BTEC Level 4 Marketing Essentials: Task 2 Report on Marketing Mix

This report, prepared for a BTEC Level 4 Marketing Essentials assignment, delves into the marketing strategies of two prominent retail companies, Argos and Marks & Spencer. It begins with an introduction to marketing and its core principles, followed by a detailed comparison of how Argos and M&S apply the marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence) to achieve their business goals. The report evaluates the tactics employed by each company to meet their objectives, analyzing their product development, pricing strategies, distribution channels, promotional activities, and customer service approaches. A significant portion of the report is dedicated to designing a strategic marketing plan for Argos, applying the 7Ps framework to accomplish specific marketing objectives. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and a discussion of the effectiveness of the marketing strategies employed by both companies. This report provides a comprehensive overview of marketing concepts and their practical application in a real-world business context.

Marketing Essential

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................1
P3 Compare the ways in which various organisation apply the marketing mix to marketing
planning process in order to achieve business goals....................................................................1
M3 Evaluate various tactics applied by company to achieve business objectives......................5
D2 Design a strategic marketing plan which apply the use of 7Ps to accomplish marketing
objectives.....................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
The term marketing refers to the method, action which promote or sell goods and services
to communicate the customers about their brand. This involves advertising, campaign,
exchanging products and services to ultimate users (Al Badi, 2019). The aim of marketing is to
focus on target market which helps them to make purchasing decisions of their company. This
allow organisation to build brand awareness, maximize engagement with enterprise and helps to
generate more profits and revenue in business. It is essential as it enable businesses to maintain
their strong relationship and allow them to stay long in business environment. It determines to
understand and identify the requirement of audience in order to increase profitability as well as
productivity in enterprise. Marketing mix helps to understand and identify their business plans to
complete their work in an appropriate manner. Argos is considered this report. Argos is a retail
company which operate their business United Kingdom. This company headquarters is in Milton
Keynes, England. It is founded by Richard Tompkins in year 1972. Number of employees
working in this organisation is 40000 and their shops is approx 883. This report covers to
compare the elements of marketing mix to accomplish business objectives and goals.
TASK 2
P3 Compare the ways in which various organisation apply the marketing mix to marketing
planning process in order to achieve business goals.
Marketing mix is defined as a tool that offer and promote their services as well as
products in marketplace which helps them to promote their brand. This method helps company to
target the market and sell their goods at right place at right time. It allow them to assign each
tasks for the better outcomes. This enables them to meet the needs and demands in changing
environment. It is an approach where organisation change with the taste and preferences of end
users which lead to increase productivity and operations in business. It is important to understand
and analyse the elements of marketing mix which result to make decision making process as well
as gain more profits. These decisions helps them to remain competitive in market and adapt all
changes required in business organisation. There are two enterprise which helps to compare their
marketing mix to attain organisational goals (Baack, Czarnecka and Baack, 2018).
Argos Limited is a supermarket which promote their products and services in United
Kingdom as well as Ireland. This enterprise is a catalogue retailer that offer consumer goods
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such as technology, furniture and home care products. They sell their goods offline in physical
stores as well as online to explore their business opportunities. The also manage and control the
financial services, price comparison, television and operate their international shops. The founder
of this enterprise is Richard Tompkins and founded in year 1972. The CEO of Argos is Simon
Roberts. Argos has many other brands such as Challenges, Opticom, Steamworks and many
more. There are many competitors of Argos such as Wilko, Marks and Spencer, Next and
Poundland (Cornwell, 2020).
On the other hand, Marks and Spencer is a public limited company in retail industry. This
organisation is located in London, England, United Kingdom. It is founded by Michael Marks
and Thomas Spencer in year 1884. The chairman of M&S is Archie Norman. M&S sell their
products and services such as clothing, home and food products with their own brand. This entity
is listed on London stock exchange which help them to increase business opportunities and
productivity of enterprise. There are huge number of employees in M&S is 78000. Marks and
Spencer has many brands such as Goodmove, Biotique, Jaeger and M&S collection.
Comparison of Argos and Marks and Spencer of marketing mix.
Basis Argos Marks and Spencer
Product It is defined as the things which fulfil
the demand and wants of end users.
Argos sell consumer goods such as
clothing, furniture, insurance services as
well as home products. Product
development is the method by which
management launch new goods or
implement existing products in order to
gain higher profits. On the other hand,
product lifestyle is a cycle in which
each goods introduce in marketplace
then that product decline as trend
become outdated.
Product can be intangible as well as
tangible. It states that products serve
consumer desire and needs. Therefore,
M&S offer products or services such
as food, clothes and home care goods.
Product development is important as
increase sales and revenue in business
by developing or modifying the
products (Eletxigerra, Barrutia and
Echebarria, 2018).
Price It is an essential element of marketing It signifies the price which audience is
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mix because by this enterprise survive
and generate their profits. The pricing
strategy of Argos is that it provide high
quality products at lower prices.
willing to pay for it. Price is depends
on ultimate users recognize value of
goods. Marks and Spencer follows
competitive pricing strategy because
management of M&S sell their
premium quality products at medium
to higher prices. They adapt this
strategy to compete in business
market. They also adapt dynamic
strategy as in seasonal time they offer
many promotions to attract and retain
customers.
Place It signifies the areas where audience
purchase products which include both
online and offline. Argos manage and
control their businesses in physical
stores as well as online stores. Argos
have more than 850 stores in Ireland
and United Kingdom. Professional of
Argos follow RFID technology to make
it supply chain more effective (Hair Jr,
Page and Brunsveld, 2019).
Place is the location where consumers
is easily accessible and convenience
for them to buy. M&S operate their
business in many countries such as
Turkey, Finland, India and Spain in
order to increase business operations
and sales. Manager of Marks and
Spencer has their own websites by
which consumer purchase and pay
online to get their products at home.
Supply chain management of M&S
has adapted supply chain strategies.
Promotion It refers to promoting their brand
through advertising, personal selling,
promotions, television and many other
forms. This helps them to communicate
their brand to all the audiences which
lead to build awareness, image and
This signifies to target the audience
by the features of products which
helps to grab the attention of
consumers through advertising, direct
marketing and public relations. M&S
use different promotional tools to
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position in market. The promotional
tool of Argos is direct marketing.
Management of Argos has conducted
many campaigns, one such most
popular campaign is 'the get its and
dont's get its' to attract the users in
marketplace. Argos using another tools
such as banners as well as print media
because they are using low pricing
strategy.
promote its brands such as digital
marketing, blogs, websites,
campaigns, mobile and television
advertisement. Marks and Spencer
also operate loyalty program which is
'Sparks' which gives extra points to
their existing clients to spend their
coins anytime in online shopping.
People It includes employees, salesman as well
as customers in their internal and
external places because they deliver
their brands to end users. This gives
them to retain consumers in order to
achieve their goals and objectives.
Number of employees in 30000 workers
across all the stores. The role of people
in marketing mix is the market research
and customer interfacing is the place
where company meet the requirement of
end users. This requires many skills and
ability to deliver products or services
such as active listening, communication
and critical thinking (Hanlon, 2018).
This helps to connect with the
employees as well as the audiences.
This involves recruitment of people to
promote their business. This allow
them to handle the queries of
consumers. Number of employees are
working in Marks and Spencer is
83000. They adapt competitive
payment policy to attract employees
in workplace as well as they pay
incentives and other health benefits
based on their performance in
workforce. The roles of people in
Marks and Spencer is marketing,
finance, human resource, support
personnel and many more which
requires many skills such as self
improvement, empathy and
communication.
Physical It refers to the environment in which It is define as the environment which
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evidence services arises such as facilities, interior
design and artifacts. The catalogues of
Argos has been seen by every
consumers in marketplace. The tangible
aspects of physical evidence are
equipments, furniture, billing paper and
websites which attract the end users in
business.
is experienced by the ultimate users.
The physical evidence of Marks and
Spencer is their own products such as
home accessories and furniture as
well as websites which gives evidence
of the company. It states that the
physical layout and design of the
premises in business environment.
Process Company should focus on the business
process that their activities are properly
structured and observe them efficiently
to eliminate mistakes and reduced the
costs. Systems and processes involved
in delivering a consistent service such as
know your customers and focus on
workers training. Argos characteristics
a wide range of products and services.
They offer their products online and
offline them when audience confirm the
orders then they deliver customers
products with the proper shipment with
protection mode. Thus, this helps them
to gain more profit and create sales.
It is essential element of marketing
mix which is defined as the tasks that
occurs when there is a connection
between the audiences and the top
management. It involves resource
allocation, management
responsibilities in delivery a better
customer service. The process of
Marks and Spencer is that it divides
the sections of their different products
such as clothing, home products as
well as furniture. They have separated
their floors on their product lines and
the other departments for their billing
counter. However, it gives them to
improve productivity and profitability
in an organisation.
M3 Evaluate various tactics applied by company to achieve business objectives.
Marketing mix is essential to identify and understand the customers tastes and
preferences so that manager accomplish business objectives and goals. There are different tacks
in relation to marketing mix of Argos such as price, product, place, promotion, people, process as
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well as physical evidence (Nargundkar, 2020). Argos sell their products at nominal price by
which they meet the requirement of customers needs and preferences. Products of Argos is
clothing, home, furniture and other products as they offer all consumer products in market place
to end users which helps them to retain them. Places of Argos is situated in Milton Keynes,
England and they operate their business across United Kingdom. Thus, it gives better
convenience to buy their goods. Promotion is the essential element in order to achieve business
objectives. Professionals of Argos use different methods to build brand image and awareness
among audiences in market so that organisation gain more profits in business. People is the best
way to support their end users to handle the situations and queries of consumers and make efforts
to solve them. Therefore, this helps them to remain competitive in business environment
(Perreault, 2018).
D2 Design a strategic marketing plan which apply the use of 7Ps to accomplish marketing
objectives.
Strategic marketing plan
Executive Summary Marketing is the method by which company offer their products or
services to attract their existing as well as new clients in marketplace.
This enables them to develop goods, distribution methods, promotions
and advertising. Argos marketing strategies is the promotional tools
such as advertising and direct marketing which helps them to aware
about their brands. Argos is a retail catalogue which is situated in
United Kingdom.
Vision and Mission Vision statement of Argos is that to invest in their stores to retain
ultimate users for their best experiences in and to give proper channel to
distribute their products. On the other hand, mission statement of Argos
is that to provide better price through the shopping experience.
Objectives
Strategies Business strategies of Argos is to open new stores, extend the range of
goods, growing their websites to develop the sales in business. The
main strategy of Argos is to increase their profitability by maintaining
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the faith of existing customers in their brand.
Tactics Argos is using marketing mix as a tactics.
Product: Argos is selling various products such as home and food
products, clothing, stationery.
Price: Argos sells there quality products at affordable prices.
Place: Management of Argos deliver there goods or services in United
Kingdom. They provide online and offline services.
Promotion: Professionals of Argos is promoting their brands through
various tools such as advertising, direct marketing and campaigns.
People: This includes employees, audiences and support team of Argos
to develop their business performance and give best experiences to end
users from their competitors.
Process: They deliver their goods in defined manner and give better
services to transmit their products.
Physical evidence: Households items, furniture, catelogues and many
more as well as online websites is the physical evidence of Argos.
STP Segmentation: There segment market based on their products as Argos
offer online as well as offline to their audiences.
Targeting: Argos target their market to household and individuals in
order to increase sales and revenue.
Positioning: The position of their market as the people can buy their
goods from different channels such as physical stores, they can order
there selected products online and from phone calls.
Financial projection The cost of the launching marketing plan which is mentioned below:
Activities Amount (£)
Operating £ 250
Financing £ 125
Investing £ 115
Total £ 490
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Measure and control Management of Argos is using Key performance indicators which helps
them to measure organisation long term performance. It assess business
plans, resources, financial in order to achieve overall business
objectives and goals. This tool help Argos to make decisions for the
future strategies (Roy and Gretzel, 2020).
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that marketing plays an essential role for offering
and promoting their goods as well as services. The promote their brand through advertising,
direct marketing, personal selling, digital and social media marketing. Marketing mix focuses on
different plans and strategy in order to achieve the organisational goals and objectives. The
elements of marketing mix are product, price, place, promotion, people, process and physical
evidence. Products fulfil the consumers needs and wants, price gives the costs to their goods
which is acquired by their audiences, place is the part where end users feel convenience and
simple to buying the goods, promotion is to communicate their brand across the countries in
which they operate. Marketing mix helps to determine that goods or services is best suitable to
your consumers and helps to plan the strategy to which services will be successful for their
business. They have different marketing strategies in order to achieve the organisational goals as
well as objectives. Therefore, it helps them to increase profitability and productivity in an
enterprises. It allow them to allocate their resources based on their marketing mix by this they
have to work effectively and efficiently.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Al Badi, K., 2019. Implementation of marketing concept and organizational culture in SMEs in
Al Buraimi–Oman. Benchmarking: An International Journal.
Baack, D. W., Czarnecka, B. and Baack, D., 2018. International marketing. Sage.
Cornwell, T. B., 2020. Sponsorship in marketing: Effective partnerships in sports, arts and
events. Routledge.
Eletxigerra, A., Barrutia, J. M. and Echebarria, C., 2018. Place marketing examined through a
service-dominant logic lens: A review. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management.9.
pp.72-84.
Hair Jr, J. F., Page, M. and Brunsveld, N., 2019. Essentials of business research methods.
Routledge.
Hanlon, A., 2018. Digital marketing: Strategic planning & integration. Sage.
Nargundkar, R., 2020. Marketing research: Text and cases. McGraw-Hill Education.
Perreault, W.D., 2018. Essentials of marketing. New York: Mc Graw Hill.
Roy, N. and Gretzel, U., 2020. Themed route marketing in India. Anatolia. 31(2). pp.304-315.
Online:
Marketing mix. [Online]. 2020. Available through:
<https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marketing-mix.asp>
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Competitors of Argos. [Online]. 2019. Available through:
<https://www.owler.com/company/argos>
Marketing mix of Argo. [Online]. 2020. Available through:
<https://www.mbaskool.com/marketing-mix/services/17782-argos.html>
Marketing mix of Marks and Spencer. [Online]. 2020. Available through:
<https://www.mbaskool.com/marketing-mix/services/17122-marks-and-spencer.html>
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