Marketing Essentials Report: Dorothy Perkins Case Study Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of marketing essentials, focusing on the role of marketing and its interrelationship with other functional units within an organization, using Dorothy Perkins as a case study. It defines marketing, explores various marketing concepts, and examines current and future marketing trends. The report then delves into the 7Ps marketing mix (Product, Price, Place, Promotion, Process, Physical Evidence, and People), comparing how Dorothy Perkins and Zara utilize these elements to achieve their business objectives. Furthermore, the report includes the development and evaluation of a marketing plan, offering strategic insights for effective decision-making. The analysis covers market research, product design, and the integration of marketing with finance and human resources, highlighting the importance of cross-functional collaboration for organizational success. The report emphasizes the significance of adapting to the changing market environment and customer needs to maintain a competitive edge.

Marketing
Essential

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Explain role of marketing and how it interrelates with different functional units of the
company......................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
Compare different methods where usage of elements of marketing mix (7Ps) help in attaining
business objectives......................................................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
Develop & evaluate a marketing plan.........................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Marketing define as the procedure of developing awareness about the goods and services
within the market area so they can enhance their sales as well as profitability of the company.
Marketing functions includes different activities which are advertisement, promotion, personal
selling and many more. In the present competitive marketplace, every business organisation need
to adopt some marketing approaches so they can influence large number of customers towards
their organisation which leads to enhance goodwill of the company (Arendt and Allain, 2019).
Dorothy Perkins is chosen as the base organisation which was founded in the year 1909 and its
headquarter is located in London, UK. It is a multinational women's fashion retailer deals in
selling their own range of clothes as well as different branded fashion products (Arslanagic-
Kalajdzic, Žabkar and Diamantopoulos, 2019). In the present report, different sections are going
to be covered which includes role of marketing function along with interrelationship with other
functional units. Apart from this, companies between two companies are included which is based
on marketing mix. At the end, marketing plan is developed with the help of which effective
decisions will be taken by management team of an organisation.
TASK 1
Explain role of marketing and how it interrelates with different functional units of the company.
Marketing refers to an effective process which have the aim of ensuring that every person
become familiar with products offered by the organisation. For this, it is required by the
management team to adopt different promotional strategies so they can retain their loyal
customer's for a longer period of time duration. There are various types of marketing concepts
adopted by managers of Dorothy Perkins so they can conduct all there business functions
effectively. Maketing concepts are going to be discussed as follows: Production Concept: It define as a marketing concept, based on the approach on the
basis of which company can easily enhance their supply by minimising their overall cost
(Sharma, 2019). This concept is enhanced by each passing time as managers of Dorothy
Perkins are more focused to develop high quality products. Selling Concept: According to this concept, it has been said that the consumers buy all
the goods and services of a company if they sold it in aggressive way. Reason behind this

is that their motive is to sell the goods rather than developing any kind of relationship
with their consumers. Product Concept: It is one of the another concept of marketing where managers
generally believe that consumer's wants high quality products which as a result increase
the cost of products. Furthermore, adding new features into the products result in
increasing the price (Zulfikar and Mayvita, 2019). Marketing Concept: It is the concept where main focus of the organisation is their
customer's. For retaining their loyal customer's for longer period of time, it is essential for
them to examine their needs and wants so that they can satisfy their desire. Societal Marketing Concept: It has been said that company mainly use those
methodologies which at the end provide benefits to the society. Their main focus is to
develop the whole society in an effective manner.
Current and future trends:
Current trends:
Content Marketing: It is considered as most evident marketing trends, mainly exploited
by an organisation in order to indulge customers in an interaction which is about their goods and
services. Dorothy Perkins adopt this, in order to create powerful content so they can maintain
positive and strong relationships with their customers. This will assist them in order to retain
their consumers for longer duration of time period.
Social Media: It is another effective current trend which is commonly used in marketing
section. With the help of this method, Dorothy Perkins make its presence on social media
platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and Facebook in order to influence customers towards
them as well as to create awareness at the marketplace about their offerings (Jones and Rowley,
2011).
Future trends:
Artificial Intelligence (AI): It is considered as a future trend which is most effective and
advanced marketing technique used by management team of the company in near future. With
the help of this, data analysis become more easier & beneficial for the company. Dorothy Perkins
use this technique in order to enhance customer reach towards the organisation (Joshi, 2012).
Some of the essential roles & responsibilities of Dorothy Perkins marketing functions are
going to be discussed as follows:

 Market Research: It is the main role of marketing where a research needs to be
conducted by management team so that all the current and future trends will be satisfied
effectively. In this context, role is to research and identify the best and suitable way to
gather information available at the marketplace, whereas responsibility is to examine the
need of research and utilise all the gathered information in an effective manner (Pike,
2015).
 Product Designing: It refers to the method where main emphasis is to develop new
designs and add some unique features & characteristics with the help of which large
number of people will be attracted towards the organisation. In such cases, role of
marketing manager of Dorothy Perkins is to create the goods and services as per the
needs of consumers. Whereas, responsibility is to design in order to gain competitive
edge.
Marketing function plays very essential role in an organisation where marketing
department of the company is interrelated with different organisational departments. Some of the
department of an organisation are going to be discussed as follows: Marketing and Finance: Finance is the backbone of every organisation as all the work
is conducted in an effective manner only when there is sufficient amount of money. In
reference to Dorothy Perkins, it is said that marketing as well as finance department of
the organisation is associated with each other (Ahmed and Rafiq, 2013). Financial
department of an organisation is concerned with managing funds of the company with the
help of which high quality goods and services will be served to customers. For instance,
marketing department of a company conduct different types of functions and activities so
they can enhance their funds with the help of which goals of the organisation will be
accomplished effectively. For this, managers of both the department need to coordinated
with each other in an effective manner so they can grow and develop at the competitive
marketplace.
 Marketing and Human Resource department: HR Department of a company mainly
works to recruit and hire talented candidate in order to perform all the business function
in an effective manner. For this, marketing department provide information to HR
manager that what skills and capabilities they need in a candidate in order to fulfil the
requirement of job position (Clow and James, 2013). It has been concluded that both the

departments share positive relationship with each other. This will assist them in the
overall growth and development of the company at the competitive market area.
Marketing department promote vacant position at the competitive area which as a result
aid Human Resource manager in order to hire most suitable candidate for the vacant job
position. It can be better understand with an example, Human Resource manager of
Dorothy Perkins, took responsibility to hire new candidate whereas role of marketing
section is to promote for the job position. By such cross functional relationship,
management team of the company will get effective human resource for the attainment of
organisational goals and objectives (Rossi, Allenby and McCulloch, 2012).
TASK 2
Compare different methods where usage of elements of marketing mix (7Ps) help in attaining
business objectives.
Basis Dorothy Perkins Zara
Product It includes all those tangible
goods which satisfy the needs
and wants of consumers. In
this context, it is said that
Dorothy Perkins offers women
wear best known fir tights,
lingerie, sleepwear collections
and many more (Perreault,
2018).
Zara is one of the leading
luxury fashion company offer
range of products to women,
men and children. Company
offer tops, jeans, skirts, t-
shirts, bags, shoes and many
more. Zara offers wide range
of products and services to
their customer's according to
the needs and wants of
customer's.
Price Price of the products offered
by Dorothy Perkins is
affordable and low as compare
to their rival organisation. The
pricing strategy adopting by
It is said that the price offered
by Zara are low as compared
to their competitors. The
pricing strategy adopted by
management team of Zara is

management team of the
company is low pricing
strategy with the help of
which they can attract large
number of people towards
their company.
low price with high quality. It
has also been said that the
price of company is set by
managers on country specific
(Pricilla, 2019).
Place If talk about place, Dorothy
Perkins provide products and
services to their customers in
both physical outlets as well
as online services. With the
help of selling goods through
online platform, customers
base of the company increases
which assist in raising the
profitability and reputation at
the competitive marketplace
(Campbell, Martin and Fabos,
2018).
Zara perform their business
functions in more than 88
countries where they have
around 6500 stores. Apart
from their physical stores, it
has also been identified that
the company sale their goods
and services through online
platform. Furthermore, stores
are being located in posh
locality so they can attract
customers who belongs to high
class society towards their
organisation. This as a result
aid them in enhancing their
profitability at the competitive
marketplace.
Promotion In order to promote products
to the customer's at
competitive marketplace,
different types of promotional
tool is used by management
team. By providing discount,
coupons and other
Zara does not spend more
money in order to promote
their goods and services. With
the help of different
promotional tools, managers of
the company will be able to
influence large number of

promotional techniques
individuals will be attracted
towards the company which
increase their profitability
ratio.
individuals towards their
organisation. It has been
analysed that the company
does not prefer any kind of
flashy campaigns and this is
the reason they mainly relay
on mouth publicity as well as
social media platform for
promoting goods and services
(Kuntonbutr, 2019).
Process Dorothy Perkins is a fashion
retail multinational
organisation, works with the
main aim of providing high
quality products to their
customers. Management team
of the company use highly
advanced technology so that
they can reduce any kind of
wastage from the whole
process of manufacturing
(Waite and Pérez-Vega,
2018).
Zara adopt highly advanced
technologies in order produce
high quality goods and
services to their customers at
the marketplace. Along with
this, they also provide online
delivery to their consumers
which help them in retaining
their loyal customers towards
longer period of time.
Physical Evidence Physical outlets of Dorothy
Perkins located between high
class society where they can
grab attention of large number
of individuals towards them.
Along with this, physical
presence of the company is
Zara have ample number of
physical stores across the
world which includes
attractive interior. This will aid
individuals towards the
organisation as they have
highly attractive and hygienic

available across the whole
wide world which assist them
in increasing their goodwill.
premises (Nguyen and Wait,
2015).
People In the present context of
Dorothy Perkins, managers of
the organisation provide
training & development to
their staff members so they
can improve their skills and
match up with the changing
environment and needs of
customer's. This as a result aid
them in order to raise their
productivity as well as
profitability at the competitive
marketplace (Uchino, 2018).
Zara provide employment
opportunities to large number
of people and for retain their
potential customer's, different
strategies need to be adopted
by the management team for
encouraging them on a regular
basis. Along with this,
company provide bonus and
increments to their staff
members if there is rise in their
sales and profit margin of the
company.
TASK 3
Develop & evaluate a marketing plan.
A marketing plan is a blueprint mainly outlines the marketing, promotion and advertising
efforts of the company for an upcoming year. It describes business function activities includes in
attaining marketing objectives within given time frame. Main purpose behind developing
marketing plan is to decide by the management team how they will sell their goods and services
at the marketplace so they can attract large number of people towards them (Gregg, 2015). In the
present context of Dorothy Perkins, managers of the develop a marketing plan which assist them
in order to attain their organisational goals in an effective manner. An effective marketing plan
for the organisation are going to be developed as follows:
Overview

Dorothy Perkins is an international women fashion brand which is based in UK, London.
Company was founded in the year 1909 under a name H.P. Newman which was changed in the
year 1919 to Dorothy Perkins. The company is well known for its sleepwear collection, lingerie,
tights and other women collections (Yan and et. al., 2019). For increasing the revenue and for
business expansion managers of the company decides to open a new store. This will assist them
in attracting new customers towards the business organisation.
Mission statement: Dorothy Perkins mission is to provide high quality goods and
services to their customer by doing continuous improvement in their plan and strategies.
Vision statement: Vision of the company is to provide wide range of stylish clothes
which are attractive and multi purpose usage.
Marketing objectives:
 Main objective of Dorothy Perkins is to raise their sales by almost 15% within next 8
months. For this, new products are required to be launch according to the needs and
wants of customer's (Kakarot-Handtke, 2015).
 On the other hand, Dorothy Perkins open its new store with the motive of capturing huge
market share within 1 year.
STP approach: STP stands for market segment, target, positioning of goods and
services. It is a model which is quite useful while developing marketing communication plans as
it assist marketers in distributing whole market area into small segmentations. All the three
elements of this approach are going to be discussed as follows:
 Segmentation: It has been analysed that the segmentation process includes four main
elements which are demographic, geographic, attitude & behaviour of customers and
psychographic. In the present context of Dorothy Perkins which is a fashion retail
organisation where segmentation is done on the basis of age, gender as well as
psychographic. Company offers women wear as per the needs and requirements of
customers so they can retain them for a longer period of time (Hugos, 2018).
 Targeting: Once segmentation of market and customer is done than it is required by the
organisation to target the segmented customers based on their needs and requirements. In
this context marketing manager of Dorothy Perkins target those customers who have
similar features as compared to segmented individuals.

 Positioning: Last stage of STP approach is positioning where it is required by the
managers to positions products and services as per the need and wants of targeted
customers. It consist of the brand name as well as reputation of organisation positioned in
the mind of users. For this, managers of the company decides to launch new stores where
they provide goods and services to their targeted customers (Stead and Hastings, 2018).
Swot analysis
Strength Weakness
 Main strength of Dorothy Perkins is
that the company have loyal customer
base and strong reputation at the
competitive marketplace (Solimun and
Fernandes, 2018).
 Another strength of the company is that
they move into social media platform in
order to communicate with their
customers and identify their needs and
wants before providing them goods and
services.
 Weakness of Dorothy Perkins is that
some of its products have high cost as
compared to their rivalry companies.
 Another weakness is that there is low
stock in some departments which affect
their whole profitability and goodwill
of the company at the marketplace.
Opportunities Threats
 Targeting new and young customers
can be an opportunity for Dorothy
Perkins as they can expand their
business functions by adopting this
strategy.
 Another opportunity for the company is
that they can enter into digital world by
selling their products online. This will
assist them in enhancing their market
 Continuous change in requirements of
customers might be considered as one
of the biggest threat for Dorothy
(Perkins Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick,
2019).
 Another threat which can be faced by
Dorothy Perkins is that new foreign
organisations are entering into the
market place which capture their share