Introduction to Marketing: Marks & Spencer Report Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive overview of marketing principles and their application within a business context, using Marks & Spencer as a case study. It begins by defining marketing and exploring the 7Ps of the marketing mix (Product, Price, Promotion, Place, Process, People, and Physical Evidence) to create customer value. The report then delves into the use of SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) to assess competitive advantages. Furthermore, it examines how businesses utilize Ansoff's growth matrix (Market Penetration, Market Development, Product Development, and Diversification) for strategic planning and growth. Finally, the report discusses the role of digital marketing in enhancing business performance, including strategies such as social media marketing and SEO tools. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and emphasizing the importance of marketing in achieving organizational objectives.

INTRODUCTION TO
MARKETING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
1. Meaning of marketing and use of 7Ps to create customer value..................................................3
2. SWOT Analysis...........................................................................................................................4
3. Businesses using Ansoff's growth matrix to become successful.................................................5
4. Businesses using digital marketing to improve its performance and growth..............................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCE...................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Marketing play a vital role in business for selling and buying of commodities in order to
achieve the objectives of the organization. In this report, how organization uses marketing mix,
SWOT anakysis and Ansoff matrix in oreder to give customer value and remain competitive in
the market is explained. Also, the role of digital marketing in improving performance and growth
of the organization mentioned. Marks and Spencer is taken as base company. Marks and Spencer
is a British retailer, deals with selling of clothing, home and food products. It was founded by
Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in 1884, headquartered in London, UK.
1. Meaning of marketing and use of 7Ps to create customer value.
Marketing refers to the promotion of buying and selling of goods and services to the
customers. Marketing is telling a customers why should they buy their goods and services and
tries to convince them to purchase our commodities (Chernev, 2020). Their main aim is to
convert prospect to their customer by creating brand and loyalty towards them which helps in
increasing the sales of their offerings.
7Ps of Marketing
7Ps of marketing helps an organization in promoting the goods and services to the
customers. It was given by Booms and Bitner. M&S uses marketing mix to establish their
product in the market and it has been explained below- Product: Product refers to the commodities that is selling by an organization. These can
be both tangible (good) and intangible (services). Marks and Spencer offers variety of
range of products and services to their customers and also creates a brand image in
people's mind by selling their own labelled products. Price: Price is the amount paid by the customer for a product. Dynamic pricing strategy
is used by M&S in festival days to capture more number of customers by offering
discounts. Promotion: Promotion refers to creating awareness about the product. M&S promotes
their products through different channels such as social media, PR and many more. Place: Places is the geographical area where the products will going to sell. As M&S is
an international brand, they are operating across the globe which is convenience for
people to buy.

 Process: Process refers to the series of activities which are taken place in order to deliver
the products to the customers (Da and et.al, 2017). Process starts when a customer
entered into M&S store or online store. People: People who are involved in selling of product and services. Staff members of
M&S helps customers in selecting their products by giving them informations and
suggestions.
 Physical Evidence: It refer to the feel and experience of product and services by the
customer. Products in M&S can be feel by the customer that acts as physical evidence of
the company.
2. SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is used in organization for identifying the strength, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats. Strength and weaknesses are internal factors which can be change and
have control whereas opportunities and threats cannot change. Opportunities are advantages
which can protect from threats. In context to M&S, SWOT analysis is used to evaluate
competitive advantage and it is explained below-
 Strength: Strength is an internal factor and tells why the organization is different from
other competitors. M&S have variety of products which separates it from other retails.
Also, they have strong e-commerce infrastructure and offers their own labelled products.
As it is an international retailer, they have expanded their organization in different
countries.
 Weaknesses: Weaknesses are the negative factors that can affect the organization. M&S
are famous in Europe and US but not widely in Asian countries as they offer only modern
not traditional. Also because of poor supply chain, they are not able to deliver goods
properly across the globe.
 Opportunities: Opportunities gives chance to an organization for competitive advantage
(Khopipah and Turistiati, 2019). Marks and Spencer can came up with traditional wear in
Asian countries as there is huge demand of it. Shipping price can be decreased which will
lowers the transportation cost and it can increase the profitability of the organization in
investing the money into new product segment.
 Threats: Threats are the factors which can't be change. It can affect the organization
negatively (Kotler, 2021). In context to Marks and Spencer, changing of laws of different

countries can highly affect the operations of the company. Also due to discounts on
products putting by the competitor organization can be a major threat to the company as
customers can easily be attracted.
3. Businesses using Ansoff's growth matrix to become successful
Ansoff's growth matrix is a tool for planning the strategies for growth of an organization.
It is also known as product/market expansion grid. It was developed by H. Igor Ansoff and
published in 1957 in Harvard Business Review. In context to Marks and Spencer, they use
Ansoff matrix for the analysis of growth of the organization and its growth alternatives are
described below-
 Market penetration: The organization tries to sell the existing product in the existing
market top increase market share. Organization can increase their promotion in order to
grab attention easily. Marks and Spencer can penetrate the market by decreasing the
price of the product, giving various discounts and offers on the existing product.
 Market development: Market development refers to the selling of existing product in
new market. It involves some minor changes in the product in order to capture new
market. Launching of Marks and Spencer stores in India is very new to the Indian people.
Also they have open in Shanghai, China.
 Product development: Product development is introducing a new product in the existing
market. Organization already knows about the market trends and taste and preferences of
the people. In context to the selected firm, they are offering catering services for events
such as parties, wedding and many more. Also introduction of financial services and
banking by M&S.
 Diversification: Diversification refers to the introduction of new product into new
market (My, 2019). It is risky for an organization as strategies are still needed to be
developed. Launching stores in Russia, India and other western countries are risky for the
organization as it is new for them. Plus strategies will be needed to develop in order to
cater effectively.
4. Businesses using digital marketing to improve its performance and growth
Gone are the days when companies uses traditional methods for marketing for promotion
of their goods and services which was expensive in nature (Nosalska and Mazurek, 2019).

Companies are switching more towards digital marketing which enables them to promote online
using different marketing strategies. Digital marketing is playing a vital role in advertising the
products. Organizations are able to cater large number of audience because of social media.
Social media such as facebook, instagram and many more helps in getting feedbacks quickly
from the customers and enables organization to respond. Signing up of social media is free of
cost and organization can easily put up their advertisement with investing a little amount.
Number of visitors are known as traffic and it can be measured using SEO tools. These tools will
analyse the number of people visited the sites and it doesn't take much time to calculate. Steady
flow of traffic helps in increasing in ROI. Digital marketing helps small organization in huge
way as promoting and advertisement is cost effective. Organizations have an opportunity to
promote in targeted market. Digital marketing enables organization to select the target market on
the basis of age group, gender for promotion. It provide an opportunity for company to expand
globally. Virtual content have videos and audio which can easily get attention from the
customers and also converts prospect to customers without any much work. Organization can
easily build trust with the customer as the audience can communicate directly to to the seller.
Influencer marketing also benefits the organization. They are semi-celebrities which endorse the
product and tells their experience, people who are following are fascinated and encourages by
them ton try the new product. them and encourages (Payne, Frow and Eggert, 2017). Adopting
digital marketing for promoting can bring more growth and revenue to the organization.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that, marketing is needed for buying and
selling of products for gaining profitability of the organization. Both traditional and digital
marketing is adopted by the organization but digital marketing is gaining popularity and widely
used by the firm. This report includes the meaning of marketing and how marketing mix has
been in the organization to create customer value. It also highlights about SWOT analyses for an
organization in order to remain competitive in the market. Furthermore, it also tells how
businesses use Ansoff's growth matrix and at last, use of digital marketing on organization's
performance and growth has been explained.
REFERENCES
Book & journals

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Kotler, P., 2021. Marketing 4.0 do tradicional ao digital.
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Payne, A., Frow, P. and Eggert, A., 2017. The customer value proposition: evolution,
development, and application in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing
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Pomering, A., 2017. Marketing for sustainability: Extending the conceptualisation of the
marketing mix to drive value for individuals and society at large. Australasian
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