sanvictores , 2019. SWOT analysis.