Comparative Analysis of Marketing Mix Strategies of Zara and Hennes and Mauritz

This report covers comparative analysis of marketing mix strategies of Zara and Hennes and Mauritz along with the tactics used by them. It also includes a marketing plan for Zara to market its new product in the market.

Marketing Essentials

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P3: Compare the ways in which different organisations apply the marketing mix to the
marketing planning process to achieve business objectives........................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P4: Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for an organisation........................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Marketing consist of set of activities that are used by company in order to promote its
production services to the market and attract large number of customers. In today's competitive
world, it is a very crucial function for each organisation as their success and growth highly relies
on it (Gregg, 2015). In this report, the chosen organisation is Zara which is one of the leading
and well known brand of Spain. The company was established in 1975 and offers variety of
products to customers including accessories, clothing, perfumes etc. This report covers
comparative analysis of marketing mix strategies of Zara and Hennes and Mauritz along with the
tactics used by them. Apart from this, a marketing plan is also prepared for Zara to market its
new product in market.
MAIN BODY
TASK 2
P3: Compare the ways in which different organisations apply the marketing mix to the marketing
planning process to achieve business objectives
Marketing mix includes combination of elements which can be controlled by organisation to
attract customers for purchasing their products. It is the significant tool that helps organisation in
developing appropriate marketing strategy and their execution by using effective tactics (Jones
and Rowley, 2011). The comparative analysis of marketing mix of Zara and Hennes and Mauritz
is mentioned below:
Marketing
mix
elements
ZARA Hennes and Mauritz
Product Zara is one of the leading luxury
fashion brand of the world. It offers
variety of products for children, men
and women. Its products include tops,
skirts, t shirts, trousers, jeans, bags,
accessories etc. It offers both formal
and casual wears of different styles. It
In fashion retail industry, Hennes and
Mauritz is a well known brand that
provides fast fashion clothing to
customers. It offers shoes, bags,
accessories and trendy lifestyle collection
for people (Kakarot-Handtke, 2015). The
firm designs which are inspired by

offers many new designs and its
products are like by people. The
availability of product line impacted
by the needs and preferences of target
market. For maintaining its
sustainability in market, Zara is
committed to minimize waste from
production process. The security tags
and handles are recycled by it and it
gives its products in biodegradable
plastic bags or in paper bags. These
all are the product mix and strategies
of Zara.
technology and art from all across the
world. The main focus area of company is
quality of product and latest fashion. The
products of H&M are designed by special
team of designers by the help of which
company is able to offer variety of trendy
clothes to customers.
Price Zara offers fashionable products at
low prices. It provides latest fashion
clothes in less prices in comparison to
other international brands. Prices of
its products are quite affordable
customers as it follows low pricing
strategy. The company is not
spending high amount of money on
raw materials and advertisements. So
the company has low cost structure in
comparison to its competitors. It sets
market based pricing strategy in
which the target price is set as per the
willingness of consumer to pay for it.
However, some of the stores of Zara
premium pricing strategy in which it
offers product to customer at high
prices.
Hennes and mauritz is a leading brand that
offers high quality products to customers
at premium prices. The company is using
premium pricing strategy and sets high
prices of its product. In comparison to its
competitors, It offers large variety of
products to customers with high quality.
this helps company in increasing its sales
and profitability ratio. Apart from this, it
offers various schemes and discounts on
its core and fresh products. This allow
firm to attract more number of customers
(Lipsman and et. al., 2012).

Place Zara perform its operations in around
88 nations with more than 6500
outlets. It also offers its products on
online stores. The company is
vertically integrated and its supply
chain provides it competitive
advantage in market. The business
model of company is unique that
helps in bringing new products to
market in less possible time. In-house
designers and commercial team of
firm work collectively to determine
prevailing trends in market and
develop new products accordingly
(Long and Jerath, 2018).
The company sell its products on
exclusive stores which are located all
across the world. There are some countries
in which the company provide its product
by franchising partners. The products of
Hennes and Mauritz are also available
online from where people can choose from
large number of products and purchase
them by making online payment. The
company has created good supply chain
and its distribution channel has followed
direct purchase policy of raw materials or
goods and the finished goods are directly
selling to the retail shops.
Promotion Zara is not spending much money on
advertisement. The unique selling
proposition of company is it's less
processing time, affordable pricing
and variety of styles. The company
completely rely on on word of mouth
promotion instead of using expensive
marketing tool. Apart from this, it
also uses social media for promoting
its products as this medium helps
company in reaching to large group
of customers. On Instagram and
Facebook, it has millions of followers
who are the loyal and potential
customers of Zara.
Since the company has wide product
portfolio that caters distinct segments,
multichannel promotional strategies used
by company in marketing mix. Use TV
advertisement to broadcast creative ads
that emphasizes on trendy innovative
designs. Hennes and Mauritz has its
personal YouTube channel where the
company come up with ad campaigns
which are unique so as to engage with
large group of customers. Apart from this,
the company also use sponsorships and
promo codes and discounts in order to
promote its products in the market
(Malhotra, Birks and Wills, 2013).

People Large number of employees are
working in Zara who helps company
serving customers in better way.
Highly skilled and efficient staff of
company contributes in performing
the operations effectively and
attaining goals and objectives of
company (Mihart, 2012).
In Hennes and Mauritz, skilled and
talented employees are working who
offers product and services to customers.
It also provides training and development
programs to its employees so that their
skills and competencies can be enhanced
and they are able to serve customers in
more better way.
Process High end technologies is used by
Zara for manufacturing high quality
clothes. Company accepts both online
and offline payments that provides an
ease to customers to make their
purchase and pay as per thier choice
of payment mode.
Hennes and Mauritz has its own website
through which company sell its products
online. Customers can use digital payment
mode to make payments for the products
they purchase.
Physical
evidence
The website of company and its
interior and ambiance of its stores
provides physical evidence to
customers of Zara. The company also
has its unique logo that makes the
brand recognizable to customers.
At the time of delivery of product,
company provide a receipt to its customers
which is a physical evidence for them. the
website of company provides all the
details to customers about its products
(Rossi, Allenby and McCulloch, 2012).
TASK 3
P4: Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for an organisation
Marketing Plan is the written documentation of course of action taken up by a company
with a view to create awareness of the organisational offerings among the people (Simkin and
Dibb, 2013). In this regard, the management of ZARA has also decided to make use of a
marketing plan with a view to increase the goodwill of brand at market place. The company is

launching waterproof watch in upcoming time to gain the attention of wide base of people. Thus,
the marketing plan made by ZARA is presented as follows:-
Executive summary: ZARA is one of the most renowned multinational firms dealing in
apparel sector which has a large base of customers to serve on a daily basis. The extensive
goodwill and popularity of firm has inflated the expectations of customers. Looking upon this,
ZARA is now launching waterproof watch under the name “ZARA Classic Waterproof Watch”.
This new product will provide assistance to the brand in inflating its market positioning as well
as global reputation to appeal to people in a more effective manner.
Overview of the company: ZARA is an apparel retail firm which operates its operations
across a number of countries and is headquartered at Arteixo. This is a renowned brand which
holds specialisation in fast fashion and deals in a wide array of product segments such as
accessories, shoes, clothes, beauty care, perfumes and swimwear. It belongs to Inditex Group
which is the globally leading apparel retail corporation.
Offerings of company: The apparel ware offered by ZARA at market place is available
for men, women and children. In this regard, it is acknowledged that this brand manufactures
more than 450 millions of items every annum.
Vision: The vision of this brand is to become the word of mouth for its customers by
emphasizing upon collaborative working.
Mission: The mission of respective apparel retail brand is to offer high quality offerings
to customers which can meet the promises made by firm during marketing.
Objectives: The management of ZARA has stipulated certain SMART objectives
associated with the launch of ZARA Classic Waterproof Watch. These objectives are given as
follows:-
“To enhance the market share of company across the globe by 7.35% by the end of 1
year”
“To increase the revenues of brand by 10% by the end of 6 months from launch of new
waterproof watch in market place”
SWOT Analysis: This is an analytical framework that is taken into use by companies in
order to gain knowledge of the internal aspects of a business entity (Uchino, 2018). This
provides assistance to a corporation in ascertaining the weak areas so as to make improvements

in the same and attain business efficiency. In this relation, SWOT analysis is done by the
management of ZARA in relation to ZARA Classic Waterproof Watch as follows:-
Strengths Weaknesses
 The firm has a qualified team of
professionals who are engaged in
production of products.
 The quality of waterproof watch
will be extensively high.
 The brand has a strong global
market presence and extensive
goodwill.
 The decision taken by organisation
to make use of premium pricing
strategy for the new watch to be
launched into market would prove
to be adverse for the company.
 The brand does not invest much
amount in R&D department to
determine the latest and emergent
trends of market place.
Opportunities Threats
 The entity can expand its reach so
that the new product can be
availed by people belonging to
more number of countries.
 The threat of substitution for ZARA
is high owing to the premium prices
charged by the brand for its
offerings from customers.
STP: Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning can be referred to as a comprehensive
framework that is undertaken by companies across the globe to segment the market, identify the
target audience and position the offerings of corporation among them. In this relation, top
management of ZARA has made use of this model to position ZARA Classical Waterproof
Watch amidst its target market.
Segmentation This can be defined as the division of market by a firm with a view to
ascertain the target market place (Werner and Tang, 2017). In this relation,
it has been analysed that ZARA is segmenting the market on the basis of
demographics as well as behavioural pattern.
Targeting This can be referred to as a procedure which is linked to targeting the
selected market. In this relation, it has been analysed that ZARA targets the
customers demographically on the basis of aspect named as age group. The

age group targeted by this brand is 22 to 36 years to age as they possess
craze of purchasing and wearing watches as a status symbol. Further,
behavioural segmentation is done by the company to target people who
possess likelihood towards buying tech watches with unique features.
Positioning Positioning can be defined as the procedure of placing the products of
company among the target audience (Yan and et. al., 2019). It encompasses
the channels as well as strategies of communication that provide assistance
to a corporation in creating awareness about its offerings. In this context, it
is acknowledged that ZARA would make use of social media marketing in
order to position the new waterproof watch among the target market.
Action plan: ZARA has devised a budget for the effective execution of market plan to
derive positive results in terms of attainment of predefined marketing objectives. The budget is
made to make sure that the cost incurred does not exceed the amount allotted for new product
production and launch at market place among the customers. The budget prepared by ZARA for
launching ZARA Classic Waterproof Watch into the market is presented as follows:-
Marketing Budget:
Particulars 1st year 2nd year 3rd year 4th year
Initial money 10000 5000 5000 5000
Investment 10000 10000 6000 5000
TOTAL 20000 15000 11000 10000
Marketing
outlay
15000 1000 3000 5000
Promotion 4000 1000 5000 2000
Sales publicity 2000 2000 1000 1000
Direct selling 4000 3000 1000 1000
TOTAL 25000 7000 10000 9000

Control and monitoring: It is essential for each and every company to control and
monitor their marketing activities so as to ensure achievement of goals within due course of time
(Ogunmokun and Hsin Tang, 2012 ). In this regard, it is important for ensuring that the plan is on
the right track and would yield desired results. Thus, ZARA would make use of Benchmarking
and KPI as monitoring and control techniques to measure the deviation between actual and
desired performance. It is here that the need for taking corrective actions arises if the deviations
are extensive.
CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report, it has been concluded that marketing mix includes
various strategies that are utilized by organizations in order to attract customers and influence
them to purchase the product. Marketing plan is a detailed document that includes all the
strategies and actions of company that it utilise to promote its products and services in market.
The helps company in effectively improve its sales and productivity ratio. It is very crucial for
company to determine its target market and position its products in such a way that it can attract
large customer group.

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