Marketing Principles & Practice: Huel Business Strategy Report

This report provides a comprehensive overview of marketing principles and practices, using Huel, a meal replacement company, as a central example. It defines marketing's role in business, explaining its contribution to achieving objectives like launching new products and increasing sales. The report analyzes external factors influencing marketing through PEST analysis, covering political, economic, social, and technological aspects. It also discusses the role of marketing in non-profit organizations and the elements of the marketing process, including market audits and SWOT analysis. Furthermore, the report reviews market segments for Huel's marketing mix, analyzes product positioning and distribution, and examines pricing and promotional strategies. Finally, it proposes strategic aims and objectives for a marketing plan, determines target markets, analyzes macro and micro environmental factors, and suggests a marketing mix, considering implementation factors. Desklib offers students access to this report and many other solved assignments.

Marketing Principles
and Practice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
1 Understand the role of marketing in business...............................................................................3
1.1 Explain how marketing can be defined business..............................................................3
1.2 Explain the contribution of marketing to the achievement of business objectives..........3
1.3 Analyse the external factors influencing marketing.........................................................4
1.4 Explain the role of marketing in a not for profit business................................................5
1.5 Explain the elements of the marketing process................................................................6
2 Understand the principles of marketing .......................................................................................7
(Covered in PPT)....................................................................................................................7
3 Understand the application of the marketing mix in a specific business......................................7
3.1 Review the market segments for a specific marketing mix in a specific business product or
business...................................................................................................................................7
3.2 Analyse how the business positions its products or services...........................................8
3.3 Explain how products are distributed.............................................................................10
3.4 Analyse the use of pricing strategies..............................................................................10
3.5 Analyse the promotional strategy used by the business.................................................11
4 Be able to develop a marketing plan for a specific product or service.......................................11
4.1 Propose strategic aims and objectives for the for a specific product or service plan.....11
4.2 Determine the target market/s for marketing activity, with justification.......................13
4.3 Analyse the macro and micro environmental factors influencing the marketing planning13
4.4 Propose a marketing mix for the product or service.......................................................15
4.5 Explain how factors relevant to the implementation of the plan have been considered 15
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................17
REFERENCE.................................................................................................................................18

INTRODUCTION
Marketing principles are the agreed upon marketing ideas which an organisation utilise
for an effective marketing strategy. These are principles in which the organisation create product
promotion strategies. Huel is taken as base company. Huel is a meal replacement which is
available in the form of liquid, grain or powder. The first product is made up of pea proteins,
sunflower, coconut oil MCT's and many more with several dietary supplements. Also half of its
products are sweetened with the help of sucralose and half sweetened with stevia. This
organisation was established by Julian Hearn and James Collier in 2014, headquartered in UK. In
this report, it covers the understanding the role of marketing business with the principles of
market. It also includes the applications of the marketing mix and a marketing plan for a specific
product or service.
1 Understand the role of marketing in business
1.1 Explain how marketing can be defined business
According to (CIM, 2015), marketing is the management process which is responsible for
anticipating, identifying and fulfilling the requirements of the customers profitably. This means
that marketing is solely have the responsibility for fulfilling the gap between the organisation and
customers (A brief summary of marketing and how it work, 2015).
As per Cyberclick, marketing is the procedure for the budding customers which are
interested in the product and service. This involves researching, promoting, selling and
distribution of the product and services (Marketing, 2021).
Business objective
 To launch a new product into the market
 To increase the number of sales of firm by 15%
 To expand market share
 To introduce new product into established market in order to increase their sales
1.2 Explain the contribution of marketing to the achievement of business objectives
Marketing is considered as art of selling commodities to the consumers who is willing to
purchase and fulfil their needs and desires. Marketing would help the organisation in elevating
their sales and generates revenue (Lee and Kotler, 2019). With the help of marketing, businesses
would be able to keep their customers. Business objectives assists organisation in launching of a

new product as well as helps in enter into a new market. Along with this, marketing would
assists the organisation in creating competitive advantages, improving the customer focus and
also enhance the reputation.
Marketing contribution to business objectives
Building competitive advantage: Through marketing, there would be balance between
the offerings of the rival organisations and expectation of the consumers through monitoring the
market. An effective marketing will able to captivate the customer's eye and it will make them to
do the transaction, thus increasing in the number of sales.
Increasing customer satisfaction:
The marketers have the ability to determine the requirement of customer and adopts marketing
strategies. They helps in shaping the cultural and individual personalities. Marketing done by
them make sure that they are able to satisfy the needs using exchange process.
Enhancing reputation
: Marketing assists in achieving the objectives as it is customer centric. Marketing supports in
fulfilling the expectations of the customers. This would helps in enhancing the reputation of the
organisation in the established market
Improving quality: Marketing plays an active role by improving the products. This would
attract the customers and they would tend to purchase the product.
1.3 Analyse the external factors influencing marketing
PEST analysis
PEST analysis is a method which is used by organisation to assess the external factors
which influence the operation in effort to become more competitive in the industry. In context to
the selected organisation, PEST analysis is mentioned below:
Political factors: The British government undergoing Brexit that would required to
update their agreements with British government. Brexit changes a lot of things for various
organisation in UK. Brexit is an opportunity as the selected organisation has redesign their
supply chain. Also, te firm could capitalise to gain competitive edge (Pavlidou and Efstathiades,
2020). Owing to Brexit, the organisation would have to transform their recruitment policy as
their staff members has relocated to UK from Europe. Brexit would demand the selected
organisation to hire more number of local resources which would create bottlenecks in the talent
management.

Economic factors: The economic structure would also alter owing to Brexit. The foreign
exchange rate would become issue for the organisation as Brexit causes fluctuation in the rates.
The declining purchase power for people of UK challenges the organisation as citizens of UK
can no longer has the ability to afford luxury brand. The living style of UK depicts that people
enjoy eating and like to utilise ready made food.
Social factors: Social environment is a macro force which is defining the consumer
behaviours and the mind set towards the food industry. The changes in social structure, available
customers, education and so on create impact on the selected organisation. The changing
demographic has a big impact on the organisation (Baidya, Maity and Srinivasan, 2020). There is
rise in advancement as well as technology in the food health and safety research customer and
actively looking at better meal choice. Also, the lifestyle is converting towards comfortable
living that indicates individuals consume products and also need assurance for a positive health
impact on the.
Technological factors: Emerging technologies could affect the function and operation of
the industry in which they operate. The influence could be both positive and negative to the
market. Research and development, automation and market technologies could be affected.
Owing to the social media, the organisation has able to deliver several opportunities that firm
could exploit to thriving for creating a robust industry support systems.
1.4 Explain the role of marketing in a not for profit business
Non profit marketing is the utilization of marketing strategies by a non profit firm to
advertise the message and the firm and also raising donations (Bruhn and Schnebelen, 2017).
Marketing goal comprises of promoting the firm and its message, motivating members, driving
political, raising funds. Marketing is vital for non profit organisation as it is for businesses and
utilises for the marketing strategies for interacting with the volunteers and donor. Marketing
raises awareness of the brand and this spreads the word about the firm and their cause. Marketing
helps in raising of funds for the non profit organisation as the more people know about the firm,
the more potential to raise the funds (Thieu and et. al., 2017). Marketing offers donation
memberships as well as monthly giving initiatives. All these programs are valuable for the
organisation as they doesn't have to fundraise actively and they could help in raising the money.
The non profit organisation could recruit volunteers with the help of marketing regardless of the

size of the firm. Marketing could helps in creating awareness, funds and volunteers as the more
number of people know about the organisation, the more number of people they could help.
1.5 Explain the elements of the marketing process
Elements of marketing process
Marketing process is the series of steps which allows the organisation to determine the
issues of the customers, analysing the market opportunities and develop such marketing material
to achieve the desired customers. The elements of marketing process is mentioned below:
Market audit: Market audit is a systematic analysis of the organisation's marketing
environment both internal and external. This includes the strategies, objectives goals and
principles in effort to determine the problems and opportunities and also recommendations which
is best suited for the need of the organisation (Fuentes and Fuentes, 2017).
SWOT analysis
: SWOT analysis is a tool which is used by organisation in order to identify the strength,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organisation. In context to the selected organisation,
SWOT analysis is mentioned below:
Strength: Strengths are the elements which makes the organisation stand out of
the crowd. The organisation is producing vegan meal replacements as well as gluten free
replacements. They are selling products at lower price as compared to its competitors such as
Ample V.
Weaknesses: Weaknesses are those elements which stops the firm from
performing at optimum level. One of the major drawback is brand recognition. Though the
organisation is selling its offering into various countries still many people does not aware of the
products which is selling by the organisation (Ang, 2021).
Opportunities: Opportunities are those which could provide the firm competitive
edge. As the organisation doesn't have brand recognition, the company could use promotional
method to create awareness about its offering in various countries.
Threats: Threats are those elements which has the potential to harm the firm. One
of the key threats of the organisation is COVID 19 pandemic. COVID 19 has created a huge
impact on the various industries and lives of individuals in which industries were shut down due
to the impose of lock down. Owing to COVID 19, the individuals were doing work from their

homes. In context to the selected organisation, the organisation was not able to operate properly
as well as customers switch to online shopping (Zahay, 2021).
Planning:The planning method used to attain aims and objective will be action planning.
This involves focusing on day to day and individual projects so that daily tasks are attained in
timely manner. This suitable method for planning as timely completion of daily activities and
individual projects will assist in attainment of long-term goals and aims. Huel will be able to
apply this planning method to attain business objectives in a timely manner. This planning
method will focus on constructing short-term goals which are easy to achieve and are able to
unify the workforce. The attainment of these short term goals will contribute to completion of
long-term aims and objectives (Payne, Frow and Eggert, 2017).
Constraints: The main constrains Huel will face in introduction of new product are
attracting consumers and developing post introduction refinement strategy. In addition to this
main constraints related with the selected planning method is that it reduces flexibility. Huel will
not be able to implement changes to adopt to changing external circumstances. This constraint
can also lead to failure of the company as changing external circumstance impact success of the
newly launched products. Apart from this another constraint associated with action planning is
that it will limit creativity of the company. Huel will not able to utilize creative marketing tactics
because of creativity constraints.
Options: The main option for planning is strategic planning. This can help the respective
firm plan for different scenarios and develop strategies to attain long-term objectives
(Tweneboah-Koduah, Atsu and Odoom 2018). The main limitation of strategic planning is that
complex and time consuming.
2 Understand the principles of marketing
(Covered in PPT)
3 Understand the application of the marketing mix in a specific business
3.1 Review the market segments for a specific marketing mix in a specific business product or
business
Demographic

Demographic is the distribution of products among customers according to their age and
gender. Huel is offering its vegan and gluten free products for the people of age group between
25-45.
Socio-economic
Due to increasing awareness of protecting environment and animals, people are shifting
their eating habits from unhealthy to healthy food products. The dietary preferences of people are
shifting towards plant- based and vegan food products. Huel main purpose is to provide healthy
and environmental friendly products to its customers (Rezaee and Heidarzadeh, 2021).
Geographic
Geographic distribution of Huel covers all the areas of UK as it is available offline and
online for its customers. The company is also serving products worldwide and had covers almost
80 countries and served approximately 50 million meals around the globe.
Psychographic
The main targeted customers of Huel are those people who are health conscious and
working employees. As working people does not have time to cook a proper meal, the products
of Huel provides a instant nutritional food which includes all vitamins, proteins and all the
essential nutrients a person requires (Mataracı and Kurtuluş, 2020).
3.2 Analyse how the business positions its products or services
Porter’s competitive forces
For an organisation analysing and identifying competitive forces is necessary to
determine its weaknesses and strengths. Porter's five forces determine several forces and their
impact on an organisation. Porter's model analysing helps to understand the level of competition
within the sector and frameworks the strategies that enhances the long term portability of an
organisation.
 Suppliers' Bargaining Power:
This is determine by how suppliers are responsible to increase the cost of inputs. It
depends on the number of suppliers, the fewer the supplier, the more the organisation would
depend (Hanulakova, DAŇO and Drabik, 2019). Business and service selling of Huel to
consumer market depends on suppliers such as importers and distributors thus, it is most
essential part of business. The bargaining power of suppliers is high as there is an extensive

monopolise among suppliers and creates difficulty in running company profitably, as one is
dependent on one supplier.
 Buyers' Bargaining Power:
Buyers are the the important individual who buys the product and services of the
organisation. The number of buyers directly influence the strategies of the company. Today the
well informed buyers know their choices and preferences. Loyalty of customers towards
company are the foundation of profitable business. The targeted customers of Huel is people
between age of 25-45 which mostly uses social media platforms such as Facebook more often
and communicate with each other on vegan as well as meal replacement food related topics.
With this direct flow of information between customers creates a large bargaining power of
buyers (Gilligan and Lowe, 2018).
 Threat of Substitutes:
The next in five forces focuses on substitutes that are available in the place of products
produced by the company. There are various other companies that offers meal replacement
options this creates threat of substitute services for Huel. The size of overlapping place could not
be easy to identify, but companies that offer meal replacement will be rivals as they will be
serving the same market that Huel would. Other substitute of food in the market might include
products available for customers in the local supermarket or shops. In order to minimize this
threat company must focus on perceived value of customers and customer services.
 Threat of New Entrants:
A company's position is also affected by the new organisations' entries in the market.
This identifies that how difficult or easy it is for competitors to enter in market, the easy join
increases risk for company to expand business. In case of Huel, there is a considerable amount of
threat of new company entering meal replacement industry in UK. As currently the vegan market
has not being properly explored, some companies will utilize this opportunity to fill this market
gap. This will result into establishment of various vegan organisations in a short period of time
and because of this, the level of competition in the marketplace might increase (Gossen,
Ziesemer and Schrader, 2019).
 Competitive Rivalry:
The last of five forces refers to the number and strength of the other organisation that
deals with the similar products. Customers with the need to buy food replacement seem to have

various options and from this it could be estimated that there is some level of competition in the
market.
3.3 Explain how products are distributed
Products are distributed in the market to customers through direct and indirect methods.
Direct methods include buying of products form manufactures and indirect distribution allows
consumers to buy products form wholesaler or retailer. Huel is using direct method of
distribution for its products as it allows the company to collect customer's valuable data of their
buying habits.
This method distinguish company from its competitors as well as provides an immediate
feedback of product performance from customers. This method helps in building a strong and
genuine relationship with its consumers as products reach faster to them. A direct approach to
customers provides a fast and reliable connection in today's world of digitalisation which ensures
customer's satisfaction (Saren, 2017) (McAlindon, 2017).
Using this method, Huel can eliminate the profit sharing of third party, high markups and
cost of hiring people for distribution of its products. As the company is in direct contact with
customers it enables Huel to maintain its consistency in service towards buyers. Direct
distribution builds trust and confidence among customers for the company as it maintain the
information regarding their data confidential. The elimination of middlemen results into lower
cost of distribution and hence, boost the profitability of company.
3.4 Analyse the use of pricing strategies
An organisation could use various types of pricing strategies when selling a commodity
and an effective pricing strategies is vital for a constant sales. In context to the selected
organisation, they are utilising competitive pricing strategy as the price of product of Huel is less
than its competitors such as Ample V, Vega and many more. Competitive pricing is the
procedure of choosing strategic prices points to take an appropriate as well as best advantages of
the commodities on the basis of market related competition (Shaikh and Kazmi, 2021). This
pricing strategy is used as there are many companies which are selling the similar products. The
pricing strategies is the easiest method as the pricing of competitors are publicly displayed and it
is easy for them to copy. This allows the company to incur the costs of introducing an optimum
price.

Along with this, this method carries low risks as there are various competitors of Huel
and millions of sales takes place everyday. Thus, the organisation would be able to reach an
equilibrium price. Competitive pricing allows the organisation to regulate the competition by
eliminating the loss of market share to competitors as well as customers. By making the prices
low, the customers would be more inclined towards Huel.
3.5 Analyse the promotional strategy used by the business
Promotion is considered as an attempt by the marketer to create awareness about their
organisation and its offerings. The organisation uses various promotional strategies in order to
advertise, promote and sell their products and services (Lalaounis, 2017) (Jamshido'g'li,
RakhmonjonZokirjono'g'li and Kholdorovna, 2020). An organisation chooses its promotional
strategy on the basis of factors such as marketing budget, target audience, product type and so
on. Promotion is vital for an organisation as only through promotion, the individuals would be
able to get to know about the offerings of the organisation, any promotional discounts offered by
the firm and so on.
The selected organisation uses social media heavily for promoting their products. Social
media is considered as a marketing tool which is utilised by the organisation to promote their
offerings. Through social media, they are able to communicate large number of people at a same
time. The organisation uses Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and many more for their promotion.
They create and post videos, images, short video and many more to create awareness about their
products. They uses stories to engagement with the audience such as by using polls on Instagram
stories.
4 Be able to develop a marketing plan for a specific product or service
4.1 Propose strategic aims and objectives for the for a specific product or service plan
 To introduce a new product feature or service
Huel ltd. is going to introduce new product in the market which is an Organic Milk Powder high
in protein and without adding animal fat. This powder will not include any harmful chemicals
and will be absolutely safe for children. No artificial flavourings will be added to the powders so
that the originality will be maintained. The company will launch the product for three different
age groups which is for 0-3, 4-20, 20 above. It is important for the company to make sure that the
information about the product is reaching to the potential customers of the company (Driesener

and Rungie, 2021). The product of the company will be very beneficial for working mothers as
they will be able to provide all the nutrition to their kids without being present physically. Also
the pack of the product is travel friendly which is why it will be very easy to travel with the pack
without any hassle. The parents can also store the product for 5 to 6 days and can use it
according to their convenience.
 To enter new market
As the product of the company is completely new the market of united kingdom will be
considered as the new market for the product. Another market in which the company can enter is
the market of China. The markets of China does not have any major competition for the
company also the people of China does not trust their domestic dairy product companies.
 To expand market share
The product of the company is highly suitable for all age groups of the society. As the product of
the company is organic and contains all the natural ingredient it makes it more beneficial for the
customers. In order to increase the market share of the company, it is important for the company
to have a wider reach and to make sure that they are able to attract potential customers of the
company.
 To increase sales
As the product of the company is available in different ranges it is suitable for all age groups
which makes the demand of the product high. It will help the company in capturing large share
of the market. When the company is able to attract customers the sales of the company will
automatically increase.
 To increase profits
As the product of the company is completely safe for children as well as new born babies it will
help the company in capturing a new market segment. Their are a limited number of products in
the market which are completely safe for the children and it will increase the sales of the product
which will impact on the profitability of the company.
 To enhance reputation
As the company is providing best quality products to the customers, it will enhance the brand
reputation of the company and will make sure that company is able to build trust among the
customers (Newman, Peck and Wilhide., 2017). It will help the company in building a loyal
customers base which is an important aspect of the company.