Marketing Essentials: Roles, Mix, and Plan for IKEA - Analysis Report

This report offers a comprehensive analysis of IKEA's marketing strategies, focusing on the roles and responsibilities of the marketing function within the organization. It delves into the key elements of the marketing function, including product development, pricing strategies, distribution, and promotion. The report examines the interrelationships between the marketing department and other functional units such as human resources, finance, and research and development, highlighting their collaborative roles in achieving organizational goals. Furthermore, it provides a detailed comparison of the marketing mix of two organizations and concludes with the development of a marketing plan, demonstrating a practical application of marketing principles. The report emphasizes the importance of market research, understanding consumer behavior, and adapting to market trends to enhance sales and maintain a competitive edge. It also discusses the significance of effective distribution channels and promotional strategies in reaching target customers and building brand loyalty.

MARKETING ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................4
TASK 1..........................................................................................................................................................4
P1. Roles and responsibilities of marketing function...............................................................................4
M1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing.............................................................................................7
M2 Significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional units............................7
D1 Key elements of the marketing function............................................................................................8
P2 Roles and responsibilities of marketing related to organisation.........................................................8
M3 Various tactics are used through IKEA...............................................................................................9
TASK 2........................................................................................................................................................10
P3 &M4& D2 Comparison of marketing mix of two organisations........................................................10
TASK 3........................................................................................................................................................12
P4 Marketing plan.................................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................19

INTRODUCTION
Marketing means developing, promoting and also delivering of products as well as
services to businesses and customers. Marketing is an activity, procedure for developing,
communicating, exchanging and delivering offering which have some values for consumers,
society, partners and many others (Babin and Zikmund, 2015). It is essential that firm should
provide its goods on the basis of needs and demands of consumers by conducting research. This
report is based on IKEA organisation. IKEA is multinational group and it designs as well as sells
kitchen appliances, home accessories and furniture. This firm is one of the biggest retailers of
furniture and it was established in year 1943. This company is known as its attention in order to
operational details, product development, cost control which permitted IKEA business firm to
reduce its costs. It provides better quality of its products on reasonable cost so that each and
every person can avail its goods in an effective or better manner. In this given report mentions
about roles as well as responsibilities of the marketing function in a business firm. Comparison
among the marketing mix of two different business firms will be discussed under this present
business report. Preparation of marketing plan will be discussed in mention report.
TASK 1
P1. Roles and responsibilities of marketing function
Overview of company
IKEA is multinational organisation which designs and sells ready to assemble furniture
items, kitchen appliances and home accessories (Baines, Fill and Page, 2013). It is considered as
the largest retailer organisation of furniture from 2008. It was established in Sweden in 1943. It
is recognised due to having their innovative designs of furniture and home appliances which are
eco friendly. There are many steps are taken by the organisation regarding cost control,
operational details, continuous product development and corporate attributes which helps in
lowering their prices by two to three percent in 2010 at the time of global expansion. The
revenue which is earned by organisation from their different business functions and providence
of diversifies business products is €35.074 billion in 2016. Also, the organisation have large
amount of assets. The amount of assets in 2016 is €53.967 billion.
Marketing

It is important function which is used by the management of organisation is to provide
their goods and services to their end customers. The main part of marketing activities is to
advertise about their existing products to bring awareness among the customer's. It provides the
opportunity regarding improvement of their sales and profitability. It includes the coordination of
4P's of marketing which is defined below:
 Selection of the most appropriate product
 Determination of effective price
 Adoption of effective distribution approaches which helps to expand their reach towards
customer places.
 Implementation of effective promotional strategy
Marketing is one of the important technique which helps the organisation is to improve
their revenue and attain sustainability in their business operations. It also includes about the
research of market which helps in determination of the current preferences of customers. It
provides the opportunity is to manufacture goods as per their preferences and attain their trust. It
helps the multinational organisation like IKEA is to improve their market share through
attraction of large number of customer globally (Baker and Magnini, 2016). It helps in analysing
the competitors which prevail in market and strategies adopt by them. It contributes in
formulation of effective strategies which drive their competitors out of the market and attain
good position in market.
Roles and responsibilities of marketing function
Marketing manager has different roles and responsibilities which is need to perform by
them for the success of IKEA in future. The different roles and responsibilities which are provide
by then in organisational context is defined below:
 Product: It is the duty of marketing manager to identify the different preferences of
customer's and bring changes in the existing features of their product. In this regard, they
also have the duty to analyse the features of their competitor’s products to get some idea
and their customers also. For adoption of such changes, management is needed to adopt
new technologies which help to manufacture the furniture and home appliances of good
quality. There are many advantages are gathered by IKEA like high market share, large

number of profits etc. IKEA is needed to conduct market research to ascertain the views
of customers about their furniture’s and home appliances. It helps in determination of
discrepancies in their product. So, for success it is important for organisation is to adopt
new trends of market.
Selling: One of the main role of marketing manager is to adapt innovative techniques to expand
their sales. In this regard, need to prepare effective strategies and policies on the basis of
information which is gathered from market research. One of the important aspect which help to
expand their sales is to improve their end process where final products are easily available to end
customers under the time period which stipulated by them (Collins, J. and Stern, E.J., 2012). It
provides the opportunity regarding satisfaction of their needs and demands. To make this process
more enhances need to adopt effective distribution channels and tools which contribute in easy
access of products in market. Another important tactic which contributes in the process of
improvement of sales is advertisement of their products. It helps to bring awareness among
customers about their new featured products. Through use of advertisement approaches buying
behaviour of customers is influenced and they attracted towards their products (Desai, 2013). It
helps the organisation in enhancing their number of revenues and becomes world leading retail
organisation.
Pricing: It is the duty of marketing department of organisation is to decide the prices of their
products. Price of the product has direct link with the buying behaviour of customers. If the
prices are affordable then organisation is able to attract the customers of their competitors also
(Durand and Barlow, 2012).
 In this regard, marketing manager of IKEA is needed to analyse their current pricing
policies and the strategies which are adopt by their competitors. It provides opportunity
regarding formulation of new strategy which is more enhanced and effective. Through
fixing of reasonable cost of their furniture’s and home appliances able to attract middle
income group individuals. It helps in earning large number of profits in short span of
time.
Promotion: One of the most important function which done by the marketing department is to
promote and advertise their products in market. This will includes the use of different tools and
medium which provides opportunity to reach between the customers. Such different methods are

known as newspapers, television, online platforms etc. At present, online method is best for
IKEA is to expand their reach in different countries through use of social media (Forshier, 2012).
 It is one of the cost efficient technique which helps to connect with youth in more
effective and efficient manner. It helps in improving their communication channels and
grabs their trust and loyalty towards their products and brand. It also contributes to aware
their customer about their new launchings. One of the major perspectives which is served
by this technique is that it helps in capturing large market share through attraction of
large number of customers. The main motive behind the use of this tool is to create the
demand of their products in market.
Financing: Marketing manager also has the duty is to formulate budget about requirement of
funds which they need to perform their functions. It is so, fund is important to carry out their
operations through application of innovative techniques. Effective allocation of funds improves
overall working efficiency.
Distribution: One of the important activities which includes the process about transfer of
goods from one place to another. It is responsibility upon marketing managers is to develop
effective distribution channels through which end customers get their products. Delivery of
product on time is important aspect which helps to create the bond with customers and retain
them for longer period of time. It has positive impact upon business operations.
M1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing
Marketing environment consist two different factors and these are internal and external. These
both factors can create the negative and positive affect of business (Jones and Rowley, 2011). So,
it is a main responsibility of the marketing function to determine all those factors which develop
negative effect on business and decrease productivity level of business.
M2 Significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional units
In IKEA, different departments like marketing, production, finance, human resource,
operations etc. are working for accomplishing the common goals as well as objectives. Without
all these functions, marketing department cannot conduct its activities in a better manner. So, it is
essential that all departments should work with marketing in order to increase profit level.

D1 Key elements of the marketing function
Marketing department has many functions such as production, pricing, selling and many
others but all are working together with finance, marketing, human resource, operations to
attaining the common goal of company. It creates positive effect on business and helpful in
enhancing sales and development of company.
P2 Roles and responsibilities of marketing related to organisation
In IKEA business, there are different departments which are working for making business
firm successful and more productive (Kongstvedt, 2012). The main motive of this organisation is
to make business firm more productive. IKEA is an organisation which carried its business
activities as well as operations in a systematic or corrective manner. Each department of IKEA
business firm us specialised in its activities. Without support of the other department, marketing
function cannot perform in a better or systematic manner. Interrelationship of marketing
department with other functions of IKEA Company given below as above:
Marketing function with human resource- HR department is a backbone of any organisation
and its main objective is to enhancing development as well as productivity level. The main roles
of human resource department is to payroll, provide training and development, recruitment and
selection, performance appraisal and many others. IKEA business firm provides training to
marketing staff members in order to increase their working efficiency as well as effectiveness.
From this their performance level will be enhanced and they can give their contribution towards
achieving the aims and goals of firm. Human resource department recruit capable staff members
for marketing department so that they can with consumers in a fair manner and work on
maximising sales along with profit level (Koontz, 2010).
Marketing function with finance department- The main role of finance function is to arrange
as well as manage the funds for business activities as well as operations. In order to attacking
large number of consumers for increasing sales as well as productivity. There are many different
activities which are need to done by marketing department like for an instance promotion,
advertisement and many others. So, in addition to this it is a responsibility of finance department
to provide finance or proper amount of money on the basis of marketing activities.

Marketing function with research and development function- The main work of research and
development department is to conduct a proper investigation and to know about the perception of
consumers, their needs, current marketing trends, strategies, existing products at market place
and much other information. With the help of this company can produce its goods by take care
needs and demands of customers in an effective manner (Mihart, 2012). It is an efficient manner
to attracting buyers and provides them goods at the reasonable cost. With the help of this they
will attract more and will be loyal consumers of firm. With the help of this profit level of
business can be increased and achieve objectives with in a specific period of time.
Marketing department with production- production is functional area which is responsible for
concerting inputs in to the finishes outputs by process of manufacturing series. The primary
motive of IKEA organisation to produce those goods as well as services which can satisfy
demands and requirements of consumers. It is the responsibility of production manager to choose
right materials to produce the goods. It is necessary that production department should use the
better quality raw materials in order to manufacture products (Nguyen and Simkin, 2012). If
production will be good then in this case sales will be increased in a better manner. It is essential
that marketing department should use the new and advanced technology to increase quality of
production in a better manner.
M3 Various tactics are used through IKEA
There are different tactics are applied by IKEA to accomplish their goals. Such tactics are
defined below:
 Fair assessment of the duties and responsibilities which are needed to perform by the
marketing manager. It helps in effective allocation of duties to subordinates.
 Development of effective marketing plan through application of the provision of 7P’s and
its comparison with competitors to ascertain about effectiveness for their plan.
 Understand about the linkage of marketing department with other organisational
department to build effective coordination in different activities. It helps to direct all of
them to provide combine efforts to achieve common goals of organisation.

TASK 2
P3 &M4& D2 Comparison of marketing mix of two organisations
Marketing mix is a broader concept and it includes products, place, price, promotion,
people, process and physical evidence. These all elements of marketing mix plays a necessary
role in order to conducting marketing activities in an effective as well as better manner. There is
a comparison among the marketing mix of two different business firms and these are IKEA and
Walmart (Papasolomou and Melanthiou, 2012). Both business firms deal in the retail sector and
strong competitors of each other. Marketing mix of both firm are given below as above:
IKEA
This company is the largest brand of furniture in all over the world. It was founded in
year 1943 and headquarter of this firm is in Sweden. It offers its consumers minimum cot
functional furniture which is assembling in a easy manner. This brand depends on concept of
providing home furnishing related products at the reasonable costs.
Products- It is a leading retail chain which is spread in the entire world. The products which
are provided through IKEA organisation in wide range and providing are in the marketing mix of
firm. The offerings of IKEA organisation is divided in to the children’s products, bathroom
stage, storage, cooking, eating, clothes, storages and many others. Apart from all these, IKEA
Company also keeps the kitchen appliances and cabinets, sofas, small storage, tools and
hardware’s etc. The products of this company are related with the no- frills simplicity in order to
retain its cost leadership related strategy (Perreault, 2010).
Place- IKEA firm promotes its goods through multi- channel retailer efficiently through
integrating offline as well as online channels of sales. This group operates its business in to
28 markets and it has 340 stores in all over world.
Price- This firm uses the cost leadership costing strategy. It offers its goods at the
minimum cost so that every people can afford them in a bets possible manner. Furnishing
chain and home improvement is helpful to maintain its minimum cost because of economies
of scale of IKEA organisation.

Promotion- The main focus of this company is on marketing activities. For promotion, it
uses print, billboards, television, online ads and many other methods. IKEA firm launches
its advertisement campaign in United Kingdom and uses the signs such as “Not for Sale”
written on advertisement.
People- IKEA organisation provides importance to its staff members and consumers.
Employees of IKEA firm believe in an idea of straight forward people with the passion for
products of home furnishing. Under this organisation around 116000 staff members are working
in retail, 21000 in production and 18000 in the supply department. The core values of this firm
are satisfy needs and demands of consumers in a better manner.
Process- This Company has many business processes and in more than 10 countries it has
total 44 manufacturing units.ots develops its own wood and also manufactures better quality of
furniture (Rossi, Allenby and McCulloch, 2012). In its facilities of house production are
developed through advanced technologies. IKEA Company follows clean environment slogan.
Its technique of stock management as well as supply chain is unique.
Physical evidence- IKEA business firm has more than 350 stores in around 50 countries.
The layouts of its stores are very attractive and give better shopping experience. Its stores are
well located outside cities in the larger areas.
Walmart
It is one of a leading multination business firm which was founded in year 1962 and then
incorporates in the 1969 year. This organisation operates its business in 28 countries in all over
the world. It operates in discount departmental stores, groceries, hyper markets, e- retail and
many others.
Product- Walmart business firm sells its large number of goods like for an instance
groceries, hardliners, health and wellness, entertainment, home furnishings and many others. In
order to keep quality of its products better (Rowley, 2016). Walmart Company make innovation
and uses the advanced technology.
Price- This business firm is a market leader and cost of its goods are more competitive.
Walmart company sets its record in its the pricing strategy through costing its goods and
services. Walmart Company procures its goods in high quantities in all over the world. This firm
provides its products at the reasonable cost. As comparison to its strong competitors, Walmart

business firm charges its goods around 15% lesser. It uses various kinds of pricing strategies
which are based on purchasing behaviour of consumers.
Place- Walmart firm has more than 1500 retail stores in all over the world and in about
28 countries, it has under 63 banners. In addition to this, distribution strategy consists delivery to
the stores through vendors which are suppliers of retail stores. There are more than 15
distribution centres which uses method of the cross docking. Transportation is attained by fleet
of the 61000trailers, 6100 tractors and also more than the 7800 drivers. Walmart Company has
different kinds of stores which consist Walmart discount stores, Walmart neighbourhood
markets, express stores, super markets and many others (Smith, 2012).
Promotion- It promotes its goods by plethora of the sales promotion like for an instance
product bundling and also its competitive pricing strategies. This company adopts the attractive
strategy of the brand promotion. The website of this firm is more attractive. The slogan of
Walmart website is ‘Grab it before it’s done’ in order to attract the large number of consumers
for enhancing sales as well as profit level.
People- Walmart is an international business firm with focus on large number of people.
The staff members are necessary assets for the Walmart firm and they handle all kinds of
consumer queries at stores. Walmart Company provides better consumer’s services to buyers to
resolve their complaints.
Process- Walmart process is effective and also helpful consumers to shop in a easy
manner (West, 2012). Under its process includes systematic placement of goods, trolleys, several
payment counters and many others.
Physical evidence- It is seen through more than the stores which are spread in all over
world. Every stores has many categories of goods, product placement etc.
TASK 3
P4 Marketing plan
It is a major part of an organisation and a document which helps in outlines the advertisement as
well as better marketing for future context. With the help of better plan, company can perform its
business activities in a proper manner. If marketing plan will be better, then IKEA business firm