Marketing Strategies and Competitive Analysis of H&M

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of H&M's marketing strategies. It begins with an introduction to marketing and its importance for businesses, specifically focusing on H&M's operations in various countries. The report then delves into the roles and responsibilities of the marketing function, its interrelation with other departments, and a detailed comparison of H&M's marketing mix with Zara, examining product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence. Furthermore, the report presents a marketing plan for H&M, including an overview of the company, its mission, vision, and objectives. A SWOT analysis is conducted to evaluate the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report also includes an STP analysis (segmenting, targeting, and positioning) and a marketing budget. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, emphasizing the importance of marketing essentials and the marketing mix elements in enhancing sales and profitability. The report references relevant books and journals to support its analysis.

Marketing Essentials
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Covered under PPT.................................................................................................................3
P2 Covered under PPT.................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P3 Comparison of marketing mix of H & M with Zara...............................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
P4 Marketing plan for H & M......................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
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INTRODUCTION
Marketing refers to the activities in which an organization promote all its products so that
large segment of market can be acquired. All the companies are required to gather information of
market so that awareness among customer can be enhanced about the business. Marketing is vital
for the business entities so that large number of customers can be attracted toward the
organization (Akaka, Vargo and Lusch, 2013). This assignment is mainly based on H & M who
is operating its business in multiple countries such as US, Spain, Germany, Canada and France.
It is a retail company of clothes and offering wide range of fashion brands to the customers. This
report covers various topics such as roles and responsibilities of marketing function, interrelation
between marketing and other departments of the organization and comparison of H & M’s
marketing mix with its competitors. A detailed business plan with SWOT analysis have also
been covered under this report.
TASK 1
P1 Covered under PPT
P2 Covered under PPT
TASK 2
P3 Comparison of marketing mix of H & M with Zara
Marketing mix: It is a combination of seven different types of P’s that are related to
marketing. It is very important for the marketers of an organisation to have information about all
the elements of marketing mix as all of them helps to operate business in effective manner
(Schwarz. and Hunter, 2012). A comparison of marketing mix of H & M with Zara is as follows.
This analysis may help to analyse that in which way different types of organisations are using all
the components of marketing mix.
Marketing
mix
H & M Zara
Product H & M is a retail company of clothing
it provides good quality products to its
customers that help to retain them and
these products also help the
Clothes that are supplied by Zara are of
good quality and this characteristic of
the organisation attracts large number of
customers. As the company is well
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organisation to remain competitive in
the market because large number of
customers get attracted toward the
good quality of clothes that are
supplied by H & M. Customers have
options in the clothes as they have
wide rage of varieties to choose from.
It is selling clothes to the customers.
known for its quality of the clothes
hence it helps to grab attention of large
number of customers and then retain
them by satisfying their needs. Clothes
are sold by Zara in the market.
Price The price for the products of H & M is
very low and the organisation is using
cost-based pricing strategy in which it
sets cheap and affordable price for its
products so that all type of customers
may buy their clothes.
Marketers of Zara are using premium
pricing strategy for the organisation in
which high prices for the products are
set and upper-class customers are
targeted by them so that higher profits
can be acquired by the company.
Place Shops of H & M are located in well-
known and established shopping
streets that are easy to access by the
customers. Online selling is also done
by the company in which customers
may order clothes form their house
and organisation deliver those
products to their home. Currently H &
M is having 4500 stores all over the
world.
Stores of Zara are opened in such place
where the customers may reach easily s
the organisation want to retain all its
customers and attract more with the help
of good quality products and services.
Zara is executing business in more than
7400 stores all around the world.
Promotion H & M is spending lot of time on
promotional activities so that it may
attract more and more customers.
Organisation is using world celebrities
to promote and advertise their
products which is very beneficial for
the organisation. H & M is using free
Zara is using innovative promotional
activities in which it is offering
discounts on festive season and also
providing various types of offers to its
regular customers so that sales can be
maximised (Blakeman, 2015). Zara is
using voucher and coupons promotional
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gifts and discount prices promotional
strategies.
strategies to enhance sales.
People Employees of the shops are trained
appropriately and they are able to
interact and cooperate with the
customers who are visiting the shops
of H & M. They interact with all the
visitors and then give appropriate
response on their queries.
All the staff members of Zara are well
educated and experienced as they have
to communicate with customers face to
face at stores.
Process The supply chain and distribution
process of H & M is very good and it
is handled by professionals so that
possibility of errors can be reduced.
Process of supplying products to
customers and the supply chain is also
managed appropriately so that business
can be operated smoothly.
Physical
evidence
Market image of the company can be
considered as physical evidence.
Performance and image of H & M is
very good and it helps to enhance sales
and profitability.
There is a good market image of Zara in
the market which is established with the
help of good quality clothes that are
provided to the customers.
TASK 3
P4 Marketing plan for H & M
Marketing plan is a document that carry all the business marketing related information
so that all the activities can be executed appropriately. It is very important for the marketers of
the organisation to use the plan accurately so that marketing activities can get success in the
market (Guffey and Loewy, 2012). H & M is now willing to launch a new service in the market
in which it will take online order from its customers and than deliver the products by it self so
that possibilities of the frauds can be reduced. A marketing plan for the company is as follows:
Overview of the company: H & M is a fashion brand who is operating its business in
various countries and currently it is executing its business effectively in the market. Current
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employee strength of the company is 132000 people and business is operated in 62 countries
with the help of 4500 stores.
Mission: The organisation is willing to drive long lasting positive change in the society so that
standard of living of general public can be enhanced (Null and Lobur, 2014).
Vision: Long term vision of the organisation is to supply good quality and branded clothes to the
society on low prices so that every one can afford good clothes.
Objective: Main objective of H & M is to acquire large market share by expanding business in
more geographic locations.
SWOT analysis: Four different elements are included in SWOT analysis that helps the
organisation to analyse marketing conditions that may affect organisational performance
(Hacker, Gambone and Hobel, 2015). A SWOT analysis for H & M is as follows:
Strengths:
 Different variety of clothes are offered to the customers with low price and good quality
that helps to retain customers.
 H & M is having a unique identity for all its brands because it is depended upon the
targeted segment of the market.
 Financial performance of the organisation is very strong and the financial strength of the
company is increasing continuously.
Weaknesses:
 It is depended upon the third parties to supply all its products which is an outsourcing of
merchandises hence it has less control over its production.
 As H & M is offering good quality products on low prices but all the clothes are made by
following after trends and this may affect profitability in long term.
Opportunities:
 As the organisation is willing to launching a new service in which it will supply clothes
to customers by it self that may help to reduce the outsourcing percentage and increase its
control over production (Ionita 2012).
 Organisation may expand its business on more locations this will help to increase its
profitability.
Threats:
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 The biggest threat that H & M is facing is of competitors in the market. These
competitors are Marks and Spencer, Zara etc.
 In fashion brands different new organisation are entering which is a threat for the
company because they may acquire market share of H & M.
STP analysis: This analysis is used by companies to launch new product or service in the market
with the help of proper planning (STP Model, 2018). It has three different elements all of them
are as follows:
 Segmenting: In this step H & M may select the segment where the organisation is w
going to introduce its service.
 Targeting: In this stage the marketers of H & M select the target customers to whom
service will be provided first time.
 Positioning: This is the last stage of STP analysis in which marketers try to establish a
good image of the organisation in the mind of its customers.
Marketing budget refers to the total amount of all the expenses that are faced by an organisation
while conducting marketing activities. A marketing budget H & M is as follows:
Expenditures Amount
Research cost 1200
Cost of hiring new employees 2000
Cost of new material 15000
Promotional activities 1400
Online advertisements 900
Total 20500
Monitoring: In this plan it has been monitored that organisation may face issues that are
related to the cost which is going to be faced by organisation in future while launching the new
service in the market.
Controlling: The issue can be controlled by maintaining the budget appropriately so that
it can be used appropriately for all the activities that are going to be performed by the
organisation.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report, it has been concluded that marketing essentials help an
organisation to be more competitive in the market as they are related to the marketing practices
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that are conducted by the marketers. It includes promotional, selling and advertising activities
that are mainly performed to enhance sales and profitability. Various marketing functions help to
understand the market conditions and taste and preferences of customers and guide the
organisation to provide such products to the customers that they are willing to buy for the
company. Marketing mix elements are used by companies to evaluate the organisational
performance in the market.
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