Unit 2 Marketing Essentials: Comparison, Plan, and Strategies

This report delves into the core concepts of marketing, providing a comparative analysis of the marketing strategies employed by two prominent companies: Zara and Tesco. The report begins with an introduction to marketing and the significance of effective promotional strategies. It explores the roles and responsibilities of marketing functions within an organization and their interrelation with other departments. A key aspect of the report involves a detailed comparison of the marketing mix (7 Ps) of Zara and Tesco, highlighting their approaches to product, price, place, and promotion. Furthermore, the report culminates in the development of a strategic marketing plan specifically for Zara, outlining executive summaries, vision and mission statements, PEST and SWOT analyses, segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP) strategies, and the application of the marketing mix. The plan also includes budget considerations and monitoring techniques using KPIs to measure the effectiveness of the marketing efforts. The report aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of marketing principles and their practical application in real-world business scenarios.

UNIT 2 – MARKETING
ESSENTIALS
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1...........................................................................................................................................3
Covered in PPT............................................................................................................................3
PART 2............................................................................................................................................3
Task 1a) Comparison of marketing mix of 2 organisations........................................................3
Task 2 b) Strategic marketing plan..............................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
Marketing and promoting of products and services generate awareness among people. It
enables in attracting them to buy products. There are different ways and methods organisation
use to advertise. Basically, marketing strategies are developed according to market trends and
needs of customers (Adler, 2020). Without effective marketing it is difficult for business to
generate profits and sales. However, 7 P’s of marketing mix is also applied which provide a
framework to develop a plan. Marketing functions helps in effective promotion and maintaining
customer relationship.
The assignment will describe roles and responsibilities of marketing function. It will also be
discussed that how the roles are related with organisation in wide context. Moreover, two
organisation comparison will be done with help of marketing mix. At last a marketing plan is
developed.
PART 1
Covered in PPT
PART 2
Task 1a) Comparison of marketing mix of 2 organisations
Marketing mix is a framework and tactics that is used by businesses to promote their
products and services. It allows them to attain goals and objectives related to marketing. Usually,
there are four basic P’s such as product, price, place and promotion. Here, two companies
marketing mix is been described. This is as follows :-
Basis ZARA Tesco
Product Here, product refers to an item
that is been offered to people.
It is either tangible or
intangible. The company
basically deals in high quality
clothing, home and food
products.
Here Tesco provide various
products such as furniture,
software, books, electronics,
etc. it is having a variety of
products and services as well
such as banking, telecom, etc.
Place The place is location or region
where products are available
and distributed in the market.
Tesco products are available
in super and hyper market
which are located in major
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It must be easily accessible to
people so that they are able to
buy it. ZARA products are
available in their stores which
is located all around the world.
also, company offers it online
as well on their website
(Miller Jr, 2020).
cities. However, services are
offered through online website
as well.
Price Here, it refers to setting price
of product to be offered to
customers. ZARA follow
competitive pricing strategy to
target high class customers. It
is because their product are
kept in premium category.
This is an important element
in marketing mix because it
determines the price of
product at which it has to be
sold in market. Tesco follow
economic pricing strategy as it
is known as low cost provider.
Promotion It is another component of
marketing mix where products
are promoted in the market.
here, promotion is done via
sales promotion and
advertising.
Tesco do promotion through
different methods. They use
social media, TV, newspaper,
etc. for promotion.
Furthermore, company
focuses on advertising as
promotional strategy
(Salmana, and Jawadb, 2020).
People People are the employee or
managers that belongs to
company and offer services.
ZARA follow competitive
payment policy to retain them.
they provide several benefits
as well like share buy,
insurance, etc.
Tesco staff is highly
diversified in nature. The
company motivate them to
improve performance by
giving rewards.
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Physical evidence It refers to physical existence
of company or how well
products are perceived in
market. ZARA stores are
highly designed as each
section is divided into various
categories. So, the stores act
as physical evidence
(Sawaftah, Calıcıoglu and
Awadallah, 2020).
There are many physical
evidences of organisation such
as stores, logo, label and
equipment which are proof for
customers.
Process The company follow a
systematic process of offering
goods to people. customers
pay on counter and get
rewards as well which can be
claimed later. ZARA do not
provide after sales services to
their customers.
Tesco process include
providing after sales services
as well to customers.
Overview of marketing process
Analysis- It is the first stage where ZARA analyse market and identify customer needs. this is
done by analysing the current market environment and opportunities where they can expand. the
data and info of particular market is searched to gathered.
Strategic planning – It is second stage where ZARA do strategic planning for selected target
market. the plan is developed that what objectives are to be achieved.
Marketing mix – In this marketing mix is applied which consists of 4 P’s in order to develop a
marketing mix strategy. this enables in specifying each P of target market to achieve M&S goals.
besides, the plan is implemented in market.
Control – in this plan is controlled and monitored through various techniques. this enables in
systematic execution of plan and achieving goals.
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Task 2 b) Strategic marketing plan
A marketing plan is referred as blueprint that describes overall marketing objective and
strategies on how to promote products and services to achieve those objectives. It also includes
tactics and KPI’s through which goals are measured. The plan is described below :
Executive summary –
In this a marketing plan of ZARA has been described with some new goals and
objectives developed. Also, external and internal analysis of company has been mentioned in
plan. Moreover, STP is been discussed that will target people on basis of their income and
product is position in stores. Besides that, marketing mix has been explained of strain free
clothes as new product. Budget and monitoring measured has also been described in plan.
Vision – To be standard against which others are measured
Mission – To make inspirational quality accessible to others
Objectives
To produce strain free cloths for children
To provide high quality products to people.
PEST
Political they are related to change in political condition, tariff and trade, foreign policies, etc.
Thus, any change in it directly affect company operations. Brexit will highly impact on ZARA
growth and profitability (Pestle and SWOT of M&S, 2019). It will enforce company to change
their trade laws. (Anderson, Sweeney and Cochran, 2020)
Economic It describe the economic growth of nation. It includes GDP, currency rate, income
levee, inflation, etc. So, any change in these factors affect organisation growth and revenue. As
ZARA generate maximum revenue from UK. So, Brexit will result in impacting on downfall in
UK economic growth. Thus, it will affect in negative way on organisation.
Social they are related to social environment and this factor is also known as socio cultural
factor. It consists of change in taste and preference, culture, ethics, etc. With change in customer
trends and preference regarding fashionable clothes, it will be led to positive impact on ZARA
growth
Technological the factors are related to advancement in technology. In recent times change in
technology has affected company operations. It is playing vital role in retail industry. With high
presence of online stores and e commerce it will allow ZARA to expand in other markets.
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SWOT
Strengths
They are having a strong product offering with latest trends and fashion
A strong brand image developed in terms of CSR.
High focus on improving customer experience and their retention (Berger, Humphreys and
Schweidel, 2020)
Weakness
The company is having a poor financial performance
It is highly dependent on UK market for generation of sales and revenues.
Continuous product recalls due to failure or error has resulted in loss of reputation and goodwill
in the market.
Opportunity
Investing in technology and focusing on e commerce to attract more customers
Entering in developing markets such as India to increase customer base
Threats
Brexit is high threat that can led to loss in revenue and sales within UK
New entrants in retail industry can increase in competition among retail companies
Frequent changes in clothing industry trends and customer needs and preferences.
STP
Segmentation
It refers to segmenting population on basis of certain factors that are demographic, geographic,
psychographic, etc. This makes it easy for company to identify target market. here, ZARA will
segment market on basis of geographic that is country and demographic that is income factors.
(Grewal, Hulland and Karahanna, 2020)
Targeting
It is next step where people are selected on basis of segmentation that is done. thus, here ZARA
will target low class people of UK and other European country.
Positioning
The positioning refers to selecting or identifying place from where product and services are
available to customers. therefore, the company will position products online that is on their
website as well in stores to attract people.
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Marketing mix
Product
Here, product refers to an item that is been offered to people. It is either tangible or intangible.
ZARA will offer product that is strain free clothes to customers in order to fulfil their needs.
Place-
The place is location or region where products are available and distributed in the market. It must
be easily accessible to people so that they are able to buy it. therefore, ZARA will place products
in their stores and well on website. Moreover, intensive distribution strategy will be used.
Price- This is an important element in marketing mix because it determines the price of product
at which it has to be sold in market. There are different pricing strategies available. ZARA will
follow penetration pricing strategy (Kostelijk and Alsem, 2020). It will help in attracting
customers.
Promotion
It is another component of marketing mix where products are promoted in the market. similarly,
there are various methods and ways available through which promotion is done such as public
relation, online, TV, etc. thus, ZARA will promote products by advertising it in newspapers, TV,
etc.
Physical evidence- it refers to physical existence of company or how well products are
perceived in market. Thus, ZARA will provide physical evidence is their stores and through their
concepts of strain free clothes.
People – the people are employees or staff of organisation that provide product or offer service.
They are proof that company exists in real world. hence, ZARA staff is directly related to
company. For this they will be trained and hired.
Process – It shows the system or process which state product or service of company. here,
organisation process is distribution system.
Budget
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Monitoring
For monitoring of plan, ZARA will use certain KPI’s. The outcomes of plan will be
measured with set goals and objectives. here, KPI’s used will be monthly sales, number of
customers purchased strain free cloth items, etc. the techniques used in this will be
Sales analysis- it enables in examining sales of products and services that how much sales are
been done. through that, effectiveness of sales is measured.
market share analysis – it helps in analysing that how well business is doing as compared to
competitors. here, market share is identified of firm in market.
CONCLUSION
It can be summarised that there are different roles and responsibilities of marketing function.
They are gathering data and info, market research, packaging and designing, etc. However, the
marketing department is interrelated with other functional areas such as production, finance, HR,
etc. The 7 P’s of marketing that is price, products, place, promotion, etc. of Tesco and ZARA is
done which shows that both organisation P’s varies to some extent. Also, marketing plan of
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ZARA has developed in which there are many elements included in it. Moreover, the objective is
to increase 15% sales within 3 months. For this there are certain strategies and tactics applied.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Adler, R.M., 2020. Competitive Marketing Strategy. In Bending the Law of Unintended
Consequences (pp. 153-171). Springer, Cham.
Anderson, D.R., Sweeney, D.J. and Cochran, J.J., 2020. Essentials of modern business statistics
with Microsoft Excel. Cengage Learning.
Asekome, E., 2020. Effectiveness of Marketing Mix Strategies on Customer Satisfaction,
Loyalty and Retention in Banking: Case Study of Zenith Bank Plc, Nigeria. Archives of
Business Research, 8(1), pp.51-64.
Berger, J., Humphreys, A. and Schweidel, D.A., 2020. Uniting the tribes: Using text for
marketing insight. Journal of Marketing, 84(1), pp.1-25.
Grewal, D., Hulland, J. and Karahanna, E., 2020. The future of technology and marketing: a
multidisciplinary perspective.
Kostelijk, E. and Alsem, K.J., 2020. Brand Positioning: Connecting Marketing Strategy and
Communications. Routledge.
Miller Jr, L.M., 2020. Developing an Integrative Marketing Theory. Review of Integrative
Business and Economics Research, 9(1), pp.165-180.
Mwebesa, C. and Maringe, F., 2020. 3 An integrative model for marketing higher education in
Africa. Strategic Marketing of Higher Education in Africa.
Salmana, A.D. and Jawadb, F.N., The Impact of the Mix of Marketing Communications on
Enhancing Competitive Priorities: Exploratory Research for the General Company of Iraqi
Airways.
Sawaftah, D., Calıcıoglu, C. and Awadallah, R., 2020. The relationship between viral marketing
and consumer purchase intention, the moderator role of brand image and age: Evidence
from smartphone users in North Cyprus. Management Science Letters, 10(6), pp.1307-
1320.
Online
Marketing functions, 2017. [online] Available through :
<https://www.businessmanagementideas.com/marketing/marketing-functions-12-essential-
functions-of-marketing-discussed/2288>
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