Role of Marketing in ASOS PLC

This document discusses the key role and responsibilities of marketing in ASOS PLC, a cosmetic and fashion retailer. It explores how marketing functions contribute to the organization's success and how they relate to the wider organizational context. The document also compares the ways in which ASOS applies the marketing mix to achieve its business objectives.

ROLE OF MARKETING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
P 1 – EXPLAIN THE KEY ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE MARKETING
FUNCTION IN ASOS PLC .......................................................................................................3
P 2 EXPLAIN HOW ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MARKETING RELATED TO
THE WIDER ORGANIZATION CONTEXT IN ASOS PLC...................................................5
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................7
P 3- COMPARE THE WAYS IN WHICH THE ASOS PLC APPLY THE MARKETING
MIX TO THE MARKETING PLANNING PROCESS TO ACHIEVE BUSINESS
OBJECTIVES.............................................................................................................................7
LO 3...............................................................................................................................................11
P 4- PRODUCE AND EVALUATE A BASIC MARKETING PLAN FOR THE
ORGANIZATION....................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
The marketing plays a very major in the development of the business of any organization.
The organization make customers for their product and services only by doing the marketing
which will help in attracting more and more customers. The basic role of the marketing is to
make an different identity of the organization in the mind of their customers. The roles which an
marketer should play in the while doing the marketing of the organization, the marketer have to
keep the wants and demands of the customer, the organizations survival, growth and
development is essential while doing the marketing, there must an economic growth in the
market and the marketer must take care of creating utility of the products in the mind of
customers.
ASOS Plc is an cosmetic and fashion retailer which do online business in the market. The
company was established on 3 June 2000 (19 years ago). The company have its headquarter in
London, England and have around 4386 employees working in the company. The major products
which are offered by the company are cloths, shoes, accessories and beauty. The annual revenue
generated by the company is $ 2.4 billion. The key people involved in the company were the
Adam Crozier who was the Chairmen of the company. The Nick Beighton who is the CEO of the
ASOS and the Ander Holch Povlsen who occupies 27% shares of the company.
MAIN BODY
LO 1
P 1 – EXPLAIN THE KEY ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE MARKETING
FUNCTION IN ASOS PLC
The key roles and responsibilities of the marketing functions in ASOS PLC are as
follows:
 The ASOS plc was providing the confidence to the customers in what they actually
wants to be
In this the company targets a customer segment and motivates them to achieve their goals and
targets in the life. They can do this with the help of ASOS product which will make their identity
different from other people of the world. It is an marketing strategy started by the company in
which they were selling different products like clothing, shoes and accessories which are

required in the different work sectors. The customers were free to choose the products which will
suit their personality and will look professional on them(Kim,and et.al., 2016).
 Making the fashion market hugely dynamic and fast placed
The company's online marketing strategy made the huge dynamics in the fashion market. If the
customers are purchasing any product online, they have the options to choose the best product
from a huge variety of products in different segment. The online shopping also allows the
customers to choose the material of the product which they wish to purchase in the market. The
products used by global celebrities which are in fashion are easily available on these online
stores(Hansen, and et.al, 2017.). The ASOS PLC have all those products which are trending ion
the market and they will be in huge demand in upcoming times.
 Making the company number 1 in destination for fashion loving customers
The mission of the company is to become number 1 in the destination fashion loving customers
company, but rather than focusing on making the company number one, the company started
focusing on the developing their technologies and offerings which can bring large business to the
ASOS PLC. The company started targeting the customer having age between 14 years to 25
years because these customer were highly preferring the online shopping. The maximum
products made by the company were used by the young and the customer up to the age of 40, so
the company was making marketing strategies to attract more and more customers of this age
bracket(Acquaah, M. and Agyapong, A., 2015).
 Understanding the market by looking it through customers eye
The customers are always searching for the new products which are trending in the market. They
wants to grab those latest products before any other person have it. The customers of prefer to
purchase the products from ASOS PLC were in the age of 20 to 30, so the company made the
tagline of “20 somethings” which attracted more and more customers towards the purchase from
this brand. There are 15.4 million customers who are always active in doing shopping from the
company. These customer were entertained because of the offerings which were made by the
company. These offerings were having many slogans and tips to make the fashion sense more
stylish so that customers will make the worth of their purchase(Varshney, S. and Joy, J., 2015).
 Structured business to create sustainable values
The sustainable value of the business is created by following the three elements and they were
culture, logistics and propositions. The culture of the company was to target right people who

will need the products of the company and analyze their behavior and values towards the
products offered by the company. The another element was the logistics chain of the which made
the assurance about the technologies and infrastructure which allows continues scale and
improvement in the company. The company started a new proposition in the unique blend of
fashion products and inspirational experiences created for the customers(Choi, and et.al., 2016).
 Unique culture of ASOS PLC
As the fashion industries are major cause of the industrial pollution, the company is making the
products which does not cause harm to the environment. The company made the products which
are reusable and made up from the pure cotton as the base of the product. The use of synthetic
material or plastic material was completely banned by the company in the manufacturing of any
product.
P 2 EXPLAIN HOW ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MARKETING RELATED TO
THE WIDER ORGANIZATION CONTEXT IN ASOS PLC
The roles and responsibilities of marketing in the ASOS PLC were as follows:
 The organization have to take care about the photo shoots of the products offered by
them. The photo shoot will be done by the photographers of the organization only. These
photographers will be appointed on the basis of their skills, knowledge about
photography and their previous experience in the particular fashion industry. The
company ASOS PLC recruit only those candidates of have the experience of
photography in the fashion industry only. The reason behind this is that fashion industry
photography is very different from other photography. The product of the fashion
industry has to be highlighted so that it will attract the customer. The photo shoots must
have the images which are clear and gives an positive image to the customers of the
company(Yazdanparast, and et.al., 2016).
 The analysis of market and the results of other competing companies in the market
matters a lot in the because the fashion retail store have huge competition who produces
the substitute products which the ASOS PLC was already producing in the market. The
company had to show their annual reports in which all the sales, profits, losses, revenue
generated are mentioned in the report. The ASOS PLC has showed its last annual report
on 24 October 2019. The market analysis also have the trading statement which is
showed at end of every four months by the company. The ASOS PLC showed their last

trading statement on the 18 July 2019. On 10 April 2019, the ASOS PLC showed their
interim results in the market which showed that the company was gaining profit in the
market and the customers were giving positive reviews about the products of the
company(Moorman, C. and Day, G.S., 2016).
 The ASOS PLC has participated in the opening of many other brands stores and fashion
retailing stores. This was done because the company wants to know that what their
competitors are doing and what are the common strategies which the both the
organizations were adopting in the market. This helps a lot in getting the knowledge
about the competitors in the market. The company usually offers the small brands or
retail store to work under the banner of ASOS brand. By this the company will offer
more and unique products of the retail stores or small fashion industries to their
customers(Pavlou, and et.al., 2015). Many times the small businesses brings big profit
for the large scale companies in the market. These small businesses also needs to get
expanded in the market so at the initial stage of their career they takes help from the
these big brands.
 The creation of the brand image and stories are very important in the organization. The
customers get attracted towards only those brands who have a great and believable
success stories in the market. The brand image of the company is made only by the
quality of their products and the strong marketing strategies followed by the marketers in
the company. The ASOS PLC was declared as the “marketing week masters” in the
events which was held at the tobacco dock in the London. The company created their
brand image because of the unique selling of products and services in the market. The
contribution of the ASOS PLC was very less in polluting the environment and the waste
made during the production of the companies products were reused by the producers in
different ways. Company created a strong brands image by offering the different
products according to work places and preferences of the customers(Nikraftar, Tand
et.al., 2015).
 The use of the brand name and stories behind making the brand image successful is the
major part of organizational marketing. The stories of the brands are made by the owners
and the CEO's of the companies by which they motivate the employees of the
organization to do work more efficiently and effectively. The workers of the

organizations have to believe in the stories told by the owners and CEO's of the company
and work according to the policies and rules of the company(Ulaga, W. and Kohli, A.K.,
2018).
 The influence of the whole industry is very important in the market to achieve the
success and maximum profit. The fashion industries are influenced by the changing
trends and fashion in the market with change in time. The ASOS PLC always kept the
eye on the outfits and dresses worn by the top actresses and actors in the film industry.
Maximum people of the country wants to wear those outfits which they have seen their
on their favorite actor or actress.
LO 2
P 3- COMPARE THE WAYS IN WHICH THE ASOS PLC APPLY THE MARKETING MIX
TO THE MARKETING PLANNING PROCESS TO ACHIEVE BUSINESS
OBJECTIVES
The ASOS PLC has applied the marketing mix into the marketing planning process in the
following ways:
ASOS PLC H&M
PRODUCT The ASOS is considered to be
the online retailing store which
consists of the products of the
famous brands such as Nike,
Adidas, Calvin Klein etc by
which the customers can order
the product of their choices
and their favorite companies.
The products of the ASOS
PLC can be purchased online
by the use of mobile
application or by visiting the
official site of the company.
The ASOS have separate
The products of H&M are
made by the company itself.
These products are sold
directly to the customers
because they have physical
stores available in the market.

section for men, women and
kids by the customers can
easily do the online shopping.
The ASOS has started a new
brand which was known as
little ASOS for kids(D'Souza,
and et.al., 2015).
PROMOTION The major source of promotion
in the ASOS PLC was the
online shopping done by the
customers through the mobile
apps and visit on the official
sites of the company. The
company use to mail their
customers who had made their
account on the mobile
applications and official sites
which helps them sending the
new schemes and offers
directly to the customers. The
another promotional strategy
was to make group and pages
on the social networking sites
such as instagram, facebook,
twitter, linked In. The
company was also giving the
google ads by which the
customers can have the
knowledge about the products
and services of the company
The promotional strategies
followed by the H&M were
doing the advertisement by
hiring the top actors and
models for the promotion of
the brand.

whenever they surf internet.
PRICE The ASOS PLC has adopted
the low and affordable pricing
when can be paid by all the
customers of the market. The
company offers wide range of
products which were sold at
cheaper rates. The quality of
those products were also good,
but to gain more and more
customers, the company kept
the prices of the product very
low. The company has also
offered mid season sale in
which the products were sold
at much cheaper rates as
compared with the actual
process. The ASOS PLC has
never charged the delivery
price on making the delivery
of any product or service. In
case the delivery was made
outside the country, the
company use to charge the
delivery charges.
The pricing strategy of the
H&M included the cost of
manufacturing and
promotions. The prices of
these products were also
reasonable for their customers.
PLACE As such there was no physical
outlets of ASOS PLC available
in the market, but the business
was running through the online
services and E-Commerce
The first outlet of H&M was
opened in the Vast eras in
Sweden. After this the
company opened its outlets in
many other countries.

throughout the world. The
company had its own
warehouses which were
located in the different cities of
UK. These warehouses have
all the stock or products which
were ordered by the customers
living in different countries.
The address of the customers
is automatically written by the
help of digitization which
makes the work of suppliers of
warehouses easy(Lin, and
et.al., 2018).
PEOPLE There are many people
involved in the company who
were having technical skills
and knowledge which was
helpful in growth of the
business.
The people were having the a
fashion sense and they were
well known with changing
trends.
PROCESS The process of shopping on the
ASOS PLC was different from
the other retailing stores. The
customer have to first make
the payment by the use of
credit cards or debit cards.
The process of doi8ng
shopping was to visit the store
and purchase products from
there.
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE The company use to interact
with the other companies and
customers by online mob app.
The companies receives the
The outlets opened in the
market were the physical
evidence of the H&M.

physical product of the famous
brands with the address written
on them. Then they further
process the product.
LO 3
P 4- PRODUCE AND EVALUATE A BASIC MARKETING PLAN FOR THE
ORGANIZATION.
Executive summary
The company is providing with products for the customers which are clothes, shoes,
accessories and cosmetics. The company is doing fantastic and the CEO made this company a
national brand because of the customers demands which increased in the market. ASOS
company is doing really well in the market and the company has a strategic planning of
achieving the mission and objective of the company. The company is very flexible for the
customers and the employees and the decision-making of the company is very much appreciated.
Mission
The company's mission is to provide the best of facilities to the customers through online
platform and the company wants to provide the customers with the best of products and make the
best for the customers so that the company can satisfy them(Štefko, and et.al., 2015).
Vision
ASOS company wants to get famous between the younger crowd because they are very
much online friendly and prefer ordering online. The company wants to increase the power and
inspiration of the fashion discovery.
Objectives
To increase the market share by 30% till the end of the year 2022.
To increase the profitability by 20% till the ned of the year 2020.
To increase the sales of the new product of ASOS by 10% till the end of the year 2020.
To enhance customers experience by 10% in the upcoming 6 months.
Situational analysis
Strengths

 The brand image of the company is wonderful and is very much acceptable by the
customers of the company. The company is very transparent with its customers, and they
are a huge support for the LGBT community which give the brand a nice image for
themselves.
 The company has ASOS insiders who are the age of 20 years, and they post fashionable
outfits on to the social media network which is a very good way of making the people
who what the company is serving to the customers.
 The customers get what they see in the company and that is a huge advantage for the
company. ASOS company is right now focusing on the expansion of the brand locally
and later worldwide which is another good advantage for the company.
Weaknesses
 The company is not investing a lot on the research and development of the company
which is making the company not innovate and invent something new or something
which is expected out of the company.
 There are no free shipping modes in this company and the company is not being able to
make a huge customer base of the company and loyal customers in the company too.
 The company will have to invest a lot on there technology department because the
company is not doing all that great as they are expected to be.
Opportunities
 There is a change is trends now and then which is a great opportunity for the company.
 The company has targeted the largest field for selling there product, but they will have to
make changes to get more loyal customers in the brand(Kleber, and et.al., 2016.).
 Expansion the company is doing is very good for the company and the company must try
to expand itself worldwide if they want to grow.
Threats
 The competition in the market is very strong in this field and the company must do things
which make them unique and different from the other companies.
 The company has no experience in making trades in other countries and that can be a
great threat for the company.

CONCLUSION
The report can be concluded in by mentioning all the marketing strategies followed by
the ASOS PLC in the market. The company has played various roles and responsibilities in the
marketing function of the company. These roles and responsibilities included the customers
needs and preferences and what the company is offering in the market. The roles played by the
company in managing the employees and work culture of the organization. The difference
between the marketing mix and promotional strategies of ASOS PLC and H&M were discussed
in brief. As the ASOS PLC is an online retailing industry and H&M have their own outlets, the
company were having totally different business from each other. The marketing plan of ASOS
PLC is mentioned which contains the SWOT analysis of the company and its mission and vision.
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