Marketing Plan for H&M: A Comparative Analysis of Marketing Strategies

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report analyzes H&M's marketing strategies.

Marketing Essentials
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Contents
P3 Compare the ways in which H&M and Next apply the marketing mix to the marketing
planning process to achieve business objectives..........................................................................3
M3 Using your knowledge as a marketing assistant evaluates different tactics applied by H&M
and Adidas to demonstrate how business objectives can be achieved.........................................5
P4. Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for H&M........................................................7
M4. In your roles as a marketing assistant, produce a detailed, coherent evidence-based
marketing plan for H&M...........................................................................................................10
D2 As a marketing assistant, design a strategic marketing plan that tactically applies the use of
the 7Ps to achieve overall marketing objectives for H&M........................................................14
References......................................................................................................................................15
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P3 Compare the ways in which H&M and Next apply the marketing mix to the marketing
planning process to achieve business objectives.
Marketing mix H&M Next
Product The organization focuses on
the quality of the product and
provides it to the customers at
a reasonable price. This also
provides them the power to
launch new items often. At
least 25% stock of the
company has trendy and up to
date fashion products which
easily attract the teens as they
are also easily affordable.
The company’s products
mainly focus on both the
genders in the range of 25-45
of age.
Place The company is at the 2nd rank
of the retailers in the clothing
industry across the world. It
has a network that is expanded
over 55 countries. The outlet
offers various kinds of
clothing items and hence the
customers find it very
convenient to shop here.
The organization has 500
stores throughout the UK and
Ireland. It is much lower as
compared to the H&M.
Price The organization has
implemented a pricing scheme
that suits everyone. To attract
most of the customers, most of
the items are kept in the
discount section. The
company has reduced the
transactions that occurred in
It uses 2 techniques for the
implementation of the pricing
strategy. The techniques are
penetration pricing and market
skimming. Penetration pricing
is a method used by the early
startups who want to increase
their sales and have to
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the middle i.e., purchasing the
raw materials and selling it at
a high price. Now the
company purchases in the bulk
amount from the supplier and
sells it at low prices.
promote their business. They
are a mid-market retailer as
compared to the H&M who
rank at the 2nd position.
Promotion The company clearly
recognizes the importance of
promotion of their products
and therefore they do it by
using popular TV shows like
MTV and showcasing their
products on celebrities like
Robert Cavalli and Jimmy
Choo. Their advertisements
also appear in magazines like
Vogue Netherlands, British
Vogue, and British GQ.
(Bhasin, 2019)
The campaigning activities of
the organization have
decreased in the years and
they focus on smaller
campaign activities. It is very
less as compared to H&M.
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M3 Using your knowledge as a marketing assistant evaluates different tactics applied by
H&M and Adidas to demonstrate how business objectives can be achieved.
Methods applied by H&M:
 It makes sure that all the workers are treated in a fair manner and are paid equally.
 It makes use of a circular model and increases the potential of the materials and reducing
waste materials.
 They invest in different technologies like material recycling, gathering old clothes which
can be recycled and can be converted into a new clothing item.
 They make use of the new fabrics on regular intervals of time and innovate new clothing
items.
 They have also reduced the emissions from their working by 21%.
 The electricity for their working activities is generated from renewable sources.
 They make use of a wage management system which provides a platform between the
workers and the employees to solve any issue and take experience and skills into
consideration. The organization has 227 supplier factories with around having 37500
workers working in them. (Hendriksz, 2019)
Methods applied by Adidas:
 The marketing methods use demographic, psychographic and behavioral factors.
 They target customers who are of age between 15-30 and belong to the upper middle
class.
 They focus on the quality of the products and thus maintain their customers base
effectively.
 The tagline used by the company is “Impossible is Nothing” summarizes the importance
of fitness and provides a direction to the marketing strategy of the organization.
 It has successfully collaborated with great sports events like FIFA, UEFA, NBA, Cricket,
and Olympics. This helps in the branding of the products.
 It supplies the best products which are very comfortable and are long-lasting.
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 Their connections with the organizations such as the International Labor Organization,
International Finance Corporation provide them an edge over other competitors in the
market. (Bhasin, 2019)
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P4. Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for H&M.
Executive summary- This section of the reported study includes the new marketing plan that
can enable the firm to reduce the issues or bugs which may affect the market growth of the firm.
Along with this, the organizational past performance, aims, objectives, and other important
aspects are mentioned. Apart from that tactics and actions are attained with the help of a
marketing plan.
Company overview- Hennes & Mauritz AB is Sweden based multinational clothing retail
company. This company is known for its fast-fashion outfit for men, women, and children. The
associates of Hennes & Mauritz operate in approx. 62 countries with over 4500 stores. As per the
survey made in 2015, 132000 employees are working in this respective organization. For
effective marketing, the organization is planning has taken many initiatives like sponsoring and
others. But, it can be seen that these aspects also leads to the customer dissatisfaction which is
responsible for affecting the market value of the firm (H&M Group, n.d). Hence, they are
developing a marketing plan for the effective growth and development of the firm.
Current marketing situational analysis- In this section, the current market structure and
functioning of the company will be analyzed. This is required to be made so that the
organizational issue and shortcoming will be overcome. For this, the SWOT analysis will be
made in this section.
Company objectives- following the main aims and objectives of the organization:
 The organization aims to achieve a climate positive value chain by 2040.
 Their main objective is to reduce the emissions from its own operations scenario
 Provide new and modern clothes which satisfy the needs and demand of customers (Post.
2019).
 To drive long-lasting positive change and improving the living conditions of people by
investing in innovative ideas, environment, and others.
SWOT analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
 The management of H&M sells its  H&M is totally depending on the third-
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portfolio via different brands such as
Monki, Weekday as all these brands
have a single uniqueness on customer
and stakeholders group.
 The organization has a strong and
diversified presence in the market area.
Also, they manufacture a product which
is cost effective and can be preferred by
any type of customers
 The H&M shows the growth of revenue
of 19.4%. Hence, it can be considered
that the H&M has strong financial
performance
 H&M is one of the largest clothing
retail company
 Their controllability and flexibility of
production and operation is high
 They are linked with the new designers
and celebrities who help in creating a
positive image in front of users
(Bhasin. 2018).
 The store offer quality and trendy
products to the customer.
party suppliers for their merchandise.
 Buying of the large product can be
responsible for leading to the
overstocking
 They are also dependent on
independent suppliers
 The affordable pricing of products
affect the quality of the garments and
other accessories
 The third-party affects the order
commitments and after the brand
image.
 The bad behavior of employees affects
the selling rate of the product.
Opportunities Threats
 They can focus on expanding their store
across the globe
 They can also explore the emerging
market in Asia, Africa, and others
 The management of H&M can improve
the purchasing power and the lifestyle
of people
 The evolving fashion trends are one of
the threats. In this situation, the
organization is supposed to deliver the
product as per the changes in market
trends
 Online shopping is pros as well as cons
for the organization because it also
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 They can enhance the market research
for knowing the current trends and
demand of customers
 Online shopping is one of the best
options for targeting a large number of
customers
 H&M can position to tap the niche
organic market
allows newer brands to work on the
same platform (Bhasin. 2018).
 Intense competition affects the trends
and fashion level of the organization.
Some of the competitors are Prada,
Gucci, Chanel, Zara and many more
 The rising labor cost affect the
production of the organization
 The fluctuations in foreign exchange
affect the reporting currency of the
organization.
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M4. In your roles as a marketing assistant, produce a detailed, coherent evidence-based
marketing plan for H&M.
While working in H&M, it is to be seen that the organizational assistant and managers need to be
develop a marketing plan which will be helpful in knowing the current scenario. Hence, for this
the action plan will be made for developing the product as per the needs and demand of
customers:
Action plan
Activities Starting date Ending date Duration(in
days)
Description
Market
research
01 January 2019 05 January 2019 5 days This is the initial
step of the
marketing plan in
which the current
trends and
customer needs
will be analyzed.
In this, the
marketing
manager of an
organization will
analyze the
different
products and
services which
are largely used
by the customers.
Planning 06 January 2019 08 January 2019 3 days After doing the
market research,
planning will be
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made for
developing the
product as per
the demand of
customers
Data collection 09 January 2019 12 January 2019 4 days In this phase, the
primary and
secondary data
collection
process will be
used. The
information will
be collected from
the questionnaire
session, journals,
books and others.
Blueprint 13 January 2019 14 January 2019 2 days The blueprint of
the product will
be made as per
the collected data
Implementation 15 January 2019 20 January 2019 6 days The collected
data and
resources will be
implemented as
per the demand
of customers
Documentation
and
presentation
21 January 2019 23 January 2019 3 days The overall data
will be
documented and
presented in front
of the
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organizational
manager.
Controlling and
testing
24 January 2019 28 January 2019 5 days The developed
product will be
tested and
transferred to the
customers.
Maintenance 29 January 2019 31 January 2019 3 days The required
upgrade of the
product will be
provided to the
customers.
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