Marks and Spencer: Marketing Plan and Positioning Strategy Report

This report presents a detailed marketing plan for Marks and Spencer, focusing on the introduction of luxury clothing products for middle and lower-income groups. It begins with an introduction to the significance of marketing in business success, followed by a profile briefing report that analyzes the total market, segmentation criteria (demographic, focusing on age and income), and sources of information. The report then develops a marketing positioning strategy, including a unique selling proposition, market position analysis, and marketing positioning options. It further explores marketing mix options, including product, price (market penetration), place (online and offline channels), and promotion strategies. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, emphasizing the importance of segmentation. The report also includes references to relevant academic sources.

Profile Market

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1: PROFILE BRIEFING REPORT......................................................................................1
TASK 2 Develop a marketing positioning strategy.........................................................................2
A statement of the business's unique selling position............................................................2
Market position.......................................................................................................................3
Marketing positioning............................................................................................................3
Marketing mix option.............................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Marketing plays a crucial role for company’s success. In order to introduce new product
in the market and inform about it to customers, various concepts of marketing are significant. It
is very important for marketing manager to perform each task of marketing in an effective
manner so that determined objectives can easily be addressed. The current report provides
detailed knowledge about a systematic marketing plan with respect to Marks and Spencer.
TASK 1: PROFILE BRIEFING REPORT
Total market for company's product and services
Marks and Spencer is one of the leading and most popular retail outlets in the UK which
sells clothing, home products and luxury food products in the market. The major objective of
cited venture is to produce high quality of goods and services which are distinguished from rivals
and earn maximum profitability and market share. As per the research, it has been found that its
present users are majorly young and adult people because Marks and Spencer designs stylish and
the most fashionable clothing in UK which is mostly preferred by young and adult people.
Currently, company is going to develop a systematic marketing plan to earn maximum
profitability. As it is going to design the luxurious apparels for middle class and lower class
income group customers.
Segmentation criteria
In order to design marketing plan, segmentation is an important concept of marketing in
which entire market is divided into sub parts. There are various kinds of segmentation that is,
demographical, geographical, behavioural, etc. In the demographic segmentation, company
divides a population according to the age, gender, family size, income, occupation race, religion,
nationality, etc. On the other hand, in the behavioural segmentation, company divides the
population on the basis of their behaviour, usage and decision making patterns. In the psycho
graphic segmentation, corporation divides market on the basis of interest, perception, choice, life
style, etc. of customers. In addition to this, in the geographical segmentation, market divides on
the basis of location.
Current segmentation criteria
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Marks and Spencer will use demographical segmentation in which it will divide market
on the basis of age and income. It will focus on the needs and wants of young and adult
customers as well as medium and lower income group of customers.
Source of information
In order to design marketing plan and focus on segmentation concept, it is very important
to collect information about the market and customers. There are two major kinds of sources that
is, primary and secondary. In the primary source of information, firm can collect data from the
survey, interview, questionnaire, etc. With the help of these sources, company can collect fresh
and first-hand information. On the other hand, in secondary data collection, information can be
gathered by company with the help of online blogs, books, journals, article, newspapers, etc. In
the context of Marks and Spencer, company is going to design the luxury clothing for middle and
lower income group of customers. In this aspect, company will focus on the needs and wants of
the young and adult customers in this segment. Marks and Spencer's manager will conduct
survey to collect the information about customer’s choice and desires regarding luxury clothing
goods. In this manner, company will conduct survey for lower and medium income group of
customers so that it can identify their income level, life style, choice of purchasing, decision
making, perception, requirement and feedback regarding the products and services.
Market segmentation
As per the discussion, it has been assessed that market segmentation is a significant
process in the marketing plan under which whole market is divided into small parts and company
focuses on these parts and their customer requirement regarding products and services.
Customer profile information
Company will select the young and adult people in the lower and medium income group.
In this aspect, company have selected demographical segmentation under which it will focus on
the age and income of the customer for sale its product and services.
TASK 2 Develop a marketing positioning strategy
A statement of the business's unique selling position
As per the above discussion it has been analysed that Marks and Spencer is one of the
leading and most popular retail outlet in the UK which sells clothing, home products and luxury
food products in the market. The major objective of cited venture is to produce high quality of
goods and services which is distinguished from rivals and earn maximum profitability and
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market share. Company is going to sell the luxury clothing product for lower and medium class
customers.
Market position
As per the research it has been found that Marks and Spencer is operating in 766 UK and
418 international stores (Kubacki and et.al., 2015). It is the top leading retail organisation in the
UK which serves the high quality of product and services in the market. It has main aim is to
deliver high quality of product and services to its customers and make them satisfied.
Marketing positioning
Positioning strategy based on competitors- In this strategy, company set the strategy on the
basis of one or more competitors.
Positioning strategy based on product class- In this strategy company focuses on the product
feature, quality and characteristics so as it can easily meet customer requirement and desires.
Marks and Spencer should use the product class positioning strategy for its new product and
service. In this strategy company will focus on the product features and delivers high quality of
product and services to its customers.
Marketing mix option
Marketing mix is one of the significant concept of marketing that helps to company in deliver
right product and service to the right customer and at the right place. In the context of Marks and
Spencer, following are some elements of marketing mix- Product- Marks and Spencer will design the luxury clothing product for young and adult
customers. It will sell high quality and luxury product and services to cuistomer and meet
requirement of them. Price- Company will use market penetration strategy under which it will sell luxury
clothing in the lower cost at initial level (Kumar, 2016). With help of this pricing strategy
company can attract large number of customer and sale maximum product. Place- Company have both online and offline channel of distribution. It will sell product
and service on the online channel like social media, company web page etc. On the other
hand on the offline channel company will sell its product and service by physical outlets.
 Promotion- Company will promote and advertise its product and services by social media
and print media. With help of social media, company will promote its product and
services in effective and efficient manner.
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CONCLUSION
From this entire report it has been concluded that there are various kinds of segmentation
that is demographical, geographical, behavioural etc. In the demographic segmentation, company
divides a population according to the age, gender, family size, income, occupation race, religion,
nationality etc. It has been also concluded that with help of segmentation, company can divide
whole market into the small parts.
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References
Books and journals
Bahadir, S. C., Bharadwaj, S. G. and Srivastava, R. K., 2015. Marketing mix and brand sales in
global markets: Examining the contingent role of country-market characteristics. Journal
of International Business Studies. 46(5). pp.596-619.
Barrett, H. and Weinstein, A., 2015. Corporate entrepreneurship, the marketing mix, and
business performance. In Proceedings of the 1997 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS)
Annual Conference. Springer International Publishing.
Chen, Y. and et.al., 2015. Linking market orientation and environmental performance: The
influence of environmental strategy, employee’s environmental involvement, and
environmental product quality. Journal of Business Ethics. 127(2). pp.479-500.
Homburg, C., Jozić, D. and Kuehnl, C., 2015. Customer experience management: toward
implementing an evolving marketing concept. Journal of the Academy of Marketing
Science. pp.1-25.
Jaramillo, F. and Spector, P.E., 2015. Sunk Cost Effect, Escalation of Commitment and the
Principle of Fungibility: Consumers’ Reactions to Membership Cards. In Creating and
Delivering Value in Marketing. Springer International Publishing.
Kubacki, K. and et.al., 2015. A systematic review assessing the extent of social marketing
principle use in interventions targeting children (2000-2014). Young Consumers.16(2).
pp.141-158.
Kumar, M., 2016. Aesthetic principles of product form and cognitive appraisals: Predicting
emotional responses to beauty. The psychology of design: Creating consumer appeal.
pp.234-251.
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