Marketing Principles and Practice Report: Marks and Spencer Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of marketing principles and practices, focusing on the case of Marks and Spencer. It begins with an introduction to marketing, defining its role in building customer relations, promoting products, and achieving organizational goals. The report then delves into the application of marketing principles by Marks and Spencer, examining the influence of external factors such as the economy, legal regulations, and social trends. It explores the marketing mix elements (product, place, price, promotion, people) and market segmentation strategies employed by the company, including demographic, socio-graphic, psycho-graphic, and geographic segmentation. The report further discusses the importance of market segmentation and research methods used by Marks and Spencer, including primary and secondary research, and how technology, particularly social media and search engine optimization, impacts marketing activities. The report concludes with a review of specific marketing strategies for party wear apparels, including socio-economic market segmentation.

Marketing Principles and
Practice

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1...........................................................................................................................................1
1.2...........................................................................................................................................1
1.3...........................................................................................................................................2
1.4...........................................................................................................................................3
1.5...........................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
2.1...........................................................................................................................................4
2.2...........................................................................................................................................4
2.3...........................................................................................................................................5
2.4...........................................................................................................................................6
2.5...........................................................................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
3.1...........................................................................................................................................7
3.2...........................................................................................................................................7
3.3...........................................................................................................................................7
3.4...........................................................................................................................................8
3.5...........................................................................................................................................8
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
4.1...........................................................................................................................................9
4.2...........................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the tool used by business organisation to build customer relation and
introduce and promote the product in the market. It also helps the company to enhance the sales
and attaining goals and objective effectively and efficiently. So, the business organisation
designs strategies and adopts practices to attract a wide range of customers. For better
understanding of the topic, Marks and Spencer has been chosen in the present report which
specialises in selling of clothes as well as home and luxury products. Present report has
explained the contribution of marketing in attaining goals and objectives and analysed the
external factors influencing the same. This report critically reviewed different elements of
marketing mix and methods of segmenting markets.
TASK 1
1.1
Marketing is the tool that is used by business organisation to promote or introduce
products in the market to enhance its customer base. It is the process which helps in increasing
sales, revenue and profitability of company (Prentice and Arnheim, 2013). Various associations
and bodies have given with different marketing definition as given below:
 The Chartered Institute of Marketing have given official academic definition of
Marketing as “Marketing is the part of management process that aims to identify,
evaluate and meet customer’s requirements that contribute in enhancing the profitability
of company.” (Spiller and et.al, 2013)
 The American Marketing Association has explained the concept of marketing as
“Marketing is an activity and process that aims to create, communicate and exchange
offering that creates value for customers, clients, organisation and the society at large”.
(Palmer, 2012)
 Dr. Philip Kotler has suggested that marketing is the science and art of researching,
creating and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market. (Armstrong and et.al,
2014)
1.2
Marketing plays a crucial role in management process that aims to attain goals and objectives of
organisation in the following ways:
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 Increasing the sales and profit: It helps Marks and Spencer to identify the needs and
expectations of customers and designs their products accordingly (Fletcher and Breitling,
2012). If the product is as per the requirement of consumers, it will enhance the sales and
ultimately contribute in increasing profitability of company. Marketing has contributed in
attainment of goals and objectives in the following ways: Introduce a new product: Business can reach at the desired position if the products or
services offered have created a positive image in the minds of public and marketing plays
major role in creating position of the product (Spiller and et.al, 2013.). Marketing
includes various promotional activities to introduce the product in market.
 Expand market share: If company wants to enhance its market share, they can design
marketing strategies such as using innovative packaging and creating awareness about the
product.
1.3
The management of Marks and Spencer designs marketing strategies by considering various
external and internal business environment. External factors play a crucial role in
influencing the marketing functions which are explained in the following ways: Economy: Economic condition of country affects the marketing policies of Marks and
Spencer. For instance, at the time of recession, people do not have sufficient liquid funds
to spend on the products. So, the demand of products gets declined (Reinecke, Manning
and Von Hagen, 201). As a result of it, company allocates less amount of funds on
marketing and focuses on the promotion of necessary goods. Legal: The government's laws and regulations have a great impact on company's policies.
For instance, imposition of new taxes affect the purchasing power of consumers and thus,
to keep a reasonable price of product, company cuts cost on its marketing.
 Social: Marks and Spencer designs its marketing strategies as per the preference and
expectations of society as a whole. Nowadays, people prefer internet to surf about any
product or service as a result of which companies use search engine optimization
marketing tool to create awareness about the product.
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1.4
Marketing not only contribute in commercial organisation but also plays a major role in not
for profit organisations in the following ways: Providing information to change public attitude: NGOs have used marketing to create
awareness about health hazards and organized various campaigns for promoting health
and welfare of people (Morrison, 2013). Giving information and generating income: Not for profit organisation raises funds
from the public to help society and for social cause. So, through advertisement in
newspaper and television. They can reach the wealthy people to ask them to donate in
monetary and non monetary form for the social cause.
 Social marketing: It helps not for profit organizations to influence social behaviour for
benefitting the society at large. It is mostly undertaken to create awareness about drug
abuse, heart disease and organ donation.
1.5
Marks and Spencer undertakes following marketing process to promote or introduce the product: Environmental analysis: The marketing department of Marks and Spencer analyses
internal and external environment to determine the factors that can affect marketing
strategy and have to be considered while making marketing plan. Setting aims and objectives: Before designing the marketing strategy, Marks and Spencer
set goals that would provide a clear direction in planning and designing strategies. For
instance, they can make objectives to enhance the sales by 10 percent by targeting people
of age in between 18-25 years. Planning: In this element of marketing, management designs plan on considering the
above elements and decides promotional tools that are to be used to attain the above aim
and objectives. Implementation: They implement the above element of planning into action by
undertaking different promotional tools to create a strong link with consumers
(Christopher, Payne. and Ballantyne, 2013).
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 Monitoring: They consistently monitor and control the marketing activities to determine
whether the plan is implemented in the same manner and undertaken corrective measures
in case of any deviations or not.
TASK 2
2.1
Marketing mix is the combination of various activities in order to promote and place the
product of a company in the market. Marks and Spencer makes the use of traditional as well as
extended elements of marketing mix to promote its product and the same has been highlighted
below:
1. Product: The various products provided by the company is clothes, luxurious food and
home products. The brand image of the company is so high and reputed that it becomes
easy to sell its product world wide. Moreover, it provides products that are durable in
nature.
2. Place: The company has set outlets in every corner of the world and moreover, it is
selling its products online.
3. Price: Economic pricing strategies is being adopted by the company, so that it becomes
easily affordable for the customers (Schwartz, 2012).
4. Promotion: M&S promotes its product through the use of social media sites such as
Facebook and twitter. It also creates ads in newspaper and television.
5. People: Lastly, it keeps in minds the needs of its employees and customer’s in designing
various strategies.
2.2
Market segmentation is the process of dividing the entire market into small sectors based
on the age, income and behaviour of the individual. This enable the firm to target the respective
segment of market and to serve their needs to the fullest. Methods adopted by M&S is discussed
below: Demographic: In order to serve its luxurious food products, it segments it market on the
basis of the age factor. The kids are the main consumers of food product. Therefore, the
company provides healthy food products to them.
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 Socio-graphic: It provides various benefits such as 20% extra on each pack, buy one get
a candy free, etc. therefore, in short the company provides various benefits to its low
income consumers. Psycho-graphic: It includes the product is made according to the interest and lifestyle of
the customer. For instance, the product is developed keeping in view the kids interests
and demands (Reinecke, Manning and Von Hagen, 2012). They are more likely to get
influenced by the animals and cartoons. Percy Pig is a baby chips introduced by M&S to
make the product popular among the customers.
 Geographic: The company is currently serving its products across UK, Canada, France
and many more. It can even expand its business to India and China so as to gain larger
number of market share.
2.3
Segmentation is essential because it provides the company an idea about to concentrate
on the needs and expectations of targeted market. Few benefits have been highlighted below: Focus of the organization: In order to increase the profitability of the company,
segmenting is an effective strategy (Thrassou and et.al, 2012). The said company is
focussing on increasing its revenue by providing luxurious and branded items. competitiveness: It aids in improving the brand image of the competitors. If M&S is
focusing on selling its products to kids, the product will become famous amongst them
and it also enables the firm to gain competitive advantage in the market. Business Expansion: Geographic segmentation made by the firm enables it to gain a new
market with wide varieties of resources (Spiller and et.al, 2013). Therefore, market
segmentation of M&S also requires to asses the needs and demands and the behaviour of
people in the particular area.
 Retaining customers: By providing various benefits to the low income customers, the
said organization is able to retain those for a longer duration. Therefore, it can be said
that segmenting the market aids in achieving the aims of company.
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2.4
The Marks and Spencer generally conducts research to analyse the needs and expectation
of the consumers and take the views of the public regarding the existing goods and services and
design their strategies and product innovation accordingly. Thus, The marketing department of
Marks and Spencer use different methods to conduct research in a market as given below: Primary research: When the management seeks to critically analyse the taste and
preferences of consumers, they themselves conduct the research part by adopting
sampling method (Sloan, Legrand and Chen, 2013). They select the target customers and
mail them questionnaire to identify their needs and demand. The management
consistently observe the buying behaviour of the people and analyse their actions. The
Marks and Spencer place feedback form in the stores and ask their customer to fill that to
review the existing policies and practices.
 Secondary research: The marketing department can make use of internet and books and
journal to study about the consumer behaviour and can also determine the latest trend in
the market.
2.5
In today's e-commerce world, Companies are making use of technologies to promote or
introduce the product in the market. They have ease the job of marketing department. Thus, the
technology have affected the marketing activities in the following ways: Use of social media: Nowadays, Company's are using social media to create brand image
of their products and services. Marks and Spencer are designing pages on the social
media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, etc. where they give brief about the products
and can directly contact their customers and take feedback from them (Sloan, Legrand
and Chen, 2013). Viral marketing: It is a method of creating buzzwords or marketing pieces to attract wide
range of customers. They make use of mobile marketing on which they send discounting
offers and introduction of new stock through messages and calls.
 Search engine optimization: The public mostly use internet and search engine to get
knowledge and detail about any product. So they can highlight their companies in the
internet through this marketing tool.
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TASK 3
3.1
The researcher have used Party wear apparels for women to review the market segment
of Marks and Spencer. To promote or introduce this product, the management can use socio-
economic market segment. The demographic and socio-economic segment is the division of the
market on the basis of occupation, income, gender, etc (Palmer, 2012). In the present case
scenario, The Marks and Spencer is targeting middle and upper class women and design its plans
and strategies as per their behaviour as mostly this groups prefer costly party apparels from
Marks and Spencer. The management will study about their behaviour and come to know that
they are not price sensitive and have brand preference.
3.2
The Marks and Spencer can create unique position of the party wear apparels in the
market through which they can reach wide range of customers. The company can do positioning
of the new product by undertaking following activities as given below: Celebrity Endorsement: In today's media climate, celebrities is considered as powerful
tool to generate media exposure and create brand image (Fletcher and Breitling, 2012).
Marks and Spencer have tie up with some of the biggest celebrity name that helps to
create public relations opportunities. They can introduce and promote the party wear
apparels by appointing any celebrity as Brand ambassador.
 Trendy ways: They can send mails and message in which they can mention the details
about the product that is up to the expectation of people and meet the latest fashion trend
in the market. They can make use of fashion magazines, in which they can show some
designs and pattern of the dresses.
3.3
The management of Marks and Spencer will analyse the behaviour of the target class of
people and identify the distribution channel through which they can reach wide range of people
(Fletcher and Breitling, 2012). There are different ways through which Marks and Spencer
determine its distribution channel by undertaking following ways: Analysis of distribution channel: The management will analyse the buying behaviour of
the people and try to find out the distribution channel that is mostly used by the upper
class and middle women to purchase party wear apparels.
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 Management of distribution channel: they will analyse various distribution channel and
find out the channel through which they can cover wide range of customers considering
their buying behaviour.
 Distribution channel: They can introduce the product by placing the party wear apparel
on the physical stores and the company's website (Chao and Huntington, 2013). In today's
world, people are preferring online shopping so they can also make use of online
shopping sites through which they can purchase the product and reach the customers
worldwide.
3.4
The Marks and Spencer is planning to introduce party wear apparels for the middle and
upper class women. The management needs to design pricing strategy after considering the
economic condition of targeted group and prices of its competitors. These class of people are not
price sensitive and ready to pay good amount for the product (Hair and et.al, 2012). They give
preference and priority to brand image and quality product rather than price of the product. So
can demand higher prices of the product. Marks and Spencer can adopt pricing skimming
strategy in which at the introduction stage, they will charge nominal price of the product to
attract wide range of customers. But after reaching certain level, they tend to increase their price.
This helps the company to enhance the customer base and increase their sales and can reach wide
range of customers.
3.5
The Marks and Spencer adopts promotional strategies to introduce and promotes the
product in the market, that will increase the sales and profits of the company. The management
of Marks and Spencer will analyse the medium which is prominently used by the targeted group
to know about any product and have come to know that these are the following promotional tools
that can be adopted: Social media: The Marks and Spencer have used social media such as Facebook and
Instagram and created their official page on the social media sites. The business
organisation uploads the detail and description about the product in these social websites
and can interact directly with the clients and customers (Kotler and et.al, 2015).
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 Search engine optimization; Nowadays people are using search engine to find out detail
about any product or service for any company. So the Marks and Spencer can enter into
agreements with these search engine to show their brand at the top links Affiliates agreements: It is a type of mutually beneficial agreement between merchants
and website owners. Under this, the affiliates promote the Marks and Spencer product by
placing ads and links on their websites and in exchange business organisation will pay
commission on the basis of terms and condition decided (Brealey and et.al, 2012). They
also include sales, clicks, registration, downloads promotional tactics to market the
product.
 Advertisement in newspaper and television: they can advertise the product in newspaper
and television and place catchy attractive ads on these source to promote and introduce
and create awareness about the product in the market.
TASK 4
4.1
The marketing department of Marks and Spencer before designing any plans and
strategies, they set specific goals and objectives that provides direction and clear way to adopt
marketing activities. The company can determine following goals and objectives as given below: Expand market share: The management team on analysing the internal and external
environment, can decide to expand the market share. This will provide direction to
marketing department to decide the marketing strategies through which they can attain
these objectives (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2012). So can make use of internet
marketing to reach wide range of customers and can also mail the details of the product in
the creative manner to attract wide range of public.
 Increase sales and profit: Mostly, all the company wants to enhance the sales and profit
of the company and marketing tool plays major role in attaining this goal. Marks and
Spencer will evaluate the marketing tools that can best contribute to attain this objective
so can undertake advertisement in newspapers and television to expand the customer base
and increase the sales revenue of the company (Armstrong and et.al, 2014).
4.2
In the present case scenario, the Marks and Spencer is willing to introduce party wear
apparels for women as it is easy to attract women as they are shopaholic. They have targeted
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middle and upper class women as they keep themselves updated with the latest trends in the
market. They have specially chosen upper and middle class as they are not price sensitive and
will ready to pay good amount for the product.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that Marketing plays integral part in attaining the goals and objective
of the company. This marketing function have also contributed in the Not for profit organisation.
Company considers various aspects to design marketing strategy and plan whose aim is to
increase profit and sales of the company. In the present report, the Marks and Spencer is
planning to introduce party wear apparel for women, so have designed the marketing mix
accordingly. They have targeted middle and upper class women for their product.
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