Marketing Essentials Report: Marketing Strategies for Wilkinson

This report delves into the core concepts of marketing essentials, examining the crucial roles and responsibilities of marketing functions within an organization, with a specific focus on Wilkinson, a luxury home products retailer. It explores the interrelationship between marketing and other functional units like production, finance, and customer service, highlighting the significance of these connections for achieving business objectives. The report further analyzes how different firms, including Wilkinson and ASDA, apply the marketing mix (product, place, price, and people) to achieve success. It provides a detailed comparison of their strategies and culminates in the development of a basic marketing plan tailored for Wilkinson, encompassing key elements and evidence-based strategies. The report underscores the importance of a well-defined marketing strategy in today's competitive business environment.

MARKETING ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing function...................................................................1
P2 Roles and responsibilities of marketing related to wider organisational context..................3
M1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing in context of marketing environment....................4
D1 Key elements of marketing function and its interrelationship with other units....................5
M2 Significance of interrelationship among marketing and other functional units....................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P3 Ways in which different firms apply marketing mix to achieve success in business............6
M3. Different tactics applied by the organisation to achieve business objectives......................8
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
P4 Basic marketing plan for Wilkinson......................................................................................9
M4 Coherent evidence based marketing plan.............................................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is considered as a set of activities or a management process responsible for
anticipating, identifying and satisfying customer requirements so as to gain profit. Or say
marketing is an activity that includes processes of designing, producing, communicating,
delivering & exchanging products and services that has value for customers, clients, society and
partners (Anche, Hozouri and Mehdizadeh, 2014). Marketing essentials is considered as set of
tools that are used by marketing function. Elements of marketing essentials includes market
strategy, research, competitive analysis, budgeting etc. Wilkinson is large firm that deals in the
business of luxury home products and home-wares. It was founded by James Kemsey Wilkinson
in the year 1930. This report highlights the influence of marketing in overall success of an
organisation. It also showcases the ways in which a firm can apply marketing so as to achieve it's
objectives successfully in a limited period of time. It gives the idea about roles and
responsibilities of marketing and its relationship with other functional units.
TASK 1
P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing function.
In any organisation marketing plays one of the most crucial role. It can be understood as
a brain of different functions of a firm. In order to achieve business success Wilkinson needs to
understand the importance of marketing in achieving its goals. It will be unjustified to summarise
marketing as only advertising rather it has wider area of operations. It is strategical and tactical
function that deals in the processes like researching, analysing, auditing of markets so as to
assist firm in designing products accordingly (Castronovo and Huang, 2012). Other than this it
conducts activities such as pricing, packaging, consumer service and product distribution through
several distribution channels. Roles and responsibility of marketing is as follows:
 Marketing information management: In the era of competitive business, firms needs to
make plans and strategies as per the mood of the market and this can only be understood
by analysis the data that is collected by different business operations (Singh, 2012). It the
role of marketing function to manage this data so that it can be used for future decision
making process.
 Distribution: In order to achieve higher profits any company has to ensure that they must
have an efficient distribution system. It is marketing role to set up a effective channels
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that ensures demand and supply chain is balanced. Wilkinson deals in number of products
and hence needs to set of a formalised distribution mechanism.
 Product and service management: It is role of marketing function to manage all the
products that is produced by the firm in its entire cycle i.e. from designing to distribution.
Managing products and services helps in ensuring that it is available to users at the
required time.
 Pricing: In competitive business pricing plays one of the most crucial role as customer
attraction phenomena is highly sensitive to pricing strategy (Chikweche and Fletcher,
2012). Marketing department role is to have smart pricing strategy for each of its
products.
 Promotion: Marketing department needs to make promotional strategies using various
marketing tools so as to highlight the USP of new launches of the company. It helps in
creating curiosity in the minds of consumers that felicitates pre sales.
 Financing: It is important to distribute finance to each and every department so that there
operations gets carried out smoothly (Day, 2011). Marketing function calculate the
amount of money that needs to be allocated for a particular product development to each
department.
 Selling: In increasing sales marketing plays an crucial role as they interact with
customers so as to convince them for buying any specific product.
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Sources 1: Roles of marketing

P2 Roles and responsibilities of marketing related to wider organisational context.
Number of activities that are performed inside Wilkinson is large as it is dealing in the
production of varied range of products. In all these operations various negative and positive
situations arises and its marketing role to handle all these (Glanz, Bader and Iyer, 2012). Some of
the roles and responsibilities of marketing with respect to wider organisational context is as
follows:
 Production: This department works with marketing function in order to maintain the
demand and supply chain. Marketing function understands the market mood and assists
production department to produce products at the required speed (Sousa and Filipe Lages,
2011). In Wilkinson there are several products in which some are in higher demand and
some are in lower demand so the company needs to produce products accordingly.
 Finance department: Marketing department works with finance unit so as to allocate
proper budgets to every department as per the requirement in any product development
procedure (Schroeder and et. al., 2012).
 Human resource: marketing department works with HRM so as to maintain the need of
workers in any marketing activity or in assisting HRM to recruit employees that are
suitable for the particular product development.
 Research and development: Marketing function provides assistance to research and
department cell so that they carry out research that leads to development of product that
is in demand of market (Gretzel and Yoo, 2013). They collect feedbacks and conduct
checklist queries so as to understand what people are demanding from companies next
products and provide it to R&D unit and they carry their researches accordingly.
 Customer service: Marketing department helps customer service unit in letting them
understand that all things needs to be presented by to the potential consumers so that
product sales increases.
 Administration: It works with marketing department in designing structure of an
organisation so that product development cycle gets improved. Marketing unit helps
administration in their decision making process so that success can be achieved from
various business processes.
 Information and communication technology: Use of ICT in modern day business
activities is increasing and so is its influence in marketing. Department for ICT works
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with marketing function so that promotional strategies could be implemented properly
and can reach to larger number of people.
 Sales: Marketing department and sales unit works in collaboration so that maximum
revenue can be generated by increasing the sale of companies products (Guarda and et.
al., 2012). Efficient marketing always leads to effective marketing. Data collected by
sales department is used by marketing unit in designing of future plans.
M1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing in context of marketing environment.
Roles and responsibilities of marketing is very wide ranged and it is changing as per the
environment prevailing around the market. Promotional strategies, pricing, distribution mediums
is highly influenced by marketing environment. Some of the roles of marketing regarding these
are as follows:
 Competition: Wilkinson is working in the industry which is having huge competitions
from both large super markets as well as local market firms. Marketing team needs to
make strategies so that companies growth rate do not fluctuate and higher profits can be
achieved.
 Economy: Wilkinson is operational in UK which is slightly stable economy and hence it
provides excellent environment for this company's growth and hence marketing team has
to make plans accordingly.
 Technological development: It is marketing function's responsibility to help company in
finding newer ways of business making use of technological equipments that is helpful in
the industry (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2011).
 Political: Marketing team needs to make plans that are able to sustain in the environment
created by political policies. They needs to make strategies according to changing
political barrier around the world like the decision of Britain to go out of EU.
D1 Key elements of marketing function and its interrelationship with other units.
Marketing function has several key elements such as market analysis, targetting,
positioning, branding, packaging, pricing and positioning and promoting. All these factors needs
to be applied by the company in order to achieve business success. All these marketing roles
mentioned above cannot be fulfilled without interrelationship between different functional units.
In the view point of Laurell and Parment, (2015) marketing department works with production
and research department so as to develop product that are according to market demand. As per
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Mahdavi and Daryaei, (2015) marketing department works with finance and sales department so
as to increase the revenue of the company by allocating proper budget to different organisational
functions and increasing the sale that makes profits respectively. Whereas Mundt, (2013) says
that marketing unit works with customer service and ICT units so as to reach to larger set people
with there promotional ideas.
M2 Significance of interrelationship among marketing and other functional units.
Every functional unit in Wilkinson needs to make a structure in which the functional unit
works with each other. This interrelationship among various organisational functions helps each
other in moving towards the direction of achieving product success. By developing a high quality
product its success cannot be ensured and for this ever department has to work in collaboration
so that value gets added to the products at each subsequent level of its life cycle (Palmer, 2012).
We could see that in research and production units that marketing function helps in product
development as per the demand of people. Increasing sales by promoting effeciently.
TASK 2
P3 Ways in which different firms apply marketing mix to achieve success in business.
There are numerous ways in which companies apply marketing mix. It differs as per the
objective of firm that how they implements all these marketing mix elements (Piercy, 2014). In
order to understand the ways in which marketing mix is applied by different firms examples of
Wilkinson and ASDA is illustrated. These both firms are having bigger brand name.
Elements Wilkinson ASDA
Product It is indulged in the business of
house hold goods and home
wares items, textile, DIY,
cleaning products, stationary,
confectionery, kitchen and
bathroom goods. It also does
the business of pet products.
This company is known for its
quality of products.
It is one of the popular brand
names in supermarkets and
does the business of home
products, groceries, luxury
items. It has also came in the
business of groceries and
poultry products. It also sells
clothing items through the
name ASDA living.
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Place This company sells its
products through its stores all
around the world which is
approximately present at
approx 387 locations. It is also
making use of its E-commerce
website so as to reach to more
wider range of population.
Its is present in many part of
the UK. It is making use niche
store technique to ensure
profits in the longer go. It is
distributing its products
through big supermarket that
has excellent utility facilities.
Pricing Generally pricing range of this
company is in the affordable
range. It is having a long list of
items which is tagged with its
various products. Quality
decides the price range.
Since this company is a bigger
brand name and hence its
pricing range also remains on
the higher side. They believe
in the pricing that is based on
perception of the customers.
People There customer service is
world wide known. They treat
their customers in a friendly
way. The staff members of this
firm is highly qualified and
skilled which helps in smooth
working of the company.
Production and research
department has highly
qualified members in their
team.
They are having one of the
best quality labourers in the
industry. They are being paid
well. ASDA trains its people
that are associated in the
operation of distribution. It
organises training sessions
regularly.
Process Methodologies of operations
applied by this firm is of high
standards. They continuously
change there process as per the
requirement of product and
It has its brand name in the
market and hence are
developing products that are
made by using excellent
processes. Its uses best
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citing company's objectives.
Process applied by the
company is best in the
business using advanced
machineries.
practices and takes use of
advanced technologies so as to
manufacture products at higher
speeds and having less faults.
Promotion This company has used
various mediums for
promoting their products such
as new papers, TV and social
media ads. They also have
used mediums such as event
organisation in which
company new products are
being showcased.
This company uses various
promotional strategies like
price skimming, seasonal off
etc. It sets its strategy as per
the buyer perception and has
given it a name chosen by you.
Its Logo is eye catching which
highlights its brand name.
Physical evidence This company is making
products that are tangible.
There products have good
looks and appearances seems
to attractive especially luxury
items.
This company also makes
products that are of high
quality having excellent
packing. This company also
produces what it promises to
its clients.
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M3. Different tactics applied by the organisation to achieve business objectives.
Different organisations takes several steps so as to achieve its long and short term goals.
These are known as tactics which is designed as per companies strength and weaknesses (Use
These 5 Steps to Create a Marketing Plan. 2017). Different tactics is as follows:
Comprehensive research of market: Any plan that is to be formulated by the company must be
according to the detailed market research which is done by the organisation. Wilkinsons needs to
do regularly.
Targetting: In order to achieve long terms goals company needs to make targets according to
which firm can design its future products so that higher level of customer satisfaction can be
ensured (Proctor, 2014). Wilkinson's wide range of products must be developed as the sections
of the society.
Promotion: Wilkinson needs to promote its products in an effective manner so that its failure
risk can be reduced.
Pricing: This is the tactic that almost every firm now a days are applying. Price tags needed to
be set up so that it can attract more of potential customers (Savigny, 2011). It helps to give
competitive edge over rivals. Wilkinson needs to make more affordable luxury items.
TASK 4
P4 Basic marketing plan for Wilkinson.
Covered in PPT.
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Sources 2: 7 P of Marketing

M4 Coherent evidence based marketing plan.
Covered in PPT.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report it can be concluded that marketing is important for the
success of any kind of firm irrespective of the industry they belong to. Essentials of marketing
are the elements using which a company can design its growth chart. Some of the elements like
competitive analysis, market based research, market strategies etc. They are numerous roles of
marketing apart from advertisements and promotional activities. This functions interrelation with
other functional units helps in doing work in a more effective way. Proper marketing mix needs
to be applied so as to make marketing strategy more powerful. This report comprises of
marketing plan for the Wilkinson for the next financial year.
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