Marketing Essentials Report: Marks and Spencer Analysis and Functions

This report provides a comprehensive overview of marketing essentials, focusing on the roles of marketing as a function of business, the structure of a marketing department (using Marks and Spencer as a case study), and the marketing process. It delves into the importance of the marketing environment and analyzes the inter-relationships between the marketing department and other departments such as operations, human resources, and finance. The report covers key marketing functions, including market research, planning, distribution, promotion, and customer service. It also examines the four major elements of the marketing process: situation analysis, marketing strategy, marketing mix decisions, and implementation and control. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and emphasizing the significance of effective marketing practices for business success.

Marketing essentials

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1. Roles of marketing as a function of business..........................................................................1
2. Structure of marketing department of Marks and Spencer.....................................................2
3. Overview of marketing process and importance of marketing environment .........................3
4. Analysis of marketing functions and its inter-relationship with other departments...............5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Marketing may be defined as a process through which relationships are created with the
customers with the objective of keeping them satisfied. There are various essentials of marketing
which play a major role towards carrying out marketing smoothly. Marks and Spencer is a
multinational retail company, with its headquarter in united kingdom. The company was founded
around 135 years ago that is in the year 1884. This report will include the roles of marketing
along with the structure of marketing department. Apart from this, overview of the marketing
process would be provided. Furthermore, importance of marketing environment and analysis of
inter-relationship with other departments would be discussed.
TASK 1
1. Roles of marketing as a function of business
There are different kinds of roles of marketing as a function of business. These roles are
discussed in detail below:
To set the objectives of marketing: the most important function of marketing is to set its
objectives. The basic reason behind setting the objectives is that, it would provide a clear
direction to the employees regarding carrying out their marketing activities(Mandal, 2017). This
would in turn help the employees in combining their efforts towards the attainment of a mutual
objective efficiently. There are different kinds of marketing objectives that could be set by an
organisation depending on its nature, size or competition. For example, the marketing objectives
set by Marks and Spencer is to expand its business operation in an entirely new segment of
market.
Market research: another important role of marketing as a function is to carry out
thorough research of the market. Marks and Spencer invest huge amount of funds in its research
and development department so as to identify the current trends in market as well as need and
preferences of the customers. This is very important for the organisation in order to gain the
competitive advantage over its rivalry firms by beating its competitors.
Planning: it is very important to plan each and every element of marketing in order to
carry out marketing activities smoothly. Hence, in order to carry out marketing smoothly Marks
and Spencer prepare a blueprint of all the marketing activities that need to be carried out in order
to achieve the marketing objectives effectively and efficiently(Ahmed, 2018).
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Distribution: distribution may be defined as a channel through which goods or made
available to the end users. Marks and Spencer lays a strong emphasis on development of a
smooth distribution channel so as to keep its customer satisfied. My developing efficient
distribution channel, company is able to serve the customers in a timely and efficient manner.
The company has adopted multiple-distribution channel to make its products available to the end
users.
Promotion: another important role of marketing function is promotion. It is important
because if a company fails to promote its products efficiently than it wont be able to survive and
grow its operations for a long duration of time. Hence, the company makes every possible
attempt to promote its products in a very efficient manner.
Marketing information system: it plays a vital role in understanding the target audience
as well as target market. This system has been formulated for the purpose of collecting
information regarding the interest, preferences or requirement of the customers and the analysing
them crucially for the purpose of drawing conclusions from them.
Consumer support service: since consumers are the most important part of every
business, it is very important to take care about their well-being in order to run the business
smoothly(Davenport and Phillips, 2016). Thus, Marks and Spencer in order to keep its customers
satisfied provide various kinds of consumer support services to them. These support services
include after sales services, technical services, grievance handling services and many more.
2. Structure of marketing department of Marks and Spencer
It is very important to establish well-defined structure in the marketing department in
order to encourage smooth flow of information within the department. Structure of marketing
department of Marks and Spencer is:
Vice president of the marketing department – he/she is the senior most person of the
marketing department and is responsible for formulation of plans and policies regarding carrying
out marketing activities in an efficient manner. He/she is the person who is held responsible for
the marketing results of the company and hence for this purpose they keep a keen focus on all the
aspects related to the marketing. Vice president of marketing department of Marks and Spencer,
constantly oversees the marketing strategies as well as efforts in order to maintain and grow its
market position towards the attainment of business objectives.
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Marketing director – marketing director plays a very important role towards the
attainment of marketing objectives. They are responsible for monitoring the entire marketing
processes so as to ensure that marketing efforts are directed in the right direction towards the
attainment of their objectives(Feng, Morgan and Rego, 2015). Moreover, they oversee the
accounts of entire marketing department along with the evaluation of results.
Market researchers – they are most important element of marketing structure as they
examine the market crucially in order to know about the taste and preferences of the customers
and to provide them the products of recent trends. Marks and Spencer is known for investing
huge amount of funds in research and development in order to gain competitive advantage over
the rivalry firms.
Designer or creative services - they provide support services to the marketing department
for the purpose of retaining existing customers as well as attracting new customers. They create
brochers or pamphlets of the company in a very attractive manner which grabs the eyes of the
customers instantly and thus in turn promote the sales of the company.
Public relation employees – they are one of the most important part of market structure
as they play a vital role in increasing the sales of a company by marketing its products through
word of mouth(Schlegelmilch, 2016). They help in saving the cost of the company in relation to
marketing of its products because no advertisement expense is incurred. Furthermore, they have
the capability to persuade the customers to come and buy our products.
3. Overview of marketing process and importance of marketing environment
Marketing process includes four major elements. These element are discussed in brief below:
Situation analysis – it is generally carried out in order to identify the situation which has
lead to dis-satisfaction on the part of customers. The basic reason behind carrying out situation
analysis is to identify the needs and wants of the customers and then making efforts to keep them
satisfied by fulfilling their requirements. Marks and Spencer carries out analysis of both internal
as well as external environment in order to understand the capabilities of the organisation to deal
with the situation as well as deep analysis of environment in which the business is operating.
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Marketing strategy – marketing strategies are formulated in order to carry out all the
activities of an organisation in a planned manner so that the company is able to grab the
opportunity as soon as it arises(McDonald and Wilson, 2016). Marks and Spencer is known for
formulation of efficient market strategy in order to achieve their marketing objectives effectively
and efficiently. Marketing strategies towards identification of target market, segmentation and
positioning of products in the mind of customers.
Marketing mix decisions – these are the most important decisions because if these
decisions are taken properly and accurately then the company would be able to earn maximum
profits. These decisions are taken by the marketing department very crucially be taking into
consideration each and every element of marketing mix. Marketing mix is basically comprised of
four elements and these elements are people, product, price and promotion.
Implementation and control – the last stage of marketing process is implementation and
control. At this stage all the processes and practices should be monitored properly. If any
loopholes are found then efforts should be made to eliminate them by having a proper control
over the processes(Miles and et.al., 2015). it is very important to have implement the process
efficiently in order to attain the objectives of the organisation effectively and efficiently.
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Illustration 1: marketing process
source: (The marketing process,
2015)

Importance of marketing environment
there are numerous advantages of marketing environment to marketing function. For
example: Marks and Spencer, by making internal analysis is able to determine the impact of
marketing activities on different product mix. Apart from that, company even pay immense
emphasis on carrying out external analysis by evaluating the performance of market competitors
in order to formulate the strategies to beat them and gain competitive environment(Gillespie and
Riddle, 2015). Hence, company crucially examines each and every aspect of marketing
environment in order to carry out their marketing functions efficiently for the purpose of
attainment of marketing objectives effectively and efficiently.
4. Analysis of marketing functions and its inter-relationship with other departments
There are various functions of marketing that are undertaken by a business organisation
in order to achieve its goals and objectives. These functions include carrying out market research
for the purpose of understanding the needs and wants of the customers as well as preparation of
marketing plan to carry out all the marketing activities efficiently. Apart from this, it includes
constant attention over advertising, distribution, promotion, customer service and public
relations.
Marketing department has inter-relationship with other functional departments as well
such as:
Inter-relationship of marketing department with operations and production
department: one of the most important function of marketing department is to carry out
marketing research. Marketing research helps the organisation in understanding the recent trends
in the market along with the needs and wants of the customers. This information is then
transferred to production department which produces the products based on the requirement of
the customers(Choi, Min and Joo, 2018). Thus, establishment of smooth relationship between
both the departments is very essential for the purpose of attainment of the business objectives.
Inter-relationship between marketing department and human resource: human
resource department is concerned with people element of the business. They are responsible for
managing and hiring the employees for the marketing department by analysing their capabilities.
In the absence of human resource department, marketing department would not be able to
manage its activities properly towards the attainment of their objectives effectively and
efficiently.
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Inter-relationship of marketing department and finance department – both the
departments are inter-related because marketing cannot be carried out in the absence of funds.
Thus, in order to carry out marketing activities smoothly, it is very essential to receive funds
from finance department on a timely basis. Furthermore, finance department also provide support
to marketing department in various other forms such as it provides the information regarding the
pricing policies to the marketing department. Hence, marketing department cannot run its
activities smoothly without the proper support of finance department(Strese and et.al., 2016).
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been summarised that there are various functions of
marketing such as marketing research, preparation of marketing plan, advertising, promotion,
distribution and customer service. Even marketing process was discussed in detail which
included 4 major steps that is situation analysis, marketing strategy, marketing mix decisions,
implementation and control. Apart from this, structure of marketing department of the company
was discussed in detail which comprised of five major levels. Top most position is acquired by
vice president of marketing department then marketing directors, marketing researchers,
designers and public relation employees.
Moreover, inter-relationship of marketing department with other functional departments
were discussed in detail. Inter-relationship of marketing department with production department,
human resource department and finance department was discussed. Most importantly, roles of
marketing were discussed in detail. These roles include market research, planning, distribution,
promotion, setting marketing objectives, etc.
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REFERENCES
Books and journal
Ahmed, M.T., 2018. Roles of sales and marketing department to satisfy their prospective clients.
Choi, S.B., Min, H. and Joo, H.Y., 2018. Examining the inter-relationship among competitive
market environments, green supply chain practices, and firm performance. The
International Journal of Logistics Management. 29(3). pp.1025-1048.
Davenport, T.H. and Phillips, J., 2016. The future of marketing automation. Applied Marketing
Analytics. 2(3). pp.213-224.
Feng, H., Morgan, N.A. and Rego, L.L., 2015. Marketing department power and firm
performance. Journal of Marketing. 79(5). pp.1-20.
Gillespie, K. and Riddle, L., 2015. Global marketing. Routledge.
Mandal, P.C., 2017. Marketing intelligence: roles in business decision-making. International
Journal of Business Forecasting and Marketing Intelligence. 3(4). pp.433-441.
McDonald, M. and Wilson, H., 2016. Marketing Plans: How to prepare them, how to profit from
them. John Wiley & Sons.
Miles, M. and et.al., 2015. Exploring entrepreneurial marketing. Journal of Strategic
Marketing. 23(2). pp.94-111.
Schlegelmilch, B.B., 2016. Marketing: A Global Discipline. In Global Marketing Strategy (pp.
1-19). Springer, Cham.
Strese, S. and et.al., 2016. Organizational antecedents of cross-functional coopetition: The
impact of leadership and organizational structure on cross-functional
coopetition. Industrial Marketing Management. 53. pp.42-55.
online
The marketing process. 2015. [online]. Available through:
<http://www.netmba.com/marketing/process/>
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