Analysis of Marketing Concepts and Strategies in Modern Business

The paper explores various foundational marketing concepts that are pivotal to modern business practices. It delves into the origins and implications of the 4 Ps—product, price, promotion, and place—as introduced by Neil Borden in 1953, examining how these elements contribute to a firm's overall strategy and consumer engagement. The discussion extends to integrated marketing communication (IMC), highlighting its role in unifying diverse promotional tools to deliver consistent messaging that enhances brand perception. Furthermore, the essay addresses strategic planning processes, emphasizing their importance in aligning business objectives with market opportunities for improved performance outcomes. Various studies and literature are referenced to support these analyses, demonstrating how these concepts interplay within the competitive landscape of today's marketplace.

Marketing Essential

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Roles and responsibilities of marketing function.............................................................1
P2. Roles and responsibilities of marketing in relation to wider organisational context.......3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P3. Comparison of marketing mix used by enterprises..........................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P4. Marketing plan for Aldi....................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is a process of inviting a large number of customers by using a mix of
communication tools. It is the only process through which enterprises send information or aware
customers about the products and services they have to offer to a targeted consumers (Dibb and
Simkin, 2013). It is used by organisations to create the demand for products in market and
satisfying the same. Aldi is one of the biggest brands having discount stores in more than 18
countries. Company generates very high profits every year and have more than 10,000 stores
across the world. Present report involves detailed information about the roles and responsibilities
of marketing function. Along with that, relation of roles and responsibilities of marketing with
other functions of organisation is detailed. Further, basic marketing plan for Aldi is being
provided here.
TASK 1
P1. Roles and responsibilities of marketing function
Marketing is one of the important departments of every enterprise because it undertakes
various activities to promote the products and services of company. It is the responsibility of
marketing function to create need of company's products among large number of audiences. For
this, various promotional tools can be used by the manager of marketing function.. Manager of
marketing manager need to give attention on this that all activities communicating customers
should be done in an effective manner.. Main roles and responsibilities of this function are
understood by the following points: Product: Product is the offering of company to its customers and so, it is very important
that it should be well featured and able to satisfy the needs of consumers.. To make
innovative products and satisfy the needs of different customers, marketing department
undertakes research activities (Wirtz, 2012). It is one of the main roles of this function to
collect relevant and necessary information about needs of consumers and make well
featured products. Price: Price plays an essential role in the success of organisation and in generating profits
for it. In today's competitive business world, substitutes of all products are available in
cheap prices. In this situation, it becomes difficult for Aldi to set a price to attract large
number of customers and at the same time, to generate higher profits. Doing research and
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setting the right price for product is another role of marketing function. This can be done
by Aldi's marketing manager for setting the right price for their offerings. Selling: It is a process of giving or to hand over the final product to customers in
exchange of some consideration (Pike, 2015). Marketing department of enterprise put
efforts to make this process more convenient. It is necessary for Aldi to make its products
available to its final consumers. Promotion: This includes all activities of spreading information about company's
products and influence or attract customers to buy it. Marketing department of Aldi can
do same for increasing the sale of its offerings. If effectively done then this activity can
attract a large number of customers. It is the responsibility of marketing manager to
execute these activities so that maximum revenues can be generated. Management information system: Marketing department of every enterprise undertakes
research about various activities and collects ample of data. This information helps the
enterprise in making effective decisions. Same can be done by Aldi as marketing
department of firm can collect useful information and then manager can make plans for
the future. Financing: It is another important role of marketing department in Aldi. It provides
funds for the execution of various activities. It helps in optimum utilisation of all
resources. Absence of proper funds stops the organisational activities and give birth to
delays in delivering the products to final consumers.
 Distribution: It is the responsibility of marketing manager to choose an effective
promotional tool which is cost effective and helps the enterprise in achieving its
objectives (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2011). Minimum time should be taken by the
distribution channel to make it available to end customers. Managers of Aldi can choose
a channel after analysing the distribution strategies use by its competitors.
Marketing department of Aldi should have detailed information about all these roles and
responsibilities. This will help the managers in planning and deciding their activities in an
effective way. Effectiveness of marketing activities decide the success and failure of firm's
products so that all these activities would be executed in a proper way. Managers can use MIS
for this because it provides useful information to firm about the current marketing trends and
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helps in deciding company's efforts. By increasing effectiveness of activities, Aldi can attract a
large number of consumers.
P2. Roles and responsibilities of marketing in relation to wider organisational context
Marketing is not mere a selling of products but it is a much broader concept than that. It
includes all activities from understanding the needs of consumers to deliver them the same.
Understanding of this fact can help managers of Aldi in achieving its goals and objectives easily
(Berkowitz, 2016). Activities of marketing function affects all activities of an enterprise .
Relation of this function with other important functions of organisation can be understood by the
following points: Marketing with operations department: It is the responsibility of marketing manager to
do work in coordination with operations department in order to undertake or plan
research activities about changing needs of consumers (Functions of marketing, 2017). It
will help the enterprise in making and delivering quality products to its customers and
organisation will be able to satisfy or fulfil the demands of individuals. Marketing
department can explore the activities of operations department. Marketers try to get
competitive advantage by delivering products within right time and it is the operation
department that makes or tests the quality of products. This is the reason why activities of
marketing and operations department are related with each other. Finance and marketing department: Finance is one of the important departments of
every organisation because it provides finance to all activities of business. This division
has the responsibility to provide adequate funds to marketing department for undertaking
various activities like research, distribution and promotion of products, etc. Finance
department makes budgets for various activities of enterprise (Malhotra, Birks and Wills,
2013). So, there should be co-ordination among marketing and finance department of
Aldi so that marketing manager of firm can perform all activities within the set budget
and finance department can provide required funds to the marketing manager. Marketing and human resource department: Like other functions, it is essential for
marketing department to cooperate with the activities of human resource function. It
makes the firm able to meet set production targets, develop new products and services as
well as create a skilled taskforce. HR manager in Aldi needs to change their requirements
of recruitment and selection so that marketing objectives of firm can be achieved.
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 Marketing and research and development department: Marketing in every enterprise
provides guidance or input to research and development department of firm (Brassington
and Pettitt, 2013). It helps R&D department in understanding about the kinds of products
that are mostly liked by customers along with the main features which consumers want in
the product they buy. Sales and marketing department: Marketing department undertakes various activities of
firm to increase the sale of its products. Activities of this division increases the efficiency
of sales department of firm.
 IT and marketing department: Manager of marketing department uses technology in
order to plan the activities. Marketers collect, analyse, store and use information for
making the decisions. Technology is used by managers in order to do the online
marketing of firm's products. Marketing manager of Aldi can use advanced and latest
technology to increase the sales of product.
Marketing is a broad function that covers a large number of activities. All these activities
relate or affect other important functions of the enterprise. It is the responsibility of marketing
manager to cooperate with all other activities of business firm. This will help the marketing
manager in completing all activities with efficiency which will increase organisational
effectiveness. Marketing is a complex concept and it is very important for a firm to have
relevant information about what is going on other department of enterprise (Jones and Rowley,
2011). This information helps the manager in planning its marketing activities according to
human resource capabilities that organisation has according to the budget set by finance
department and as per the schedule of operations department. This function helps in increasing
the sales of organisation’s product or provides support facilities to research and development
department of enterprise. Understanding of all these facts can increase the effectiveness in
functioning of Aldi.
TASK 2
P3. Comparison of marketing mix used by enterprises
Marketing mix basically contains four elements including product, price, place and
promotion. It includes other three elements also which are people, process and physical evidence
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(Marketing Mix, 2017). Comparison of marking mix of Aldi and LIDL can be understood by the
following:
Basis Aldi LIDL
Product Aldi provides quality products at low or
affordable prices. They purchase raw
material from selected suppliers and
focus on minimising the cost of product
(Papasolomou and Melanthiou, 2012). It
is one of the main qualities of Aldi stores
that they always provide discounted
products to their customers. Firm keeps
fresh stock of fruits and vegetables,
electronic items, beauty products and of
household products.
Lidl is one of the strong brands and
provide products under various brand
names. It deliver products through
various supermarkets. Sometimes,
consumers perceive negative about the
quality of Lidl products because of their
cheap prices.
Price Offering quality products or services at
cheap prices is one of the biggest
strengths of Aldi’s products. Company
uses unit pricing strategy for its groceries
products. In competitive work
environment, firm reduces prices of its
offering in order to attract a large
number of customers. Firm charges low
prices for the new product and so,
commodity can be accepted by the
people. Company keeps the price of its
non-food items low to bring a large
number of customers in the store.
Main competitive advantage of Lidl is
pricing strategy used by the
organisation. Firm entered in the market
as a value driven and offer products at
cheap prices.
Place At present, company is offering its
services in more than 18 countries
through 8000 stores. Layout of Aldi's
Company has numerous stores in Europe
and United Kingdom (Brooks and
Simkin, 2012). Various distribution
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stores is very simple and has minimum
cost. Firm purchases the products in bulk
quantity and store in a warehouse which
decreases cost of overall products along
with maintaining the quality. Firm uses
an environmental friendly technique
which ensures minimum wastage of
products. It provides a provision to
customers which is online shopping that
helps them in checking the products and
its features online.
channels are used by the firm to
distribute final products in supermarkets
from which customers can easily make
their purchase. Firms continuously
check to maintain the stock level at their
stores.
Promotion Aldi uses a cost effective promotion
strategy. It continuously communicates
with customers through newspapers or
direct mail (Gamble and et. al., 2011).
Company uses print, electronic or
display media to give information to
customers about company's offerings and
its new products.
Lidl believes that pricing strategies are
enough to attract target customers and
this is the reason why company does not
use customer’s loyalty schemes like
Aldi. Lidl includes and give more focus
on store’s promotion and fails to provide
discount on their products.
People Aldi fails to provide customer services
on large basis than its competitors. Staff
of Aldi fails to give recommendations to
their customers. Because of its store’s
layout, there is no need of large number
of employees at every floor. Firm
provides training to its workers and pay
more than its competitors.
Staff members of Lidl get attractive
compensation but they have to perform
complex work on the job. Training
standards are set by the managers and
skills of workers are enhanced to better
serve final customers.
Process Aldi makes layout of its stores easy
which helps customers in finding the
products very easily. This reduces the
Lidl uses a simple process to purchase
goods at low price. Involvement of
customers is very low in the whole
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number of staff members needed to
guide consumers. Aldi maintains
selected products of high quality in order
to prevent customers from being
confused at the time of purchasing.
process.
Physical
Evidence
Aldi is known as the firm using global
pricing strategy for their products. It sells
out 80% of own products and other are
branded products. Firm keeps price of its
products low.
Lidl uses a traditional manner in their
stores which help consumers in finding
their products easily. Firm uses various
colours which help consumers in finding
Lidl stores nearby to them.
Effective use of marketing mix helps the firm in better positioning of its products in the
minds of customers. Aldi can better use all the elements of marketing mix in order to attract a
large number of individuals (Mihart, 2012). By doing research and through identifying the needs
and wants of customers, firm can add special features to its products. Right price can be set by
company to attract people at large level and to generate higher profits. Discounted price is one of
the biggest strengths of this company which attracts a lot individuals towards its product every
year. At present, entity uses various cost effective distribution channels to distribute products in
the supermarkets and increase the convenience for target audience. Various communication
channels are used by Aldi to attract consumers or to give them information about the firm's
offerings. Special training is given to workers and so, their skills can be enhanced as well as
purchase experience of customers can be made more effective. Store layout of firm is simple and
easy which helps customers in finding out their products easily. Right now, firm is dealing in
branded products and offer its own offerings.to the consumers.
TASK 3
P4. Marketing plan for Aldi
Marketing plan is a blueprint or written document that contains all marketing efforts of a
company in the coming year. It involves description of current market position of firm,
marketing mix use by firm to achieve business goals and other important information included in
this. . Managers of Aldi can make an effective marketing plan to achieve its set objectives or
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targets (Desai, 2013). But before starting or making a business or marketing plan, it is necessary
for the firm to have a detailed description on understanding about its goals, objectives, current
position of firm and many more.
Vision of Aldi
Vision of firm is to provide top quality services within minimum price guaranteed.
Mission of Aldi
Mission of Aldi is to provide or deliver quality services to its customers at low prices.
After understanding the mission and vision of company, it becomes beneficial to have a
SWOT (Strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis (Nguyen and Simkin, 2012). It
will help the firm in knowing its strengths and weaknesses and by this, company can explore
opportunities existing in order to minimise the effect of threat.
SWOT analysis
Strengths
One of the main strengths of Aldi is that its discounted stores provide products or deliver
services to its customers at a lower price. It delivers high quality services to variety of
consumers. Company currently has more than 2500 stores in Germany and at an international
level, it is having 8000 stores. Enterprise operates in more than 15 countries and has a strong
management in all stores. Customer loyalty is one of the biggest strengths of this company.
Other than this, firm is able to achieve the economy of scale.
Weaknesses
Company has less number of store chains and this is the reason why firm failed to get the
presence globally. Sometimes, firm regarded as delivering low quality products. This
organisation is still small as compared to other big brands as well as it is delivering low quality
services and does not have effective online presence (Hsu, 2011). Brand image of company is
very weak and customer service or cost structure of firm is not that much impressing as well.
Opportunities
Markets of Africa and Asia serves as one of the biggest opportunities for Aldi. Company
can create very high revenues by capturing these markets. In order to attract a large number of
consumers, firm can invest more in advertising (Baker and et. al., 2016). Aldi can go for online
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marketing and use new technology or service to serve the customers. Firm can capture the
markets at international level and also, it can make new products or services.
Threats
Aldi fails to provide complete shopping experience to big shoppers. Competition is one
of the biggest threats for every enterprise; same as in the case of Aldi. LIDL is one of the biggest
competitors of Aldi. Fast changes in tastes and preferences of customers, substitutes of goods as
well as various rules and regulations of government; all serve as the main threats of this firm.
After evaluating or understanding about the strengths, weakness, opportunities and
threats of company,
Objectives
Main marketing objective of Aldi is to capture high market share. For this, firm makes or
delivers high quality services to its customers. Company tries to focus on customer loyalty and
focus on keeping existing customers.
After identifying the objectives, marketing manager can use STP (segmentation, targeting
and positioning) approach to identify its target consumers.
Segmentation
It is the process of making a homogeneous market form large heterogeneous market. Aldi
focus on people who look to purchase grocery products at lower price with having high quality.
Targeting
Aldi basically focus on people who wants to buy households products.
Positioning
Aldi now has a strong position in Germany and trying to get its presence at international
level.
Marketing Mix
After the STP approach, manager can focus on main elements of marketing mix. It
includes product, price, place and promotion (Rowley, 2016). It is a responsibility of manager to
decide the way in which these elements will be used by enterprise to attain marketing objectives.
Product
Good is the tangible products having features to satisfy the needs and wants of
customers. Aldi offer variety of grocery products to its customers. Sale of company's product can
be increased by adding more features in it.
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Price
Price is the monetary consideration which a firm charges in exchange of product. Setting
right price for the product is essential. Aldi provides products to its customers on low cost as
well as it always provides some discount on same.
Place
Aldi offers products to its customers through various stores at different places (Kennedy
and Parsons, 2014). It is the responsibility of marketing manager to available products at places
near the customers.
Promotion
It is the process of using various communication channels to keep customers aware and
influence them about company's product. Aldi can use various tools or a mix of tools to
communicate with a large number of customers.
Marketing strategy
For the attainment of marketing objectives and goals, Aldi can use relationship
marketing. This type of marketing is used by the firm to make better relations with customers to
get their loyalty. Under this, firm performs or plans activities by considering customer’s needs.
Implementation
After deciding all activities, the firm can implement its plan for attaining its marketing
objectives. Implementation of all activities should be done in an effective manner so that firm
can achieve its set objectives or targets. For effective implementation,manger of Aldi needs
proper funds and other support services. . Effective implementation helps the firm in getting
effective results.
Evaluation
Evaluation is the last step which involves evaluating the effectiveness of whole marketing
plan. It helps the manager in knowing whether executed activities help enterprise or not in
attainment of its targets.
In the evaluation phase, weakness of firm should be given with consideration and
manager must evaluate that current marketing plan helps the firm in reducing effect of its
weakness and properly utilise its strengths to make higher profits (Ogunmokun and Tang, 2012).
Marketing plan should be flexible enough so that necessary changes can be done by firm as
changes take place in the business environment. One of the main advantages of doing evaluation
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