Marketing Essentials Report: ASDA Marketing Analysis, Unit 2

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of marketing essentials, using ASDA as a case study. It begins by defining marketing and its importance, then delves into the key roles and responsibilities of a marketing function, including strategy development, pricing, market research, and product pr...Read More

Marketing Essentials
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INTRODUCTION
Marketing is a function used for the managing and promoting products and services of
the company. This is an essential function used for effectively providing the services and
products to the customers. Moreover, any company must know what are the ways of promoting
products and services within market. It is function of marketing to manage the activities of the
business and provide information about the product to the customer (Rancati, Gordini, and
Capatina, 2016). The company chosen in the following report is ASDA. This is a retail chain
that works across the world. It is important for this company to manage and handle various
operations related to the promotions of products and services. ASDA is a supermarket retailer of
British which is having headquarters in Leeds.
TASK 1
P1 Explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function
The marketing of any [product or service is related to the promotion and advertising of
the company so that products and services of the company are effectively available within
marketplace. The marketing managers of all organisations need to work effectively. The
marketing department of ASDA has different roles and responsibilities that have to [performed
in appropriate manner. These are achieved in proper manner for attaining the organisational
goals. A marketing department has different roles as well as responsibilities that are helpful in
achieving sales and profits of the company. Some of the major roles and responsibilities are
mentioned below -
Making an effective marketing strategy - ASDA has to work for developing effective
and strong market strategies within the business operations for managing the work. It is ensured
by the company that plans and strategies are created so that lot of customers are attracted towards
the services offered by the company (Rowley, 2016). There are various kind of strategies like
entering into the new sector, opening an effective channel of distribution and reaching a wider
geographical market area which have to be handles by ASDA marketing department.
Fixing price of product – It is important for the company to fix price of the products and
services. This is helpful in managing the work properly and attaining the goals of company in
specified time frame. It is ensured by ASDA that it is providing products to customers at
affordable prices. These prices must be less than it’s competitors.
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Market research – This is an important responsibility of ASDA marketing department. It
is taken care that all the work related to the marketing of products is done effectively. A market
research is done for analysing the needs and wants of customers. This is helpful for this
supermarket chain to know what kind of discounts and offers it requires from the company.
Promoting and advertising products – it is essential for the company to promote the
products and services offered effectively so that it is easy to make profits. It is essential for the
ASDA marketing managers to promote the services of the organisation in effective manner. It is
essential for the ASDA marketing team to analyse the needs and demands of customers. By
evaluating this, it is seen that several discounts and offers are provided to the customers.
Current and future trends in marketing
Better video content… - Content is very important in marketing and as web has changed
everything. It is concluded that marketing is done effectively for managing the sales of company
(Scarborough, 2016). Social media is used by ASDA for promotions and advertisements.
Moreover, social media is used by various customers and thus, it is easy to grab attention of
these by promoting products and services online .
More social media marketing – Companies have to change the way in which marketing is
done. ASDA must focus upon the new era of marketing i.e. social media. It is essential for the
company that it is able to manage the promotions and advertising of company for reaching the
potential customers.
Embrace the IoT – This is associated with internet of things. There are various things by
the help of which companies can promote their services and products. Some of the ways by
which marketing can be done using Iot are using social media sites, websites, etc.
Marketing trends in B2B and B2C marketing
B2B marketing trends B2Cmarketing trends
 Content Marketing Is Vital for Lead
Generation
 Account Based Marketing is Turning
the Marketing Funnel on its Head
 Programmatic Advertising is Gaining
Popularity
 SEO Must Be Kept Up to Date
 Consolidating excessively large
MarTech stacks
 Fewer cheap, theme-based websites
 Focus on meaningful data, not vanity
metrics
 Less marketing for the sake of “good
marketing”
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 Smarter, more targeted PPC advertising
 Blurred lines between marketing and
sales
P2 Explain how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational context
There are various responsibilities as well as roles that marketing department has to analyse
for managing the business activities. (Duffett, 2017). An organisation has aim for increasing
the sales of company for sustaining in market for longer period. The marketing department is
related with different departments for achieving the target of maximising sales of the company.
The interrelationship of marketing department with other departments is listed below –
Marketing and sales Department: ASDA is having marketing management team that is
involved in collecting information and data which is provided to the sales team. The sales
department enhanced focuses on enhancing profits earned by the company (Smith, 2014). The
marketing researches and analysis of customers is informed to the sales department. They work
upon it for improving the profits of the company.
Marketing & Finance Department: For a company like ASDA there is interrelation
among the finance and marketing department. This means that proper budget is planned by the
finance department for managing the working of marketing team. Finance department of ASDA
develops budget and financial planning for completing the projects in given tome with the given
amount of money .
Marketing and Human Resource Department: There are various responsibilities of the
company for HR and marketing department. The human resource department of company works
for managing the recruitment and selection of employees. On the other hand, marketing
department has the responsibility of managing the promotions of products. The marketing
department needs to hire talented employees and the HR department helps marketing department
for doing this. In ASDA, the coordination among HR department and marketing department is
helpful for managing the working of company by hiring talented and skilled employees.
M1 Analyse the roles and responsibilities of marketing in the context of the marketing
environment.
The marketing department of ASDA focuses on providing customers products and services
that will be helpful for them to increase the sales of company. There are various roles and
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responsibilities of ASDA marketing department. The different department works collaboratively
for reaching the goals and targets of the company.
Marketing mix of ASDA and Tesco
Marketing mix is known as the marketing tool used for accomplishing the goals and objectives
of the company (Hair and et. al., 2015). The different components included in the marketing mix
are Product, price, place, promotion, people, process and physical evidence. Marketing mix is
helpful in managing the decisions made for launching a new product or service. This is a
marketing tool used by companies while analysing the product management and launch of new
product within company (Westwood, 2013). Marketing mix of ASDA is mentioned in the
following table -
Basis ASDA
Product This supermarket provides a wide range of products including grocery, fresh food,
home products, entertainment goods, etc. It is easy for the customers to buy such
products in the same store. Also, this company provides financial services like
credit card, travel insurance, etc.
Price This supermarket chain follows low grade agenda. The main objective is to lower
the price of products and sell it at lesser price than other competitors.
Place ASDA has two main channels of distribution that includes offline and online. This
organisation has approximately 530 stores within UK. The online platform of this
company is www.asda.com. This company has different formats that includes
supermarket, superstore, Petrol filing stations, Asda living, etc.
Promotion There are different ways by which ASDA promotes the products and services it is
offering. These are television, media, newspapers, etc. These are the different
sources of media used by ASDA to reach it’s customers. ASDA is using different
techniques of sales promotion. These consists of reducing the price, buy one get
one free, special discounts, etc. ASDA also uses sponsorships for managing the
promotion of company. This company also has partnership with various sports
leagues. It provided funds for Brirtish athletes in the year 2008.
People The total number of employees working in ASDA are 160,000. This organisation
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provides both off the job and on the job training for enhancing skills of
employees. ASDA has to pay extra amount for the employees who work after
office hours. This company provides high wage and unpaid breaks are provided so
that employees can relax and fresh up their minds.
Process Process is defined as the set of activities which are done for attaining the goals of
organisation. Suppliers provide products to ASDA. These products and items are
kept in shelves for buying and picking up the products. ASDA stores are opened
early and closed late. There are some stores of this company that works 24 hours.
Physical
Evidence
Physical evidence is one of the most essential element of ASDA. This is defined
as the factor of physical environment that helps customers and visitors. ASDA has
attractive physical stores, brochures and logo. This company has website that is
fantastic and it is easy to use.
M2 Analyse the significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional units
of an organisation.
The interrelation among the departments is necessary as it is helpful for managing the
functioning of marketing effectively. When marketing department knows about budget given by
finance team, then it will be easy to develop campaigns and shows for promoting products. Also,
if human resource department is in sync with marketing department, it is easy for managing the
proper hiring of talented and skilled marketers needed by the company.
D1 Critically analyse and evaluate the key elements of the marketing function and how they
interrelate with other functional units of an organization
There are different factors of the marketing function like promoting, increasing sales of the
company, enhancing customer satisfaction, managing pricing strategies, etc. These are
developed effectively for helping the functioning of marketing in proper manner. The
interrelation among the marketing department and other department is helpful for managing the
functioning of company effectively.
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CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above discussion that marketing is one of the essential
department that is involved in the managing of activities related with the promotions and
advertising of products. Any organisation must ensure that marketing department of that
company is working effectively as it directly impacts sales and profits of the organisation.
Moreover, it is taken care by the company that roles and responsibilities of marketing managers
are managed properly. They are developing effective strategies and plans for reaching the
potential customers. There are different departments within organisations which are connected
with marketing department for managing the activities and tasks of organization.
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REFERENCES
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