Marketing Strategies for Business Growth: An ASOS Analysis

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MARKETING ESSENTIALS

Executive summary
An organization, whether it is a start-up or a previously existing company, the approach
of marketing is very important to grow the business. It is the combination of strategies
that help a company to grow and make some unique attempt so that the business can
be benefitted. The present work has been done on the different marketing essentials or
factors that decide the fate of a chosen company and how it uses them in various ways.

Table of contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................... 4
Explain and analyse the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function to the
wider organisational context (P1, P2, M1)........................................................................4
Analyse the significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional
units of the organization (M2, D1)....................................................................................7
Compare ways in which organisations use elements of the marketing mix (7Ps) to
achieve overall business objectives (P3, M3)..................................................................9
Evaluate different tactics applied by organisations to demonstrate how business
objectives have been achieved (M3)..............................................................................10
Develop and evaluate a basic marketing plan (P4, M4, D2)..........................................11
Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 16
References.....................................................................................................................17

Introduction
There are different approaches that an organization makes to run its business. The
approaches change as per the type of the business or product or service, the company
is giving. The meaning of marketing does not speak about selling a certain product by
advertising the product in a simple way. This actually needs a good planning of the
marketing strategy and the understanding of marketing related different roles and
responsibilities (Hunt, 2018). The mix of marketing strategies, which is generally termed
as 7P’s of the marketing mix is also an interesting and useful tool to understand the
marketing process. Therefore, the present work has been done on the role of marketing
essentials to grow the business of ASOS, a British fashion retailer.
Background of the company
The original terminology is As Seen on Screen, which has been converted to ASOS
written as an uppercase acronym. This is an upfront British retailer dealing with mainly
fashion and cosmetics regarding dress, shoes, accessories, sportswear etc. The aim of
the company is the young generation which is considered as the fashion changer of the
world. The company has its headquarters in Camden Town, London and operates in
196 countries. The company has started its journey in 2000 and has generated a
considered business profit within 18 years. Approximately 4500 employees work for
ASOS in its different departments, raising the revenue of 2.4 billion GBP in 2018. They
have a strong online shopping system that offers more than 850 brands along with their
own range of clothing (ASOS. 2019).
Explain and analyse the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function
to the wider organisational context (P1, P2, M1)
Definitions of marketing and the nature of marketing
Marketing makes a direct approach to the customers and get their views and suggestion
to understand the present market situation. The marketing team presents their products
in such a way that the customers could be convinced by the appeal of it and even after
buying the product or service, they remain satisfied. This marketing team has some
roles to focus on, such as:
Defining and managing brand name: Marketing strategy involves building a clear
sense about the company, its products, services, price, the grade of quality, the vision
and mission of the company and how they are dedicated to meet the customers need to
the customers and stakeholders. According to Olsonet al (2018), for new companies,
this plays a major role, to build its brand name and for the existing company, this retains
the good brand value for the company.
In ASOS, the marketing team has taken this very seriously and have made promising
advertisement of their products as well as assured their product quality to the customers
by giving good customer care service, assistance while shopping etc.

Producing marketing: This also comes as a part of a promotion. During and after the
launch of a new product, a sample of the product or some discount is given, so that the
customer can have an experience about the product and buy the item if they feel free
(Grimmer, 2018).
In ASOS, the company arranges trial sessions for their beauty products while they give
discounts on other things as their initial promotion, to gain customers attention and
feedback on the product.
Search Engine optimization: In this world full of different technologies, a customer
always searches about their product of interest and try getting a realistic view of the
product, before purchasing. Reviews, description are the most relatable things in this
regard. Therefore it is important that the organizations should have a good description
of the product on their website, which is also helpful for online shopping (Bauer, 2018).
ASOS marketing managers have a good online presence and therefore every item of
them has been categories and provided with a detailed description, images, reviews so
that a customer can easily make a final choice for his purchase.
Monitoring and managing social media: This is a new trend in the business world.
This has also shown its effectiveness within a very short time. There are different social
media platforms are present through which an organization creates a page of their own
brand showing different products, services, announcements, discounts and can do
direct chat with the followers of the brand (Dąbrowska and Podmetina, 2018). This
helps a brand to get the real feedbacks of their customer and build a strong bond with
them.
ASOS with the help of their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn account
manages all these things to make customer relations.
Producing internal communications: good communication system within the
organization is very important to run an organization in a timely and efficient manner.
According to Rohmet al., (2019), marketing manager needs to see this matter to avoid
any miscommunication or to get benefit by using any urgent and important information
ASOS leaders and managers make sure that proper communication is there among
different departments to achieve one common goal of the organization. They use a
company mobile app to get the latest news along with they use company newsletters
and notices to know about the latest improvement.
Serving as media liaison: When a company is making its name and fame, it becomes
easy to get the media attention for different reasons. Therefore to use this opportunity,
the company managers should know the importance of spokes persons and how to
handle these media attention in a beneficial way (O'Neill and McLarnon, 2018).
ASOS being a leading fashion company of UK has always gained attention from media
for different reasons. Their spokesperson always tries to escalate their marketing
strategies, offers and emphasize on the quality and uniqueness of their product.
Conducting customer and market research: It is one of the basic but primary works
to do by the marketing team in order to understand the customer’s wants, needs and
demands to fulfil their expectations by producing such items (Bolton et al., 2019).
ASOS before launching any of their range of products conducts surveys, direct
interview, and market research to understand these and then manufacture products
according to these.

Handling vendors and agencies: Vendors and agencies are important to any
business organization, as they play a crucial role for the profit generation by supplying
raw materials of potential information or human resource in exchange of money.
Therefore, maintaining good relation with them, while making a balance between their
demand and the company is essential
There are certain marketing managers in ASOS who deal with these vendors and
agencies and made deal for the company by carefully checking the possible mutual
profit for both of the parties.
Marketing concept, including current and future trends
To understand the concept of marketing, the five components of it should be discussed
first. These marketing concepts will help to understand the current and future trends of
marketing
Production concept: This concept tells about the view point of a customer that how the
person I staking a certain product. Is the person attracted or not satisfied with the
product (Hashmi et al., 2018). This gives the company a scope to make better
production system if the review is negative, or to maintain its quality if the review is
positive for a product. Then the production should be increased to meet the customer's
demand.
Product concept: If an organization understands the needs and demands of a
customer, it can make a good profit. Consumers focus on their needs and search for
products that fit within their budget. If a customer gets a combination of these two along
with good quality, then the product is destined to be successful.
Selling concept: To sell a product by any means have created many creative ideas
many times. It mainly involves advertising by informing the common people how good a
product is and how necessary is it to be in trends. If it is done in a proper and innovative
way, then it can bring enormous profit to the company. Aggressive promoting is always
helpful in this regard.
Marketing concept: Marketing concept is done by the marketing management team of
a company. The team focuses on the product and to gain a command over the market
the team tries to deliver better than before products along with better promises and
packaging. This altogether increases the brand value of the company and brings the
target customer closer to them (Lindgreenet al., 2018). It is a general practice that
people get attracted to brand and believe them blindly over other shopping options.
Societal Marketing concept: This is another concept which shows that brand is not
important but need plays the major driving factor behind a purpose and brings the
customer to other options. Therefore to retain and increase the number of customers,
an organization should focus on such things (Gölgeci and Kuivalainen, 2019).
All of these aspects are taken care of by the marketing team of ASOS to make a good
and growing business by pulling more customers to them by giving good products and
services.

Roles and responsibilities of the marketing in ASOS
The roles and responsibilities that are performed by the ASOS to maintain its good
brand value are stated below:
Marketing strategies: To gain the trust of the consumers and to grow business in a
proper direction, it is important to make a strategy first. This strategy makes should be
done keeping in minds the benefits of both the company and the consumer.
Marketing information system: This is important to remain updated about any progress
of the market that can have an effective impact on the selling of the product. This is
done to receive any information about a product, planning related to its and the
implementation process
Marketing research: Marketing research is done to understand the needs and demand
of the customer to provide them the products that they want from the company.
Market segmentation: The customers are categorized into different sectors as per their
economic conditions, demand and demographics to serve them with better options.
Brand Equity: Customers have full faith in established brands. Therefore it is the
responsibility of the brand to carry the legacy and satisfy the customers in a better way
to make good relation and profit.
ASOS understands these aspects and so they focus on the customer's satisfaction to
make their brand more promising than before. This will escalate their good brand value
and bring profit and the satisfied customer will spread the company’s name which will
be long term beneficial for the company.
Analyse the significance of interrelationships between marketing and other
functional units of the organization (M2, D1)
There are several departments within an organization that works hand in hand to bring
the overall success for the company. (Kushwaha and Agrawal, 2015). These
departments are related with the marketing department as marketing needs proper
understanding and in depth knowledge of these departments to run the organization.
These departments are:
Research and development: by market research and customer interaction this
department understands the need, demandand expectation of customers and inform the
marketing team, so that they take necessary actions.
Production operation: The marketing team directs the production house that how and
when the products need to be made an delivered, so that they work accordingly using
different resources in such a way that no over or underproduction is done.

Human resource: After surveying the whole organizational condition, the marketing
team directs HRM department to hire people for the company for some specific job. The
HRM department then recruits people after screening and interview.
IT: This department updates the company website and upload different announcement
of offers, discounts, vacancy, make public relation through social media, update the
online shopping database etc. as per the direction of marketing department.
Customer service: This department gives a customer pre and post shopping
assistance and solves various quarries and problems of them. This way they generate
real time feedback which they give to the marketing department for future strategy
making.
Finance: This department helps the marketing department about the condition of cash
flow, and expenses so that a proper budget strategy could be formed.
Different departments of ASOS help each other to perform thesedaily works smoothly
and make a greater bond of understanding and cooperationto make the internal
environment of the organization beneficial for the company.

Compare ways in which organisations use elements of the marketing mix (7Ps) to
achieve overall business objectives (P3, M3)
The 7Ps of marketing mix are as follows:
Product
In case of ASOS, it has been witnessed that the company has been able to provide its
consumers with best quality clothing material as per consumers demand. It has made
hand-stitched linen clothes for its customers which are suited for all weather conditions.
At present, in the UK, the hand-stitched materials have the highest demand and are
liked by the customers across the country (Jain, 2017). On the contrary, Farfetch has
been able to provide best quality luxury wear for the latest trends in fashion. It has
focused on better presentation for its luxury clothing which is arranged as per consumer
demand.
Price
It has been seen that ASOS has manifested a premium pricing strategy for its products.
The main reason for this is that the customers in the UK prefer to buy good quality cloth
wears even if they have to pay little more money. This customer behaviour and attitude
has led ASOS to enhance the quality of its clothes at premium pricing. However, in case
of Farfetch, it has been seen that the company impends on optimal pricing strategy for
delivering items to the customers. The basic reason for this is that the company
depends on the average customers who want their items at reasonable prices.
Place
It has been witnessed that ASOS has led itself to online marketing paradigm by virtue of
which it has been able to attract the customers in the global arena. It has invested in
various online marketing platforms such as Amazon for creating brand awareness for its
products. On the contrary, Farfetch has increased its number of stores in the UK for
creating brand awareness for its products and increase customer loyalty. This has
proved to be instrumental for the organisation since it has been able to increase its
customer base by 3.6% for the fiscal year f 2018-19 (Tobey et al., 2016).
Promotion
ASOS has its manifested its advertisement strategy by virtue of social media platforms
such as Instagram and Facebook. This has been very useful for the organisation since it
has been able to interface the range of its products in the global arena. Social media
marketing has also made the company viable to sell its products according to the
requirement and updates from the customers. On the other hand, Farfetch has
manifested personal selling strategy for selling its products to the customers; it has
solely depended on customer relationship management principles for selling its
products to its customers and increases its profitability.

People
ASOS is reliant on its management professionals as well as the sales professional for
creating brand awareness regarding its products and increase customer loyalty (Paul
and Aithal, 2018). The management professionals are responsible for interfacing the
new advertisement schemes to the customers and set the benchmark for creating a
self-evaluated platform for the marketing associates based on sales value of products.
However, in case of Farfetch, it has been witnessed that the company has recruited
marketing executives from the top business schools in the UK for manifesting new
marketing ideas as well as schemes for increasing the sales value of the products of the
company.
Process
ASOS has an online delivery system in which the delivery is done within 1 day after the
payment is surfaced by the customer. The delivery is done by the delivery associates
who are responsible to the company. A one-time password is received from the
customer for verification after which the prices of delivery undertakes (Abdallah and
Jaleel, 2015). On the contrary, in case of Farfetch, it has been seen that the company
depends on the postal service of delivery of items due to lack of people for delivery. In
case of local delivery registered post is used ad in case of delivery in far flung areas,
speed post is used.
Physical evidence
It has been seen that ASOS has aligned a logo for its products which redeems the
grandeur as well as the integrity of the company. This logo serves as the benchmark for
attracting the set of customers who would be curious to know about the range of
products sold by the company. On the other hand, Farfetch has arranged shades
beside its products, which resembles an effective quality of service which is offered by
the company (Farfetch.com. 2019).
Evaluatedifferent tactics applied by organisations to demonstrate how business
objectives have been achieved (M3)
ASOS can increase its service quality and thereby enhance the customer loyalty.
Customer loyalty would vehemently help the company to enhance brand awareness for
its products. ASOS can also align itself with many other online marketing associations
which have their base in the UK. This would be instrumental for the organisation for
depicting a better set of products based on customer feedback. It is very essential for
ASOS to take regular feedback from the customers by social media platforms and
manufacture its clothes accordingly (Abdul-Hamid et al., 2017). This would effectively
help the company to set its strata of products as per requirement.

Develop and evaluate a basic marketing plan (P4, M4, D2)
The importance and value of marketing plans
Marketing plan is required to be created by the organisations to improve the
organizational performance and efficiencies of promoting the products. Marketing plan
outlines the marketing strategy of an organization that includes future activities of the
business. Advertising goals and current market position of the business is also included
in the marketing plan of a company (Kumar, 2016). Marketing plan helps an
organisation to analyse the company resources and create a plan for business growth.
It is effective for obtaining high business success. Marketing plan can be created for
short-term and long term basis to fulfil the business objectives.
The links between marketing plans, marketing objectives and marketing
strategies
There are links between the marketing plan, objectives and marketing strategies. As
marketing plan cannot be created and executed with proper marketing objectives.
Marketing plan
Marketing plan refers to the written document that includes marketing objectives and
strategies for a particular company for a specific time period. The functions that are
associated with the marketing plan are position analysis, situation analysis, competitor
analysis, target market segmentation and costs analysis (Grewal, 2018). Therefore,
ASOS needs to create a proper marketing plan for recovering their financial loss by
creating proper objectives to improve brand value and profit.
Marketing objectives
Marketing objectives refers to the business goals that are taken by the companies to
promote their products and services as well as increase customer satisfaction. ASOS
mainly Create marketing objectives for improving their profit and performance through
best possible marketing and advertising techniques. Marketing plan cannot be created
without a proper marketing plan.
Marketing strategies
Marketing strategies help the companies to determine separate strategies for separate
objectives. It helps ASOS to create different plans for product, price, position and
promotion. Marketing plan can be created by the clay after analysing the marketing
strategies and these are included in the marketing plan (Martino et al., 2017). Therefore,
it can help ASOS to set appropriate price for different products that can increase
customer satisfaction.

Evaluating and monitoring marketing plans using appropriate control and
evaluation techniques
Sales analysis
Sales analysis helps the companies to determine company sales volume for a particular
time. It also shows whether the sales are increasing or decreasing. Sales analysis is
required for ASOS to determine whether the sales of the company is appropriate or
there is lack of sales volume for which new marketing strategies is required for
increasing sales. It is identified from the sales analysis of ASOS that sale of the
company has risen by 14% to £1.3 billion in 2018 (bbc.com, 2019).
Market-share analysis
Market share analysis is essential for the company to determine the market position and
take different strategies to improve market share. It is observed that market share of
ASOS has been reduced by 13% due to issues in customer satisfaction which has been
observed because of improper loyalty programs in 2018. Therefore, it is required for the
organization to enhance the market share by taking proper marketing strategies for
increasing customer satisfaction.
Efficiency ratios
Efficiency ratio is utilized to evaluate the level of efficiently of ASOS in order to operate
their assets and liabilities (Armstrong et al., 2018). Basic factors like quantity and
inventory management are associated with the efficiency ratio of ASOS.
Cost-profitability analysis
Analysis of cost profitability is also essential to determine the profit margin of the
organisations and their effects on organisational performance. It has been identified that
the company has faced 87% loss in pre-tax profit in 2018. Therefore, cost profitability
analysis is essential for improving marketing activities for ASOS.
Strategic marketing plan for ASOS
The term strategic plan of an organisation can be defined as an ongoing process by
using which the company make their personal marketing in order to develop its overall
growth (Zimmerman and Blythe, 2017). Thus, the marketing strategy is to accomplish a
specific goal or objective timely effectively and sustainably. The organisation chosen for
this present study is the UK based most popular online fashion brands and cosmetic
retailer company, ASOS.