Marketing Management: ASDA's Audit, Mix, and Strategic Recommendations

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of ASDA's marketing management, beginning with an overview of the company's background, industry position, and various store formats and services. The core of the report focuses on a marketing audit and external environmental analysis, utilizing a PESTLE framework to assess political, economic, social, technological, and legal factors impacting ASDA. It then delves into ASDA's marketing mix, examining product, place, price, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence strategies. The report further identifies gaps between current marketing strategies and the external environment, suggesting the application of STP (Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning) to address challenges and improve market performance. Overall, the report offers a detailed examination of ASDA's marketing practices and strategic recommendations for future growth and adaptation.

MARKETING
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
1. Introduction of company and the industry..............................................................................4
2. Marketing audit and the external analysis of ASDA..............................................................5
3. Marketing mix of the organisation..........................................................................................9
4. Changes require in the marketing mix of the organisation...................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
These reports shows the brief of the organisation and the industry, brief includes the history of
the company, higher authority of the company, working area of the company, number of
employee in the company and different type of outlet of the company. Further report goes on to
explain the external environment of the organisation through the Pestle analysis of the company
which includes the factor like Political, Economical, Social, Technology, legal and
Environmental factor which are affecting the business and shows that the company is trying to
adopt the new culture but finding it difficult as face a controversy in adopting the culture and the
report also explains the marketing audit report of the organisation to have a further clarification
of the environment. After that report explains the marketing mix of the organisation in which all
the tool of the mix Product, Place, Price, promotion, process, people and physical evidence is
explained by that it has seen that the marketing mix is proving good for the organisation as these
has helped the business to earn a good market share in the market in last few year. Further these
reports goes on to explain the marketing mix action require to be taken by the organisation by
seeing the gap that company is not able to adopt the new culture and also not able to survive in
competition but it has been suggested that STP can help the firm in overcoming these problem.

INTRODUCTION
Marketing Management lays emphasis on practical implication of techniques, methods and
orientation of marketing in the organisations and also concentrates on optimum management of
firm's resources and its utilisation.
The present report has taken ASDA, founded in 1949, is a supermarket giant in the retail industry
based in UK. In 1999 it was occupied by American company Walmart. Apart from its core
business as supermarkets, ASDA has also expanded into financial services along with mobile
network provider and many other services.
In this report ASDA company has been selected to explain the Marketing Management by
analysing its present scenario. This report also highlights the concept of marketing audit and
PESTLE Analysis of ASDA has been conducted to highlight the market attractiveness of the
whole industry and also study what are the probable chances that the company might grow.
The report further studies Marketing Mix of ASDA and identifies different brands for targeting
different markets. Segmenting, targeting and positioning of ASDA's products and services has
also been described in the report.
Lastly, the report states the critical evaluation of the gap between present marketing strategies
and the external environment surrounding ASDA.
MAIN BODY
1. Introduction of company and the industry.
Company background : ASDA is a British supermarket retailer. The headquarters are in Leeds,
West Yorkshire. ASDA was founded by the Peter and Fred Asquith and Sir Noel Stockdale in
1949. It mainly trades in Grocery, financial services; insurance and general merchandise. The
parent company of ASDA is Walmart and the subsidiaries company are ASDA mobile, ASDA
money etc. The total no. of employees who work with ASDA are 165000. It is the s third largest
supermarket chain in UK after the Tesco and Sainsbury in 2018. But in 2019 they regain their
position and comes to the second position. It also offers the various services to their customer
like financial services, mobile phone. The promotion strategy of ASDA is based on the price and
they focus to save the money.
ASDA company comes under the retail industry. The aim of retail industry is to provide
variety of goods and services to their customer by using various channels of distribution. They
use the advance technology to promote their product and services in the market (Larki and

Amirnejad, 2016). Retail industry provide their product and services through the retail store,
online websites and through the retailers and wholesalers.
The store format of ASDA are ASDA super centres, ASDA superstores, ASDA
supermarkets, ASDA living, George store, ASDA essential, ASDA petrol etc. The brands and
services provided by ASDA are ASDA smart price, chosen by you, George clothing, ASDA
mobile, ASDA money etc. ASDA smart price aims to reduce the price by removing the non –
essential features from the product. Under this brand name ASDA provides their product and
services with low price. Chosen by you brand was started in 2016 with the am of providing the
self service to the customer. ASDA was the first supermarket who stock the wedding dresses in
their store. It has its own range of clothing which are known as George. ASDA mobile was
launched in 2007 which operates the mobile phone network. ASDA money provide the financial
services to their customer. The services offered by the ASDA money are car insurance, travel
money office and credit card (Pólvora, 2017). The financial co – ordinator in the store help to
promote the services of ASDA money. They also provide the gift card, business rewards and
Christmas saver services to their customer.
The market share of ASDA in grocery market is 17.5%. In UK ASDA has 25 distribution
depots for clothing, chilled food and ambient product like cereals and carbonated food. They
offer variety of facilities to their employees to maintain the organisational structure and improve
the management and employee relationship. They offer the best services to their employees to
satisfied them with organisation and also help them to achieve the individual objective. ASDA
involves in various corporate Social responsibility activities like energy efficiency, ethical
trading, children welfare, call for boycott, sponsorship charities etc. The charities supported by
the ASDA are Tommy's which aim to find out the reason behind the problems in pregnancy and
provide the free of charge services, children in need, Everyman, field in trust etc.
2. Marketing audit and the external analysis of ASDA
Marketing Audit : Marketing audit is a complete and systematic study of the marketing
environment of the business. It involves evaluation as well as interpretation of the internal and
external environment surrounding the business of the company (Li and et.al., 2017).
This helps ASDA in identifying the opportunities as well as the problems which the
company might face and an action plan to improve the performance.
PESTLE Analysis of ASDA to study market attractiveness and growth :-

Political Factors:- Intervention of the government of the country in which a company operates
are categorized as political factors. Those impacting ASDA are:-
 Taxation Norms :- For ASDA lower taxation rules applicable in the whole of western
hemisphere has proved beneficial. It has increased the profitability of the company and
this has boosted the research and development department.
 Change in Government Policies :- After the Brexit, things have been still changing
rapidly for the company. Although, ASDA was occupied by Walmart in 1999; it still has
maintained its own British board. Now after Brexit, ASDA though being stable
politically, it has affected the food industry economically creating a survival crisis.
 Regulation practices :- Since ASDA operates in different markets, it has to follow
regulatory practices of different markets. Managers of the company have to go through
keen scrutiny in the political environments as well as regulations of business environment
of different markets.
Economic Factors :- Factors which affect the economy in which the business operates like
inflation, GDP, disposable income, economic performance are called economic factors. For
ASDA, the economic factors which affect the business are :-
 Rate of Inflation :- After the recession in 2018, there has been increased liquidity in
market which ultimately led the inflation rates to increase. This has impacted the sales of
ASDA and its business (Askarinia and et.al., 2015).
 Economic Performance :- After UK's separation from EU, ASDA has launched new
products and has also started targeting Asian Countries. This has led to a growth in the
economic performance of the company. Increase in Disposable income of the consumer
has lewd to increase in sales which has further boosted the growth of the supermarket
giant.
 Pricing Strategy :- Factors like pay scale of the employees, supply – demand of the labour
employed, credit cost and energy prices impact the decision about prices crucially. The
'Smart Pricing' strategy of ASDA where simple i.e. everyday products which are packed
in a very simple way so that even when a customer is facing financial crisis, he can
ensure his survival; this strategy has given the company an upper hand over its
competitors by increasing its customer base.

Social Factors :- The culture or the society in which a business is operating also has a huge
impact on the rules and regulations which the company follows. These factors referred to as
Social factors can assist a company in its growth when it operates as per the norms and cultures
of the society and provide goods which satisfy the needs of the consumers.
ASDA is affected by Social Factors in following way :-
 Gender Differentiation :- Over the time, gender roles has seen a major evolution in UK.
Development in targeting techniques done by ASDA based on the gender roles has
modified and helped the company in easy targeting thus increasing their customer base.
This has also increased the satisfaction level of customers.
 Health and Safety concern :- ASDA has changed its working hour policy making it more
flexible for its employees especially females. This has also encouraged female
employment in the ASDA as its safety mechanisms make it trustworthy.
 Charity and other Benefits :- ASDA has been continuously sharing its profits with the
NPO's and has been donating for the welfare of the community in which it operates. Also,
policies like 'Ageing Benefits' to old employees of the company gives pensions and other
benefits to them on retirement.
Technological Factors :- Rapidly changing technology has forced management to regularly
update itself. Innovation, access to technology, the latest softwares etc. are some factors which
impact a company's distribution of its resources for such technological development (Fan, Lau
and Zhao, 2015). For ASDA following factors are important :-
 Reduction in Cost :- ASDA's technological advancement like freezer trucks;
improvisation in supply chain, channelling partners etc. has reduced the cost of
production for the company and also improved its operating efficiency.
 Online Expansion :- Expansion of online business by opening stores like ASDA Direct
which was later integrated with the entire store's products and launching the company's
own service of mobile network called ASDA Mobile in the year 2007 has helped in
increasing the company's reach to its customers.
 Implementation of softwares and other technological innovation :- ASDA began using
softwares to increase the pace of production and also made it error free. They also
emphasised usage of the latest technology for marketing activities enhancing the
company's scope.

Legal Factors :- Laws and legislation of the country or state in which a business carries out its
operations are influential in its operations. They determine the methods in which the organisation
shall carry out their duties. Legal factors influencing ASDA in its working are :-
 Minimum Wage Law :- ASDA follows the National Minimum Wage Act, 1998 and
provides the wages above the minimum wages stated in the law. Earlier ASDA was
involved in a controversial issue where it was highlighted that it was giving wages below
the minimum wages as per the law to its employees (Liu and et.al., 2017). The company
has since then vastly improved its remuneration policies as per the employee's potential.
 Employment Regulations :- ASDA must abide the fair employment practices which
discourages unfair dismissal as well as unjust recruitment. They also impact the business
models of the company which are formulated according to these basic laws of UK.
 Safety and Health Laws :- Employees at ASDA are profited as they are given all the
benefits which employers are required to give to their employees as per their Acts in UK.
Environmental Factors :- Sustainability as well as the environment in which the company
operates, must be preserved by the company. A company should always try to compensate by
giving back to the nature atleast a fraction of what they took away from it. For this various
activities like CSR, consumer activism etc. are practised (Stead and Hastings, 2018).
Environmental Factors for ASDA are :-
 Recycling of products :- ASDA like many other companies nowadays is fast adapting
itself to this latest trend in environment protection. Their products after usage are taken
back by the company for further recycling. They also focused on Waste Management by
controlling the waste generation especially in the stores located in the urban areas.
 Eco friendly Culture :- ASDA introduced its Green Initiative where it laid emphasis on
eco friendliness of its production as well as other business activities and encouraged this
culture. The company also began using renewable technology and thus leveraged the
environment friendly trends in its own favour.
 Activism Of Consumer :- By creating awareness among it s customers about the product
and its components; ASDA has increased its brand value. This has increased a
consumers' role in protecting environment and enhanced their trust in the company's
activities and products.

3. Marketing mix of the organisation
Marketing is the process of offering the correct product to the correct market at a correct time.
Marketing mix are the mixture of tool and strategy used for educating customer about the
product of the company. Marketing is very important for the business as if company has to grow
and attend a larger customer in the market, company has to use the marketing mix tool to
promote the awareness of the company product in the eye of customer. Product, price, place,
promotion, process, people, and Physical Evidence are the seven tools of the marketing misused
by the company. ASDA Store Ltd. also uses the marketing mix in the organisation to aware the
customer about the company product (Priya, Zunke and Mitra, 2016).
Product mix: Product is the good or service which is offered by the company to the customer.
ASDA offers a variety of product to their customer, product range includes fresh grocery, top
brands cloths, variety of food item including food, drink, health and beauty care product, sports
equipment, entertainment and pet products and many more in the store of ASDA. ASDA has
always known for maintain a standard of quality in their product offering (Marketing Mix, 2013).
ASDA always try to innovate in their product after understanding the need of the customer
(through there survey 'customer pledge') in the market and offers a product which can satisfy the
need of the customer in the market, other than that ASDA also offers variety of financial services
also such as debts card, travel money and insurance and personal loan etc.
Price mix: Price is the value which company desire from the customer in exchange of company
product and services. ASDA is well known firm in the market to offer their product at reasonable
price as compare to the competitor to attract a good amount of customer toward the company.
ASDA also offers a variety of discount in their price in the developing country to establish the
name of the organisation and to gain a attraction of the customer in the initial stage itself
(Rastogi and Trivedi, 2016) . In past ASDA has offers a price guarantee in which if the price of
ASDA product is not 10% cheaper than other competitive company than the difference will be
refunded, It is just one example ASDA has used a price mix as the main tool to enter the market
and to gain the share in the market.
Place mix: Place is the market or location from where company has decided to sell the product
and services of the company. ASDA uses two main distribution channels to sell their product just
like other competitor namely online channel and offline channel. ASDA has a more than 633
stores all across the UK to sell their product and the online platform for selling the product is

ASDA official website. Stores of ASDA are devided into range of stores like ASDA super
centers, ASDA superstore, ASDA Supermarket and ASDA Petrol filling station (Fozer and et.al.,
2017). ASDA is trying to cover a wider area in the UK local market as ASDA company has
good goodwill in the local market. ASDA Super centre are the largest store which offer a
extended variety of services such as food service offers , banking facilities, hairdressers and
George and non-food etc.
Promotion mix: Promotion is the marketing tool used to promote the awareness of the need of
company product in the current market. ASDA also uses variety of marketing tool to promote
their product in the market, most important tool which are used by ASDA is advertisement of the
store at many platforms like Television, radio, Newspaper and also on the various social media
platform online. ASDA also uses the sales promotion tool such as offering the product at low
rate or to give the product in offer as a free for e.g. Buy one get one free. ASDA also takes part
in different social function to promote their product, which helps the business to promote the
awareness of the product among huge customer at once.
Process mix: Process is the ways or set of activities done in order to achieve the goal. ASDA
uses the simplest process to achieve the organisational goal, In their ASDA used to get the
product from their supplier and ASDA used to organised and showcase that product into the
store for the customer to buy them, ASDA service team assist the customer in buying and billing
of the product. ASDA offers the product from early morning to late midnight also. Some of the
ASDA stores offers the 24*7 hours services and in the online services also the process is same
they get the product from supplier and they used to deliver that to the customer address (Racz
and et.al., 2018).
People mix: People are the one who carries out the business activities for the business. ASDA
has more than 165000 employee across 633 stores in UK working for them to carry out the day
to day business activity of the business. ASDA always believe in increasing the efficiency level
of the employee by giving the training to the all the employee. New employee are given a 4 week
training and the good performance are rewarded in that training. ASDA offers a very good
working environment for the employee to work in and also offers a very good and attractive
wage rate which helps the firm in prevailing the employee for a long period of time.
Physical Evidence mix: Physical evidence refers to the physical environment and customer
experience toward the company. ASDA Physical evidence does not limited to the its stores,

Company logo, company name. ASDA has a very good looking website which allow customer to
buy the product online also.
4. Changes require in the marketing mix of the organisation
Tool used by ASDA in their marketing mix are proving right for the company in domestic
growth as ASDA is able to gain the second spot in the local market on the basis of market share
of the company behind Tesco but there are some sort of problem which is enabling the growth of
the business in wider market as ASDA was not able to adopt the needs and culture of the new
market area and also does not able to sustain the competition which was offered by the new
entrant in the market which has also created a sign for worry for the organisation in the past.
ASDA requires to make a little bit change in the marketing to ensure that ASDA is able to cover
all the mistake which are mentioned above (Widya, Tjahjono and Kolios, 2018). ASDA can
apply a STP theory to over come the problem in the organisation as STP covers all the solution
of the above problem. Segmentation, Targeting and positioning (STP) divides the work in three
faces in which first focusses on dividing the customer into different group than to choose which
group we are best to satisfy and in the end offers the product accordingly.
Segmentation: Segmentation is the process of identifying different type of customer on the basis
of their taste, need and requirement and divide them into different type of groups, these will help
the ASDA to known the need and requirement of the customer in the new market. There are
some point which ASDA need to understand before applying the segmentation as segmentation
requires the basis on which group or segment can be done of the customer, there will be many
basis on which customer can be devided but ASDA has to make sure that they took a reliable
basis on which customer can be devided as per ASDA needs (Sridhar and et.al., 2016).
Segmentation can be done by using many ways such as, ASDA can look at a competitor product
and evaluate the customer which are satisfied by that product so by that ASDA will be able to
understand need of that customer. As ASDA already organised the survey ASDA can evaluate a
need of the customer by going through that survey and segmenting them on the basis of that
evaluation.
Targeting: Targeting is the process of choosing the segment which can be served by the
company in the best way. ASDA need to choose the segment in which ASDA will be easily able
to satisfy the need and requirement of the customer, as satisfying the need of all the segment in
one product will create a scene of uncertainty among the organisation which can affect the

business, so ASDA need to choose the best segment which ASDA can satisfy. ASDA can choose
the best segment by looking the need of that group and the power of company to satisfy that need
as if after choosing the group company is not able to satisfy the need of the people can result in
heavy loss for the business. Before selecting the segment company also need to look at the size
of the segment, competitor serving that segment before and also need to look the scope for the
changes which company is looking to take (Igliński and et.al., 2016).
Positioning: It is the last process of the cycle in which company creates the image of the product
in the eyes of the targeted market. After selecting the segment ASDA need to make a position of
their product into the eye of the targetted customer through different advertisement and
promotional tool to promote the product. These will help the business to create a good
impression of company product in the eye of the customer and will result in bringing more
customer toward the company product (Aithal., 2017).
As mentioned above the procedure of the STP shows that by the use of it ASDA will able to
understand the need and requirement of the customer more efficiently in the new market and will
also helps the ASDA in understanding the competitor product more easily which eventually will
help the ASDA in defending the competition in the market, these are the two big problem which
was faced by the ASDA in past but after applying STP ASDA can overcome that.
CONCLUSION
After going through the report, it hasbeen summarised that ASDA being the supermarket giant
still has a hold on the customer base of UK. PESTLE Analysis highlighted that despite engaging
in various controversies over the long period of its existence, ASDA has still maintained its
brand value in the mind of customers. Also, despite its merger with the WALMART in 1999, the
company has retained the British Board over the past years.
Further, the Marketing Mix of the company resulted in showing that ASDA has been slow in
adapting to the drastically changing trends of the industry. 7P analysis described various aspects
related to the industry and ASDA's position in the industry. Being the second largest supermarket
chain in UK, the company has successfully managed its operational and other production
activities and STP analysis (Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning) showed that company
should adapt itself more quickly to the changes in the environment.