Comprehensive Marketing Plan for JD Sports: Strategy and Analysis

This report presents a detailed marketing plan for JD Sports, a prominent sports retail company in the UK. It begins with an introduction to marketing and the context of the company, followed by an analysis of JD Sports' current situation using a SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report then outlines the development of a marketing strategy, including the application of the STP (Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning) approach to identify and target specific customer segments. A new product development strategy called "Ageless" is proposed, which focuses on customized sports footwear for elderly customers. The report then delves into the application of the marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence) to effectively market this new product line. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and emphasizes the importance of a well-defined marketing plan for business growth and market share expansion. The report provides recommendations for JD Sports to improve its marketing efforts and achieve its business objectives.

MARKETING PLAN

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
CURRENT SITUATION OF JD SPORTS.....................................................................................1
SWOT Analysis......................................................................................................................1
DEVELOPMENT OF MAREKTING STRATEGY.......................................................................2
STP Approach........................................................................................................................2
Marketing Strategy.................................................................................................................3
APPLICATION OF MARKETING MIX.......................................................................................4
Elements of Marketing Mix....................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is one of the most effective functions within an organisation that is associated
with appropriately communicating one’s products, as well as services within the market
(Opresnik, 2018). Moreover,, a marketing plan is a detailed outlay of the strategies, processes
and techniques that a firm is required to use for marketing its offerings within the market. Hence,
in this context, the report below is based on JD Sports, which is an organisation within the Sports
Retail sector of the United Kingdom. The report covers a detailed marketing plan for the firm in
context of enhancing its growth and market share within the country, by implementing methods
such as STP approach and elements of Marketing Mix.
CURRENT SITUATION OF JD SPORTS
SWOT Analysis
It is crucial to analyse the current situation of an organisation which determines its core
competencies, as well as its capabilities within the marketplace (Chernev, 2018). Furthermore, it
also provides an imperative and essential insight onto the current performance of the company in
the marketplace. Hence in relation with JD Sports, its current situation is being analysed using
SWOT analysis, which is a framework determining its current strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, as well as threat:
Strengths:
 High Investment Capacity: One of the core strengths of the company is that it has a high
investment capacity within the marketplace, which is quite essential for the company to
invest in better opportunities.
 Effective Distribution: The distribution network of the company is very effective which
leads the company towards supplying its finished products to farther ends within the
country.
Weaknesses:
 Inappropriate Marketing: The firm’s marketing is quite narrow, considering the fact that
uses social media as its prime source rather than indulging into better ways for the same.
 Struggling with New Requirements: The market scenario is rapidly changing
considering the trends and interests of individuals, which are not effectively being
tracked by the organisation.
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Opportunities:
 Technological Advancements: With latest technologies like Artificial Intelligence and
Automation, the firm could speed up its operations and enhance its marketing function as
well.
 Changes in Lifestyle: The lifestyle within the UK of even older individuals has started
inclining towards fitness, which is an opportunity for JD sports to expand its market in
the future.
Threats:
 Brexit: One of the biggest threats which has been evident within the UK market is
associated with Brexit, which has led to reduction in money supply and hence, reduced
alternatives for the firm to enhance the scale of its operations (Berestova, 2015).
 Competition: Another threat which the firm is currently facing is associated with
competition, many big brands like Adidas, Nike and Reebok have already captured a
wider market share, which makes it tough for the company to build a market effectively.
Hence, the current situation of JD Sports is quite complex, especially because of its
weaknesses and threats. Therefore, the firm is in a dire need of bringing in change within its
systems to ensure that its growth and market share are positively impacted.
DEVELOPMENT OF MAREKTING STRATEGY
STP Approach
As per the above analysis, it could be analysed that the firm needs to expand its customers
and market space to ensure that it markets itself as a different and better company than rest of its
existing competitions. Hence, for this purpose and to target new individuals, the STP approach is
applied as under:
Segmentation:
This process is associated with dividing the whole market into smaller segments, which
are based on certain characteristics that are highlighted below:
 Geographical: This segment divides the market based on its geographical location. For
JD Sports, the firm is willing to target individuals who belong from the urban areas of
the United Kingdom, preferably in London and Bristol and Liverpool.
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 Demographical: This characteristic segregates the market on the basis of some
demographic elements like income, age, occupation and so forth (Lamb and Crompton,
2017). Hence, in context of JD Sports, since the firm wishes to target people who belong
to age 60-75, with monthly income more than £1,000 and who reside in densely
populated areas of the cities mentioned above.
 Behavioural: Within this segment, the market is divided with behaviour and preferences
as basis. For instance, JD Sports would be targeting individuals who are inclined towards
fitness and are habitual towards trying new alternatives for enhancing their fitness
experience.
Targeting:
This section of the framework is associated with selecting particular factors from the
segments above to form the target group of customers. Hence, out of the segments mentioned
above, the firm is willing to target general customers from the urban areas of the UK, who
belong to the age group between 60-75, who have more than £1,000 as their monthly income and
who are habitual towards fitness.
Positioning:
In order to position itself effectively within the marketplace, the firm would be adopting
both online, as well as offline positioning of its offerings so that it is convenient for individuals
of the target market to purchase and use the product in an appropriate and effective manner (De
Pelsmacker, Van Tilburg and Holthof, 2018). Furthermore, this marketing strategy would be
developed for a medium term from 2020-2023 to ensure that the company has maximum benefit
from the same.
Marketing Strategy
It is crucial that the marketing strategy of the company be based on STP analysis so that
it prominently attracts the target market along with retaining older customers and other target
segments as well. Therefore, JD Sports in this regard would be using Product Development as a
new marketing strategy, which would be named as “Ageless”. This would be a new range of
customised sports footwear for elderly customer group which would be developed as per their
health requirements, as well as with assistance from range of physical therapists.
Majorly, this product is being made for individuals who have zeal to be fit and to
continue their physical activities in a healthy and comfortable manner. Therefore, the firm would
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be taking in assistance from their GP or their physical therapists who would be guiding the
manufacturers of what kind of shoes do they require for Fulfilling this purpose effectively. The
plan of the firm through this new range is to expand its market share, along with enhance its
overall growth, in terms of profitability, productivity and revenue.
APPLICATION OF MARKETING MIX
Elements of Marketing Mix
It is imperative that the marketing strategy is appropriately placed and implemented to
allow the firm to market its products and services in a sequential and effective manner (Perreault,
2018). Therefore, in this context, below are several elements of marketing mix, which are the
various dimensions that a firm needs to abide by and develop their strategies against for better
marketing and promotion of its products and services. Hence, in context of JD Sports and its new
offering Ageless, below is the implementation of elements of Marketing Mix:
 Product:
This element of marketing mix is related to the product strategy of the company. JD Sports
with its new offering is adopting Diversification as its new product strategy. The reason for this
is because the firm is known to produce athleisure wear and that too for younger generations.
With Ageless, it would expand its product portfolio and make offerings for a wider customer
group.
 Price:
This is the pricing strategy which the firm would be adopting for its product and this element
is very important for better marketing. For this new range, JD Sports would adopt Price
Skimming strategy, due to the fact complete customisation is provided by the firm to its new
group of customers (McDONALD, 2016).
 Place:
This element is associated with the distribution of the offerings of an organisation. As
mentioned above, the company’s distribution chain is one of the most effective competencies of
the company. Therefore, to further leverage this strength, JD Sports would be placing its
offerings both in their physical stores, as well as would be providing home deliveries too.
 Promotion:
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It is associated with advertising and promoting the offerings of a company in a competent
manner. In relation to JD Sports and the new range of products, the company is willing to
indulge more towards Digital and Print Marketing, where it would be providing compelling
advertisements to individuals through newspapers, as well as would commercialise the new
range through digital channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Along with this,
the company would also use Search Engine Optimisation and Google Analytics to manage its
promotion as per the trends within the market (Kotler and et. al., 2017).
 People:
This element involves the employees, as well as the customers. Since complete
customisation is being offered with the new offering, the employees would be trained using
Simulation as a method that would create different scenarios for them to work upon. Moreover,
as for customers, repeated feedbacks would be acquired by them using surveys and
questionnaires so that the products are manufactured and delivered as per the requirements of
individuals.
 Process:
Since the company has high investment capacity, this would overcome the threat of Brexit.
Moreover, UK being one of the most prominent nations towards technology, JD Sports would be
working towards making almost all of the manufacturing process of its new offering supported
by Automation and Artificial Intelligence. Moreover, complete transparency at each stage would
be kept by the firm with the customers to instil trust and ensure effectiveness in work.
 Physical Evidence:
The new range of products by JD Sports would be made as per the health requirements of
individuals, which would make them easy to handle, worn, as well as used. Moreover, the firm
would be using Automation and AI to manufacture these offerings that would be contributing
towards ensuring limited waste and highest possible quality. This would appropriately be
directed towards the durability of this new range of product (Chernev, 2015).
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded from the report above that marketing plan is very crucial for a
company to develop as it allows the firm to give a detailed approach towards promoting and
communicating its products and services in the marketplace. It is necessary to adopt methods like
SWOT analysis which allows analysing the core competencies and shortfalls of the firm.
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Moreover, STP approach must also be used by the company to determine the marketing strategy
effectively. Lastly, elements of marketing mix must be implemented in a competent and effective
manner in order to market the firm’s offerings in a better way, along with assisting the
organisation towards gaining wider market share and effective growth in future.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Berestova, A., 2015. Marketing plan for a High-Tech Product.
Chernev, A., 2015. The marketing plan handbook. Cerebellum Press.
Chernev, A., 2018. Strategic marketing management. Cerebellum Press.
De Pelsmacker, P., Van Tilburg, S. and Holthof, C., 2018. Digital marketing strategies, online
reviews and hotel performance. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 72.
pp.47-55.
Kotler, P., and et. al., 2017. Marketing for hospitality and tourism.
Lamb, C.W. and Crompton, J.L., 2017. Analyzing marketing performance. In Marketing the
Public Sector (pp. 173-184). Routledge.
McDONALD, M.A.L.C.O.L.M., 2016. Strategic marketing planning: theory and practice. In The
marketing book (pp. 108-142). Routledge.
Opresnik, M.O., 2018, July. Effective Social Media Marketing Planning–How to Develop a
Digital Marketing Plan. In International Conference on Social Computing and Social
Media (pp. 333-341). Springer, Cham.
Perreault, W.D., 2018. Essentials of marketing. New York: Mc Graw Hill.
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