Marketing Report: An Analysis of ASOS Plc's Marketing Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the marketing strategies employed by ASOS Plc, a British online fashion retailer. It begins by outlining the roles and responsibilities of the marketing function, including market expansion, product offering, and demand management. The report then explores the interrelationship between the marketing department and other organizational functions, such as production, finance, human resources, and customer service, highlighting how these departments collaborate to achieve company objectives. A key focus is the comparison of ASOS's marketing mix (7Ps) with that of its competitors, particularly Arcadia, examining aspects such as product offerings, distribution channels, pricing strategies, promotional activities, and customer service. Finally, the report evaluates ASOS's marketing plan, incorporating strategic tools like SWOT, PEST, and Porter's Five Forces analyses, and discusses differentiation and STP (Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning) strategies to attract and retain customers. The report concludes with a summary of the findings and recommendations.

MARKETING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
P 1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing function.............................................................1
P 2 Relationship of marketing function with other organizational functions.........................3
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................4
P 3 Comparison of ways in which different organizations apply marketing mix..................4
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................7
P 4 Evaluation and development of marketing plan...............................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Marketing refers a procedure and activity that is being undertaken by an organization in
order to promote buying or selling of its products and service (Kotler and et.al., 2015). Marketing
plays a vital role because it mainly responsible for attracting customers and retaining them. This
present study is based on ASOS Plc. It is a British fashion online retailer that sell clothes,
accessories, beauty products and shoe. As seen on screen company was founded in the year of
2000 by Nick Robertson and Quentin Griffiths. This report is about to show main roles and
responsibilities of marketing department along with its interrelationship with other functional
departments. By gathering information of customers, marketing department share it with other
departments to develop new products. It will also show the importance of marketing mix which
perform as a tool for the company. Lastly, this report will analyse all activities and strategies
involved in marketing plan such as SWOT analysis, PEST, Porter's 5 forces, differentiation and
STP. Analysis of internal and external factors helps an organization in making changes in
strategies and attract customers.
LO 1
P 1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing function
ASOS stands for AsSeenOnScreen very firstly when this brand is introduced there logo is written
as an uppercase acronym. But after sometime the new logo was designed by “Ben Lewin” in year
2008. In 2013 the company became big with the employees of 3000 (Ashley and Tuten, 2015).
On 3rd June 2000 the “asos” is introduced to the public by Nick Robertson, Quentin
Griffiths and Andrew Regan. In 2004 “asos” introduced their own women label.
In year 2017, a launched campaign to take advantage of “Instagram Stories” for encourage
subscribers to upload videos or pictures of purchased clothes from “asos” and they also say to use
#AsSeenOnScreen to tag “asos” brand in their stories. After the successful of hashtag and upload
process, they launched a mobile application in year 2018 which downloaded by 10 million, And
then “asos” claims that 58 percent of public of UK purchase clothes from mobile application
(Finne and Grönroos, 2017).
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Top roles and responsibility of marketing
1. Expand Market
Marketing manager develops strategies to expand market share. It is done through mass
public like advertising, PR, Events, brand promotion to boost their product as far and wide
in ASOS.
5. Preferable Product Offering
Many companies in India & across India sell more than one product. In this marketing
manager plays an important role in product offering in ASOS.
6. Originate utility
Every time utility only boost or increase because of marketing. We can only increase utility by
giving samples or provide for free. The manager identifies loopholes and improve it. Example Jio
Net by Mr. Ambani and now he has maximization of public, now-a-days everyone is using jio sim
7. Demand Management
Manager analyse data gathered from market to determine demand. Demand can be of
any type like positive demand negative demand, no demand, latent demand, irregular demand,
fulfil demand and overfull demand and many more
Growth of Economy and Social Responsibility
As it is said before market helps increase demand or utility, also there is increase in
demand of product means increase of profit to company or organization. So this means increase of
employment and decrease of unemployment so in simple words if economy increase so its helps to
decrease the level of unemployment so that company also helping in social cause by giving
employment to the peoples.
With the help of these roles and responsibilities of marketing functions the “asos” is
increasing their sales, demand and utility in market (Armstrong and et.al., 2018).
P 2 Relationship of marketing function with other organizational functions
Marketing is not just the process of selling the products and it is spread to the entire
organization. Marketing is separated from manufacturing of product to selling of product. Data
gathered from market helps in manufacturing of product to target market. All the department of the
company works together efficiently in the selling the products in the markets. The efficient
working of the all the department is increasing the sales of the company.
Interrelation of the marketing department to other department of the organization
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Marketing with production department - Asos company marketing department is
dealing in fashion accessories which is changing from time to time but production department is
unaware of that, so marketing department is analyzing the trends which are being followed by the
customers and the also analyze the needs and wants of the customers. Marketing department is
providing this information to the production department than the products are made according to
the need of the customers. Manufacturing of products is done according to the marketing team
from manufacturing to processing of the products. Fashion accessories is needs to be improvised
according to recent trends followed by the people.
Marketing with the finance department - Company need to set the promotion and
distribution budget which is set by the finance department. Finance department allocate funds to
marketing so that promotion and advertising is done. Also, capital is allocated on basis of products
and target audience. Marketing department is concentrating on the sales of the product and Asos
company marketing department is focused on the building the market share of the company.
Marketing with human resource department - Marketing department is working
efficiently and closely with the human resource department because the human resource
department provide human resource required for marketing. However, for doing promotion and
other campaign, labour is required. So, marketing department identify HR requirement and
communicate with HR. Human resource department is also creating the sales team which would
help the company to reach the sales target (Krush, Sohi, and Saini, 2015).
Marketing with customer service department - Marketing and customer service
department are working together in social media and customer expectation setting. They solve
customer related problems and provide solution to them. Moreover, reviews of customer are taken
and on basis of it marketing department make changes in products. Asos is dealing in fashion
accessories, hence customer service department is analysis the feedback and reviews which are
provided to the customer service department by the marketing team (Pearce 2015).
Marketing department has to work with the other department which would provide help to
the other department working in the company. By providing the information of the customers to
the production department which is improvising the product according to the customer needs and
wants. Finance department is fixing the budget according to the financial condition if the company
and budget are decided by the finance department with the help of marketing department which is
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providing the details of promotion and production of products in the company. Human resource
department is working according to the data provided by the marketing department.
LO 2
P 3 Comparison of ways in which different organizations apply marketing mix
Marketing department plays significant role in an organization. The main aim and
responsibility of marketing department is to attract wider range of customers towards buying their
products and accomplish organizational goals (Bai, 2018). Marketing mix is a combination of
several factors and activities that are being controlled by an organization for influencing their
potential customers to purchase their products. Marketing mix is made up of 7p's or all those
factors that influence customers to make decision of selecting company. In the context of fashion
and cosmetic sector it can be said that customers needs changes rapidly so it is important for
ASOS to compare its marketing mix with its competitors which is as below:-
Basis or
marketing mix
ASOS Arcadia
Products In the context of products it is stated that
ASOS offers over approximate 80,000 brands
and 35000 different items of beauty and
apparel products. It provides qualitative
clothes, shoe, accessories and beauty products
to people of 196 countries (Dahl, 2018).
Arcadia also offers qualitative
and fashionable clothes, shoe
and accessories. It includes
some brands and high street
fashion names such as Burton,
Topman, Topshop, Evans, Miss
Selfridge etc.
Place ASOS fashion retailer sells and provides its
products and services through online
platforms. For shipping and online service in
different countries it has partner up with
several distribution points. Its distributors are
situated in different location who can give easy
It uses several distributions
channels for providing products
to its all type of customers. It
has own physical stores, online
store, partnership of Topman
with Topshop etc. It is also
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access to its customers with the main aim of
increasing their shopping experience.
stated that Arcadia is now
offering its products to several
parts of world like America,
Europe, Australia through its
Website.
Price For its target and regular customers, its own
brand is more affordable. It has divided its
products into 3 sections which are exclusive,
expensive goods available in stores and mass
products goods. The main aim of dividing
products into different categories on the basis
of price is to attract all types and status of
people for purchasing products. Pricing policy
followed is skimming.
It has different brand and
fashion name and Topman &
Topshop are one of the best
fashion names that uses
affordable pricing strategies
with the main aim of attracting
people who have low
disposable budgets. It does not
only have low prices products
but also have some higher price
items that are being sold online.
Promotion As it is stated that its own brands are mainly
available online so, the main source of
promotion is mobile app and its Website. It
also makes an effective use of E-mail to the
registered E-mail ID. For more promoting its
brand and products it has created a group on
some social media sites for making customers
aware about products features and discounts.
As a promotion it offers
discount to its customers and its
mainly promote its brand and
products via social media
platforms. It does not use
traditional approach like
advertising on television. Word
of mouth is also a type of
promotion of this group.
People It is a Web based and online company so it has
much less people and employees as compared
to other companies. They have approximately
300 employees which are mainly hired for
management, customer support, technical as
It is already stated that this has
several fashion names and
operates online and offline. It
has approximately 23,000
employees.
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well as warehousing purpose (Minazzi, 2015).
Process In the context of process, it can be said that
shopping process of this company is quite
different from a physical store. Customers can
only see varieties of products and can not try
them by wearing. After selecting products,
they add it to their cart and make payment
options like debit card/credit card, cash on
delivery. After making payment and ordering,
products are shipped to their given address
(Marketing mix of ASOS, 2011).
Its products and service are
available on online and
physical stores. Customers
have to accept all terms and
conditions of sales like sending
electronic confirmations, all
relevant details etc. After
confirming order customers get
an e-mail and have option to
pay like PayPal, credit card and
cash on delivery.
Physical
appearance
It is a web or internet based company so
people have to connect with this company on
their own convenience. All facilities and offers
are seen on Websites and customers get
product receipt at the time of delivery. All
offers are displayed to them, so that they can
make themselves beneficial and company
make aware to them about it as well.
Customers get a receipt at the
time of delivery, and they have
to check if products are not wet
and damage and are fully
packed. All products are
displayed on its online as well
as offline stores. If there is no
one at the time of delivery then
the courier leaves a delivery
notification with the
instructions, and they contact to
customers via phone or E-mail.
From the above, it can be said that marketing mix plays a vital role for the company and
customers as it shows all information about products. It also allows ASOS company to make
effective and profitable decisions at every level. These effective decisions help them out in
accomplishing their business objectives and develop their strengths. Marketing mix and all factors
of this mixture can also help to ASOS company to develop their new products, increase products
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portfolio and being a dynamic. In addition, it can also be said that by comparing its marketing mix
with its competitors it can develop differentiation strategy for making itself differ from others.
Differentiation strategies support the company in attracting target customers and accomplish all
pre-determined goals.
LO 3
P 4 Evaluation and development of marketing plan
Executive summary
A marketing plan refers an important business document that consist of several elements
like marketing strategy of an organisation, situational analysis and marketing budget that help it in
accomplishing its goals. This is based on ASOS company who is a global fashion destination with
having different fashion related content. This company sells approximate 80,000 brands. In the
context of customers approximate 9.9 Million active customers have visited its Website and ship to
over 140 countries as well. It was founded in 2000 in UK and launched its Website in 2012 in
Australia. The company is going to provide services and promote it via e marketing..
Vision and mission
Mission- To become world’s no.1 fashion loving 20.
Marketing objectives
 Specific – To increase traffic via e marketing.
 Measurable- to measure customer loyalty
 Achievable – to gain 10% rise in loyal customer
 Realistic – To raise awareness on social media
 Time bound- to attain goals within 6 months.
Marketing strategies
Segmentation, targeting and positioning
Segmentation - It is stated that ASOS is mainly focusing and targeting Australian and for that it
has already launched its Website for Australian customers. The target market includes regular
internet users, Web savvy and all fashionable people.
Targeting- The main group of age are from 16-34 years because they demand unique and have
fashion sense (Mahoney, 2018).
Positioning- In the context of market segment it can be said that it operates in a niche market in
which smaller section of whole market segment is targeted. It also deals in a market place where
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several niche retailers sell directly to its customers. The main aim of targeting niche marketing
strategy is to expand and stretch products offerings to target demographic.
Marketing mix (4 P's)
Products: It sells fashionable clothes for men and women, shirts, coats, footwear, accessories etc.
Price: Its pricing strategy depends on sort of products as some of its products are expensive and
some are being sold at reasonable pricing.
Place: As seen on screen is a web and internet based company and sold its own brands online.
Promotion: Discount codes are being used as a promotional tool. It heavily relies on social media
platform for promoting products (Lovelock and Patterson, 2015).
Situational analysis
SWOT
Strengths
 Celebrities are using its company and
products which allow its customers to
relate to them and buy the same
clothing.
 It offers free shipping as well as free
return to its global customers.
Weaknesses
 There is a lack of advertisement in
magazines and television.
 There is a lack of physical store which is
the main weakness of this company.
Opportunities
 Opportunities to expand its business in
other countries like MENA and BRIC.
 Increased use of mobile and
advertisement that allows customers to
make purchase (SWOT analysis of
ASOS, 2019).
Threats
 Competition among existing players like
Marks and Spencer, Tesco etc.
 Some countries lack internet usage that
is the big threat for this.
PEST
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Political
1. Changes in the price of clothes is all
depend on the political party in power.
For making this prices stable and
reasonable price it requires to take this
condition into consideration.
2. The impact of Brexit may result in
affecting sales of fashionable products.
Economic
1. In the context of economy, it is stated
that ASOS employed approximate 1,541
people in Jan, 2014. Due to changes in
law and minimum wages it required to
consider if it pays to all employees or
not.
2. Here, brexit can highly impact on
economic condition of UK.
(Schlegelmilch, 2016).
Social
1. It is reported that people from the age
group of 55-64 years are now preferring
online purchasing. As compared to
2008, approximate 69% older
generation is becoming aware about
online shopping. The main target of
ASOS is the people from the age group
of 16-34. This changing trends can
decrease its sales and revenue.
2. Consumer are spending more time on
social media platform.
Technological
1. Digital marketing and online shopping is
becoming popular day by day. ASOS is
internet based company so, this
advanced technology has proven
beneficial for it. It is now more focusing
on developing and using advanced
technology for making its online
shopping smoother to take competitive
advantages.
So, it can be said that with situational analysis it can identify all factors that can have
negative impacts on it and make changes in strategies accordingly for operating effectively. By
knowing current strengths, weaknesses, political, social factors this company focus on using those
strategies which are beneficial for it and can help it in accomplishing its goals.
Competitive analysis
Porter's 5 forces
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5 forces Intensity Explanation
Bargaining power of consumers Strong In the context of ASOS, it is stated that bargaining
power of customers are extraordinarily strong.
They are in a position where they can demand for
lower prices because there are a strong force of
substitute products. So, it can affect customer
loyalty.
Threats of substitutes Strong or
high
In the context of fashion retailer it can be said that
this threat has high and strong power. There are
many other companies that can attract customers
as well.
Bargaining power of suppliers lower ASOS purchase raw materials and products from
different brands, designers or suppliers. The power
of suppliers can only increase in correlation with
the popularity of products. The suppliers can also
help in generating traffic through E marketing.
Threat of new entrants Moderate ASOS is also facing the problem of new entrants
in the same industry. When new entrants come in
the industry then they put their extra efforts to take
full control on the industry. Many other firms can
also promote it through e marketing.
Competition among existing
players
High There are several competitors of ASOS such as
Arcadia who have Topshop. Com,
riverisland.com,. These companies also sell the
same features of products and try to satisfy current
trends of the market. There is intense competition
of retail companies in e marketing (Competitors'
analysis of ASOS, 2015).
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