Marketing Essentials: TK-MAXX Roles, Mix, and Marketing Plan

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of marketing essentials, focusing on the roles and responsibilities of the marketing function within a business context. It delves into the specific functions such as pricing, promotion, product management, and distribution. The report also explores the interdepartmental relationships between marketing and other key departments like finance, production, administration, human resources, and R&D. Furthermore, it includes a comparative analysis using the marketing mix of TK-MAXX and its competitors and culminates in the development of a marketing plan for TK-MAXX, offering insights into achieving their business goals. The report highlights the importance of customer satisfaction and ethical considerations in contemporary marketing practices.

Marketing Essentials

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................1
P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing function...................................................................1
P2 Roles and responsibilities of marketing in wider context .....................................................4
LO2..................................................................................................................................................5
P3 Comparison of two companies on the basis of marketing mix..............................................5
LO3................................................................................................................................................10
P4 Marketing plan.....................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14
.......................................................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is action which is performed for assuring the products and services of
company are promoted in effective manner in the market (Definition of 'Marketing Mix, 2017).
Marketing department of every firm is very important for them because this division earn profit
for company by expanding its sale and help whole organisation in reducing cost of business
(Yang, Su and Fam, 2012). TK-MAXX is subsidiary of TJX Companies. TK-MAXX is running
their business in retail sector and they are presence at almost 600 locations in Europe and
Australia. This report will put light on the role of marketing function which is significant for
every multinational company and for small enterprises also. It will also discuss the relation
which different department of company have in between them. Marketing mix will also become
part of this assignment because it provide crucial details about different factors and comparison
of TK-MAXX with one of their rival will be done on its basis. At the end, marketing plan will be
made for this company so they can attain success in achieving their goals.
LO1
P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing function
Marketing is not a department in business organisation. With time, responsibility of this
division has increase number of time and this is prime reason that every enterprise give special
attention to this section of the organisation. Their was time when companies were simply
satisfied by making products because they know that they do not have much rivals and people
are going to buy products for them until they are making it (Wilson and Gilligan, 2012). After
this, organisations started focusing on quality because customer started giving preference to
those products which are of high quality. This era come to end when number of player in every
business get increased and companies have to start making effort effort for selling their products.
This selling concept is initiated the trend of heavy discount and offers.
Customer service is now considered as one of the key factor in success or failure of a
company and its products. Most of the companies are working on providing high customer
satisfaction to the people who are buying goods from them because they understand that if
customer will be happy then they will not switch their vendor. This concept also get modified
when people force companies to follow ethics and care about environment. Nowadays, many
customer understand that they cannot reach their aim until they fulfil all the demands of
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customers and follow ethics. Below are few function of marketing which will define their
responsibility towards the organisation:
Pricing – Price of a product play crucial role in deciding that whether particular product
will become successful in the market or it will get fail to attract customer towards itself
(Strandvik, Holmlund and Grönroos, 2014). Deciding what should be the price of a product is
very important function which is to performed by marketing department. This marketing
function make a huge impact on short and long term performance of company. Marketing team
understand need and mindset of customer which is why get responsibility to decide price tag of a
commodity. They understand the exact amount which company is spending on the
manufacturing of the product and they also get instruction from the management about what
profit management seek by selling this particular commodity. They also know what amount
would people like to pay for particular product and rates similar goods which is sold by other
company. These key factors put them responsible top setting an impressive rate which help
company is registering heavy profit and satisfying need of customers so they do not feel that they
are getting product at more price or not getting value for money. TK-MAXX is known for selling
goods at a low price and they have successfully sustained this image because of they are
performing this marketing function is best way possible.
Promotion – Advertising, heavy discounts, gift cards are few promotional techniques
which are considered as a part of marketing function (Peter and Donnelly, 2011). Significance of
advertising has gone up in last few decades and in present era, mobile advertising is growing
with a high pace. Marketing function has responsibility of making eye catching and influencing
advertisement so potential customer put their foot in the stores of TK-MAXX and buy products
their stores. This are also accountable for deciding the right platform of presenting
advertisements because it right people are not targeted for a product then company cannot earn
desired result. Another role of marketing function is to construct some interesting offers and
plans so customer feel special and remain satisfied.
Selling – TK-MAXX has salesperson in their stores whose job is to help and convince
people at the time of shopping. These people come under marketing division and they basically
try to smooth the whole procedure of getting and selling goods in the store of the company. They
answer the questions which is asked by customer and they also try to make deal with different
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suppliers so they can get good quality of goods for the store at lucrative price (Okwuokenye and
Onemoease, 2011).
Product (Service) management – Most of the people do not understand that product
management is an important function of marketing and it is directly as well as indirectly
connected to the revenue of company. Every product which TK-MAXX is selling in stores has a
life cycle and marketing function has responsibility to earn maximum amount of profit at
different life stages of the product. The have accountability to forecast the demand and also plan
complete position and targetting process of a targets. TK-MAXX is selling many products in
their store which means that role of marketing function is difficult and important also.
Marketing information system (MIS) – Marketing function is considered as one of the
most important activities which an organisation perform. Managing all the information about
company, their products and strategies can be done by using Marketing information system and
it is the responsibility of marketing team to to use this system for getting extra edge over key
rivals of TK-MAXX.
Financing – All the division in various companies get fund from finance department. In
the case of marketing wing, they need less fixed capital and more working capital. It is their
accountability to manage their money in proper way and perform all of their duties is correct
manner so they can grab more successful deals. This division is responsible for finding more
suppliers and make deal with them. It is their duty to capture successful deals for company and
get orders in bulk. If they will not manage their money in proper manner then they will run out of
money and fail to make impressive presentation in-front of their potential partners (O'Dwyer,
Gilmore and Carson, 2011).
Distribution – TK-MAXX is present in various part of this world and they are operating
in many countries of Europe including UK. Marketing team has responsibility of providing
strength to the distribution network of the company by providing the all the necessary details
which can improve distribution system of the company and remove various flaws which are
present in it. Distribution network is responsible for supply of goods at stores and this marketing
function is not performed in correct manner then company can face huge loss. It has
responsibility of delivering right amount of goods and every location where store of company is
present.
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P2 Roles and responsibilities of marketing in wider context
Marketing division of TK-MAXX is responsible for their past success because they did
not only do their work in desired manner but also assisted other department in doing their work
in best way possible. Below are their roles which they have to play at the time of providing
support to other wings of the organisation:
Relation between finance and marketing – Finance department manage money which
come and go out of organisation. This division has all the knowledge about finance i.e. internal
and external but they lack ground information which marketing division have. Marketing team is
accountable for assisting finance wing in many situation like when they decide that in which
areas company should invest their limited financial resources or where should they get funding
for their upcoming project and expansion plan etc. Marketing wing understand the strategy of
competitors of TK-MAXX and they know the best source of raising money because they
analyse source of all the competitors of the firm (Nakata, Zhu and Izberk-Bilgin, 2011).
Relation between production and marketing – As mentioned earlier, the database of
information which marketing team have is rare and other division do not have it. Production
team required some key knowledge about what can be demand of a particular product and what
quality of goods people expected from company, so they can manufacture things accordingly.
Marketing team help them by passing feedbacks of customers to this department so they can
produce goods accordingly. They can also tell them latest trend so manufacturing unit start early
production of those item whose demand if going to get up in upcoming time.
Relation between administration and marketing – Administration do all the office work
and play significant role at the time of making key decisions. Marketing unit of TK-MAXX is
responsible for giving valuable advice to this division so they can get better understand about the
marketing and make their internal plan of working accordingly.
Relation between distribution and marketing – When a company operates at such big
level then role of marketing department get more important because they have to assist
distribution network so company ensure smooth transaction of business. Their are various routes
and system which a company can follow and develop respectively, so they can assure timely
delivery of goods at lowest cost. But attaining this target is not possible with getting ground
knowledge about a territory. Marketing division have save and process complete ground
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information and they play crucial role in developing a strong distribution network which is key
aim of distribution unit (Morrison, 2013).
Relation between Human resource and marketing – Their is doubt the HR department
of MNCs like TK-MAXX gained special importance because companies understand that if they
will not hire right people for a position then they all not going to get desired result. Marketing
unit of TK-MAXX provide details about what skills they need in the people who should join
them in upcoming time. HR team do not have technical details about various kind of jobs which
are present in the company but if someone provide them crucial information about what skills
should they search in a candidate then their work become easier. Marketing wing of this
enterprise is responsible for providing this significant information to the HR division.
Relation between R&D and marketing – Research team of TK-MAXX understand that if
they will not develop something new and executive some good ideas then company will fail to
sustain for a long period of time. Their work is difficult and it require huge amount of vital data
and information. Marketing team has accountability to assist R&D division by supplying them
all the important information which they need for making products and developing different
strategies.
Relation between customer service and marketing – Customer satisfaction is considered
as the key factor which assure long term success of the organisation. Customer service
department of TK-MAXX try to understand mindset of customers so they can solve their query
accordingly. Marketing team is responsible for advising them so this department can understand
all the aspects of business, buying experience and technical knowledge of the work (Malshe,
2011). They are accountable for giving a special training session to customer service wing so the
people who are working in this unit get to know about what customer think about product and
how customer service executive can resolve problem of customer in effective way.
LO2
P3 Comparison of two companies on the basis of marketing mix
Marketing mix is an important analysis which focuses on key areas that are directly
related to the growth of the organisation. Below is marketing mix of TK-MAXX and M&S.
M&S is leading player in the industry where TK-MAXX is operating and they hold huge market
share in UK market.
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Basis TK-MAXX M&S
Product This organisation concentrate
of providing high variety of
products because they believe
that people do not need
greatest quality of product,
customer only seek more
options so they do not feel that
they using outdated products.
This company also suppose to
provide wide range of new
trendy cloths in their stores
because they feel that trendy
cloths deciding short term
success of the company.
M&S have completely
different strategy compared to
TK-MAXX. They do not care
about more options, they only
prefer to sell limited products
which are of great quality, in
the terms of fabric as well as
trend. M&S never compromise
in terms of quality and this is
the main reason that they have
make a unique name of their
brand.
Price TK-MAXX follow marketing
penetration strategy and sell
their cloths and other stuff at
low price. They concentrate on
affordable pricing and always
try to keep prices of their
products competitive (Lyus,
Rogers and Simms, 2011).
This company understand that
they provide more variety to
the customer and if they will
sell goods at low price then
people will not even think
about going anywhere.
M&S charge more price for
their goods in comparison with
TK-MAXX. They claim that
their goods are of best quality
and their collection in rare
(Lee and Walsh, 2011). So if
someone want to purchase it
then they have to pay more
amount for it. This company
believe that gradually people
will shift from buying cheap
and low quality cloths to
expensive cloths, so M&S
have not changed their pricing
policy and till now they are
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charging high price for their
cloth. Although, they make
sure that people get value for
the paying which they are
paying for the stuff that they
are buying from the stores of
M&S.
Place TK-MAXX like to open their
stores more and more
locations. This company give
prime importance to
accessibility and they feel that
if they open more and big
stores then their revenue will
go up by significant
percentage (Le Meunier-
FitzHugh and Piercy, 2011).
They are currently present in
few parts of UK but they are
expanding their business in
this region by opening more
stores.
M&S already have sound
presence in UK and they have
stores at prime locations. Their
number of stores is high in UK
because this is their domestic
country and they are running
their business in this region
from starting of their business
(Armstrong and et.al., 2015).
This company still have same
policy which they have earlier
i.e. open store at prime
location. They do not believe
in opening more number of
stores.
Promotion TK-MAXX firmly believe is
having an aggressive
marketing strategy. They sell
products at competitive price
and provide more options to
the customers. If they will not
promote their brands and its
offers then customer will not
M&S do not spend much
amount in promotion of their
brand and products. This
company give high preference
to customer service but this
does not mean that they
achieve this aim by spending
huge amount of giving
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enter in their stores. Beside,
television advertisements, this
organisation is also spending
huge amount of money of
internet advertisements
because they feel that young
generation has key
contribution in their growth
and youth has started spending
more time of internet and their
mobiles compared to
television. Beside this, they are
providing different kind of
discounts on various products
in order to get the attention
from the customers.
discount on their products.
They firmly believe that their
product quality is so high that
if people will buy it once then
they the circumstances of
convincing them through
advertisements will never
arise. This company try to
keep personal contracts with
their customer and they spend
money in this area.
People TK-MAXX recruit those
people in their organisation
who understand their culture
and possess particular set of
skill (Babin and Zikmund,
2015). They hire people from
different regions so company
can understand trends which
are present at different places.
TK-MAXX providing training
to their staff members so they
can modify their skills
according to time.
M&S have a very difficult
recruitment process. They do
not hire people until they get
assurance that this person will
be the best person for a
particular post. This company
pay high amount of money in
terms of salary to their
employees so they like to hire
those candidates who
understand the thinking of
management and adapt their
working style according to the
situation and environment of
the company. M&S have
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quality workforce because of
their quality culture and they
also give too much importance
to the regular training of the
employees at every level of the
company.
Process TK-MAXX has made different
process for different work.
They decide price of their
commodities by an impressive
system where they consider
the price which customer
would happily pay to them and
then they try to keep a low
price from what customer
would give to company. This
system help them in meeting
expectation of customers
without compromising in the
terms quality. This company
offers quality products but
their competitors keep working
on own quality and improve it
with time. This forces TK-
MAXX to increase own
quality which sometime results
in increase price of product.
M&S firmly believe that if
they will not adopt right
process then they cannot earn
desired revenue and result. The
quality control process which
this company has adopted is
very impressive. They do not
send a product in company's
stores until they get assure that
it of set benchmark quality.
This is one of the prime reason
that their products are rarely
found defective and they are of
high quality (Barney, 2014).
The process which they are
using for assuring high
customer satisfaction is also
very impressive. This company
send birthday wishers to all of
their customers who provide
personal detail to the company.
This is an effective way of
reminding customers that
M&S care about them.
Personal information is
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