Marketing Strategies and Research: M&S and Oxfam Analysis Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of marketing techniques used by Marks & Spencer (M&S) and Oxfam, highlighting the differences between private and public sector marketing strategies. It explores growth strategies, branding, and promotional techniques employed by both organizations. The report also examines the legal and voluntary constraints faced by M&S, including the Sales of Goods Act, Trade Description Act, and advertising standards. Furthermore, it delves into M&S's use of marketing research, both primary and secondary, qualitative and quantitative, to contribute to the development of its marketing plans. The report also addresses the limitations faced by M&S during market research, such as the Data Protection Act and cost-effectiveness issues. Desklib provides access to this and other solved assignments to aid students in their studies.

Introduction to Marketing
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Table of Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................3
Task 1...........................................................................................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................16
Reference List.............................................................................................................17
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Introduction
Marketing is considered as the key function of the business organization that covers
several activities. The marketing process helps the business organization in
transferring, exchanging and moving the products and services. This assignment will
provide knowledge about the different aspects of marketing research, marketing
planning and marketing mix. The assignment will provide an opportunity to analyse,
evaluate and develop key marketing methods in order to gather a better
understanding.
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Task 1
LO1 Know the role of marketing in organisations
P1 Describe how marketing techniques are used in the marketing of products
in two organisations
Marketing strategy is an action plan that is developed in order to promote the
products and services of an organization. The strategies are different for private
sector and public sector organization as the marketing strategies are also based on
the business objectives (Baker, 2014). In order to explain the difference, Marks and
Spencer has been selected as the private sector and Oxfam is selected as the public
sector organization.
Marketing Technique Marks and Spencer Oxfam
Growth Strategies- When
organization focus on
expanding its business it
develops different
strategies which helps
them to win the market
share. The strategies might
include product
development, market
development, market
penetration and
diversification.
M&S is a leading retail
organization of UK which
operates at a global level. In
order to expand its business
and achieve its growth and
development objective, the
organization adopts market
development and product
development strategy. M&S
promotes its existing product
and services to new
customers for gaining their
attention and developing
their market. For product
development, M&S
marketing is done amongst
the existing customers who
are informed about the new
products and services.
These two strategies have
helped the organization to
expand at an international
Oxfam is a charitable
organization that was
established in the year 1942
which aims at developing the
society and lives of the
people. As the mission of
Oxfam is to work with
maximum number of people
and meet the societal needs
of different countries, it uses
the market penetration
strategy for its growth
(Oxfam, 2018). This strategy
helps them to increase the
number of people involved in
the organization and promote
the work for a cause across
the globe. Currently, Oxfam’s
strategic plan focuses on
dealing with poverty issues,
women empowerment,
global confederation and
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level. bringing change in the less
developed region. In future,
the organization might focus
on the issue of child labour,
domestic violence,
discrimination, etc., to
achieve its mission.
Branding- The brand
strategies are long-term
plans which are developed
for developing building the
brand equity and achieve
specific business goals.
M&S is globally recognized
brand which has high brand
value. In order to market its
branded products and
services, it uses the product
techniques of product
extension and product
development, pricing
technique of economy
pricing, uses different
channels of distribution for
distribution techniques and
various promotional
techniques.
Oxfam is a voluntary
organization that focuses on
reaching people and spread
awareness about the
ongoing problems of the
society of different countries.
It uses the product technique
of product innovation, pricing
technique of economy pricing
and promotional technique
that involves advertising,
direct marketing and
personal selling.
Table 1: Comparison of Private and Public Sector Organization’s Marketing
Techniques
(Source: Created by the author)
P2 Describe the limitations and constraints of marketing
Marks and Spencer is a leading retail business organization that currently operates
across the globe and currently has around 1025 stores in the UK and 454 stores in
other countries (Marksandspencer.com, 2018). In case of any business activities, the
business organizations face certain limitation and constraints for which the flow of
their operational procedures and business activities slow down. The limitations and
constraints are related to those factors that can restrict the business organization to
achieve its full potential. Given below are the different types of limitations and
constraints that are faced by the Marks and Spencer-
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Legal Constraints
Sales of Good Act, 1979- The Parliament of the UK passed this act to regulate the
commercial law and contract law in relation to the goods being bought and sold. This
act protects the right of consumers as well by ensuring that the goods being offered
is as per the description and has satisfactory quality (Bridge, 2012). This legal
framework has several rights which offer the consumers different remedies like
replacement, refund and repair. In case of Marks and Spencer, the organization
faces limitation as it exceeds its statutory obligation because of its return policy and
creates high customer expectations.
Trade Description Act, 1968- This act has been passed by the UK government in
order to prevent the retailers, manufacturers or the service providers of different
industry from misleading the consumers. This act allows the judiciary to punish the
responsible party who try to claim about the goods and services they sell in a wrong
manner. For example, M&S was fined for £10,000 as they misled the customers
about their Italian clothing range. The company admitted that most of their ‘Italian’
products of menswear were manufactured in India, Lithuania and Egypt instead of
Italy.
Voluntary Constraints
Code of Advertising Practice
The Advertising Standard Authority (ASA) is the advertising regulatory body of
United Kingdom. ASA maintains and promotes the code of practices related to direct
marketing, sales marketing and advertising activities of the business organizations. It
is essential for global business organizations such as M&S to carry out its marketing
activates within this legal framework, protect the customers from wrong and
misleading claims and create fair operating environment for the advertisers (Council,
2010). For example, M&S faced the issue regarding the poster advertisement of its
lingerie collection of buses. Marks and Spencer faced issues, as there were nine
complainants who found these posters to be objectified women and overtly sexual.
Eight complainants stated that these posters were inappropriate for children and one
stated that it is unsuitable for displaying on the buses. Such issues created chaos,
but the organization was able to justify to the ASA about their advertising campaign
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and ASA did not upheld the complaints (Practice, 2018). However, such issues can
create major issues for the organization's brand equity and operational activities.
Pressure Groups and Consumerism
These groups are those organizations, which influence business activity, policies and
legislations for securing the interest of the supporters and members of the
organization. These kind of groups generally campaign for bringing changes in
certain policies and influencing the public opinion. Similarly, the business operations
of M&S can also face issues from such groups if they choose to run campaigns,
march against the company or issues legal notices against the company. In the year
2001, M&S decided to ban Indian leather goods as it faced campaigns from PETA
(People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), which is a pressure group for animal
rights. Many organizations and celebrities joined the campaign in order to raise their
voice against animal slaughtering case (Businessrespect.net., 2018). In order to deal
with this issue, M&S decided to boycott and ban Indian leather. Hence, these kinds
of cases can cause major issues to the reputation and corporate strategy of the
organization.
Acceptable Language
Language has a strong effect on people and their overall behaviour. In case of
advertising and marketing, the choice of language, content, tone and media used for
communicating the information to the public or target audience is essential. In order
to avoid any issues about language matters, the business organization like M&S
should focus on how they can use simple language. They should avoid
discriminatory statements or offending words so that the sentiment of the audiences
is not hurt.
LO2 Be able to use marketing research and marketing planning
P3 Describe how a selected organisation uses marketing research to
contribute to the development of its marketing plans
The business organizations use different market research tool in order to develop
their marketing strategies and implement them in an effective manner.
Understanding the different tools and methods of market research and using it
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effectively can provide the business organizations an idea about how they can use
different market research information in order to reach their targets and improve their
performance. Marks and Spencer uses different market research tools in order to
enhance its business operations and make improvements. The organization has
been able to increase its customer base with the help of proper product promotion
and market research. There are mainly two types of market research methods, which
contribute towards development of the marketing activities. Given below are the two
different types of market research-
Primary and Secondary Market Research
Primary Market Research- In order to conduct the primary market research, M&S
gather information through questionnaires, personal interviews and surveys. With the
help of the primary research, the organization is able to gather information from its
key stakeholders about how it should improve its current products and services
(Sarstedt and Mooi, 2014).
Secondary Market Research- An organization like M&S has several competitors as it
operates in the retail sector. In order to develop strategies and sustain in the
competitive market, M&S refers to the old surveys, business reports, questionnaires
that have been published before by other companies (McQuarrie, 2015). It also
evaluates it previous performance in order to understand the difference in the
customer trends. Such information has helped M&S to apply the strategy of product
expansion and development.
Qualitative and Quantitative Market Research
Both the research method is utilised by Marks and Spencer in order to understand
about the current market situation and about the customer information. The surveys,
questionnaires and interviews with technical and statistical question and answer
sessions provide the organization the opportunity to conduct quantitative market
research. On the other hand, the qualitative market research is conducted through
focus groups, observations, interviews with open-ended questions and the observing
experience of the stakeholders (Creswell and Poth, 2017). These information help
M&S to improve the qualitative aspect of the products and services and quantify its
product portfolio and sales.
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Both the methods are used by Marks and Spencer in order to gain an insight about
the market and the industry. Apart from gathering information related to customers,
products and competitors, M&S is also able to find out about the public spending and
changes in the tax rates that can affect the customers. This prudent approach helps
the business organization to emerge successfully by developing effective strategies
and bringing necessary changes in the operational functions of the organization.
However, the organization faces certain issues while conducting its marketing
activities. Given below are the limitations faced by M&S faced during market
research and developing the marketing plan-
Data Protection Act, 1998- This act has been introduced by the government in
order to protect the personal information of the consumers from being misused. M&S
is obliged to abide by the rules and regulations of this act and the eight principles
that have been stated in the act. M&S is a registered information user under this act
and it promises to protect the data of its customers from third parties or any other
companies for marketing or other business purposes. However, there have been
cases where the organization has failed to comply with this act. In the year 2008,
M&S broke the rules of this act as it failed to protect the personal details of around
26,000 employees (Telegraph.co.uk., 2018). The data was unencrypted and
unsecure because of which the details about the pension arrangements of M&S
employees was stolen in a burglary. Such an incident created a wrong impression on
the customers and they believed that the organization is unable to protect the data
effectively. Hence, it is necessary to ensure that M&S is able to follow this act.
Cost Effectiveness- The primary market research methods are generally expensive
methods and time consuming. Scheduling appointments with the customers, market
researchers, industry leaders and other such potential audience who are willing to
respond and get interviewed. Sometimes, the online surveys and interviews can be
costly for the organization. On the other hand, for the secondary market research,
the organization has to rely on the already established data and access it through
paying lump sum amount. The cost effectiveness can only be achieved if the
organization is able to achieve its target.
Validation of the data- In case of surveys, the type of feedback received from the
respondents can be arbitrary and inaccurate. This creates difficulty for M&S to
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evaluate the response and analyse the required parameters. Further, the evaluation
made by the executives of M&S can be biased at times (Bankes, 2010). Hence, such
issues can create trouble for the organization to carry out the marketing activities
and plan.
In order to develop the market research method usage and developing the marketing
plan of the M&S, the organization can consider the following recommendations-
 M&S should focus on how it can gather data from authentic sources and abide by
the Data Protection Act.
 Be unbiased during the data collection and analysis in order to draw proper
conclusion
 Select the appropriate research method as per the requirements in order save
time and cost
P4 Use marketing research for marketing planning
In order to carry out the marketing plan successfully, it is essential for M&S to use
the appropriate methods and marketing research techniques. The marketing
planning requires several steps and techniques that can be used by M&S. In order to
develop the marketing plan and gather relevant information, SWOT analysis tool can
be used. This tool would help M&S to analyse the strengths and weaknesses and
find out the opportunities and threats and develop the marketing plan accordingly.
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
 High Brand Value and Customer
Base
 Diversified product range of high
quality
 Global Presence and easy access to
the products
 Lack in the innovation level of the
product design
 High production cost due to the
traditional business operation
techniques
 Products are no longer appealing to
the young age group and does not
match with the current market trend
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
 Opportunity to venture into other
markets and expand the food
 High level of competition from H&M,
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products range to attract more
customers
 Market the products in a better
manner to attract customers from
other demographics
 Expand in terms of target market
New Look, Topshop, Mango, etc
 Continuous changes in the fashion
trend and consumer behaviour
 Rapid changes in the government
policies for the retail industry
Table 2: SWOT analysis of M&S
(Source: Created by the author)
In order to gain information about the strengths, the primary market research was
used where the customers and employees were surveyed. The information about the
weaknesses was gathered with the help of a mixed approach, where the both
primary and secondary market research methods were used. In order to gain insight
about the threats and opportunities, secondary market research technique was used.
Hence, the above information can help Marks and Spencer to develop its marketing
plan accordingly.
LO3 Understand how and why customer groups are targeted
P5 Explain how and why groups of customers are targeted for selected
products
Customer segmentation is related dividing the customers on the basis of common
characteristics. There are different basis on which the customers are divided into
different groups. The segmentation helps in serving the needs and wants of the
customers in a better manner. It is important for the global business organizations
like M&S to segment their customers in order to offer the right products and services
to them at the right time, place and in the right manner (Tsiptsis and Chorianopoulos,
2011). M&S deals with mainly clothing, food and homeware products. The clothing
products are designed for men, women and children. The food segment of M&S
offers luxury food products and the homeware products have a unique collection.
The following table reflects the segmentation of the customers for B2C (Business-to-
Customer)-
Product Type Type of Customers Market Reason for
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Segmentation Segmentation
Method Chosen
Clothing Products Male and female
customers of
different age group
and children
Demographic
Segmentation
The clothing
products are
consumed by
customers from
different age group
and gender group.
M&S has to focus on
designing their
clothing products
according to this
segmentation in
order to fulfil the
needs of different
customers.
Homeware
Products
Customers with high
standard of living and
lifestyle
Behavioural
Segmentation
The homeware
products of M&S are
priced at a higher
level because of
which it is better for
the company to
target only those
companies who are
willing to purchase
high-priced products
from the homeware
collection of M&S.
Food Products Based on the taste
and preference of the
customers from
different region,
population, food
culture and habits
Geographic
Segmentation
The food culture of
every country and
region differs. As
M&S deals mostly
with luxury food
products, it can
segment its
customers as per the
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