Marketing Plan for Arcadia Group: A Comparative Analysis with Primark

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Marketing Essentials
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Executive Summary
In the present report, the role of marketing in the growth of the business of Arcadia
Group is discussed. The interrelationship between the various functional departments
with the field of marketing is determined. The comparative analysis of Primark and
Arcadia is also provided together with their strategies for attaining the business
objectives. Furthermore, a marketing plan of Arcadia regarding its mission and
objectives are provided with a budget and an action plan.
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Table of Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................... 3
LO1.................................................................................................................................. 3
Definitions and the marketing concept. The role of marketing and the interrelationships
of functional units(P1, P2, M1).........................................................................................3
Structure and operations of marketing department(M2, D1)............................................5
LO2.................................................................................................................................. 8
The 7Ps marketing mix(P3)..............................................................................................8
Achieving overall business objectives(M3).....................................................................11
LO3................................................................................................................................ 12
Development and evaluation of a basic marketing plan (P4, M4, D2)............................12
1.0 Brief Background of Arcadia Group Ltd..................................................................12
2.0 Mission statement of Arcadia Group Ltd................................................................12
3.0 Vision of Arcadia Group Ltd...................................................................................13
4.0 SWOT analysis of Arcadia Group Ltd....................................................................14
5.0 Objectives of the company.....................................................................................15
6.0 Marketing strategies (Porter’s 5 forces).................................................................15
7.0 Marketing Tactics (7p)............................................................................................15
8.0 Marketing Budget...................................................................................................16
Budget Plan....................................................................................................................17
9.0 Implementation (5M).............................................................................................. 17
References.....................................................................................................................19
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Introduction
The present study focuses on the concept of marketing followed by the company of
Arcadia Group, which is a retail organization, located in United Kingdom. In the report,
the various roles of marketing and its interrelationship with different functional units
within the company are determined. The structure and the operations involved in the
marketing departments has been discussed. The impact of 7Ps marketing mix on the
growth of the company of Arcadia and the attainment of its objectives has been critically
analyzed. The purpose of marketing planning and therefore its establishment by the
marketing experts of Arcadia are explained as well.
The company of Arcadia owns brands like Burton, Evans, Dorothy Perkins and so on. It
is a private company situated in London (Arcadiagroup.co.uk. 2019). It was founded in
1903 and the present CEO of the brand is Ian Grabiner. The company produces an
annual turnover of 113 million British Pounds and the employee count is estimated to be
22,000.
LO1
Definitions and the marketing concept. The role of marketing and the
interrelationships of functional units (P1, P2, M1)
Definition of marketing
Marketing mainly deals with identification of the needs of the customers in the target
market and thereafter create strategies for forming new products which suits the
demands of the consumers. Thus, the company profits get increased with the skills of
marketing. The communication level of the customers with the company professionals
gets enhanced and thus the brand recognition gets boosted among the premium
customers (Kayabasi and Mtetwa, 2016). The company of Arcadia Group engages in
effective marketing tactics in order to its business value in the whole retail industry.
Through marketing protocols, the bond between the customers and Arcadia Group gets
stronger, enabling the customers to be fulfilled with the products generated by the said
company. Due ro the growth in the business profits, the satisfaction level amongst the
stakeholders like investors, employees and suppliers get heightened as their income
level also get accelerated.
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Figure 1: Marketing
Source: (Kayabasi and Mtetwa, 2016)
Nature of marketing
The nature of marketing mostly involves the managers to be diligent in developing the
planning for the growth of the business of Arcadia. The analysis of the market is also a
key factor that is undertaken by the marketing team. The clarity developed by the team
in understanding the choices of the customers helps in further determination of the kind
of processes that must be initiated by the different departments for the fulfilment of
these viable customers (Dodds and Jolliffe, 2016).
The allocation of the resources has been taken under consideration so that the invested
funds and human skills do not get wasted. As per the marketing conducted, employees
are hired who would be adept in achieving the company targets and attain the
objectives within the deadlines. The management process takes control of the
implementation process, monitoring mechanisms and evaluation techniques. This helps
in managing all the tasks performed in the organization of Arcadia and be successful in
achieving the goals.
The basic intention of the marketing individuals is to understand the preferences of the
customers and satisfying them fully is the end goal of the company. The fulfilment of
customers helps in the growth of the company and secures the longevity in the market.
Marketing also tackles the issue of reducing the operational costs and thereby increase
the profits in the market. The formation of the budgets and creating target of the
performances are administered by the marketing management (Akbar et al., 2017). The
main elements of the marketing process involves identifying the customer needs,
anticipating the changes in the trends of the customer requirements, make amendments
to satisfy the growing demands of the customers and eventually increase the profit
margins.
Development of marketing concept using current and future trends
The marketing of the company of Arcadia Group changes continuously and the trends,
which are followed currently, may not be followed in the future marketing strategies. The
chosen company in its marketing trends mostly considers factors like social marketing,
development of the applications, optimum market research and data collection of the
viable as well as premium customers (Mghebrishvili, 2018). Further collaboration with
the celebrities in order to endorse the products of Arcadia facilitates in a much broader
range of customer base. The customers generally follow the movie stars and
sportspersons who are targeted by the business corporate to influence the youth and
other generation of customers. Any business organization like Arcadia Group grows in
the business market, only with the help of the marketing professionals. The employees
of the company are trained accordingly so that the customers can be fulfilled in a much
impressive way as compared to the other competitor brands (Chaffey and Allen, 2015).
Organizing promotional events and other customer involvement programmes are
undertaken by the company to ensure they are the most effective organization in the
target industry.
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The trends, which the company envisions to follow in the future growth objectives,
include increasing the scope of Corporate Social Responsibility. This augments the
brand image of the company and the satisfaction of the employees and the customers
increases to the level extraordinary (Matikiti et al., 2016). Though the process of CSR is
expensive, yet the recognition the company achieves while integrating this in its market
trends is unimaginable. Blogging is another platform, which is gaining huge followers in
the present globalization. Companies hire professional bloggers to create the
company’s own blogging website and make regular updates in the same, which thus,
helps the customers in getting all the new notifications regarding product launches, and
other new up gradation of the company infrastructure, discount features and other
attractive events (Brychkov and Domegan, 2017). The discounts and other perks that
the company provides are greater than the discount rates offered by the other market
players. It is the goal of the company of Arcadia to create innovative products and other
packaging features in order to heighten the shopping experiences of the customers and
they regret on switching to other stores of different parent company.
Structure and operations of marketing department (M2, D1)
In any business organization like Arcadia Group, each department work for achieving
customer satisfaction. Therefore, it is detrimental for these departments to work
together and operate in the direction of the objectives. A cordial interrelationship
between the different members of the company and an empathetic behaviour of the
managers with the subordinates helps the employees to increase their productivity and
thereafter the profitability.
The marketing department stays in close relationship with other divisions of the
company like operations, accounting, customer service and other associated
departments (Rodney and Wakeham Dr, 2016). In the case of operations, the marketing
managers understand the needs of the buyers, then informs the production and other
attached departments, the intricacies of the research they have done. The departments,
thus work as per the demands, engages in innovative strategies and produce items that
are not much produced by other counterpart companies. The accounting department is
closely related to the marketing outcomes as before the initiation of the research,
budgets and other monetary essentials are calculated depending on which the market
analysis is attained.
The collaborative working attitude of the departments of the Arcadia leads them to the
common goals and most importantly, the morale of each employee is enhanced as they
develop a sense of belonging towards the company and its ambitions (Uncles, 2018).
Other operations that are undertaken by the Arcadia Group are financing, purchasing,
production, research, and engineering functions.
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Figure 2: Marketing operations
Source: (Rodney and Wakeham Dr, 2016)
Marketing processes including analysis, strategic planning and marketing mix
The marketing processes of the company, Arcadia Group are given as follows:
Market analysis- the analysis of the market helps the company to assess itself and its
position in the entire industry and who are the competitors that are to be challenged by
creating more innovative strategies and unique marketing objectives. This market
analysis comes handy for the companies in understanding the saturation level of the
existing markets and the new markets in different areas or other countries (Uchino,
2018). The company has to gain clear insight about its capability to stand up to the
competition level of the new markets and according make innovations in the product
ranges and enhance the customer service features, thus increasing the recognition of
the brand and even growing the revenue formation.
Any organization, whether an established brand or a start-up, requires to carefully
evaluate itself on the key parameters and the standard of customer choices, before
investing in the business. The attractiveness of the market can be understood through
the market analysis and therefore companies like Arcadia tend to perform this criterion
while expanding the business or create new business markets (Kotoua and Ilkan, 2017).
The competition level is judged along with the cultural and legal factors that affect the
growth of the business.
Strategic planning- with the help of strategic planning, the company of Arcadia sets
priorities for the conduction of the business and according invests the maximum of
resources like funds and human skills on that particular domain. The planning process
helps in strengthening the structure of operations, ensures that the employees work
towards common goals described by the authoritative members of the company, resolve
any kind of conflicts between the staff of diverse departments, and assess the targets
achieved by the company and as per the outcomes, the marketing managers set new
goals for the company to attain in the next financial year (Sultan et al., 2015).
The process of strategic planning includes factors like scenario planning, vision
planning and issue planning. The strategic planning is created by analyzing the
strengths and weaknesses of the company and thoroughly determines the factors that
affect the business growth.
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Marketing mix- the features of marketing mix determines and controls the factors
affecting the success of the business and eliminates the issues that are hampering the
conduction of operations by different departments of the company, Arcadia Group. By
utilizing the tool, the firm ensures that more profits are accrued by investing in the right
market locations such that the customers in that zone are highly attracted and satisfied
by the products generated by the chosen company (Dessain, 2016). The component of
marketing mix is made up of 7Ps, which are, product, price, promotion, place, people
and physical evidence.
The processes in marketing helps in continuous analysis of the market and therefore
the wants of the customers are also determined in the procedure. The strategic planning
helps in ascertaining the activities in marketing with the help of execution of marketing
mix. The model of marketing mix helps in determining the initiatives that would help in
providing value based products to the customers and be more trustworthy among the
competitive organizations of the retail market.
Figure 3: Marketing mix
Source: (Dessain, 2016)
Different roles of marketing
The main role of the marketing team is to promote the brand of Arcadia through
company websites and other social media channels. They also give solutions when the
company goes through crisis period or some unavoidable circumstances. It is solely the
team of marketing on which the entire company’s operations are dependent. The
marketing professionals also suggest opening of the stores and outlets by the company
to generate more revenues. It is because of the research conducted by these
professionals that helps in ascertaining the benefits that the company accrues. The
managers also determine the renovation that the company needs to make so that the
company generates more customer base.
The marketing department also checks whether the company of Arcadia group is
supplying quality products to the customers so that they trust factor of the company in
the minds of the customers remain intact (Min, 2015). Making personalized features is
another aspect of the marketing strategy, which makes the customers, feel that their
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opinions are given value to and the company is giving its best to reach the highest
potential and gain competitive advantage.
The processes of marketing vary from B2B and B2C implementation tactics. The B2B
deals with business undertakings to manufacturing firms, offices, hospitals and other
organizations. On the other hand, the B2C business processes deals with services
provided to definite individuals or family members (Villeneuve and Pasquier, 2017).
LO2
The 7Ps marketing mix (P3)
The process of marketing mix is beneficial in augmenting the quality of the goods and
merchandises that are supplied by the company of the Arcadia Group to the viable
consumers in the target market. The Arcadia group invests the maximum on the
engagement of the marketing team so that the customer engagement is heightened and
the revenue generation is boosted.
In this section a comparison is given between the retail department of Arcadia Group
and another retail chain of Primark. The headquarters of the latter is situated in Mayfair,
London of United Kingdom (Primark.com. (2019)). The distinction between the different
marketing strategies of the two companies are given below with the analysis of the 7Ps
model.
Figure 4: Marketing mix model
Source: (Villeneuve and Pasquier, 2017)
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Factors of marketing mix Arcadia group Primark
Product ● The products
delivered by Arcadia
looks delicious and
the consumers have
never stopped their
supply of good
quality foods which
has helped them
retain their age old
customers as well
as gain new ones.
● The brand focuses
on products which
meet the demands
of the working
moms and young
girls.
● The services
provided by the
company of Primark
are ensured to be
higher quality
compared to other
similar brands.
Price ● The company aims
to keep affordable
rates if the products
so that the
customers of all
standards can gain
access to the brand.
● Discounts are
offered to the
customers at
specific seasons so
that the company
does not suffer from
any losses at the
time of the year.
● Due to the higher
involvement of the
premium customers,
the price range is
higher than other
brands.
Place ● The places that are
targeted for the
marketing purposes
are mostly online
portals which in
today’s times helps
in more accessibility
of the customers.
● Products are also
sold on a wholesale
basis so that the
third party dealers
can avail bulk
quantity of products
● The company
focuses on the
expansion of the
stores as presently
there are
approximately 300
operating stores in
Europe.
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at a cheaper rate.
Promotion ● Making
advertisements
through hoardings,
endorsing in
television and online
sites are the
process of
promotion
undertaken by
Arcadia.
● Social networking
sites and apps are
utilized by the brand
of Arcadia Group to
showcase their
products to wide
range of customers.
● Unfortunately, the
company of Primark
is lagging behind
other companies in
terms of online
advertisements and
social networking
processes.
● The promotion
mostly takes place
through pamphlets,
newspaper and
magazine ads.
People ● The customers are
the primary concern
of the company’s
marketing
department and the
research conducted
before the product
development is of
high quality and
includes surveys
and other tactics.
● The customers who
are targeted the
most are the
teenage and the
youth generations
and the designs are
unconventional.
● The employees are
trained on a regular
basis so that they
can efficiently guide
the buyers and lift
up their shopping
spree.
Process ● The customers are
enabled to buy the
products online as
well as make
payments on the
same without
travelling from one
place to another.
● More processes like
parking, cash
transaction and
● The customer
service of Primark is
renowned in the
fashion industry.
● The products are
developed with new
raw materials and
innovative designs.
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billing processes are
integrated in the
company objectives.
Physical evidence ● The packaging
materials are of
recyclable quality as
well as comfortable
in carrying.
● The customers who
make purchases
from the online sites
are given the
opportunity to avail
quick delivery
facilities.
● The trial rooms are
cleaned and the
decoration is
elegant which
makes the
customers
interested in buying
the dresses.
● The food courts,
parking areas and
security
arrangements make
the experiences of
the shoppers
memorable.
Table 1: Marketing mix
(Source: Created by Learner)
The significance of the extended marketing mix that is the addition of the 3Ps, which are
people, process and physical evidence, helps the organization of Arcadia to make
improvements in the employee management and people handling skills. The processes
helps in analyzing the operations that are undertaken for the growth of the business and
is a part of marketing plan (Siahpush et al., 2016). The physical evidence helps in giving
relevant proofs that are evidences for the customer satisfaction and achievement of
company targets.
The marketing planning comprises of the following:
Analysis- this is the process of marketing research where the customer needs are
assessed.
Planning- the plan is formed regarding the achievement of increased sales volumes.
Implementation- the plan thus formed is implemented in the action process undertaken
by the company.
Control- any kind of distractions or wastage in the resources of human skills and fund
management are used in the process of marketing plans.
Achieving overall business objectives (M3)
The objectives of the retail businesses of both the companies of Arcadia Group and
Primark are to increase the customer satisfaction and thereby generate more profits
from the existing as well as the new markets. The welfare of the society is together with
the growth of the business of Arcadia. Thus, the main goal of the company is to be the
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