Marketing Essentials Report: Analyzing M&S Marketing Strategy & Plan

This report provides a detailed analysis of the marketing strategies employed by Marks & Spencer (M&S). It begins by defining the concept of marketing, outlining its core processes, and identifying the key roles and responsibilities of a marketing function within an organization. The report then delves into the interrelationship between the marketing department and other functional departments within M&S, such as finance, human resources, production, customer service, and IT, highlighting the importance of collaboration. Furthermore, it includes a comparative analysis of the marketing mix elements used by different organizations and concludes with the production and evaluation of a basic marketing plan for M&S. The report covers topics such as understanding customer needs, creating marketing strategies, building customer relationships, and capturing value from customers. It also includes a marketing plan for M&S, and examines how the marketing department works with other departments like finance, HR, production, customer service, and IT to achieve business objectives.

Marketing Essentials

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO1..................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Analysing the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function................................3
P2 Evaluating the interrelation of marketing function with the other functional departments of
Marks & Spencer.........................................................................................................................6
LO2..................................................................................................................................................8
P3 Comparing the marketing of the organizations......................................................................8
LO3................................................................................................................................................13
P4 Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan of Marks and Spencer...................................13
Evaluation of marketing plan.....................................................................................................15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................16
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
The marketing is considered as a crucial tool pertaining to the modern business
organization which involves effectively understanding the marketplace in respect to the customer
needs and preferences, creating a mature and long lasting and profitable relations. It also
involves employing the customer driven marketing strategies and offers greater value and quality
to the customers. The business entities have realized the importance of a good customer relations
and are working on employing an innovative approach for meeting with the same. The awareness
pertaining to theincrease in the need and requirement of marketing elements and processes is too
high all across the world. This report is based on the organization Marks & Spencer which is the
largest British MNC in the retail sector which is headquartered in London, UK and is mainly
specialised in the home and food products and in clothing as well. This report provides
knowledge about the concept of marketing, its different processes and the roles and
responsibility of the marketing function within an organization. It also states about the
interrelationship between marketing and other functional units of the organization and creating a
comparative analysis of the elements of marketing mix employed by different organizations and
producing a marketing plan.
LO1
P1 Analysing the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function
Concept of marketing
Marketing is mainly the process of getting the goods and services to the right people at
the right time with the help of the right promotional practices and strategies. In other terms,
marketing can be referred to as determining out the needs and wants of the people or the
potential buyers and then coming up with the product or the services that meets with the
expectations of the customers (The Marketing Concept. 2020). Marketing is the process of
creating exchanges which takes place when the two parties provides something to each other of
value for meeting their needs.
Overview of different marketing processes
The marketing is how the organization’s create value for its potential buyers along with
building up the value for the customers in return. There is a five-step process of marketing in
which value is created and is captured by the marketer in return.

1. Understanding the market and customers’ requirements:Under this, the marketer is required
to understand the customer’s needs and wants and then provide market offeringsand value driven
customer relationship. This results into creating the long-term equity for the entity.
2. Creatinga Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy:In this step, the marketer needs to select the
target customer to whom it wants to serve based upon which the strategy is formulated in respect
to how to serve the customers and choosing the value proposition (Marketing Process: 5 Steps of
Marketing Process. 2020). The organizations are required to create a strong value proposition in
order to provide them with the greatest benefit in the selected market.
3. Constructing an integrated marketing plan:After determining the target customers and the
strategies for the same, the company will develop the integrated marketing plan that will propose
the intended value to its target clients. It mainly involves using marketing mix tool for
implementing the strategy.
4. Build profitable relationships:This is the process of maintaining and creating a better and
profitable customer relationship through the way of offering valued and quality services resulting
into satisfying the customers. This is an effective way of creating and retaining the customers for
lifetime.
5. Capturing value fromcustomers:Maintaining a good relation with the customers is the main
objective for creating the high customer equity. This cannot be created by themselves but the
marketers are required to work in close to the other divisions or partnering with the external
parties.
Role and responsibilities of marketing functions
The marketing function is mainly related to buying and selling of the products and
services of an organization by satisfying the customers. The key roles and responsibilities of the
marketing department of the M&S is similar to the other organization which involves
transportation of the products to the place of customers, warehousing of the goods, gathering
relevant market information and so forth. In the wider context the marketing function workson
determining the needs and requirements of the customers, anticipating their demand and
determining the ways in which profitability can be increased. A detailed description about the
roles and responsibilities of marketing functions in Marks & Spencer are stated below.
Determining the customers’ requirements:The major function of the marketing
department is to determine the requirements of the customers with the changing trends and

pattern of consumption. It accounts for carefully examining the habits, attitude, behaviour of the
customers while analysing what the customers are actually demanding. This is mainly done
through the way of carrying out the market research on an extensive basis in order to identify the
potential threats and opportunities being available for the company to grab.
Anticipating Customer Requirements:In this role of marketing, the department is
responsible for making an anticipation about the requirements of the potential customers.
Through the way of anticipating the customers will help in effectively analysing the customers
changing requirements (The Role of a Marketing Department. 2020). Through this, the
organization can take the advantage of the first mover which will help the organization in
effectively meeting up with the demand and wants of the clients.
Defining and handing the brand image:This mainly includes the what the brand is about
and under this, the marketing personnel work on promoting the brand from the various
perspectives which helps in effectively handling the public image of the organization.
Conducting marketing campaigns and promotional activities:The marketing department
of Marks & Spencerhas another important role which is in respect to the proactively engaging in
the marketing and promotional activities of the business and the organization as whole (Yadav,
Dokania and Pathak, 2016). This involves coming up with a strategy to communicate the
products and services of the company to the customers by implementing effective and attractive
advertising practices. This helps in increasing the sales and profits of an organization.
Monitoring and managing the marketing plan:The marketing division continuously
works in measuring and evaluating the marketing plan being implemented in order to determine
whether the plan is going as expected ad whether it is effective in meeting with the set aims and
objectives. This helps in identifying whether there is any need for implementing any change or
not.
Conducting survey and gathering feedback:In this, the marketing team carries out the
survey and the feedback system which help in getting insight about the views and opinion of the
customers pertaining to the organization, its products and services. This supports the
organization in engaging into activities so that it can come up with the solution for meeting with
the customers’ requirements and expectations.

Thus, these are the few role and responsibilities of the marketing function within an
organization which provides assistance to the businesses like Marks & Spencer in meeting with
the goals and objectives in a better and an effective way.
P2 Evaluating the interrelation of marketing function with the other functional departments of
Marks & Spencer
The different function of an organization is interrelated and connected with the other
functions and the result of which is that it helps in effectively managing the business and
carrying out the operational activities of the business in a smooth way. The interrelationship is
explained below in detail.
Marketing and finance:The marketing department requires to implement the marketing
strategies and the relevant plans within the budget provided. This involves, the profits, costs,
product types or line. The finance department provides the marketing team with the complete
cost analysis of the plan and budget being proposed by them which help in determining the
amount that can eb provided for the purpose of carrying out the marketing activities properly and
completely for that time period. The marketing department of Marks & Spencerprepares a plan
and based on which it estimates the amount that will be required for effectively implementing the
plan. The budget report is then provided to the finance department which conduct the cost
analysis for determining and justifying the cost(David, David and David, 2017). After doing this,
the finance division of Marks & Spencerprovide further information to the marketing team in
respect to the information pertaining to the cost which is essential for doing the marketing tasks.
Also, the finance department evaluates the current financial position of the company which helps
it in determining the amount that can be provided to the marketing team for carrying the
marketing activities accordingly.
Marketing and Human Resource:The core function of the human resource department is
to manage the workforce of an organization and to recruit the right candidate at the right place
within the given time and budget.The marketing division of the Marks & Spenceris linked to the
HR division which helps in ensuring that the vacancies are filled with the right candidate for
joining the marketing team. Along with this, the marketing team coordinates with the HR team in
order to ensure that the candidates are being provided with the sufficient training so that they can
effectively assist the team in addressing the existing challenges pertaining in the market. The HR
of Marks & Spenceradditionally provides the feedback of the employees to the marketing

division with the aim of evaluating the performance and determining whether the set target was
achieved or not. Along with this, the HR department assists the marketing team for making sure
that the employees of the marketing division are carrying out their roles and responsibilities
properly and working satisfactory conditions and their goals and aligned with that of
organizations.
Marketing and Production and Operations Department:The production department is
mainly concerned with the production of the goods. Th marketing division works in
collaboration with the production team and the operational team in order to ensure that the
development of the product can easily satisfy the taste and preferences of the customers. The
market and the production department of Marks & Spencercooperates to explore or research the
new tastes that can be created in their current items (Madhani, 2017).Also, the marketing
department works with the operational department which helps in ensuring that the functions of
the business entity is in line with the marketing and the business objectives. In addition to this,
both the functional unitswork in collaboration which helps in ensuring that the marketing plan is
effective and appropriate for the operations and other production related activities. The
interrelation better these two departments helps in timely sourcing of material and finished
goods.
Marketing and Customer Service:The marketing division and the customer care
department are the huge components of an affiliation. Both the functional units participate for
assessing that whether the customers are content or satisfied with the goods and services of the
company. The customer help division of Marks & Spencergives customer analysis to the
marketing team to provide assistancein creating of new thing. The customer service department
is directly linked to the marketing department as it helps in providing information about the
problems that thecustomers are facing which helps in effectively taking relevant marketing
decisions so that such problem do not arise and resulting into satisfying the customers and
enhancing their experience of doing shopping with the company. InMarks & Spencer, both the
divisions collaborate for the purpose of building a positive relationship with the customers.
Marketing and IT department:The main role of the IT department is to be sure that the
organization or the marketing department is equipped with all the latest technological equipment
and upgrades in accordance with the changing needs of the customers and the market trends.
Through this, it helps in ensuring that the marketing and the business objectives will be

accomplished in a best possible way (Zhulina and et.al., 2020). Therefore, in Marks & Spencer,
the IT department provides all the relevant information to the marketing department in respect to
the latest technology being available and how it will be beneficial for the department so that
implementation decision can be undertaken by them.Thus, both these departments can be said to
be interlinked with one another which helps in carrying out the activities effectively.
The marketing function works closely with the other divisions of an association. For
instance, the marketing division will usually requireeconomic resources for the purpose of
carrying out the planning, research, directing, implementation and controlling aspects of the plan
along with the marketing strategies in respect to successfully developing the marketing plan. For
doing all this, requires appropriate coordination with the departments like finance, production,
operations and others in order to make sure that every department is working for meeting the
common objective. The marketing department also contributes towards investigating whether the
marketing objectives and the formulated advertising plan and goals are consenting to the
business targets of the association.Therefore, there is significant importance of the
interrelationships between the marketing and the other departments of a business entity.
LO2
P3 Comparing the marketing of the organizations
Elements Marks & Spencer McDonalds Starbucks
Product The product
portfolio of the
company is very
wide which covers
items from all age
groups. It is into
clothing, accessories
and footwears, food
and wine. The brand
also offers home and
furniture products as
well. The company
mainly offers its in-
It mainly sells
hamburgers, soft
drinks, chicken
products, shakes and
desserts. It also
includes salads,
fruits, fish wraps etc.
It has a wide range
of products which
varies from country
to another as it
adopts the product
based on the culture
The speciality of
Starbucks is coffee
but it has entered
intovarious other
categories of
products aswell in
order to grab all
kinds of customers.It
serves whole-bean
coffee, hot and cold
drinks, micro ground
instant coffeeetc.

house brands instead
of the international
brands. Its products
are perceived to be
higher in quality
which makes
customers pay
higher price for the
quality good.
and local taste and
preferences.
Price It is following the
competitive pricing
policy for its
products. Its in-
house brands are
priced from medium
to high due to its
premium quality
(Taylor, 2017). But
then too, the
company follows
this strategy because
now customers are
having huge choice
pertaining to the
increase in
competition. During
the seasonal
occasions the
company follows
dynamic pricing
strategy in which it
It makes use of the
price bundling
strategy which offers
the bundling
products with its
meals and the
various other food
items. For ensuring
that the customers
buy more products it
focuses on
psychological
pricing method that
makes it appear
affordable and
reasonable to the
customers. Under its
promotional pricing
strategy, it offers big
discounts on its
certain products and
combinations of
The brand offers
premium priced
products which is
justified with the use
of high-end
technology along
with the varieties it
offersfor the better
customer
experience. The
packaged products
are being available
at the grocery stores
which is cheaper
than the outlet
products. This states
that the it not only
follows competitive
pricing but also
relative pricing as
well.

offers heavy
discounts on its
products.
certain products. It
pricing strategy
adapted to attract the
lower middle
sections of the
society as well.
Place It is an international
brand having stores
in over 50 countries
and having over
1000 stores. M&S’s
main business is in
UK where it has
nearly 850 stores. It
has its own website
through which
customers can order
products and avail
home delivery.
The outlets of
McDonaldsare in
more than 110
countries and is
having over 36000
stores all across the
world. It provides
various services like
indoor, outdoor and
the counter services.
It is present in over
70 nations with
nearly 5000 licensed
locations. The larger
number of outlets is
in USA (Starbucks
Marketing Mix (4Ps)
Strategy. 2020). It is
also having a well-
designed website
which provides
complete
information about
the products and the
sourcing option.
Promotion The company selects
its promotion
strategy such that it
aligns with the
digital marketing
and the store
strategy (Marketing
Mix Marks Spencer.
2019). It makes use
of the traditional and
McDonalds hasspent
huge amount of
money on its
advertising by
making use of the
newspapers, TV,
ratio, print media,
sponsoring the FIFA
world cup, Olympic
games and many
The brand makesuse
of the traditional and
online methods of
promotion. It has
engaged into
community
programs like
Swastha health
program or the chai
project and

modern methods of
promotion like TV,
print media, social
networking sites and
mobile
advertisements. It
also makes use of its
website for
promotion and along
with that runs a
special loyalty
program for its
customers for
attracting them.
more (McDonalds
Marketing Mix (4Ps)
Strategy. 2020). It
makes use of the
aggressive
marketing but its TV
advertisement
remains the prime
focus. It can hardly
make use of the
negative campaign
as against its
competitors. It has
also implemented
celebrity
endorsement like
spokespeople which
includes Kobe
Bryant, Justin
Timberlake etc.
providing
advantages to the
farmers and makes
use of the
environment friendly
techniques.
People The company has
employed
approximately
83000 employees
and pays special
attention towards its
employees and their
welfare. It rewards
its employees on the
basis of their
performance for
The company use
unique way for
addressing its
customers and also
treats its employees
very well. The
employees are
having a dress code
to be followed and
puts emphasis on its
employees to be
The company is
customer centric and
offers quality
services for creating
beautiful memories.
Starbucks is having
a huge focus on its
employees which are
over 200000
worldwide.It offers
rewards to its

boosting their
morale.The
employees are
provided with the
specialdiscount on
the M&S products.
friendly with the
customers. The
employees are being
given rating on their
performance and
encourages them to
take part in
thedecision-making
process.
employees on the
basis of their
performance.
Process The stores of the
organization are
very well organised
and structured. The
stores are divided
into floors having a
separate section. The
online facility of the
company is also very
easy to use and
understand which
helps customers in
easy log in and
purchasing of the
products.
McDonalds has
improvised its
cooking methods
and processes being
used. It utilizes the
modern hardware's
for food handling
and new strategies
for food bundling
and appropriation
(Dalton, 2016).
McDonalds has put
resources into
examination to
improve the
processes and has
even automated few
of its
processes.Aside
from its, McDonalds
has great processes
in speedy service in
The company also
givesloyalty cards to
its representatives
which are
overhauled now and
again and it helps in
pulling in the clients
to an ever-increasing
extent. The supply
chain network from
acquisition of
espresso beans, to
the conveyance of
the products and the
other different items
in any store of
Starbucks is all
around well
organised and
utilizes the most
noteworthy
innovation to keep