BSc Hons - Contemporary Issues in Marketing: Marketing Mix Analysis

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the marketing mix and its significance in contemporary marketing, using Marks and Spencer as a case study. It begins by explaining marketing and the marketing mix, followed by a theoretical overview of the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). The report then applies the 4Ps framework to Marks and Spencer's clothing and beauty products, examining how the company utilizes each element to achieve its marketing objectives. The analysis covers product quality, pricing strategies, geographical placement, and promotional activities, including social media advertising. The report concludes by highlighting the importance of marketing management, the role of information technology, and the significance of the marketing mix in increasing sales and fostering customer relationships.

BSc (Hons) Business Management
BMP4004
Contemporary Issues in Marketing
The nature and importance of the
marketing mix within the marketing
process
Submitted by:
Name:
ID:
1

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................3
An explanation of marketing.................................................................................................4
An explanation of marketing mix..........................................................................................4
A brief theoretical explanation of 4Ps marketing mix...........................................................5
Introduction of product/service............................................................................................6
Application of 4Ps marketing mix to the selected product/service......................................7
CONCLUSION ...........................................................................................................................10
2

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is considered as an important part of a business which helps in increasing
sales and revenue of the company (Chung, and Low, 2017) . In the recent times, marketing
department is considered as backbone of a company which is helpful in increasing
competitive strength of a company. In this report, various dimensions of marketing are
explained in order to create in depth analysis of marketing activities. This report includes
application of marketing mix for a company in order to develop effective and strategic goals.
This project also explains practical application of marketing mix to a product or service of a
company. In this report example of Marks and Spencer company is taken into consideration
which is major multinational retail company. The Marks and Spencer company deals in
clothing and food products in order to satisfy needs and demands of different customers.
3

An explanation of marketing
Marketing includes various business activities like promotion and advertisement of a
product in order to seek attention of different customers. Marketing is termed as major
business field or area which is dedicated to provide benefits to a company in terms of selling
a particular product or service. In the recent times, importance of marketing is increasing
day by day which is making it compulsory for the business organization to adopt application
of marketing. It is also one of the major role and responsibility of a business to focus on
development of marketing operations for organizational growth. Marketing is also one of
the major department which provides essential goods and services to various customers
(Gornostaeva, 2020). The marketing in current scenario also includes application of
information and technology to perform operations in fast and accurate manner. Marketing
at Marks and Spencer also includes various aspects of sales increase with help of focused
development on selling products to target customers.
An explanation of marketing mix
Marketing mix is considered as a major practical tool of marketing which helps in
supporting major sales operations of the company. With the help and support of marketing
mix, a company can easily increase its market strength by understanding market demand of
different customers.
In the corporate world, marketing mix helps a company to rapidly increase sales related
operations in a precise manner. All major companies which are there are in international
marketplace including Marks and Spencer focus on marketing mix in order to lead the
marketplace with effective and essential operations (Grant, 2019). It includes tools and
techniques which are developed by a business entity to control and develop marketing
operations in a precise manner. The marketing mix is considered as major strategic tool of
Marks and Spencer in order to sell product or service in a set period of time.
4

A brief theoretical explanation of 4Ps marketing mix
Marketing mix is a set of activities that a company uses to promote their goods or
services in the market. The mix consists of various aspects of focus that assists businesses to
make marketing plan. The importance of marketing mix is it helps entities to make
strategies and decisions when introducing new products or modifying the existing goods. It
is a crucial tool for creating strategies and their accurate implementation by effective tactics
(Homburg, Jozić, and Kuehnl, 2017). It enables businesses to develop a desirable
commodities and sell it at economic prices to attract consumers. All the variables of
marketing mix impact each other to some extent. Marks & Spencer utilizes all the factors of
marketing mix in their operations as well as in promoting goods. The various marketing
strategies the firm adopts are product innovation, economic price, planning for promotion,
etc. Marketing mix helps Marks & Spencer to position the brand competitively in the market
and attain its business objectives. It allows the firm to identify right buyers to improve
promoting success. Marketing mix is a never ending process as it is important for businesses
to continuously identifying and reviewing the market situations. The elements of marketing
mix are discussed below:
Price- Price is the value customers pay in exchange of goods or services. The price of
an item is decided by considering various factor like cost of production, demand of product,
rivals price portfolio, etc. This element is also used to differentiate and improve the image of
a certain product in market (Hutt, and Speh, 2021). A business can adopt dynamic pricing
strategy to attract more customers in the brand. Price is a big determiner of success or
failure of a product.
Product- Product refers to an item sold to customers to satisfy their needs or wants.
The aim of products is to render maximum level of experience to its buyers. A business can
benefit from product mix by offering wide product portfolio which will help to capture a
wide area of market. The brand value and goodwill of the company is based on the product
it delivers. Thus a market research is very important before producing a product.
Place- The essential part of marketing mix is the placement or dispersion of product.
It is the step of marketing mix where a company actually sells their product to target
customers. Place plays a major role in increasing of sales (Kim, and Moon, 2021). It also
involves reviewing and deciding the various methods through which a company can sell its
5

products such as online sites, websites, retail store, etc. Products should be placed in ways
that are convenient and easily available to customers.
Promotion- Activities that are undertaken by a company to communicate with the
target customers is refer as promotion. The activities consists of advertisement, social
media, sales promotion, etc. The important factor of promotion mix is to find out the target
audience. After evaluating the target market, firms can place their promotion strategies to
transform expected customers into buyers. Promotion benefit a business to gain attention
from market, attract potential customers and convince them to buy a certain product.
Introduction of product/service
The major product of Marks and Spencer is Clothing and the major target customers
includes youth. It is essential for the company to develop a major and focused approach for
selling its products and services in a set period of time. The beauty products are also one of
the major products of Marks and Spencer which attracts large number of customers every
year (Marinchak, Forrest, and Hoanca, 2018). Also Marks and Spencer try to maintain and
develop optimum quality in products and services for developing a major approach at the
marketplace. It is also one of the key role of a company to focus on development of
products with the help of quality management in order to lead the marketplace. Clothing
products are sold by Marks and Spencer with effective quality and build quality.
Application of 4Ps marketing mix to the selected
product/service
The 4Ps of marketing mix are essential for a business in order to lead the
marketplace with competitive edge. All major companies in the global and domestic
marketplace focus on development of key policies and plans which are related to marketing
mix. This is also one of the major and ethical duty of marketing management to deeply
analyse all major steps related to marketing in order to lead the marketplace. The beauty
products of Marks and Spencer are also increasing their sales world wide with support of
marketing Mix. Elements of marketing mix are also helpful in development of planning
framework for systematic attention of different customers (Musarra, and Morgan, 2020). In
order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of a business, it is essential to focus on
6

application of marketing mix. All major companies at the marketplace focus on development
of marketing mix in order to gain competitive advantage.
Product
The product is considered as physical output produced by the company to sell it to
marketplace. It is also one of the major role of a business to develop quality products for
increasing sales and customer satisfaction. Product of Marks and Spencer mainly clothing
and beauty related which cause major impact on its sales figures. The operations and
production management of Marks and Spencer are dedicated to provide optimum quality
based products and services. It is also one of the key role of operations management to
develop effectiveness in operations by following concept of total quality management. It is
major role of management of a business to focus on development of products for sales
increase (Rust, 2020). Marks and Spencer also has a separate research and development
which is focused on supporting new product product development. The Marks and Spencer
company has hired separate department for research in order to formulate best business
practices.
7

Price
Price is considered as value of a product which includes its cost along with the profit
margin. In the recent times it is crucial for a company to manage formulation of price in
order to lead the marketplace. Price of beauty products is set by company with affordable
rates in order to increase sales turnover. All major companies in the international and
national marketplace should focus on pricing. The price are decided with the combined
efforts of finance and operations management in order to develop effective practices (Tan,
and Vicente, 2019). This is also one of the major role of top level and board of directors to
formulate effective pricing. Also the pricing of a product should be formulated by
management while taking into account prices of its competitors. Marks and Spencer also
develop marketing survey in order to know recent market trends related to a product and
pricing.
Place
It is one of the most crucial element in the marketing mix which includes selecting a
geographical location for the business. The place or geographical location play a key role in
selecting appropriate venue for sale of different products and services. All major companies
in the global and domestic marketplace should focus on development of geographical
location for business success in a set period of time. The place should be decided by top
level management of company in order to regulate best business practices (Usui, 2017). In
the recent times many companies including Marks and Spencer targets busiest area for
selling different products and services. Marks and Spencer choose appropriate locations
worldwide with the support of marketing management in order to increase sales based
activities.
Promotion
Promotion is also one of the major elements of marketing mix, which deals with the
advertisement and publicity of a product. It is essential for a company to develop promotion
8

of products and services in order to gain competency edge. The promotion of a beauty
products of Marks and Spencer is facilitated by media advertisement. The company also
selects social media and internet in recent times to perform precise promotion of its
products and services. Marks and Spencer choose social media advertisement in order to
reach customers across the globe. In international operations of the company, promotion is
considered as one of the major functions which helps it to develop more at the marketplace.
9
Illustration 1: Marks and Spencer Instagram Promotion, 2022

CONCLUSION
From the above stated report it can be concluded that marketing is considered as
major function of a business. This project concludes importance of marketing management
in a business to handle different operations in a systematic manner. The above discussion
concludes significance of marketing mix for a company which helps in increasing product
sales of a company. Marketing management also helps in increasing after sales services
along with development of customer relationship management. The project also concludes
that information and technology also play a crucial role in development of business
operations in an effective manner.
10

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Chung, T.S. and Low, A., 2017. The impact of investor impatience and environmental
turbulence on myopic marketing management and stock performance. International Journal
of Research in Marketing, 34(3), pp.660-677.
Gornostaeva, Z.V., 2020. Marketing Management of Technological and Social
Entrepreneurship in Growth Poles of the Modern Global Economy. In Growth Poles of the
Global Economy: Emergence, Changes and Future Perspectives (pp. 287-295). Springer,
Cham.
Grant, D.B., 2019. Outsourcing integration and third party logistics services: an appreciation
of two ‘classic’articles in industrial marketing management. Industrial Marketing
Management, 79, pp.21-26.
Homburg, C., Jozić, D. and Kuehnl, C., 2017. Customer experience management: toward
implementing an evolving marketing concept. Journal of the Academy of Marketing
Science, 45(3), pp.377-401.
Hutt, M.D. and Speh, T.W., 2021. Business marketing management: B2B. South-Western,
Cengage Learning.
Kim, K.H. and Moon, H., 2021. Innovative digital marketing management in B2B
markets. Industrial Marketing Management, 95, pp.1-4.
Marinchak, C.M., Forrest, E. and Hoanca, B., 2018. Artificial intelligence: Redefining
marketing management and the customer experience. International Journal of E-
Entrepreneurship and Innovation (IJEEI), 8(2), pp.14-24.
Musarra, G. and Morgan, N.A., 2020. Outside-in marketing: Renaissance and
future. Industrial Marketing Management, 89, pp.98-101.
Rust, R.T., 2020. Outside-in marketing: Why, when and how?. Industrial Marketing
Management, 89, pp.102-104.
Tan, T.A.G. and Vicente, A.J., 2019. An innovative experiential and collaborative learning
approach to an undergraduate marketing management course: A case of the
Philippines. The International Journal of Management Education, 17(3), p.100309.
Usui, K., 2017. The development of marketing management: The case of the USA c. 1910–
1940. Routledge.
11