Marketing Essentials: Zara's Plan, Mix, and Interrelation Analysis

Verified

Added on 2024/07/29

AI Summary

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Zara's marketing strategy, focusing on the critical role of marketing and its interrelation with other functional units within the organization. It examines the key roles and responsibilities of Zara's marketing function, considering the marketing environment and the significance of interrelationships with other functional units like operations, finance, HR, and IT. The report also compares how different organizations utilize the elements of the marketing mix (7Ps) to achieve business objectives, highlighting Zara's product, pricing, promotion, place, people, process, and physical evidence strategies in comparison to brands like Burberry. Furthermore, a basic marketing plan for Zara is developed and evaluated, including an executive summary, objectives, SWOT analysis, Porter’s Five Forces analysis, and budget considerations, ultimately offering insights into how Zara can effectively monitor and evaluate its marketing efforts to achieve its overall business goals. Desklib offers students access to similar solved assignments and past papers.

Marketing Essentials Assignment
1

Paraphrase This Document

Need a fresh take? Get an instant paraphrase of this document with our AI Paraphraser

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
LO 1Explain the role of marketing and how it interrelates with other functional units of an
organisation by:............................................................................................................................... 5
a) Explain how the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function relate to the wider
organisational context...................................................................................................................... 5
b) Analyse the roles and responsibilities of marketing in the context of the marketing
environment. 6
c) Analyse the significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional units of
an organisation.................................................................................................................................8
d) Critically analyse and evaluate the key elements of the marketing function and how they
interrelate with other functional units of an organization................................................................8
LO2 Compare ways in which organisations use elements of the marketing mix (7Ps) to achieve
overall business objectives............................................................................................................ 10
1) Compare the ways in which different organisations apply the marketing mix to the marketing
planning process to achieve business objectives...........................................................................10
2) Evaluate different tactics applied by organisations to demonstrate how business objectives can
be achieved....................................................................................................................................12
LO3 Develop and evaluate a basic marketing plan.......................................................................13
Executive Summary:......................................................................................................................13
Aim of the Marketing Plan:........................................................................................................... 13
Objectives of Business:..................................................................................................................13
SWOT Analysis of Zara................................................................................................................ 13
External analysis............................................................................................................................ 14
Porter’s Five Force Model............................................................................................................. 15
Marketing Mix of Zara.................................................................................................................. 16
Marketing Mix analysis................................................................................................................. 16
2

Budget:...........................................................................................................................................17
Monitoring and Evaluation............................................................................................................ 18
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................... 19
Reference list................................................................................................................................. 20
3

Introduction
Marketing is an essential function of an organisation and plays an important role in gaining
marketing share of a company. In this assignment, chosen case study organisation is ZARA. It is
a reputed fashion brand and the report will be done from the perspective of the marketing
manager of the Zara. The assignment will explain the role of marketing manager and its
interrelation with the other functions of the organisation. There will be also discussion on
importance of marketing mix in an organisation to achieve the business objectives. Lastly, this
assignment will contain a marketing plan for the organisation and the evaluation of the marketing
plan will be discussed as well.
4

Paraphrase This Document

Need a fresh take? Get an instant paraphrase of this document with our AI Paraphraser

LO 1Explain the role of marketing and how it interrelates with other functional units of an
organisation by:
a) Explain how the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function relate to the
wider organisational context.
Marketing functions of an organisation is directly responsible for the customer experience and
the brand’s image as well. Following is the key roles and responsibility that Zara’s marketing
department has to fulfil in order to achieve the organisational goals and objectives.
 Conducting customer and market research: conducting market research is one of the
primary responsibilities of marketing department. The research provides the organisation
with necessary information regarding the target market and future opportunities for the
organisation. For instance, the marketing research of Zara has proved that the students
can be a target market for the brand (Tzokas et al., 2015).
 Developing marketing strategy: Developing market strategy is the next step after the
market research is done. After defining the potential market for the company, marketing
department have to develop and implement a strategy that will be best suited for the
target consumer market.
 Producing promotional materials: another key role of marketing department is to
produce promotional material for the organisations. Promotional material created by the
marketing department of Zara will be able to attract the potential target customers.
 Managing the brand image: Marketing department is also responsible for maintain a
brand image. Zara for example is a one of the largest fashion retail brands and the serves
different types of customers and for attracting the right customer base the company has to
maintain a consistent brand image ( Hill, 2017).
 Managing campaign for marketing: Management of marketing campaigns are also
responsibility of the marketing departments. The marketing campaigns help in increasing
the brand awareness and market share as well.
 Social media management: Social media is a chief method in the current age of digital
media and therefore the marketing department has to ensure the social media presence of
the brand is good as well (Burns et al., 2014).
5

b) Analyse the roles and responsibilities of marketing in the context of the marketing
environment.
Marketing environment are factors and forces that effects the growth of an organisations.
Marketing plays an important role in both micro and macro factors. In addition, marketing
environment is not stable and constantly keeps changing therefore the marketing strategies keeps
changing as well.
Figure 1: Marketing function in changing marketing environment
(Source: Wheelen et al., 2017)
Roles and responsibility of marketing in microenvironment
Microenvironment is the factors that are internal and can be controlled by the company.
 One of the chief roles and responsibility of marketing is to research the market and
increase the customer satisfaction accordingly. The customers are part of
microenvironment Zara can improve the customer experience with the help of marketing
department (Wheelen et al., 2017).
 Dealing with the competitors is also part of internal environment, which is possible by
proper market research as well. To gain competitive environment the marketing
department have to be aware of the market trends that the competitors are following.
Roles and responsibility of marketing in macro environment
6

Macro environment is the outside factors that cannot be controlled by the organisation but has
the ability to create obstacle in the path of growth.
 Socio-cultural factor is an important part of macro environment. Marketing
department of Zara has to be aware of the social, and cultural trends of the target
market in this case Students, and create strategies accordingly to serve the customer
needs.
 Technological advancement is a very important factor. The marketing department
have to choose the effective integrated marketing communication method as per the
industry standards as well (Kumar, 2015).
7

Paraphrase This Document

Need a fresh take? Get an instant paraphrase of this document with our AI Paraphraser

c) Analyse the significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional
units of an organisation
All the departments of an organisation are interrelated. Other functional units of Zara like-
operations, productions, finance, IT, human resources are affected by the marketing functions
very much. Following are the significance of the interrelationship between marketing and other
units of the organisation.
 The marketing department is very much interrelated with the production because the
based on the market research Zara have to create products that are very much suitable for
the target market segment.
 The finance department also interrelated organisation because the depending on the
budget allocated to the marketing department the promotional activities will be designed.
In addition, the finance department have to allocate appropriate budget for marketing
campaigns so it can be successful (Baker, 2016).
 Human resources have to manage the employees and select employees suitable for the
job role of the marketing department. The brand image of the Zara will also attract
talented employees as well.
 IT is a crucial function and directly related with the marketing functions. Market research
and gathering important data for the marketing plan for Zara is done with the help of IT
department.
 Operation is an important function because quality management and product design is
responsibility of this department. In order to satisfy the customer needs and demands the
marketing department of Zara has to do extensive market research (Dawson, 2014).
d) Critically analyse and evaluate the key elements of the marketing function and how they
interrelate with other functional units of an organization
The marketing functions are based upon four key elements. The four key elements are research,
strategy, planning and tactics. Marketing department of Zara also follows these key elements for
the success of the marketing function. The other functional departments of Zara also interrelated
with the marketing department and affected by these key elements.
8

Research: To increase the market share of Zara, the company have to a lot of research on the
target market segment. Their target market is students and therefore the extensive research that
will help them in understanding the needs and demands of the students. The operation
department will able to design the products that will able to serve the needs and wants of the
consumer. The production department will be also influenced by the market research (Rowley,
2016).
Strategy: Not only for the product development but also to gain competitive advantage
marketing function plays an important role. Zara have to implement appropriate strategy to take
over the target market and in order to do that they have to be aware of the competitor’s products
and strategies as well. The finance and IT department will help them in arranging campaigns
specifically meant for the target group. Social media campaigns or sales strategies can be done
increase the market of the company (Leeflang et al., 2014).
Planning: Sales forecast, financial plan and communication strategies are all part of the
planning element of marketing. This element is very crucial because it keeps in track of the time
for achieving the goals. Zara for example, have to track the strategic plan and implement it better
so that it can be implemented properly.
Tactics: Tactics are also part of planning element. They are short or long-term plan to attract the
consumers and gain competitive advantage. For Zara they can use sales strategies and or
discounts to attract the target customers (Harper, 2015).
9

LO2 Compare ways in which organisations use elements of the marketing mix (7Ps) to
achieve overall business objectives
1) Compare the ways in which different organisations apply the marketing mix to the
marketing planning process to achieve business objectives.
Elements of Marketing Mix Zara Burberry
Product Zara is one of the biggest
fashion retailer and products
are made to serve all types of
customer. Zara’s focus is to
create products that are
affordable and preferred by
the students or young
generation (Goffee, and Scase,
2015).
Burberry is a luxury fashion
brand and products are very
premium quality. Their
products are also designed to
attract the premium fashion
lovers.
Price The pricing of the Zara is very
much competitive and
therefore very much preferred
by the young demographic. In
addition, Zara also has
premium range of clothing as
well.
Burberry being a luxury brand
uses premium-pricing strategy
and not everyone can afford
this brand.
Promotion Zara has a unique promotional
policy, which is ‘Zero
investment in marketing”.
Instead of huge advertisement
on TV, they utilise the
resource to build new store
and boost their business. They
rely on the word of mouth
marketing policy instead of
Burberry does a lot of
marketing campaigns and
especially for their apparel
range. They also use print
media and social mead for
marketing.
10

Paraphrase This Document

Need a fresh take? Get an instant paraphrase of this document with our AI Paraphraser

extensive policy.
Place Zara is present online and
offline as well. Consumers can
avail their products from
online and offline stores. Zara
stores are widely available in
urban region due to the fact
their target demographic is
aged18-40 years (Jensen,
2017).
Burberry is majorly present in
urban areas but their online
presence is not as much as
Zara. They have around 475
stores in 50 countries around
the globe.
People People are a very asset of
Zara. They train their staffs
properly so that the customer
can be served properly.
The people are a major
resource of this fashion brand.
Therefore e, the company
gives special attention to its
employees
Process Process is a very important
and for Zara it is very easy
and customers can avail it
quickly as well. They have a
customer care service and
helpdesk, which helps them in
giving better customer
experience as well.
Burberry has a very reliable
process and they are able to
serve their customers
effectively as well.
Physical evidence Zara has many stores and
other than that, there is online
websites that are the physical
evidence of the brand.
Burberry’s premium stores are
the chief physical evidence of
the brand and they are
available for more than 50
countries worldwide.
11

2) Evaluate different tactics applied by organisations to demonstrate how business
objectives can be achieved.
Different organisations use different tactics to achieve their business objectives. The tactics are
short-term plan for the achievement of organisational goals. Following are the tactics that is
followed by the different organisations to achieve the organisational goal.
 Zara utilises sales promotion and discounts as tactics to attract the consumers.
Zara is a fashion retailer that majorly caters to the consumers aged 19-40 years
therefore sales promotion works best for them. The students especially prefer this
type of promotions very much. They give seasonal discounts. Many people are
attracted to their discount code facility, which is also a very effective in attracting
their target market. This has definitely increased their market share. Their
affordable price bracket and on top their discounts and sales promotions are best
tactics to achieve the organisational objective, which is increases the market share
(Kang, and Kim 2017).
 For Burberry, which is a luxury brand the company and they use various tactics
like TV advertisement and social media campaign. Unlike Zara, this brand caters
to type premium fashion lovers therefore the target market differs and the tactics
has to be different as well. Burberry being a luxury brand utilise celebrity
endorsement tactics. Celebrities like Kate moss and Agyness Deyn have
promoted their brands previously and often times they use offline promotion
technique as well to achieve their organisations goals and objectives. In recent
times, people are very much interested in celebrity lifestyle and therefore the
company had gained profit through these tactics. However, this type of
techniques is very costly as well and only possible by more premium brands like
Burberry (Jones et al., 2015).
12