Marketing Strategies of Marks and Spencer

Marks and Spencer
7/15/2018
2018
Introduction to Marketing

Marketing 1
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Overview of Marks and Spencer............................................................................................2
Current Marketing Strategy of Marks and Spencer...............................................................3
Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning Strategy of Marks and Spencer.......................3
Marketing Mix of Marks and Spencer...............................................................................5
Proposed Market Segmentation Criteria................................................................................6
Porter Generic Strategy......................................................................................................6
Market Diversification.......................................................................................................8
Proposed Marketing Strategy.................................................................................................9
Cost leadership...................................................................................................................9
Market Diversification.......................................................................................................9
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

Marketing 2
Introduction
Marketing is the business activity that is associated with acquiring and vending a service or
product. It is comprised of promoting, vending, and supplying services and products to
people. People who perform their roles in the department of marketing of organization put
their efforts to grab the attention of target market with the help of packaging design, general
media exposure, slogans, and celebrity endorsements (Baker and Hart, 2016). The report is
being presented to suggest two market segmentation criteria and their marketing strategies.
For this, the report will highlight the current marketing strategies of Marks and Spencer.
Overview of Marks and Spencer
Marks and Spencer Group is a big British retailer with headquarter in London. The business
is registered on the Stock Exchange of London and is component of the FTSE 100 Index. It
has a specialization in the retailing of superfluity food items, home merchandises, and
clothing. Thomas Spencer and Michael Marks established Marks and Spencer in 1884. The
company started vending branded products such as Kellogg’s Corn Flakes from 2008. Marks
and Spencer presently possess 979 stores in the United Kingdom comprising 615 stores that
only vend food items (Reuters, 2018). The company operates its business in two segments
that are UK and International. The United Kingdom segment is comprised of the retail
business and the franchise operations of United Kingdom. The International segment is
comprised of retained businesses of Marks and Spencer in the Republic of Ireland, Asia, and
Europe, along with international processes of the franchise (Reference for Business, 2018).

Marketing 3
Current Marketing Strategy of Marks and Spencer
Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning Strategy
Targeting
Marks and Spencer particularly aims the market of the United Kingdom, the target is
comprised of around 95% of the whole population. The business is planning to increase its
food stores in the country to meet the needs of the consumers in the local area.
The market segmentation purpose is to manage the resources and support in fulfilling the
customer’s needs. Marks and Spencer target particularly the young people and encounter the
customer's needs. They entice a segment of the younger female into their store (Campaign,
2017).
Segmentation
Segmentation is the market separation of people with likes/dislikes in terms of preferences
and tastes (Williams and Williams, 2017). Marks and Spencer define the market and targets
that market with the help of the approach of diverse measures like the clothing line support to
discover the market in an appropriate way with the support of geographic, psychographic,
and demographic profile.
Demographics- In the market of clothing, Marks and Spencer majorly target women and the
business gratified the market segment of each age group and normally above 20 years of age
group. The company has targeted teenage girls as they look for colorful clothing, and are very
conscious of their styles.
Psychographic- The personalities and social class are the same but the difference is in the
lifestyles. The consumer buying behavior can be understood by the transaction and it assists
marketers to offer better items for the target market (Hobbs, 2016).

Marketing
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Conduct Marketing audit of Marks and Spencer........................................................................3
Draw STP analysis of Marks and Spencer..................................................................................6
Justify the Marketing strategies chosen by Marks and Spencer.................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
Marketing is referred to a set of activities that are undertaken by an organization in order
to promote the sales of goods and services of an organization. Marketing as a process includes
various activities like selling, advertising and delivery of the products to the customers of the
organization. The professionals working as a part of marketing and promotion department tends
to seek attention from the audience with the help of advertisements. Promotional activities tend
to target the audience with the help of celebrity endorsements, graphics, slogans and media
exposure. The marketing concept utilises the marketing mix which include 4 ps namely product,
place, price and promotion (Bala and Verma, 2018).
Marks and Spencer is a UK based retailer that is headquartered in London. The
organization deals in selling apparels, food products, home products, etc. under its brand name of
Marks and Spencer. The organization was founded by Michael marks and Thomas Spencer in the
year 1884 in Leeds. At present, Marks and Spencer has set up over 950 stores across the region
of United Kingdom out of which over 600 stores deal in selling of food products only. The report
basically revolves around the marketing strategies of Marks and Spencer (Berger and et.al.,
2020).
MAIN BODY
Conduct Marketing audit of Marks and Spencer.
Marketing Audit is referred to a process of examining the overall promotional
environment of the organization. The marketing audit consists of various analysis such as
PESTLE analysis, porter's five forces model, SWOT analysis etc. The marketing audit of Marks
and Spencer is performed with the help of various analysis described below.
The marketing audit of Marks and Spencer based upon the changes in aspect of micro
environment of the organization can be done with the help of competitor's analysis. There are
various micro environment factors that occur in aspect of Marks and Spencer's target market.
The competitor's analysis of Marks and Spencer is performed with the help of Porter's five forces
model (Dash, Kiefer and Paul, 2021).
 Bargaining power of the buyer- The businesses focus upon the needs and wants of the
customers and also make efforts in order to fulfil them. It has been noticed that the trends
in fashion have been quite dynamic and so are the customer demands. This requires
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Marks and Spencer to make changes in the product developed and the marketing
strategies of Marks and Spencer. The changes in the strategies need to be made in a way
that, Marks and Spencer aims to offer products and services as per the customer
orientation and change orientation. The bargaining power of buyers in aspect of Marks
and Spencer is quite moderate (Deepak and Jeyakumar, 2019).
 Bargaining power of the supplier- Supplier is referred to the individuals or the group of
individuals that offer the raw material for the organization. Suppliers are a very crucial
component of marketing strategy of Marks and Spencer. In case the suppliers fail to
supply or deliver the equipments or raw materials on time, it can lead to delay in delivery
of products. The delay will decline the reputation of Marks and Spencer in the market. It
is very important for the organization to maintain smooth communication and healthy
relationships with the supplier. Hence, the bargaining power of supplier is high in aspect
of Marks and Spencer.
 Threat of new entrants- The threat of new entrant is where an organization can enter
into the market and decline the market share of already existing organizations. In case of
Marks and Spencer, the threat of new entrant is quite low. The reason behind the lesser
risk from new entrants is that, the new entrant will have to be really creative or introduce
an overall new concept which is not possible to carry out. The establishment of an
international apparel chain requires a huge capital investment. The Marks and Spencer
already have loyal customer base and strong image in the market (Eckhardt and et.al.,
2019).
 Threat of new substitutes- The threat of substitute is referred to the risk that can be
caused to the business of an organization due to its substitutes in the market. The
products of Marks and Spencer can be replicated very easily and thus can act as substitute
of the organization. Thus it can be stated that Marks and Spencer has a huge threat of
substitutes in the market. It can be noted, that Tesco and ASDA provide cost friendly
alternatives to their customers which can attract the customers towards them .
 The level of competition- The level of competition is quite vulnerable for Marks and
Spencer as the organization deals in apparels as well as household products. The main
and crucial competitors of Marks and Spencer are Zara, ASDA, Next and John Lewis and
Topshop. While Marks and Spencer is consistently making efforts in order to establish a
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