Analysis of Marketing Mix: Marks & Spencer vs. Tesco

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MARKETING ESSENTIALS
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MARKETING ESSENTIALS
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
LO1: Explain the role of marketing and how it interrelates with other functional units of an
organisation......................................................................................................................................4
Definitions and the marketing concept........................................................................................4
The role of marketing..................................................................................................................5
The interrelationships of functional units....................................................................................7
LO2: Compare ways in which organisations use elements of the marketing mix (7Ps) to achieve
overall business objectives..............................................................................................................9
Achieving overall business objectives.......................................................................................14
LO3: Develop and evaluate a basic marketing plan......................................................................16
Structure and development of marketing plans.........................................................................16
Marketing planning....................................................................................................................19
The importance and value of marketing plans.......................................................................19
The links between marketing plans, marketing objectives and marketing strategies............19
Evaluating and monitoring marketing plans..........................................................................20
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................21
References......................................................................................................................................22
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Introduction
The modern business environment has become increasingly competitive, and thus it has become
important for all business organisations to develop optimal marketing plan for their business
success. Marks & Spencer is one of the largest retail chain based in London, and it specialises in
clothing and food retail products (www.marksandspencer.com, 2019). In this report, the
significance of marketing will be evaluated, followed by a detailed 7Ps marketing mix
comparing Marks & Spencer with Tesco. Lastly, a detailed marketing plan for Marks & Spencer
will be designed.
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LO1: Explain the role of marketing and how it interrelates with other functional units of
an organisation
Definitions and the marketing concept
Definitions of marketing and the nature of marketing
Marketing is referred to study of the process of managing various relationships that are
exchanged in a business. This means the relationship built between the customers and company.
It is a business term and refers to the process of the company in creating, communicating as well
as delivering the various products and services of the company that has value for the various
customers and clients (Huotari and Hamari, 2017). The nature of marketing is that it is a human
activity as in a human activity for satisfaction; consumer oriented produced for customers, mix
of art and science and is the creation of utilities.
The development of the marketing concept, including current and future trends
In the process of developing a marketing concept, a company’s marketing as well as selling
activities should be influenced by efficiency and effectiveness along with social responsibility.
Five concepts and orientations lead the activities of an organisation. They are –
 The concept of Production – The companies that focus on this concept aims at efficiency
in high production, low cost and distribution in a large scale. The concept of Product – The companies that focus on this concept makes great quality
products and improves them with passing time. The concept of Selling – The companies that focus on this concept should undertake
hostile selling and put a lot of effort in promotion.
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 The concept of Marketing - This concept is supported by four pillars namely target
market, needs of customers, integrated marketing and profitability (Kauppinen-Räisänen
and Grönroos, 2015). The concept of Societal Marketing – This concept focuses on determining the wants,
needs and demands of customers and enhances the well-being of the society and
consumers through their product.
How the external environment influences and impacts upon marketing activity
The role of marketing
Marketing is an important aspect in a company and is necessary for its success. The various roles
of marketing are –
 It meets the various needs, wants and demands of the customers
 It makes a place of the organisation in the market and ensures its growth, survival along
with reputation in it (Sajid, 2016).
 It widens the market and adapt the appropriate pricing
The structure and operations of marketing departments
The marketing department has various roles and structure existing within it. They are –
 Marketing president – They manage the overall marketing activities of the company
and helps in market planning, identifies the aim of the company and plans the strategies
both short and long term.
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 Product Manager – They conduct the research on products, develop them and promote
them. They also monitor the currents trends of the market and develops product
accordingly.
 Advertising Manager – They concept the advertisement and develops the messages of
branding along with ensuring the advertisement meet the company guidelines.
 PR manager – They promote the brand and its products along with message to the target
market.
Overview of marketing processes that include analysis, strategic planning and the
marketing mix
Analysis – Marketing Analysis focuses on studying the dynamism of the market in context of
special markets in specific industries.
Strategic Planning – This focuses on building up various strategies for the company to sustain
in different situations by using networking, digital media and many more (West et al., 2015).
Marketing Mix – It is a marketing tool that helps a company to achieve the various objectives
and goals in the market.
The different roles of marketing within both a B2C and B2B context
In a B2B, marketing is used for business-to-business promotion and is logic driven. Moreover, it
focuses on time, money and available resources and is highly favourable in depth promotion.
In a B2C, marketing is used for business to consumer promotion and favours simple and easy
messaging. Moreover, it appeals emotions and focuses on the benefits and solving problems
(Lovelock and Patterson, 2015).
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The interrelationships of functional units
The marketing functions enclose various different functions, which are advertising, finance,
distribution system (Hammody and Hussein, 2019). These activities come under the marketing
process, which generally creates a relation among the functional units of a company. These
functions are closely related with each other, which forms the functional unit of a business
organisation. Thus, the interrelationship can be explained with the help of an example that is
connection between the finance department and the marketing department. It can be see that the
marketing department requires several economic resources for carrying on the marketing
functions. This will help the marketing department to implement, make plans, conduct research
and properly evaluate the different marketing strategies within the organisation. Thus, the
economic resources are being provided by the finance department of the company (Ho, 2015).
Further, the marketing team cannot work properly without communicating with the financial
team of the company so that they get required revenue in order to meet up with the marketing
expenses. Therefore, the marketing department is also related with the other departments of the
company. For instance, the marketing department requires accurate description from the
production department regarding the products and services that the organisation is providing. On
the other hand, the HR department requires economic help from the finance department for
meeting up with the recruitment expenses. Further, the policies made by the HR department
should be communicated to the marketing department for increasing the sales and to the
production department. This will help in conveying the required information through which the
company can make marketing plan, which shall be accurate in nature. Thus, it should be noted if
the production department does not convey the information properly to the marketing
department, then the marketing plan will not provide enough returns and the company might
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incur several losses (Gituma, 2017). From this analysis, it can be seen that there is a strong
interrelationship between the different functional units of an organisation, which helps in smooth
running of the business.
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LO2: Compare ways in which organisations use elements of the marketing mix (7Ps) to
achieve overall business objectives
Factors Marks and Spencer Tesco
Product  Marks and Spencer
have five different
categories under its
brand and each
category has different
product lines under
them.
 The product ranges
have a lot of variety in
them which is essential
as far as consumer
satisfaction is
concerned.
 The products of Marks
and Spencer have the
feature of
differentiation and thus
it gives them the added
advantage of
 It has over 40,000
product lines that serve
effectively to the
consumers
 The organization
provides food,
electronic, clothing
and financial services
 Tesco also offers a
wide range as far as
choices are concerned
(Tesco.com, 2019)
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MARKETING ESSENTIALS
competing effectively.
 The organization also
guarantees superior
from its competitors
and thus it helps them
to obtain better
consumer attention
(Marksandspencer.com
, 2019).
 As far as products are
concerned, the
organization offers
authenticity and
traditional designs and
this gives them
advantage over its
competitors.
Price  The organization offers
a competitive pricing
strategy as the data
regarding consumers
are easily available to
 The organization
maintains its interest
and makes sure that
prices are affordable
 It uses economies of
scale to make sure that
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them.
 It follows an optional
pricing strategy that
offers different prices
for base products and
accessories that come
along with it
(Marksandspencer.com
, 2019).
 When competitor data
is not available to
them, it uses costs as
the base of their prices.
 This offers a greater
price for the online
products due to the
costs attached with it.
organizational prices
do not affect the prices
 The organization offers
a club card system to
reward consumers who
are loyal to the
organizational services
 The organization also
uses market data to
make sure that prices
are competitive
Place  It has a distribution
channel which is
Omni-Channel and this
helps the organizations
to make sure that
consumers have better
 As the organizational
headquarter is in
England, it is relatively
easy to look after the
organizational
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access to products.
 The organization has
its products present in
different parts of the
country at over 500
locations and this helps
to make sure that
consumer have better
have access to
products and services
 The organization sells
the products directly
and it also sells to
wholesalers
activities
 It applies both online
and offline services to
satisfy its consumer
needs
 It has sources of six
types such as Tesco
Express, Tesco Extra,
Tesco Metro, Tesco
Compact, Tesco
Homeplus and Tesco
Superstore
(Tesco.com, 2019).
 There company
believes that it will be
best that if there are
many stores of
manageable sizes so
that better service can
be offered.
Promotion  It uses different
traditional channels of
promotions such as
 Tesco uses its price as
the main message as
far as its marketing
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