Marketing Essentials for ALDI: A Comprehensive Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of ALDI's marketing function. It begins with an introduction to marketing and its importance, followed by an examination of the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function within ALDI, including market research, planning, customer support, promotional activities, and market analysis. The report then explores the inter-relationship between the marketing department and other departments within the organization, highlighting how marketing supports and collaborates with functions such as research, transportation, risk assessment, and quality control. The report also investigates how different organizations apply the marketing mix, comparing ALDI's approach with those of its competitors. Finally, the report culminates in the production and evaluation of a basic marketing plan specifically tailored for ALDI, addressing various issues and challenges the company faces. The report concludes by emphasizing the critical role of marketing in ALDI's success and its ability to adapt to the dynamic nature of the market.

Marketing Essentials

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 The key roles and responsibilities of marketing function for ALDI......................................1
P2 Marketing inter-relationship with other departments in organisation....................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
P3 The ways in which different organisations apply the marketing mix to the market planning
.....................................................................................................................................................8
P4 Produce and Evaluate a basic marketing plan for ALDI.....................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Every organisation in world is focusing on directly connecting with consumers and
making there experience more personal and wonderful. That is where marketing is used as a tool
to establish channels for connecting with people, understanding there needs and providing goods
and services which will fulfil them. It is a very vital function that has to be maintained by the
organisation for ensuring that they are able to cater to the needs of customers in market.
Marketing assist a company in establishing relationship with consumers and other intermediaries
(Al-Hasan, Thomas and Mansour, 2016). As defined by American Marketing Association,
“Activities which are conducted by set of institutions and process created for communication,
delivering and exchanging offerings that have high value for consumers, partners and society”.
This report is based on ALDI which is a leading global discount store that has more than 10,000
stores in more than 18 countries. There are certain issues which it has to face in market and to
overcome these problems company uses marketing and its tools. In this project it will be
analysed as to how ALDI uses marketing function in order to achieve desired level of growth. It
will be compared with other organisation application of marketing mix and finally a marketing
plan will be produced for company which will assist company in identifying and overcoming
various issues.
TASK 1
P1 The key roles and responsibilities of marketing function for ALDI
Marketing is a concept which states about how goods and services will move from
blueprint to end user. It is a process which is used to create interest in customer and clients about
the company services (Babin and Zikmund, 2015). It is a process as it involves various activities
such as researching, promotion, selling and distribution of goods and services. An organisation
uses it for developing a feasible and viable marketing plan on the basis of four key elements:
 Product
 Price
 Place
 Promotion
The basic purpose behind using marketing is attracting and retaining customers while
growing a base of satisfied end users (Baines, Fill and Page, 2013). Development of marketing
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plan and implementing it keeps all the efforts flowing in a right direction. The marketing
function took years to reach this important status. There are certain concept which were used by
companies in certain era: Production concept: This is a idea where consumer favours goods which are easily
available and highly affordable. It was used by companies in early stages of industrial
era. Product concept: It is based on the idea that consumers only favours products which
offers high quality, performance and equity to consumers in a lowest price. Here
organisations had to keep on changing its products and add more value to it. Selling Concept: It is an idea where companies sought to sell product by hook or by
crook (Baker and Saren, 2016). They perceived consumers as an entity who will not buy
products unless they put in high level of efforts into promotions and sells. Marketing concept: In late 80's this idea became one of the most popular concept.
Companies started to focusing on the actual needs of consumers as to fulfil them by
providing high quality products at a very reasonable price. This started to pay off when
companies started achieving their goals and objectives in a set duration of time.
 Societal concept: This concept came in late 90's, when companies started to look at
different aspects of development and growth. They started analysing consumer wants,
their own needs, and needs of society at large (Banerjee, 2013). This enabled companies
in focusing on every aspect of human life and this way they were able to cater all needs
and wants of every stakeholder.
ALDI needs to use its marketing function a very effective manner as to ensure optimum
utilisation of resources.
ALDI is a common brand made up of two leading global discount supermarkets. It has
over 10,000 stores in 18 countries and currently have turnover of more than 50 billion euro. It is
based in Germany and was established in 1946 by Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946. the business
then split into two in 1960. It is a global organisation and currently is establishing itself in
Europe and Asian countries. It has around 35000 employees and it has plans to add more
numbers with expansion. They have one of the best HR and marketing departments which
ensures that the company is able to maintain internal environment and achieve all desired goals
in proper manner.
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Marketing function in ALDI plays a major role in establishing standards for the overall
productivity. It is the one which assist other departments as to ensure right level of productivity
of organisation (Beatty and Samuelson, 2014). It provides a basis on which the managers are
able to formulate plans and set a fixed path which will be followed by the employees as to ensure
high level of productivity and efficiency. There are certain function which are played by
marketing function in ALDI, which makes it even more important for organisation as it provides
a very crucial support to other departments. It plays a prominent role in the success of company.
It provides intelligence to firm which is used by managers for planning and implementation. The
marketing department play various roles, such as: Gathering market information: It collects different types of information for assisting
other departments and also prepare for future trends and situations. Marketing planning: It aids manager in preparing marketing plan which sets a path for
employees and company to achieve a desired level of growth. Customer support and services: Marketing department is the one in ALDI which assist it
in establishing relationship and understand customer needs and grievances (Berkowitz,
2016). This is what boost the level of satisfaction in an end user of products and services. Promotional activities: There are many methods used by marketing department as to
ensure that target population is aware about the products and services of ALDI. Market research and analysis: The managers and staff tries to know about probable
trends in market by doing research of various factors (Bivins, 2013). They analyse
different aspects of research and then comes to an outcome. It assist them in knowing
about the Gap's that exist in the organisation capability and required abilities. Increasing sales and supporting: It provides support to the staff of sales department by
providing them inputs regarding best places and customer whom they can turn into actual
user.
 Communication internal and externally: It has this task too where the managers are
responsible for keeping all internal and external parties informed about various changes
that are taking place in an organisation.
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These are few activities which is commonly performed by it in any organisation. It has
certain roles and responsibilities which has to be fulfilled by it in ALDI. Marketing information management: The marketing department collects data while
doing market research which later on facilitate it in understanding the actual needs and
ways it can meet them (Blythe, 2012). It also analyse ALDI capabilities as to know how
and what strategies can be used to fulfil desires of consumers. Distribution channel: It has to manage relationship with various channels. All the
intermediaries have to be satisfied so that they provide maximum result to ALDI.
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Illustration 1: Seven marketing functions, 2017

Marketing manager has to ensure that company is able to establish good relationships
with all suppliers, whole-sellers and retailers. Product management: It is a function which keeps on providing information about
various trends that are going on in market (Braslow, 2015). This data assist other
departments in making changes in product. Marketing also manage product by
maintaining its image in market. Pricing: Marketing is a function which takes decision regarding the pricing of product.
As it is the one which research and analyse how competitors has priced their products in
market. Promotion and selling: This was the prime work for which marketing was used by
companies across the globe (Brooks and Simkin, 2012). But with changes in market
dynamics, it has evolved and today it plays a very crucial part in ALDI. It promotes
products as to increase its sells which raises standard of living of society.
 Financing: It is a function which makes different types of forecast and one of them is
related to financial requirement of various functions in ALDI. After market research it is
position as to forecast about potential future demand and supply in market. This assist
managers in analysing the cost that is required to prepare for certain situation, so that they
can organise resources for them.
These are few roles and responsibility of marketing function in ALDI that it performs in a
defined time. It ensures that organisation is able to achieve all set objectives and goals in a very
efficient and effective manner (Campbell and Martin, 2015). Today, company is able to face the
dynamic nature of market because of marketing function only as it forecast and prepare them to
face off any issue which can hamper its functionality and operational capacity.
P2 Marketing inter-relationship with other departments in organisation
Marketing department is focused on providing organisation all tools and techniques
which can help it in generating higher level of productivity and profits. It is a function which
establishes relationship between different departments inside organisation while also connecting
with the end user. It acts as a link between consumer and company. ALDI is a supermarket chain
that is focused on creating value for customers and grow its base to a even larger one. Basically
marketing assist organisation in increasing its presence in market and set a good image in the
mind of consumers (Clow and James, 2013). A company always need to push for changes and
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this department is the one which prepares it to do so. It consumes a lot of resources of
organisation but it provides much higher returns.
Every organisation that is dealing in international market have to establish itself and for
that it have to use marketing department which will boost its chances of creating a positive image
and brand value. There are different strategies and promotional activities which are used by
ALDI marketing department which allows it in boosting its performance and productivity. It also
assist in achieving long term as well as short term goals for organisation. One of the main
function which is performed by marketing is to collaborate and support other organisational
functions. It performs different functions for ALDI: Research: This is a major marketing function where it conducts market research to
identify target audience and market (Cua, Reames and Chai, 2013). It also finds out about
all current and future buying trends which assist managers in preparing a plan for
fulfilling those needs. Market research is also conducted to gain knowledge about
companies competitors who are trying to capture ALDI market share. Transportation: This is an additional function which is performed by marketing
department in ALDI. It finds best way to transport goods and services to different
locations. Also it has to maintain inventory which will support organisation in the time of
need. Transportation and inventory are two important aspect which ensures that company
is able to put products in shelf which are in high demand. Risk assessment: This is another function which is very vital for company. By following
a well specified risk assessment they are able to identify the issues which exist in the
environment and take corrective actions accordingly (Desai, 2013). Every opportunity
have some risk associated with itself and that is why company needs to keep on assessing
risk. Quality of goods: This is where customer satisfactions lies, if quality of goods is not at
par with the requirements of end user then they will reject it straight away. That is why it
is very important for ALDI to ensure that its marketing department is able to maintain
quality of goods in a proper manner.
 Product development: Marketing department conducts market research and then as per
future needs it starts developing a products which is a lengthy process. It is supported by
information that is collected by the research and as per requirement product is developed
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(Desselle, Zgarrick and Alston, 2016). If they do not follow a proper path then it will
result in failure as it will not match with consumer needs and wants.
These are few functions which are undertaken by marketing function in ALDI. With the
helps of these activities it provides support to various departments in the organisation. Before
1990, marketing use to come under sales function but today it has become a major force and now
overlooks at the sales and provide crucial support to it (Dioko, 2016). There are many ways in
which marketing establishes inter-relationship between different business functions:
 Marketing with Human resources: Marketing department assist HR manager by
providing all necessary requirements of manpower that it will need in future (Dibb and
Simkin, 2013). It also provides very data regarding the availability of human resource in
market and what are the sources which can be utilised by HR for bringing in talent. Marketing with Customer service: The marketing department also has to ensure
customer satisfaction. For doing this they use different type of tools to assess the quality
of services floated to customers. It also use various methods of survey as to know about
the perception and grievance of end user which assist it in developing better quality of
services. Marketing with finance: The finance department is assisted by marketing function in
different ways. It provide crucial data about potential cost which company will have to
occur for conducting certain activities (Draelos, 2010). Marketing also forecast about
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Illustration 2: Marketing Functional Area in Business, 2014

future activities which enables the managers in calculating possible expenditure. It also
assist in preparing budget for different department because of collective forecasting. Marketing with Administration: All rules and regulation are prepared and enforced by
administration of company and marketing department plays a vital role of providing
different types of inputs to the admins. ALDI keep on updating its policies in accordance
with the changes in government rules. Marketing department keep on assessing the
upcoming changes in law, such as Brexit that will mark British leaving European union
(Fill, 2011). All the laws are framed as per the EU and now they will be changing which
needs to be assessed by marketing department and provide inputs to administration for
possible changes. Research and development with marketing: ALDI needs R&D department for
developing new type of methods which will assist company in enhancing its efficiency
and productivity. Marketing department provides information about recent developments
in market to R&D department which uses this data for deriving a technique that can be
utilised by ALDI. Today, market is changing at a very rapid speed and that is why the
company needs to adapt to changes that will ensure enhanced performance.
 Marketing with production: Production department can not produce any amount of
products now. They use information which is provided by marketing department as how
much they need to produce (Hauer, 2011). It depends on the demand for the products and
consumer taste, and preference.
Except these it performs different function too, such as; distribution management and
supporting sales department. Marketing department is very crucial in establishing relationship
and linking all the productivity in one direction.
TASK 2
P3 The ways in which different organisations apply the marketing mix to the market planning
There are different tools and techniques that are available for ALDI that it can use to
boost its activities and performance. These methods and techniques are used by managers by
implementing them after evaluating their potential assistance for company. It also aids them in
preparing a strategic marketing plan that will state about the best path which can be followed by
company and its employees to achieve a high level of growth (Hoványi, 2013). On of the most
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used technique is marketing mix. It is a combination of different factors which have to be
controlled by organisation for assuring faster growth and development. These factors have high
level of influence on customers that is company needs to management them in proper way.
Traditionally there were only four factors, which were, product, price, place and promotion. But
after the rise of service sector and growth in importance of services to customers three more
elements were introduced, people, physical evidence and process.
There are two organisation who belong to different sectors, ALDI and McDonald's. They
both are one of the biggest companies in their own industry and they have achieved a very high
growth rate. The reason behind comparing different sector organisation is that, it will assist in
understanding as how companies belonging to different industry apply marketing mix to gain
competitive advantage over its competitors (Jackson, 2011). It will also aid in understanding how
well they are able to control various factors in which can impact organisation working and
productivity. Both of these companies use marketing mix for achieving final goals and
objectives. The analysis of application of all 7 elements to market planning is given below:
Basis ALDI MacDonald
Product ALDI is a discount store which
is providing different types of
products related to grocery. It
The company have a prime
product and that is burgers that
it sells (Laucaster and
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Illustration 3:
Marketing Mix with Service Elements, 2017