Marketing Essentials: Zara's Marketing Plan Analysis Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Zara's marketing strategies, roles, and responsibilities. It begins with an introduction to marketing and its importance, followed by an overview of Zara's operations and its approach to product development and market research. The report then delves into the specifics of Zara's marketing functions, including product development, market research, promotion, and customer service. It analyzes the role of marketing within the broader marketing environment and examines the interrelationship between marketing and other functional units within an organization, such as production, finance, and human resources. The report also evaluates the key elements of the marketing function and how they are interrelated. A significant portion of the report compares Zara's marketing mix with that of H&M, evaluating how each company applies its marketing mix to achieve its business objectives. Finally, the report concludes with a basic marketing plan for an organization, summarizing the key findings and recommendations.

Marketing Essentials

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
A Roles and responsibilities of the marketing function relate to Zara...................................1
B Analyse the role and responsibilities of marketing in the context of marketing environment2
C Analyse the significance of interrelationship between marketing and other functional unit of
an organisation........................................................................................................................3
D Analyse and evaluate the key elements of marketing function and how they are interrelated
................................................................................................................................................4
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................5
1 Compare the ways in which different organisation apply marketing mix to marketing
planning process to achieve business objectives....................................................................5
2 Evaluate different tactics applied by organisation to demonstrate the way through which
business objectives can be achieved ......................................................................................8
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................9
1 Produce and evaluate basic marketing plan for an organisation.........................................9
Executive summary: ..............................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is defined as tools which is essential to increase productivity and profits of
overall business. (Weinstein and Cahill, 2014). Organisation performs various functions like
product planning, marketing, etc. in order to establish positive brand image. This project
discusses about Zara, which is among leading fashion store and offer wide range of clothes and
accessories. Zara is operating in more than 88 countries with 6800 stores, it offers online
shopping facilities to their buyers. They design products according to clients’ specifications, and
launch almost 100000 new designs every year.
Further this project discuss that Marketing function play crucial role in attracting new
consumer and developing successful plans. It synchronises and coordinate activities of different
department of business in order to increase productivity Report include comparison between
marketing mix of Zara and H&M. End of this project discuss about basic marketing plan for an
organisation.
LO 1
A Roles and responsibilities of the marketing function relate to Zara
Organisation performs various types of function related to marketing including plan,
product and research development. In order to design policies regarding and allocate resources,
which are essential to achieve long and short term objective. Zara has clear objective to provide
quality products and satisfy the demand of customer's. Planning is essential for achieving
realistic target, some responsibilities and roles of marketing functions are as follows.
Product development plan: marketing department coordinate with production department in
order to satisfy current demand of people. Zara design dresses and products according to the
consumer requirement, which is essential to establish good brand image (Brychkov and
Domegan, 2017). Marketing strategy help business in promoting new products which is essential
to increase consumer base.
Market research: in order to recognise consumer demand, it is significant to carry out
marketing research. This strategy helps Zara in discovering new target market and continuously
record the opinions and views of consumers. In order to identify current marketing trend and
identify issues, it is essential to carry out these procedures.
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Promotion: promotion of the products helps in communicating important details and
information to the targeted audience (Scarborough, 2016). Zara introduce new products by
providing relative merits, which will increase the sale by attracting new consumers.
Public relation: it is significant to create good public relation in order to develop trust and brand
loyalty. Zara manage spread of information in an effective way to establish good image, strong
communication skill is used to deliver message across the sea. Aim of company is to reach its
potential buyers and assure that positive image is maintained.
Sales: marketing function help in enhancing the sale and revenue of business. Zara design
products according to consumers’ instructions, which motivate them to purchase it.
Retaining the market: retaining of market is the fundamental role of business, companies offer
product which enables to attract buyers. Zara always come up with show case plans like offer,
discounts etc. to build up strong relation with customers and retain them.
Good brand name: marketing play crucial role in establishing of good brand name, which will
increase loyalty of customers towards the Zara (Andrews and Shimp, 2017). This is possible if
company offer quality products and services to consumers and look after the requirements of
employee.
B Analyse the role and responsibilities of marketing in the context of marketing environment
Marketing deals with managing and controlling the process of product development
which include promotion, sales, etc. there are various roles and responsibilities of marketing in
context to marketing environment.
Formulation of marketing plan and strategy: organisation design products and procedures
according to end goals which is essential part of advertisement (Polo Peña and et.al., 2016).
Development of right marketing plan help to gain competitive advantage. Zara objective is to
deliver quality products and maximise its profits, so they design strategy to accomplish the same.
Management of marketing information system: Marketing information system deals with
continuous interaction with people in effective manner and it also includes equipment that
improve existing marketing policies. Zara design and support various decision of management
like price, with the help of effective marketing function.
Conducting market audit: marketing audit help in identifying strength and weakness of current
production process. Zara explore all the operation and determine whether policy is implemented
in effective manner or not. Management conduct research process to identify new ideas and
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procedures which are required to be followed by business. Market audit is responsible for
rendering quality products and delivering relevant information to clients.
Market segmentation: marketing segmentation deals with dividing large unit into various
smaller parts with same characteristics (Brychkov and Domegan, 2017). Customers with similar
taste and demand are grouped under one head, each segment differ from the other segment. This
make implementation of marketing strategy easier and simpler, to increase customer's base. Zara
choose reasonable market with the help market segmentation.
C Analyse the significance of interrelationship between marketing and other functional unit of an
organisation
Marketing department synchronise and coordinate with different department of business
in order to increase productivity. Department can communicate important message and
instructions, this will reduce confusion and employees will work together to accomplish common
goal and objectives. Effective interrelationship between all departments will minimise the
wastage and will help in increasing overall profitably of business. Some department are as
follows
Production department: production department manufacture products to maintain balance
between supply and demand. Marketing manager conducts research study to identify current
trend on the basis of study design product. Zara design products according to instructions and
specification of clients (Hill,2017).
Production department assure that volume of goods is delivered to customers within a
prescribed time frame. It assures products are manufactured with compliance of health and safety
requirement to minimise the defective items. To achieve competitive advantage Zara, utilise
resources to meet the deadline of distributing of goods (De Mooij, 2018). Marketing manager
will provide all the detail regarding the units that has to be developed and accordingly production
department will focus on developing units as per to meet the need of customers.
Finance department: every business operates within its financial capabilities; superiors allocate
budget to carry out various activities of department. Marketing department implement policies to
capture market and increase its sale volume (Hamzahand Sutanto, 2016).
Finance department is more focused towards inflow and outflow of cash and assure that
all cost of marketing actives is covered. For example, finance department in Zara has prepared
budget for research, promotion and distribution. In order to implement any type of strategies in
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marketing of products or services, then it requires to have financial support so that all the
activities set by marketing can be conductedThus, it shows an interrelationship between
functional unit and marketing department.
Human resource department: important role of human resource department is to select capable
employees to perform task effectively. As mentioned above, company conduct research
programs before developing of new products and procedures (Nyuur, Brečićand and Simintiras,
2016). This is technical process and it requires skilled and capable staff to undertake these
activities.
Marketing department is concerned about increasing revenue, this is possible with efforts
of competent sales team. HRM department is responsible for meeting the training recruitment
and demand of workforce all over the organisation. In each of the activities that has to be carried
out, it is important to have support from the side of workers. In this context, when marketing
department are in need of workers for particular post, then this information will be passed on to
HR department so that they hire and fill the requirements (Liu and et.al., 2018).
D Analyse and evaluate the key elements of marketing function and how they are interrelated
Marketing function play crucial role in attracting new consumers and developing
successful market plans. This is regard as important function that help organisation in achieving
goals and maximising overall profitability and productivity of business. It is significant to
maintain coordination between various activities of department, in order to achieve particular
goals.
Marketing functions are performed by employees to attain particular goal in a prescribed
time frame. Some important elements are given below
Promotion-
This is significant function of marketing which deals with promoting and advertising
newly launched products and services, effective communication helps Zara in delivering
message (Malhotra, 2015). The main objective of promotion is to spread awareness and increase
overall revenue of business.
Market research-
Market research deals with critical evaluation of the environment, before launching of
any new product or services. Zara identifies the demands and wants of consumers and design
products on the basis of that. It is significant for business to conduct research, which provide
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them with an opportunity of expanding their operations. Main motive of Zara is to design clothes
according to present trend, to increase sales and consumer base.
Data collected in marketing research help production department in developing products
according to customers’ requirement. Good relations with clients can be established by
predicting the customer's demand (Liu and et.al., 2018).
Distribution-
it consists of all activities which are performed to deliver finish products to customers,
this is an important part of marketing function. Zara has selected intermediaries for efficient
distribution of finished products because it is difficult to maintain direct contact with customers
(Gnizy and Shoham, 2014). This procedure is lengthy and complex, so it is important to have
enough resources to carry out this activity.
Physical distribution of finished good is essential for marketing department because it
satisfies the requirement of clients. For example, Zara deliver its products by minimising the
intermediaries and distribution channels (Larson and Draper, 2015).
Customer service- customer service is an important element of marketing function because main
motive of business is to satisfy demand. Zara provide various facilities like 24*7 helpline, in
order to establish good relation with potential buyers. Customer service is essential for sale
department to increase its sale and revenue. If all queries and problems of clients are resolved
effectively, it will retain existing customer's. They resolve all issues and provide proper
instruction to clients
LO 2
1 Compare the ways in which different organisation apply marketing mix to marketing planning
process to achieve business objectives
Marketing mix has been defined as tools and techniques which is used to achieve goals
and objective of business. This help in enhancing value of the products and increase its demand
and overall revenue (Liu and et.al., 2018). Here is the comparison between marketing mix of
Zara and H&M.
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Figure 1: Marketing mix
Sources: (Marketing mix of H&M, 2017)
Elements
of
marketing
mix
Zara H&M.
Product Zara is among leading fashion store
which design clothes for men, women
and children. Company offer wide range
of products including casual or formal.
They design products according to
clients’ specifications, and launch
almost 100000 new designs every year.
Zara form partnership with local talents
to satisfy buyers requirement. Company
H&M is fashion brand which offer pants,
jersey, jackets, basic, etc. they launch
new products at regular interval and
continuously. Reason behind increase in
sale is that they target young generation.
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aim at minimising wastage and use
biodegradable raw materials and
packaging material in order to maintain
sustainability in business environment
(De Mooij, 2018)
Price Company deliver quality products and
services at minimum cost as compared
to all luxury brand. Zara has developed
low pricing strategy which is essential to
capture market share (Larson and
Draper, 2015). Financial department of
the company do no spend money on
advertisement and raw materials. It
supplies products to specific market
because it is prices are country specific.
Company decide price according to
willingness of consumer.
Company has adopted broader pricing
range, which is suitable for every
segment of customers (Marketing mix of
H&M, 2017). H&M offer products at
discounted rates in order to increase their
sales. This make articles economical and
people prefer buying it. They have
reduced intermediaries in order to offer
quality products at lower range.
Place Zara is operating in more than 88
countries with 6800 stores, it offers
online shopping facilities to their buyers.
It is vertical integrated company which
cover all aspects of marketing mix
(Hamzahand Sutanto, 2016). Zara has
competitive advantage because it
launches new products within shortage
time duration. Store manager send
continuous orders to production
department to meet the said target of
sales. Zara stores attract many customers
from London, Paris, its maximum stores
H&M is second largest retailer in
clothing industry, it is currently
operating in more than 55 countries.
Headquarter of the company is situated
in Sweden, from where it controls and
manages all operations of business.
H&M has expanded its locations in
places which are reasonably accessible
and offer affordable prices.
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are situated in posh areas (Polo and
et.al., 2016).
Promotion Zara do not spend money on
advertisement because it is famous
clothing and accessories brands.
Company offer fashionable and stylish
clothes at reasonable price. It promotes
new products using social media which,
has more than 2.5 million of followers.
Zara utilise maximum percentage of its
revenue for expanding business
operations.
H &M has realised importance of
promotion and implemented various
promotional techniques to enhance
revenue of the company. Company
communicate all relevant information
and messages using electronic media and
smart phone (Hill,2017).
2 Evaluate different tactics applied by organisation to demonstrate the way through which
business objectives can be achieved
Business operate to achieve goals and design strategies which play crucial role in
delivering quality products and services. Some tactics which are required to improve strategic
plans are as follows.
Establish Your Vision, Mission, and Overarching Goals: there are several issues and problems,
which an organisation come across during its success and progress. Zara take continuous
feedback from clients and superiors which help in identifying strength, weakness, opportunities
and threats. There main objective is to deliver quality products and services, success of business
depends upon the capability of company.
Measure Your Progress: management should develop plans and policies to achieve primary
goals like profitability. Superiors of Zara measure actual performance with the standard and
identify reason of deviations (Kraenzlin and Nellen, 2015). It is significant to monitor every
strategy in order to keep record of performance.
Turn Long-Term Strategies into Short-Term Tactics: after identifying reasons of deviation, it is
important to minimise the gap between actual and benchmark set. Zara organise training
workshops to enhance performance level of employees, which will result in accomplishing long
term objective of business like increasing sale (Andrews and Shimp, 2017).
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Division of teams: in order to achieve objective business divide work in department on the basis
of job descriptions. Management effectively communicate ideas and instructions to team
members and coordinate their efforts in a common direction. Implementing of special
components in bottom line, will increase the knowledge and skills within groups working in an
organisation.
Results-Oriented Management Process: in the board meeting leaders communicate goals and
provide them with guidelines to achieve it ( Mierzejewska, 2017). Zara organise team meetings
regularly in order to resolve grievances and problems of workforce.
LO 3
1 Produce and evaluate basic marketing plan for an organisation
Executive summary:
Marketing plan is a document which provide guidelines for business advertisement and
actions which are required to achieve goals in a prescribed time frame. It describes about market
position of business and marketing mix applied by business to accomplish business objectives.
SWOT and PESTLE analysis help in identifying internal and external factors, currently ZARA is
planning to increase sale of 3% in coming 6 months (Scarborough, 2016).
Situational analysis
To achieve above mentioned goal, it is significant to develop strategic plan with the
capability to focus on quality goods and services. SWOT analysis help business in identifying
strength, weakness, opportunities and threats related to business environment (Kim, 2017). It will
help business to focus on potential clients and increase its customer base. By performing above
strategy effectively, organisation can implement policies to deal with appropriate situations.
Market objective:
In order to expand its business operation ZARA has targeted to increase its sale by
providing customers with quality products and services. They have targeted new clients, to
achieve the set target.
Segmentation target positioning (STP)
It is better to focus on particular market rather than whole market because it simplifies
the process of achieving target. Segmentation is the process where buyers or clients are divided
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according to their taste and preferences (Human, Bick and Singh, 2016). Targeting help business
in identifying the most profitable segment.
SWOT analysis
Strength:
ZARA design clothes and accessories on the basis of customers’ requirement, because
designer understand psychology of their client. Company offer superior and elegant quality
fabrics which include both casual and party wear dress. It has been observed that ZARA is
expanding operation globally, it has opened around 2200 stores worldwide.
Weaknesses:
Weakness of ZARA is that they cannot retain its customer's because it does not
specialise in anything. Company lack in advertising because company focus on minimising cost
of operation. ZARA is fast moving fashionable brand; they have less inventory of the latest
collection (ZARA PESTEL Analysis, 2018)
Opportunity:
ZARA is among one of the top brands which design clothes on the basis customer's
demand, which is flagship by company. Brand is becoming more popular resulting in growth and
development of market potential.
Threats:
ZARA need to spend money in advertising process and offer unique design to increase
its customers base (Hisrichand Ramadani, 2017). Company has threat from its competitors
because they offer same products, which has resulted in market saturation.
PESTLE analysis
Political factor:
Financial regulation which is part of political factor has direct impact on growth and
development of business (ZARA PESTEL Analysis, 2018). Law of foreign direct investment
make difficult for new local business to enter the market. Political disruption has affected the
supply chain, in order to overcome said difficulty ZARA has limited its supply chain to home
countries and other countries.
Economical factor
Economic activity is significant in business operation; ZARA follow low price strategy to
motivate customers to buy product. Recession in US has reduced purchasing power of people,
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