Marketing Essentials: IKEA's Strategies and Functional Interrelations

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of IKEA's marketing essentials, exploring the concept of marketing and its role in business performance. The report begins with an introduction to the concept of marketing, including current and future trends, and provides an overview of different marketing processes. It then delves into the marketing mix decisions, explaining the roles and responsibilities of a marketing manager and how marketing influences and interrelates with other functional departments like HR, IT, production, and finance. The report emphasizes the importance and value of marketing roles, comparing IKEA's marketing mix with Walmart's. It concludes by discussing the significance of effective interrelationships between functional departments, highlighting benefits such as building trust, enhancing customer service, and increasing efficiency. The report also includes a comparative analysis of the marketing mix strategies employed by IKEA and Walmart, providing insights into their product, pricing, and placement strategies. Finally, the report concludes by comparing the marketing mix strategies of IKEA and Walmart.

UNIT 2 MARKETING
ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
1 Introducing the concept of marketing including current & future trends............................3
2. Overview of different marketing processes........................................................................4
Marketing Mix Decisions ......................................................................................................5
3. Explaining the roles and responsibilities of a marketing manager.....................................6
4. Explains how marketing influences and interrelate with other functional departments.. . .6
5. Importance and value of marketing roles...........................................................................7
6. Conclusions & significance of having effective interrelationships between functional
departments.............................................................................................................................8
7. Comparing the ways of different applying marketing mix to the marketing planning......8
8. Develop a marketing plan.................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Marketing essentials is the crucial functional task to develop and deliver practical &
strategic digital marketing solutions to advance business goals. Marketing essentials develop a
product and sales growth of the company. Marketing is the term which is the most
misunderstood disciplinary management approach in today's present market. Present study will
be based on marketing essentials by undertaking IKEA which one of the most leading and
multinational group that designs furniture and kitchen appliances and home accessories. Present
study will be taking whole marketing analysis of IKEA in order to presents the role of marketing
and how its interrelates with other functional units of the company organisations. Further, it also
presents the different elements of marketing Mix to achieve company set goals and objectives.
However, the main purpose of this assignment is to explore the concept of marketing and their
different roles in business performance.
1 Introducing the concept of marketing including current & future trends.
Concept of marketing
Marketing concept is the study that organisations should determine the needs and wants
of their customers and then take further decision making steps (Bae and Kim, 2015). Each
organisation adopts the marketing concepts for introducing new theories and ideas of
development. IKEA has evolved over the years and has developed into a unique concept offering
affordable quality home furnishing within numerous stores scatter across the globe. IKEA based
on the concept of furnishing the best quality of products at value prices (The Five Marketing
concept explained, 2018). Company adopts different marketing concept for approaching their
potential customer at global level.
There are different concepts of marketing that can adopted by the company such as
production, sales concept, Marketing concept. All these concepts help to analyse market current
or future needs as well (Tomczak, Reinecke and Kuss, 2018). Current needs of customers are
helpful to estimate the level of future needs. For example: customer is now more demanding for
making its lifestyle more productive and innovative. Marketing concepts helps in producing the
best quality of outputs. On the other hand, sales concept would help to disclose the variables and
best approachable results and goals.

Marketing concept focusses to identify the target customers and analyses their current
and future expected needs (Brown, 2017). It helps company to delivering the best value results.
Marketing concept believes in the pull strategy and says that you need to make brand strong that
customers themselves prefer the brand of other competitor.
2. Overview of different marketing processes
Under the concept of marketing concept, the organisation must find a way to discover
customer needs and bring to market products that satisfy those all needs (Gillespie and Riddle,
2015). Marketing processes will help IKEA to get the success of approaching customer and their
needs.
Situational analysis
This is the analysis of the situation in which the firm finds itself serves as the basis for
identifying opportunities to satisfy unfulfilled customer needs. Situational analysis process helps
to analysis the external or internal factors of the company as well of market.
Marketing strategy
Once company identified the customer needs, the next process is to make the best
marketing strategy to implement all those needs in systematic manner (Tomczak, Reinecke and
Kuss, 2018). Such as Organisation can divide their customers into different segmentation
Illustration 1: Concepts of Marketing
(Source : The Five Marketing concept
explained, 2018)

process, targeting selection, positioning the product or services within the target market or also
helps to identify value preposition to the target market (Gursoy and Chi, eds., 2018).
Marketing Mix Decisions
This is the future steps of marketing processes in which IKEA can perform the close function
that is to control the parameters of marketing mix (Gurtner, Spanjol and Griffin, 2018). At this
stage company is require to considere some following things such as given below :
 Product development
 Pricing Decisions
 Distribution contracts
 Promotional campaign development.
Implementation and control
This is the last step towards making best marketing strategy and goals. Where all needs to
make the best target performing goals and best approachable results. This is the necessary step to
follow up the new results and new goal oriented process which makes the best output results.
Follow up the plans would help to take another action plan to get over the best output results.
Situation Analysis
Marketing Strategy
Marketing Mix Decisions
Implementation & Control

3. Explaining the roles and responsibilities of a marketing manager.
Marketing managers plays a most vital role in business functions, they focused on the
customer needs, market situation, or mainly focused on company commerce operations. /for
understanding the needs and wants of the clients (Jayapal and Omar, 2018). Commercialism
manager should be able to well perform all required functions of selling departments.
Marketing manager is someone who manages the merchandising resources of a business or
product. He may be responsible for various function or services to be in charge of a single
products services. There is some responsibility of HR which they require adopting and developed
(Tomczak, Reinecke and Kuss, 2018).
Responsibilities of Marketing manager towards IKEA
 Sales forecasting, products planning and price fixation
 Prepare a roadmap for the company advertisement and sales promotion and specify the
channels of distribution for goods and services.
 Marketing manager also needs to control credit policy of company and cost of marketing
activities (Loučanová, Olšiaková and Dzian, 2018).
Responsibilities towards employees
 Encourage employees by give the new strategies and training & development sessions
 Motivate them by given indirectly or directly benefits
 Coordinate the activities between all employees in appropriate manner.
4. Explains how marketing influences and interrelate with other functional departments.
Human Resources
Human resource management is the function within company overlook for the
recruitment and selection, training and professional development of employees. HR departments
is also responsible for looking training and development of employees. Marketing function
would use HR departments for recruiting Marketing assistant for the company. Without HR
departments how marketing manager would get talented employees for marketing the Products
of IKEA (McKay, 2016).
Information technology
It is the another most important department in IKEA which undertaking the activities of
marketing software etc. IT department helps in software, information system, computer
hardware, programming languages etc. marketing manager requires huge involvement of digital

technology into their business function. IT department helpful in promoting digital technology
needs and new forming results and goals. Marketing function interrelate with IT department in
order to take help of new techniques so that latest applications for product promotion can be
used.
Production Departments
It is the most essential department in IKEA which design furniture as per the demand or
needs of customers. Marketing function communicate all market essential information directly to
the production departments (Mehta and Chugan, 2015). Marketing function enable to production
department about customer actual demand in order to understood the demand and supply the
product or services accordingly.
Finance department
Marketing department will need to work closely with the finance departments to ensure
budget targeted a for an-promotion and distribution. Marketing function also interrelate with the
finance departments to reimburse all expenses of marketing.
5. Importance and value of marketing roles.
Marketing plays a crucial role in every big or small organisations, big companies invest
huge funds on marketing activities in order to seek the customer attention (Ottman, 2017). It
plays a role of business success which relies on the marketing or promotional efforts. It helps to
determine the product strategies and observing marketing and sales patterns of similar products.
Importance of marketing
 It helps to transfer, exchange and movement of goods
 It helps in raising and maintaining the standard of living of the company.
 Marketing function creates employment opportunities and goal effective process making
 Marketing as a source of income or business success (Patil, 2016).
Role of marketing
 Serving as a medium liaison
 Producing internal communication
 Monitoring or follow up the marketing functions.
 Conducting customer and market research

6. Conclusions & significance of having effective interrelationships between functional
departments.
Marketing function is the kind of communication process that develops the
interrelationship function between the market results and goals. The more important forms of
results and growth will communicate interdepartmental communication goals. This gives
interpersonal growth and long lasting effects on the development process (Steenkamp, 2017).
Overall, it gives the better form of results and best growing process and implementation goals
process. Marketing function interrelate with the functional growth. It gives the better result and
approachable result growth. Interrelationship between all legal form of result marketing is the
most essential concept that helps company to implement the best resourceful goals and services
results.
Building Trust
Marketing function helps IKEA to communicate between departments and build trust
within the organisation. With the help of trust between all departments helps to deliver accurate
information and eliminate the extra fact checking step that might be reduce productivity
(Tomczak, Reinecke and Kuss, 2018).
Better customer service
It is the another significant effect of interrelationship goals between functional
departments and goals in order to meet the customer demands (Taheri and Gannon, 2017).
Marketing function can easily identify the needs and wants of customers which help to enhance
customer fast services.
Increased efficiency
It is the another significant interrelationship function of marketing that has been
concluded in the above study (Tomczak, Reinecke and Kuss, 2018). That marketing activities
helps to increase the efficiency level.
7. Comparing the ways of different applying marketing mix to the marketing planning.
Marketing mix IKEA Walmart
Product IKEA is the biggest retail home
furnishing multinational company
which deals with high premium
Walmart products is its retail
service. It attracts customer by
providing convenient and

quality of products or services.
IKEA understood their customer
needs by analysing their potential
segments. They deal with home
furnishing products, toilet
fittings, kitchen fittings, book
cabinets, closets, kid's beds and
other fittings products or services
(Tank, 2015). IKEA attracts their
customers by introducing new
creative services and goals.
effective service. For example:
Walmart sales employees are very
well specialised to trained
effectively assist shoppers in the
best possible manner. Apart from
that, it also helps to take care of
the customer needs and wants.
Walmart presents various kinds of
products or services such as home
appliances, furniture, clothing etc.
Price In terms of Pricing strategies of
IKEA is not either costly or nor
skimmer. It has been into a
monopolistic business, with
simply a couple of contenders
and greater part of piece of the
pie skills to support it. Overall,
IKEA made low cost furniture for
home-makers, or offices. They
focused on low operational cost
so that they can easily provide its
services at low prices (Tomczak,
Reinecke and Kuss, 2018).
Walmart appoint prices at very
competitive. Besides, they
produce a very large quantities
across the world to attract the
number of customer prefernece
thereby enjoy the benefits of
economies of scale. Walmart
charges 15% more prices as
compare to other retailers.
Place IKEA holds international market
across globe, which sells
furniture and accessories in
Europe, North America, Asia and
Australia. It has a large
distribution network or huge
Walmart has 11500+ retail units n
across the world under 63 banners
in 28 countries. They provides
direct delivery to stores by
vendors who are the suppliers of
the retail stores (Tomczak,

volume on manufacturing side as
well. They operate its operation
function in more than 50
countries. Along, more than 9500
products are sold at IKEA.
Customer can easily reach to the
store and buy home appliances
products and goals.
Reinecke and Kuss, 2018).
Promotion IKEA having huge marketing
concept to approach their
potential customers or buyers.
IKEA also invest huge funds on
promotional activities such as
TV, Print, Advertisements,
Billboards etc. IKEA has been
launched UK wide campaign
which names was home is the
most crucial place and used sign
like Not for sale (Wilson, 2014).
Eg:
IKEA also promote brand by
offering some discounts, sales,
coupons to attract number of
Walmart Promotes its brand by
plethora of sales promotion. For
example, they adopt bundling and
competitive pricing strategies to
promote their products or services.
On the other hand, Walmart uses
aggressive pricing strategies
(Tomczak, Reinecke and Kuss,
2018).

customers and buyers towards the
company profile.
Physical evidence IKEA having more than 350
stores in close to 50 countries.
For IKEA physical evidence is its
own number of layouts and stores
which helps buyer to purchase
and get good buying experience.
IKEA stores also provides the
facilities of restaurants, and baby
handling areas for mothers.
Along with that, they also avail
the customer parking place and
better equipped market
performance (Jayapal and Omar,
2018).
Walmart seen in more than 11000
+stores spread across the world.
Each and every store has got
multiple category of products to
their potential customers.
People IKEA are more grave about their
career objective growth.
Employees in IKEA believes in
the growth or motivation level
that provided by the company.
IKE employee culture based on
togetherness, enthusiasm and fun.
IKEA consist 116000 employees
in retail, 18000 in supply 21000
in production as of 2015. They
never discriminate their
employees on the basis of race,
ethnicity etc (Ottman, 2017).
Walmart treats their employees as
an asset of the firm because they
handle customer services in most
efficient manner.
Process IKEA having 44 production units Process of Walmart or delivery

in across 10+ countries. process of the company provides
flexibility to shop in ease manner.
8. Develop a marketing plan
Executive summary
Marketing plan is the process or procedure to develop the marketing report, in which
company consist all market related information or data. Marketing plan enable to achieve
company set objectives and goals. Present marketing plan has been based on IKEA which is the
biggest multinational home furnishing retail company (Jayapal and Omar, 2018). Present
marketing plan concluded about mission of the study, target customers of IKEA, Products and
services, competitive profits, marketing strategies. Besides, it also analysed the competitive
profile and analysis the internal strength, weaknesses, opportunity and threats.
Mission Statement
The main purpose or goal of IKEA is to increase the browsing rate of IKEA official
website to develop more customer reach and brand promotion within 6 months.
Target Markets
IKEA target customers are home makers & women who always looking for new home
appliances to make productive charges and better growth services. IKEA target 25-39 years of
females or a business woman who really fond of new creative things which they need to keep
safe in their hoses (Loučanová, Olšiaková and Dzian, 2018). Moreover, company approach
fashionable, high class population or highly internet users.

Products and services
IKEA deals with all home appliances, offices such as toilet, bedroom, child's bed,
furniture, office appliances laundry leisure & safety lighting living rooms, Office furniture
Outdoor charging and many more home items with high premium quality of products.
Distribution Channels
IKEA adopts the best distribution style, overall distribution channel of making good deal
with long lasting channel of making growth. Moreover, IKEA as the place to go to for cheap,
reliable furniture. IKEA has been open for a staggering 70 years and it now one of the most
recognisable brands in the world IKEA operates in almost 43 countries. IKEA has also been
known for their labyrinth type of stores. Place is known as the place to go for cheap, reliable the
most reliable and growth impactful results.
Competitive profile
IKEA is the largest multinational group that designs and sells ready to assemble furniture,
kitchen appliances and home accessories, among other useful goods and occasional home
services (McKay, 2016). IKEA is the one and only home furnishing along with that along with
that, IKEA is the well-established or quality-maintained company among all their competitors.
IKEA is known for its modernist designs for various types of appliances and furniture. Overall, it
helps to take the best possible action plan in order to meet the needs of the best possible action
plan to make the bet promotional image in the market. They adopt eco-friendly nature of raw
material and better advancing leading material growth. Apart from that, it brings new
opportunity and level of leading materialistic opportunity to cover the best growing
performances. IKEA spread more than 5 countries and reached to the customer preferable place.
Pricing strategies of Ikea
IKEA needs to adopt customer approachable prices strategies that helps company to grab
customer attraction approach (Mehta and Chugan, 2015). The main concept of IKEA is to driven
values for customers. Also, it is known for its high quality and customer relationship. It helps to
give the best approachable result outcomes and provides and provides customer-oriented prices
strategies.
Marketing strategies
Marketing strategy needs to adopt in order to spread the market opportunities and sales of
the company products and better developing goals and best approachable results. In order to

create best marketing strategies for the company marketing plan (Taheri and Gannon, 2017).
IKEA can adopt some following strategies given below:
 Partner with allies
 Embrace user generated content
 Collaborate with influencers
 Let attract customers
 Providing best discounts and offers on products
 Get enhance employee engagement process.
 Do market research in frequent manner.
 Tell a cross media story and growth.
SWOT Analysis
Strength
 The biggest strength that IKEA has it
its clear vision, which is to add value to
its customers irrespective of the market
conditions (Loučanová, Olšiaková and
Dzian, 2018).
 IKEA having clear concept which
translates into an array of products that
can be assembles by the customers.
Weaknesses
 Difficulty to control number of
locations.
 The facing issue in Environmental
concerns about.
Opportunity
 Huge possibilities to attract number of
customers
 Product expansion opportunity
Threats
 Competitors
 Low cost business model
Furthermore, on referring to its newly adopted marketing strategy, application of 7P’s is the most
efficient approach to reach a greater number of audiences. Below is the applied marketing mix of
IKEA-
1. Product- This is to discourse upon the product introduced by IKEA where they are
considering to launch a new section of rented furniture’s.

2. Pricing- The pricing strategy for this new launch depicts economic pricing of furniture’s
hired by the customers for a specific time period and accordingly, the users will be
required to pay for it.
3. Promotion- The sources of promotion for this newly launched product involved posting
on online advertisement sites where IKEA has also referred providing a special discount
offers to students who already lives in rented buildings and are often in need of it.
4. Place- This determines the distribution strategy of IKEA where these furniture’s can be
availed through both online and offline means of buying.
5. People- It mainly refer to the employees hired in IKEA to handle this particular section of
rented furniture’s that primarily involves store manager and an assistant to personally
attend the customers approaching the store. Beside this, it also includes around 5
customer service professionals to themselves guide the customer in finding equipment’s,
fulfilling their exact needs.
6. Process- This is basically to demonstrate the process adopted for effectively delivering
the furniture’s to the customers and includes a foremost procedure of packaging and
distributing through company’s own hired vehicle. Also, IKEA will hereby provision a
scheme of free home delivery to the buyers who lives within an area, ranged between 15
miles.
7. Physical evidence- This is context to the store layout of IKEA consisting of this new
section and includes a wide range of furniture’s consisting of small to large equipment’s
for fulfilling the need of students. Also, the store will depict a decorative ambience with
relaxed sitting area to attract a large set of customers, visiting to make purchase.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above section, it has been concluded that, marketing is the most vital
functional area in the business which helps to connect different functional too to get the business
objectives in systematic manner. Present study has been based on IKEA that described about the
different roles or responsibility of marketing function or manager. Along with that, study helped
to getting deep understanding of marketing functions and marketing mix which implemented by
IKEA and Walmart. However, study also explained the different concept of marketing such as
production, sales, strategic etc. that helps to deciding marketing strategic plan. After, at the end

of the section. It also has been introduced a marketing plan of IKEA to represents the market
position or company strategic planning.

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