Principles and Practice of Marketing: A Case Study of Morrison

This is a report on the principles and practice of marketing, with a focus on Morrison, one of the biggest retailers and supermarket chains in the United Kingdom. The report discusses the company’s background, mission, vision, and market share. The report also includes a discussion of Morrison’s promotional mix, including advertising, selling, public relations, direct marketing, and sales promotion. The report also discusses how Morrison applies the AIDA model (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) in its marketing strategies and the use of push and pull strategies.

Running head: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF MARKETING
Principles and Practise of Marketing
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF MARKETING
Table of Contents
Company Background................................................................................................................2
Task 1:........................................................................................................................................3
Portfolio......................................................................................................................................3
1. Introduction:...........................................................................................................................3
Task 2.......................................................................................................................................11
2.1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................11
2.2.1 Promotional Mix of Morrison.................................................................................11
a) Advertising.............................................................................................................11
b) Selling....................................................................................................................12
c) Public Relation.......................................................................................................12
d) Direct Marketing....................................................................................................12
e) Sales Promotion.....................................................................................................12
2.2.2 How Morrison applies AIDA model...........................................................................13
a) Attention................................................................................................................13
b) Interest...................................................................................................................14
c) Desire.....................................................................................................................14
d) Action.....................................................................................................................14
2.3. Push and pull strategies of Morrison.............................................................................15
2.3. Conclusion.........................................................................................................................16
References:...............................................................................................................................17

2PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF MARKETING
Company Background
Morrison is considered to be one of the biggest retailers and supermarket chains in
United Kingdom. Since its emergence, it has rapidly developed its business and at present,
has more than four hundred stores in UK and is also the part of stock exchange FTSE 100
Index. The main mission of Morrison is to provide its customers all around the globe with
best value for money on their day to day shopping. With the same, its vision is to aid to the
creation of brand new products and industries for a better world for living. The company
achieves its vision in several ways, particularly given that its customers all around the world
have an increasing focus on the quality, freshness and provenance of the food that they buy. It
is also perceived as a good value by all its customers world-wide. The market share of
Morrison as per the data of 2017 was 10.4% (Michalakeas et al. 2015). It is one among the
big four fastest growing supermarkets in the world. The company has over hundreds of years
of experience in the retailing sector. Since its emergence, it has rapidly developed its
business.
Marketing plays an important role in Morrison in several different contexts. Indirect
and direct marketing are both important for targeting the market for this company. It focuses
a lot on its product quality and designs. It provide each every material right from clothing,
food, beauty products to books and magazines. It advertise its products and services online by
making use of digital marketing strategy and Facebook and Twitter are two of its most used
platforms. With the same, it also performs its advertisement of the products and services
through newspapers, television etc., and at the same time promote and develop the attraction
of the customers. It has delivered sales growth of about 11 consecutive quarters despite of
huge competition in the retail market of UK. It lead a clear and fair business. It encourages
customer feedbacks and allows both positive and negative feedbacks of the customers to

3PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF MARKETING
showcase on its websites At the same time, Morrison make use of good value strategy and
sells high quality products at premium price. Many a times, it attracts attention of its target
market by means of endorsement from the celebrities and experts. It also distribute its
products through both its online stores and through its official websites. The company fixes
the level of prices, the pricing policies, the discounts, rebates and the levels of margins before
launching of the product only after assessing the purchasing power of its customers in the
areas that it serves. Many of the times, it is seen that the people of Morrison are delivering
speech on roads for promoting their brand in U.K.
Task 1:
Portfolio
1. Introduction:
For the first part of the assignment I’m supposed to act as a marketing consultant who
has been asked to undertake research into the promotional tactics into a high street
supermarket in the United Kingdom called Morrison. It would highlight the information
about its practical promotional mix policies in the form of a detailed portfolio. The next
section of the assignment would present a theoretical aspects of the promotional mix that is
used in Morrison and would further evaluate the effectiveness of the tactics used by them.
The main focus of the report shall be on how the supermarket applies AIDA model and the
push and pull strategy process used by it.
1.1. About Morrison
Morrison is considered to be one of the biggest retailers (the fourth largest) and
supermarket chains in United Kingdom. It was founded in the year 1899 by William
Morrison. In the year 1961, William Morrison opened his first store in Bradford. Very soon,

4PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF MARKETING
it tool over the Safeway store and in the beginning of the year 2005, the company has
developed itself in having 403 different stores all over the United Kingdom (Gurturk and
Hahn 2016). It is to note that the main business of Morrison is the grocery and food. The
company has over hundreds of years of experience in the retailing sector. Since its
emergence, it has rapidly developed its business and at present, has more than four hundred
stores in UK and is also the part of stock exchange FTSE 100 Index. Most of its stores are
based in and around Shanghai
Morrison 2018 Morrison 1899
Source: (foodmanufacture.co.uk 2014);
Source: (PLC 2019)
The company also has online delivery deals in place with Ocado and Amazon and is
likely to invest in the e-commerce sector with the high street in decline as well. It has
delivered sales growth of about 11 consecutive quarters despite of huge competition in the
retail market of UK. The main competitors of Morrison are ASDA, Tesco and Sainsbury
(Michalakeas et al. 2015). The company has expanded its business by opening different
braches at different locations in United Kingdom.

5PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF MARKETING
Source: (FreshFruitPortal.com 2018)
1.2. Promotional Mix of Morrison
Promotional Mix in marketing describes a blend of all the promotional variables that
are chosen by the marketers for helping the companies to reach their goals. It is regarded as a
subset of the marketing mix and is believed that there is an optimal way of allocating the
budget for the different elements within the promotional mix for attaining the best marketing
outcomes as well as identifying the challenges present for the marketing in finding the right
mix for them.
Source: (Bhasin 2019)

6PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF MARKETING
1.2.1. Advertising
Advertising refers to the paid presentation and the promotion of the good ideas,
services and goods by the identified sponsors in mass medium. The examples of advertising
include direct mail, brochures, radio, television, print advertisements etc. It is to note that
Marketing plays an important role in Morrison in several different contexts. Indirect and
direct marketing are both important for targeting the market for this company. It advertise its
products and services online by making use of digital marketing strategy. Morrison focuses a
lot on its product quality and designs. It provide each every material right from clothing,
food, beauty products to books and magazines. Furthermore, Morrison advertise its products
and services online by making use of digital marketing strategy and Facebook and Twitter are
two of its most used platforms. It also distribute its products through online stores and official
websites. Moreover, it performs its advertisement of the products and services through
newspapers, television etc., and at the same time promote and develop the attraction of the
customers.
Source: (Barrie 2017)

7PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF MARKETING
Source: (Hazell 2014)
1.2.2. Selling
Selling refers to the method of persuading and helping one or more prospects for
purchasing the goods and services or for acting on any idea by means of using oral
presentation that is often done face to face or by telephonic manner. Morrison make use of
good value strategy and sells high quality products at premium price (Dolan and Goodman
2017). It is to state that the supermarket lead a clear and fair business. It encourages customer
feedbacks and allows both positive and negative feedbacks of the customers to showcase on
its websites (Blankson, Mbah and Abeson 2015). This makes a good brand image for the
company in front of the customers. The company make use of good value strategy and sells
high quality products at premium price (Richards, Hamilton and Yonezawa 2017). With the
same, it also use the market penetrating strategy as well. It is to mention Morrison also
presents sales presentation and sales meeting as well.

8PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF MARKETING
1.2.3. Direct Marketing
Direct marketing is basically a channel agnostic form of advertisement and it allows
the business and the non-profits in communicating directly to the customer base make use of
the mobile messaging, interactive customer websites and emails (AthuluruTlrumala and
Caron 2017). Morrison has its own delivery van printed with the company logo, has various
social networking posts on Facebook and at the same time, advertises about its services
through billboards, online advertisement, television advertisement and newspaper articles.
Furthermore, it is also to mention that the company has very recently launched a guarantee
work by the “Morrison’s Price Check” (Casali et al. 2018). In this, it claims itself to be the
cheapest superstore. Also, Morisson logo is advertised in any outlets. The company attracts
attention of their target by unique ways, such as endorsement from the celebrities and experts.
Furthermore, Morrison advertise its products and services online by making use of digital
marketing strategy and Facebook and Twitter are two of its most used platforms. It also
distribute its products through online stores and official websites.
Source: (Barrie 2017)
1.2.4. Sales Promotion
Sales promotion refers to media and the non-media marketing communication that is
basically used for pre-determining the times for increasing the consumer demand and for
stimulating the market demand and improving the product availability as well. Some of the

9PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF MARKETING
examples of sales promotion include sweepstakes, product samples, coupons, rebates etc. It
also provide club cards to the customers and usually targets its customers of every segment
on the basis of different products offered. The club card points encourage more buyers to sign
up in their online website and receive the benefit. It promises security to the customers and
many of the times, additional services as well. The level of prices, the pricing policies, the
discounts, rebates and the levels of margins are all fixed prior to the launch of the product
after assessing the purchasing power of the customers in that area. When the customers
compare the list of the prices with the other stores, they automatically find that the products
are truly cheaper and are way better as well. It provides many exciting offers to the customers
like club card points, products at discounted price etc.
It also makes use of various promotional and loyalty schemes for tracking the
customer trends. As per Trinh, Anesbury and Driesener (2017) the company has been
successfully created a very strong brand image and strong market in the field of supermarket
and grocery segments where the products have become favourites of the customers. It is also
to mention in this context that Morrison also provides every minute detail of all its products
in its online shopping website in order to ensure that the customers are staying clear.
Source: (Alamy.com 2019)
1.2.5. Public Relations

10PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF MARKETING
Public relations refers to one of the promotional mix and using public relation is one
of the most important ways used by the markets to transmit the positive messages to their
target markets as well as to gather more potential customers from the mart by means of third
part. It include seminars, campaigns, newspaper article, speech and all the other types of
communication means. Morrison deliver speech on UK roads in order to promote its brand
and make television and newspaper advertisements as well.
Source: (FreshFruitPortal.com 2018)

11PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF MARKETING
Task 2
2.1. Introduction
Market orientation is the key of retail brand strategy. Most of the retails sell the same
goods and services just like their competitors (Armstrong et al. 2015). But the key is to create
one’s own and unique market position in order to get distinguished from their competitors in
the market. It is basically concerned with the activities that are linked with creating and
satisfying the customers by continuously assessing their wants and needs and at the same
time, doing so in a manner that there is a presence of both measurable and demonstrable
influence on the performance of the business (Dolan and Goodman 2017). This part of the
assignment is going to elaborate on presenting a theoretical aspects of the promotional mix
that is used in Morrison and would further evaluate the effectiveness of the tactics used by
them. The main focus of the report shall be on how the supermarket applies AIDA model and
the push and pull strategy process used by it.
2.2. Discussion
2.2.1 Promotional Mix of Morrison
a) Advertising
It advertise its products and services online by making use of digital marketing strategy
(Haleem and Jehangir 2017). It makes use of various social media platforms for the same like
Facebook, tumblr and Twitter. The very first priority of Morrison is its products and services.
Morrison focuses a lot on its product design, quality, models, appearance, features,
packaging, warranty and their sizes (Blankson, Mbah and Abeson 2015). The supermarket
provide everything right from food and drinks, magazines, books, CDS, DVDs to clothing
and accessories.

12PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF MARKETING
b) Selling
The level of prices, the pricing policies, the discounts, rebates and the levels of
margins are all fixed prior to the launch of the product after assessing the purchasing power
of the customers in that area. It is to note that the quality conscious people usually purchase
products from Morrison. The company make use of good value strategy and sells high quality
products at premium price (Richards, Hamilton and Yonezawa 2017). With the same, it also
use the market penetrating strategy as well. It has launched club card points that encourage
more buyers to sign up in their online website and receive the benefit.
c) Public Relation
The public relation department of Morrison seeks for managing the reputation of the
people. They communicate with the target audience either directly or indirectly by means of
media. The main aim of the PR team of Morrison is to form and maintain positive and
productive image and at the same time, to create a strong and fostering relationship with the
target audience. Morrison advertises in the magazines, newspapers, and at the same time,
goes schools to deliver speech in order to promote its brand.
d) Direct Marketing
It has its own delivery van printed with the company logo, has various social
networking posts on Facebook and Twitter and at the same time, advertises about its services
through billboards, television advertisement and newspapers. With the same, it provides
many exciting offers to the customers like club card points, products at discounted price etc.
It also display big banners and billboards to attract the customer attention.
e) Sales Promotion
Morrison performs its advertisement of the products and services through newspapers,
television etc., and at the same time promote and develop the attraction of the customers.

13PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF MARKETING
With the same, it has cash and carry outlet. It is a personal presentation of a company for
making more sales. The company also provide club cards to the customers. However, there is
also loyalty card scheme for tracking the customer trends (Trinh, Anesbury and Driesener
2017). Furthermore, Morrison is one of the best example of direct marketing. It usually
targets its customers of every segment on the basis of different products offered.
I think it has Morrison has been successfully doing the marketing of its products and
services in the terms of marketing promotional mix.
2.2.2 How Morrison applies AIDA model
AIDA in marketing is an acronym that stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and
Action (Lee and Hoffman 2015). It describes all the steps that the customers goes during the
purchase making of a particular product (Hassan, Nadzim and Shiratuddin 2015).
Figure 1: AIDA Model
Source: (Lee and Hoffman 2015)
a) Attention
Morrison attract the attention of the target group in different ways. It has its own delivery
van printed with the company logo, has various social networking posts on Facebook and
Twitter and at the same time, advertises about its services through billboards, television

14PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF MARKETING
advertisement and newspapers. With the same, it provides many exciting offers to the
customers like club card points, products at discounted price etc. It also display big banners
and billboards to attract the customer attention. Morrison choose its location of the outlets,
the physical distribution and the warehouse as per the number of people in that particular
area. For instance, in the East London region, the majority of the population is Muslim.
Hence, it decided to supply halal certified food there.
b) Interest
After attracting customer attention, Morrison works towards getting them interested and
sustain their interest. It introduces various ways of purchasing the products to the customers
that it is offering by effective advertisements (Casali et al. 2018). In its official websites, it
provides every minute detail of all its products so that the customers can stay clear.
c) Desire
Morrison displays all the models that it offers in its online stores and official websites in
order to ensure that the customers are able to see the different options provided to them. At
the same time, it also explain how those models are cheaper and better from that of the
competitors’ ones.
d) Action
After all this process, the interested party automatically by the advertised product and
service and use them. It also include a “call-to-action” with for example- “Simply call for a
free quote”, Limited edition for a short time”, “bargain price only available today”. In this
way, customers rush to get the product as soon as possible. The company also promise
security to the customers and many of the times, additional services as well. It has very
recently launched a guarantee work by the “Morrison’s Price Check”. Here, customers can

15PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF MARKETING
easily compare and customer the product prices with the other available stores. It increases
the possibilities of them to buy the product.
2.3. Push and pull strategies of Morrison
Push strategy is basically to push a particular product at a customer and the pull
strategy pulls customers towards the product. It is to note that the push strategy is a very fast
way of moving the customers from the awareness of purchasing. On the other hand, the pull
strategy is all about creating an ongoing relationship with the very company or brand (Fang et
al. 2016).
Push Tactics- It is the tactic used by a company that ultimately results in the third
party stocking its products.
Pull Tactics- It is the tactic used by a company that finally results in the customers
that demand products from the retailers.
Push Tactics of Morrison Pull Tactics of Morrison
a) The company tend to make use of
push strategy for finding out
distributors for promoting their
services and products.
b) The company presents several
videos that demonstrate the service
and products.
c) It continuously carry on a
competition with the other retailers
in order to increase the sales of its
products
a) Viral marketing
b) E-mail marketing
c) Online and offline marketing. For
example- word of mouth
d) Blogging
e) Social media marketing. The
company makes use of Facebook
platform a lot. It is a good example
of push tactics because when the
customers like a product, they share
them with their friends on Facebook

16PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF MARKETING
d) The company also ensure that the
point of sale of its products and
services displays to make it easier
for the retailers for stocking the
products and services.
e) Morrison sales visits to the retailers
by asking them for stocking its
products.
through posts and this makes the
other people aware of the product
that they might never know existed.
I think Morrison is effectively meeting the push and pull tactics in order to make its
customers aware of its products and services and attracting them towards purchasing them.
2.3. Conclusion
Hence, from the above analysis it can be stated that Morrison is concentrating highly
on the marketing strategies and activities because it is the only way for reaching the
customers and brining awareness regarding the brand. It has always been a very strong brand
in the market from quite long time. However, in such a competitive environment and with the
competitors like Tesco and ASDA, it has become quite essential for retaining the customers
and focus on the new by means of marketing strategies.

17PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF MARKETING
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