Marketing Essentials Report: Functions, Mix, and Planning Strategies

This report delves into the core concepts of marketing, examining the key roles and responsibilities of marketing functions within an organization. It specifically analyzes how these functions apply to H&M, a prominent fashion retailer. The report further explores the application of the marketing mix (Product, Price, Promotion, Place, People, Process, and Physical Evidence) by comparing H&M and Zara, highlighting how each company leverages these elements in its planning process to achieve business objectives. The analysis covers how these strategies affect market share, revenue growth, and overall company profitability. The report also examines the interrelationship between the marketing department and other functional units within an organization, such as human resources, purchasing, sales, and production. Furthermore, it considers the impact of internal and external factors, such as market segmentation and strategic planning, on marketing activities. By comparing the marketing strategies of H&M and Zara, the report provides practical insights into how different organizations approach marketing to achieve their business goals.

MARKETING
ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
P1 Key roles and responsibilities of marketing functions...........................................................1
P2 Roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to H&M........................................................2
P3 Comparison the ways of applying marketing mix to planning process by different
organisations to achieve business objectives..............................................................................4
P4 A basic marketing plan for an organisation..........................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
........................................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is like a bridge between the product of a company and customer who buys it.
It plays an important role in an organisation. It helps in promoting- the brands of company's
products and mission. Essentials of marketing include services and goods that are in current
trend which consider desires of customers and competitors. The marketing concept is used by
companies to influence their customers. it includes the production concept which states that
quality and cheap products are mostly preferred by consumers. Hennes & Mauritz Company of
the UK uses so many strategies for marketing its product (Askeland and Wright, 2013). H&M is
a fashion retailer company of UK, which was found in the year 1947 having 550 outlets and
4500 stores across the world. Thus, it needs to adopt an idea of marketing to make rational
decisions to beat its competitor. The report presenting here is going to mention those areas which
are associated with the marketing function. It also highlights the role and responsibilities of
marketing as well as the way it relates with other functional units of organisation. It also
describes the marketing mix use in business operations to achieve their objectives by comparison
of two retailer companies.
P1 Key roles and responsibilities of marketing functions
Marketing development of any organisations helps to expand the business globally and
take all responsibilities in increasing the market share, growing revenue and enhancing the
company growth and profitability (Key roles and responsibilities of marketing functions, 2017).
The role of marketing department includes: Defining and managing the brand: Brand management is a function of marketing which
is based on the purpose of establishing strategy as well as enables the price of product to
grow and build loyalty of product in customers. H&M company has known for its wide
range of product at market, so to maintain the brand relationship, it offers its product at
cheap price with acceptable quality (Baker and Magnini, 2016).
 Exchange of goods: H&M should utilize the best material to develop its products. It
required to know about the preference of people what they want, so as per their
requirement H&M should provide its products on time.
The responsibilities taken by marketing department are described as below:
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 Strategies: The first step used by marketing team of any company is to develop the
strategies that defines the consumer how to reach them. Market Research: H&M is a retailer company of fashion wearing products, so it need to
modify its products according to the taste and preferences of the customers. H&M should
conducts a research timely to identify the change in market trend (Cavusgil and et. al.,
2014). This research can be conducted through various marketing tools available in
market like social sites, surveys and many more. Product Development: It means to modify the existing products so that they look new,
fresh and trendy. Today as the technologies are growing fast, so the trend in market are
also changing rapidly and vice-versa. Customer's taste changes day by day, they always
look to buy new and trendy products. Customers always look to unique and fresh pattern
of products like clothes and accessories. So H&M needs to modify its product timely to
sales its products in the market (Daniel, 2011). Communications: After planning method of campaigning, marketing departments
develop communication material to advertise and promote products and services of a
company to its customers. Based on the budget, they use social sites by creating
promotional contents on company websites.
 Events: The marketing department of H&M Company is responsible for organising
events like exhibitions, seminars, sales conferences etc. of its products by providing
complete information to their customers.
P2 Roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to H&M
Marketing department is essential for every type of companies as it helps them to
improve their sales and productivity. Each organisation has several types of departments which
are working according to the work allotted to them by the company. In context to marketing
department, it is needed to use appropriate strategies to gain attention of numerous people. H&M
company operates its business globally. Thus it is difficult to sell merchandise through opening
its stores in other nations. To come out from these difficulties H&M uses online marketing to
reach to its each customers who are living at distinct places by which they will be able to fulfil
the demands of its customers on specific period of time (Desai, 2013). To acquire further growth
and expand the business in other nations H&M needs to create friendly relationship between
marketing as well as finance unit. If they having sufficient budget for funding then they can run
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their business smoothly. Along with all these, after conducting the factors, H&M can achieve it
goals (Hugos, 2011).
Relationship between marketing and human resource function: Human resource
department of any organisation acts like a backbone who are responsible to take care all the
functions of a company properly. They don't relate directly to the customers of the company but
can impact on entire activities of firm. So cooperation of marketing and human resource
department makes the other activities easy to do.
Relationship between marketing and purchase function: For good production, a
company needs to purchase good and sufficient materials through which they can produce its
products on time. This enables the marketing team to fulfil the demands of customers on time. It
also enhances the companies to gain their revenues as well as market share (Durand and Barlow,
2012).
Relationship between marketing and sales function: Marketing and sales department
are related to each other but both have different type of works to do. Marketing identifies the
area where company needs to sale its products on time while selling is associated only with sales
of products. Marketing helps the sales department by providing data and information where they
can sold their product in a bulk.
Relationship between marketing and production departments: The functions of these
departments are interconnected with each other. If marketing team succeed in promoting the
products of company globally then it needs much more production over there. When production
team maintain the quality of a product then it helps the marketing team to gain their customers'
loyalty.
Therefore, it has observed that the company can retain its customers' loyalty and achieve
its mission if there is an effective relationship among its all functional departments (Hair, 2015).
Apart from this there are some internal and external factors too that influence the operational
activities related to marketing as:
Market segment: The manager of H&M should classifies all market places according to
status and age of people.
Strategies: The strategies used by H&M should be appropriate and effective for its
current and future needs and to achieve its future goals.
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Planning: It is necessary for H&M to make a proper plan before implementing the
marketing strategies.
P3 Comparison the ways of applying marketing mix to planning process by different
organisations to achieve business objectives
Marketing mix help in building the strong base of organisations and for the growth of its
in the market by providing various marketing strategies. Marketing method is used to aware the
customers about the products of a company by giving complete information of it (The
importance of marketing functions in an organisation, 2016). It includes the marketing mix
technique that helps the organisations to compete with its rivals in the market. The marketing
mix consist of 7'P elements that are- Product, Price, Promotion, Place, People, Process and
Physical evidences (Mihart, 2012). Each organisations has its own techniques of applying these
marketing mix elements in their marketing planning process to achieve their business growth.
The technique used by H&M company comparing with its rival Zara are given below in
following table:
Basis Descriptions H&M Zara
Product It refers to the thing that a
company sells which includes
the features, advantages,
quality and benefits that a
customer buy to satisfy his
needs and desires. So the
product that a company
produce to sell must be
unique having all good
qualities that retains a
customer's loyalty.
This company is
famous for its wide
range of fashion
products and
accessories for
men, women and
children of all age
groups. The
products include
numerous items
like jumpers,
jewellery, bags,
dresses and much
more to attract the
It operates its business
in many countries and
famous for its
exclusive products,
quality and range
having unique pattern
and trendy fashion.
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customer's mind.
Price The Price strategy of a
product or services produce
by a company should be
effective according to the
quality and affordable for the
customers. The organisations
should use strategies that
maintain the price level of its
products as well as hold the
competitive advantages in the
market.
H&M offers its
wide range of
products at an
affordable price to
all type of category
of its customers. It
offers various
attractive discounts
and coupons to
gain customers'
attentions and
maintain the
competitive
advantages.
Prices of products of
Zara are much higher
as compared to H&M
and other retailer
companies. It never
comprises with the
price of its products
which gives
advantages to other
retailer firms.
Promotion Promotion includes the
activities that aware
customers of products and
services of a particular
company. The organisations
use various marketing
strategies in promoting its
product in the market.
Since H&M has
expanded its
business across
many countries, so
they need much to
focus on further
promotions. Their
price level
strategies are
enough to promote
its brands.
Zara mainly uses to
call celebrities for
promoting its products,
which assist to attract
many customers
towards them .
Place Place means the area where
the products and services of a
company are seen, made and
sold to the customers. By
This company use
to sell its product
in online and
offline ways. It has
Since Zara is famous
for its product quality.
It has a strong brand
image in the market,
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designing the retail space and
effective visual
merchandising techniques
any organisation can set apart
from its rivals (West, 2012).
4500 stores in the
world, so it has
wide range of
portfolio.
so customers always
look out its sales on
online process much.
People For any organisation, its
elements will be the
employees, leaders,managers,
marketing and sales team and
all who contributes their role
in enhancing the growth of
company. They provide the
best quality services to the
clients or customers and
retain them with the company
for longer period.
Managers of H&M
are always focused
on demand of
customers which
helps them to
compete with its
competitors.
This company sold
goods according to
customer's preference
and their culture.
Process It refers to all processes
involved in delivering the
products and services to the
customers. Process relates the
procedure under which flow
of activities has done. Thus,
the organisations must
conduct the flow of activities
to ensure that the process
save times and money as well
as increase efficiency
(Novak, 2011).
H&M uses best
methods and
techniques to
deliver its products
on time.
It always use latest
technique for its
production and
management.
Physical evidence It is the most important
element used for increasing
The various stores
of H&M reflect the
It is not necessary for
Zara that the physical
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the growth of company which
delivers the products and
services when a customer
interacts with the company. It
includes the interior design,
packaging, branding and
physical environment where
the company provides its
products.
good presence of it
in the marketplace
which may help its
business to gain
competitive
advantages.
evidence must be
applicable on its
tangible goods.
P4 A basic marketing plan for an organisation
A marketing plan highlights the specific actions to an organisation that it must carry out
to achieve growth in market place. It describes the current marketing position and targeting
audiences. It is a part of an overall business plan of a company (Marketing plan for an
organisation, 2017.). So it is essential for every firm including H&M to have a proper marketing
plan for enhancing its productivity and profitability.
Marketing plan's objectives: The marketing plan basically aims to increase the sales of
products and services of a company by promoting. The marketing objectives is based on the
financial objectives of the company and can be achieved by using the elements of 7'P marketing
mix strategies. H&M company uses these 7'P, as it provides a useful framework for deciding
how its resources will be manipulated to achieve its objectives (Ogunmokun and Tang, 2012).
Executive summary: It is a part of document that summarizes the key points of a
document for its readers by saving their time, so it must be clear and concise. It includes the
description of STP (Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning model) which is use to improve the
sales of a company Using this marketing plan, H&M uses different sorts of strategies to increase
its profitability.
H&M overview: It is a retailer company of UK deals in clothing sector specially and
running its business globally. It provides wide range of fashionable and trendy clothes and
accessories for all age type of peoples. It has a huge impacts on economy of the country
(Terpstra, Foley and Sarathy, 2012).
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Mission and vision of H&M: It's main aim is to become a leading brand of retailer
company of UK. It believes to stay with current trend of fashion by providing at an affordable
prices so that every type of customers can buy its products easily.
SWOT analysis on H&M:
Strengths-
 It has expanded its business more than
40 countries around the world having
4500 stores.
 It offers the quality of its products at
reasonable prices. Big customer base.
Weaknesses-
 Poor customer services.
 Online promotion scheme is not so
effective.
 Poor production cycle.
Opportunities-
 H&M company should adopt the
effective online services for delivery of
its products. Make its product more trendy like Zara.
Threats-
 Threat of new entrants.
 Large number of competitors present in
market like Zara, M&S, Primark etc.
 Lack of Funding.
External analysis: Since H&M has expanded his business in many countries so, it has faced
some problems like the countries where it has opened its stores have their own laws that affect
the productivity of its business. So its managers have to analyse all these factors and try to follow
all rules of Government of countries where it want to run its business smoothly (Papasolomou
and Melanthiou, 2012). The other factors which affects its productivity are technological,
environmental, socio-economic, political and legal which they needs to analyse also.
Marketing Mix of H&M:
 Product: H&M always focused on its production level by which it can fulfil the demand
of customers timely.
 Price: It always gives it products at reasonable prices.
 Place: It has opened its various stores after identifying the area where it can grab the
customers.
 Promotions: To increase the sales of its products, H&M uses various promotional
techniques.
 People: It has employed around 132 thousand people over its 4500 stores.
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 Process: It always introduces new technologies in its business to makes the process
easier.
 Physical evidences : It is one of a leading brand in retailing marketplace.
The strategies used by H&M company are-
Segmentation: H&M concerns on culture and traditions of its customers, so it manufacture its
products according to their taste.
Targeting: H&M mainly targets the youths whose preferences and tastes are mostly based on
fashion trends.
Positioning: It holds a strong position in the market by giving competition to other famous
companies like Zara and Mark&Spencer (Pappas, 2017).
Budget: It has a proper budget plan that concerns on where they need to invest.
Expenses April May June
Payroll 8679 5678 6497
Rent 4588 5432 5000
Marketing 2500 3000 3000
Terpstra, V., Foley, J.
and Sarathy, R.,
2012West, J.B.,
2012.Equipment
250 300 350
Utilities 4555 3543 3000
Insurances 80 80 80
Benefits 1700 1600 2100
Depreciation 1500 2500 2000
Interest 800 800 800
Others 267 250 0
Totals 24919 23183 22827
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Marketing plan monitoring and control: After planning the market plan as discussed above,
now it is the responsibility of managers of H&M to keep an eye on monitoring and controlling
things so that target can be achieved on time.
Conclusion: By the use of proper marketing plan H&M can easily attains its goals and increase
its sales as well as it directly gives positive effect on its production (Shaw, 2016).
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that use of marketing essentials are so
effective for the organisations to promote its business in specific areas. It also describes about
how a market plan should be implemented in a firm to achieve its business objectives. This
report also highlights the various marketing strategies like 7'P model through which company
can retain its growth.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Learning.
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Hugos, M. H., 2011. Essentials of supply chain management (Vol. 62). John Wiley & Sons.
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Communications. 23(2). pp.195-218.
Shaw, S., 2016. Airline marketing and management. Routledge.
Terpstra, V., Foley, J. and Sarathy, R., 2012. International marketing. Naper Press.
West, J.B., 2012. Respiratory physiology: the essentials. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
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