Marketing Process, Planning & Strategies: Budgens Stores Ltd Analysis

This report provides a detailed analysis of the marketing process and planning strategies employed by Budgens Stores Ltd, a leading chain of grocery stores in the United Kingdom. It explores the concept of marketing in the 21st century, emphasizing the importance of customer-centric approaches and competitive advantage. The report examines the role of marketing functions such as promotional activities, product management, pricing, and distribution, and their interaction with other departments like finance, human resources, and operations. It also includes an analysis of the extended marketing mix (7Ps) comparing Budgens Stores Ltd with Gymshark, highlighting differences in product, price, promotion, place, physical evidence, process, and people. The report concludes by evaluating the contribution of the marketing mix to the success of Budgens Stores Ltd, providing recommendations for improvement, such as implementing price skimming strategies, offering better bulk buying deals, and expanding retail presence.

Higher National Diploma in Business
Management
Unit 2 Marketing Process & Planning
The Marketing Concept, Functions
and Mix (Part 1)
Marketing Planning (Part 2)
Name:
ID:
1

Table of Content
Part 1: Briefing Paper
1.0 Introduction..............................................................................................................................................2
2.0 Concept of Marketing in 21st century.......................................................................................................2
3.0 Role of Marketing Function......................................................................................................................3
4.0 Analysis of marketing functions and interactions with other departments............................................4
5.0 Extended marketing mix...........................................................................................................................5
2.0 Contribution of marketing mix in the success of the organization..........................................................7
3.0 Recommendations....................................................................................................................................7
9.0 Conclusions...............................................................................................................................................7
References......................................................................................................................................................8
2

1.0 Introduction
Marketing process refers to the steps taken by a firm for the analysis of several
opportunities prevailing in a market, to identify target customers and creating a strategy
for different marketing purposes (Mohr, 2017). Market Planning refers to the strategies
building for the purpose of advertisement, that a business possesses to sell its product or
services. A correct marketing plan will lead to the increase in in sales, thereby earning
greater profits. For understanding marketing process and planning, Budgens Stores Ltd of
United Kingdom, is taken into focus which is leading chain of grocery stores using certain
market strategies that brings up its brand image to greater heights. Its headquarters are
established in Harefield, Greater London, England. It has acquired the 55-shop network of
7-Eleven shops in the UK.
This report includes analysis of key role of marketing in the context of the
marketing environment. Comparing ways in which organisations use elements of the
marketing mix to achieve overall business objectives. It also entails marketing plan as well
as media plan.
2.0 Concept of Marketing in 21st century
Marketing refers to the idea of promoting a business structure of a company to its
target customers. It is the process of introducing the target audience with the products or
services offered by a business (Wang, 2021). Marketing in 21st century is wholly
depending on the choice of the customers, every business needs to inculcate necessary
changes according to serve different customer segments. Marketing allows several
business organisations to gain sustainable competitive advantage from its competitors. In
Budgens Stores Ltd., there is immense focus on the strategies related to marketing. They
provide their customers with weekly offers outreach on various brands, which excites the
regular customers to buy more. Its social media outcasts will attract more customers who
are there far off, by ordering stuff online. It also facilitates its customers with delivery
options that will help them in the time of need.
3.0 Role of Marketing Function
Marketing function is the process of planning and executing several business
strategies related to pricing, promotion, execution of several ideas regarding the business
3

process and also distribution of goods and services. The role of marketing functions
possesses from the representation of the business, coordinating and producing all
materials according that defines and increase the reputation or goodwill of the business.
Role of marketing functions in Budgens Stores Ltd can be understood under following
sections:
 Promotional activities: Several promotional activities are performed by various
businesses for more sales and increasing customer base. Promotion should be
informative and should serve the purpose of brand awareness among the people.
Promotional activities used by marketers of Budgens Stores Ltd include
redesigning its several stores to attract high end customers.
 Product management: Product-management involves the development, design,
layout and improvement of its services, in order to meet customer requirements
(Jones and Tadajewski, 2016). In Budgens Stores Ltd, marketers organise
products into different sections in order to provide ease to their customers in finding
things.
 Pricing of the product/ services: Pricing of the product/ services involves several
factors that relates to cost and value. Marketing managers selects the price
according to the customers' perception of the value of the product and the actual
cost of its production. Several supermarkets like Budgens Stores Ltd include
several offers that turns many products affordable to its local customers. And also
take care of its high end customers by providing them with the separate section for
the luxury or inexpensive goods.
 Distribution: Distribution is the process of conveyance, commuting or transporting
the product or checking the availability of the services offered by a company to its
customers (Blut, Teller and Floh, 2018). Brands like Budgens Stores Ltd have built
several stores in light of accessing more consumers. It has ample amount of
warehouses and employee base that checks the availability of all the goods
present in the stores.
4.0 Analysis of marketing functions and interactions with other
departments
4

Marketing is a critical component of business that develops and promotes products
or services to consumers and businesses (Colbert, 2020). Marketing usually begins with
research & development and carries forward with feedback, service or support of
customers once they have bought your service or the product. It involves interaction with
several other departments, proper cooperation with other business functions that ensure
the sustainable success for the business. Under Budgens Stores Ltd, several marketing
functions are performed in order to increase sales and run a profitable business. Analysis
of different marketing functions of Budgens Stores are underneath:
 Marketing and Finance: Finance department takes care of all the financial
capabilities followed with the budgets fall within the organisation (Jackson and
Ahuja, 2016). It is linked with marketing department while checking the sales
forecasts and operational budgets to construct the cash flow statement. Finance
department of Budgens Stores, prepares unlimited budgets to get the maximum
exposure to the market to attract target customers.
 Marketing and Human Resource: The human resource department will have to
deal with the personnel management (Matheson, 2017). It connects with the
marketing function for fulfilling the recruitment needs of other departments. The
human resource management of Budgens Stores takes care of quality and quantity
of employees in their firm, that will help its marketing mix to run a successful
business.
 Marketing and Production/Operation: Operations department engage directly
with the marketing for various purposes such as researching, designing,
developing, manufacturing, testing and launching products to meet the needs and
requirements of its customers. Understanding the operations of Budgens Stores
Ltd, it involves sales forecasts from the marketing department as well as to prepare
various production schedules to meet tight deadlines.
5.0 Extended marketing mix
Marketing-mix can be understood as the tool that a firm uses for achieving
marketing objectives in the target market of the company (Rustam, 2020). It has seven
components those are known as 7Ps, namely, product, price, promotion, place, physical
evidence, process, packaging. This is the foundation of any business, which will lead the
organisation to its success. Every organisation has their own working model and so as
5

marketing mix, Budgens Stores is one such company. This involves dominating marketing
framework for its operations prevailing in the firm. Comparison between marketing-mix of
Budgens Stores Ltd and Gymshark are below:
Elements of marketing-
mix
Budgens Stores Ltd Gymshark
Product Budgens Stores Ltd uses
segmentation strategy according to
the services its offering to its
customers. This involves all the
grocery items that could be needed
in normal households, along with
some gourmet options that are
kept in different sections, this is
one niche oriented.
Product component of
Gymshark involves
clothing wear, it involves
clothing section which is
the whole new niche
along with the grocery
items. This clubs two
different section into one.
Price Pricing strategy is the value of the
product and its cost. Budgens
Stores Ltd uses dynamic pricing for
its products for managing different
sections.
Pricing strategy of
Gymshark involves value
based concerns, fully
focused on customer's
choice.
Promotion Budgens Stores Ltd promotes its
stores by using word of mouth as a
promotional strategy along with the
brand publicity by newspaper
advertisement of their offerings
and also in-app advertisements
with several other brands.
Gymshark uses digital
marketing tools such as
social media, different
chat boxes, influencers
advertising, etc. for its
promotion.
Place The company channelizes its
products through various retail
chains (Barnes, 2016). The
company has major percentage of
It channelizes with its
customers through online
sites. This company is
generally based in
6

its stores in England, and some of
the stores lies in Wales and
Scotland.
Solihull, England. It
mostly communicates to
its customers through
social media (Thabit and
Raewf, 2018).
Physical evidence It has retail stores with great
ambience, which has many floors
and elevators associated with it for
the convenience of its customers.
It has its stores divided
into different segments
which offers different
category of fashion wear,
and a monitor screen for
displaying latest trends
available.
Process This company tracks and monitors
its products and service
performance.
This company processes
through analysis of
requirement of its
customers and allocation
of its resources.
People Employees of Budgens Stores Ltd
are customer friendly which helps
its customers and guide them with
every function.
Work persons in
Gymshark are very kind,
humble and generous
towards target customers.
2.0 Contribution of marketing mix in the success of the
organization
Marketing mix of Budgens Stores if very efficient and appropriate, this covers every
element of marketing operations, ranging from product to people. The company uses
customer based pricing in order to attract more consumers, it works on peoples' choice.
This focuses on local stores publicity and building brand name on various sites and online
portals (Gnizy and Shoham, 2018). This company offers a high quality experience to its
7

customers along with outsourcing local produces that is fresh by all means. It has built
number of retail chains with great ambience and kind & generous staff. The company has
worked on its overall working process and has built a good heck of customer base which
is in-turn beneficial for the organisation. By applying these marketing mix strategies,
Budgens' all business objectives are fulfilled that is increased customer base, sustainable
success, profit maximization and development of goodwill.
3.0 Recommendations
 In context Budgens Stores Ltd, price skimming strategies and cost plus pricing can
also turn helpful in increasing sales.
 The company should also involve better offers on bulk buying to support whole
seller markets.
 Company should open more retail stores in other parts of the country and connect
to more audiences and build networks across the country.
9.0 Conclusions
Marketing is the most essential of all the other functions, as no product or service can
stand without a proper marketing process. It is much needed process which a company
follows for the smooth flow of goods & services in the target market. Every firm requires a
proper marketing plan to promote or sell its products & services to the target market. This
helps the businesses to earn ample amount of profit and builds the goodwill function.
References
Books and Journal
Barnes, S., 2016. Understanding virtual reality in marketing: Nature, implications and
potential. Implications and Potential (November 3, 2016).
Blut, M., Teller, C. and Floh, A., 2018. Testing retail marketing-mix effects on patronage:
A meta-analysis. Journal of retailing. 94(2). pp.113-135.
Colbert, F., 2020. Marketing the arts. In Handbook of Cultural Economics, Third Edition.
Edward Elgar Publishing.
Gnizy, I. and Shoham, A., 2018. The power of international marketing functions:
antecedents and consequences. Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing.
25(2). pp.67-89.
8

Jackson, G. and Ahuja, V., 2016. Dawn of the digital age and the evolution of the
marketing mix. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice. 17(3).
pp.170-186.
Jones, D. B. and Tadajewski, M. eds., 2016. The Routledge companion to marketing
history. Routledge.
Matheson, A., 2017. Marketing trials, marketing tricks—how to spot them and how to stop
them. Trials. 18(1). pp.1-6.
Mohr, I., 2017. Managing buzz marketing in the digital age. Journal of Marketing
Development and Competitiveness. 11(2). pp.10-16.
Rustam, J., 2020. Effective Use of Marketing Functions in Trade. International Journal on
Integrated Education. 3(10). p.334251.
Thabit, T. and Raewf, M., 2018. The evaluation of marketing mix elements: A case
study. International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies. (4).
Wang, C. L., 2021. New frontiers and future directions in interactive marketing: inaugural
Editorial. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing. 15(1). pp.1-9.
9

Table of Content
Part 2: Marketing Plan
1.0 Strategic marketing plan linkage with business strategies, mission and objectives.............................11
2.0 SMART marketing objectives..................................................................................................................11
3.0 Marketing research supporting new product line............................................................................12
4.0 A situational analysis..............................................................................................................................12
4.1 Analytical tools.......................................................................................................................................12
4.2 Competitor analysis...............................................................................................................................13
4.3 Sub-segments..........................................................................................................................................13
4.4 Articulation of the new product value-proposition...............................................................................14
4.5 Development of marketing strategies into extended marketing mix...................................................14
4.6 Setting up of overall marketing budget, including allocation of planned spend...................................15
4.7 Tactical actions.......................................................................................................................................15
4.8 Control and monitoring measures in relation to Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) and
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).....................................................................................................................16
5.0 Media planning.......................................................................................................................................16
5.1 Media budget..........................................................................................................................................16
5.2 Recommendations..................................................................................................................................17
5.3 Channels for communication..................................................................................................................17
5.6 Justification for a multi-media plan chosen...........................................................................................18
References....................................................................................................................................................19
10

1.0 Strategic marketing plan linkage with business strategies,
mission and objectives
Strategic Marketing plan involves the development of several strategies to survive
in a competitive market and ensures the long-term perspectives of growth & development.
This helps the organization to create products according to the market needs and
customers' requirements in order to yield high profits. (Aquila,2016.) It is somewhat
similar to the corporate strategy and objectives in terms of being more precise and
measurable marketing path that a business needs to take in order to meet its objectives.
Marketing plan for Budgens Stores plays with the development plan catered by the
company's SWOT and PESTLE analysis, only the sales forecasts by taken into
consideration of such competitor behavior and the marketing environment.
2.0 SMART marketing objectives
Community building and emerging need of engaging with the target audience brings
marketers to the need for determining SMART objectives. (Casey, and Worden, 2016).
This basically stands for specific, measurable, attainable, reliable, time-out, here is the
SMART objectives for the Budgens Supermarket chain given below:
Specific Measurable Attainable Reliable Time-out
Improvisation of
revenue
concerns.
Increase
in
number
of goal
completio
n.
Increase in ability
of goal
completion.
Increased actions
taken on strategies
made.
2025
Publicity
structure of a
brand name.
Increase in visitor
loyalty.
Decrease in rate
of complexities
Checking the
applicability of
plans.
2024
Increment in
customer base.
Decrease in
funnel
abandonment
Increase in
holistic
discussions with
Decrease in
development of
2026
11

rate. team. unrealistic plans.
3.0 Marketing research supporting new product line
Market research refers to the process of getting information of a new service or a product
through various analytical tools for research purpose. (Diamond, 2019). Companies like
Budgens Stores Ltd connect directly to the audience for feedback and suggestions, if any.
The brand is now planning to involve seasonal specialties of fresh meat & fish on the
suggestion of its customers.
4.0 A situational analysis
4.1 Analytical tools
Analytical tools help to develop companies reports which displays overall position of the
business. Budgens Stores Ltd uses SWOT analysis and 5Cs model for representing its
operations, they are as follows:
SWOT Analysis:
 Strength: Budgens Stores Ltd has strong customer base. The company
have built strong relationship with end number of suppliers.
 Weaknesses: This is less accessible to many segments of customers such
as countryside people, it should really work on increasing its exposure.
 Opportunities: Opening premises in variant untapped areas outside
England and other cities of UK.
 Threats: Fierce competition from rivals such as Farmfoods Ltd, Good Food
and other giant in supermarket chain industry.
5Cs Analysis :
 Company: Budgens Stores Ltd focuses on the internal factors in marketing and
sales such as brand image, goals of the company, competitive advantages that is a
huge customer base, products, etc.
12