Comparing Marketing Strategies: H&M, Zara, and H&M's Marketing Plan

This report, prepared for a HND Level 5 Business (Management) course, Unit 2: Marketing Essentials, analyzes and compares the marketing strategies of H&M and Zara, focusing on their application of the marketing mix (7Ps) to achieve business objectives. The report begins by establishing the goals and objectives of H&M, followed by a SWOT analysis to assess its current market position. The core of the report examines the marketing mix elements (product, price, place, promotion, people, physical evidence, and process) for both H&M and Zara, highlighting their approaches to each. Finally, the report develops and evaluates a basic marketing plan specifically for H&M, including an executive summary, objectives, current situation analysis, and recommendations for product, price, and place strategies. The report draws on secondary sources, including websites, online journals, and case studies, to support its analysis and recommendations.

Course: HND Level 5 Business (Management)
Student Name: Isay Ananiev Dukov
UNIT 2: Marketing Essentials
Learning Outcomes: LO1 Explain the role of
marketing and how it interrelates with other
functional units of an organisation. LO2 Compare
ways in which organisations use elements of the
marketing mix (7Ps) to achieve overall business
objectives. LO3 Develop and evaluate a basic
marketing plan.
Comments
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P1 P2 P3 P4 M1 M2 M3 M4 D1 D2

Scenario 2
P 3 Compare the ways in which H&M and Zara apply the marketing mix
to the marketing planning process to achieve business objectives
Marketing Planning Process for H&M
Stage 1 : Goal Setting
Mission and Objective – The First stage of the marketing planning within the H&M is to set the goals,
setting goals includes developing mission and objectives of the organization. The H&M company set a
mission to increase the sales and profit of the business. The company's main objective is to increase the
sales margin by 25% for the current year. The objective of company is to promote business through
social media, promotional campaign etc.
Stage 2 : Analyzing the current situation
The Marketing Audit and Swot Analysis – The next step is to analyze the market condition or situation to
identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities or threats for the organisation.
SWOT Analysis
Strength – Unique identity for all brands, Diversified global presence.
Weakness – Following after trends, Dependency on third party
Opportunities – Expand in emerging markets, Improving lifestyle
Threats – Evolving fashion trends, Intense competition.
Stage 3 : Marketing Strategy(Marketing Mix of H&M)
 Products
The products which are producing by management of H&M for the customers in the
market are for men, women, kids clothing and other fashion accessories and they are
produced according to the need of time. When demand of the people increased then the
companies try to adopt the system of producing a good number of products. They are also
producing the things of home decoration and shoes.
 Place
When we see the assessment about the company it can be said that the company is
operating with its products in almost 55 countries in all over the world. This is also very
clear that H&M is on the second number in ranking globally. They are retailers of
clothing and its head office is situated in Sweden. Company is operating more than eight

hundred factories in Asia and Europe. They are dealing their customers even by online
shopping and have consumed high level stores in urban societies. Their internet
marketing gave an extra ordinary effect on the reputation and market value of the
company (H & M, 2016).
 Price
The company is established its reputation with the low price and it is now well known
company as per the price and the quality of its products.
 Promotion
They are focusing on the different strategies of marketing in all over the world in which
social media marketing, paper media marketing and social communications are involved.
They are working the best for the promotions and the launching of new products in the
market. H&M is producing the clothes which are mostly loved by the people of 18-24
and they love to have good styled, modern and affordable priced clothes.
 Physical Evidence
It is the most important factor that people need to know about the physical existence of
the company because if anything has not any physical presence, it is not known in good
words. So that the company is working on the outlets and they are opening different
branches in different countries.
 People
Employees of the organization are the most important part of progress so the company is
working on the strengthen workforce who can fulfill their tasks and targets on priority
basis.
 Process
Production process of the clothes is considered on the priority basis so the management
of the company must be focused on the perfection of the production followed by a proper
process (H&M, 2014).

Stage 4 : Allocating Marketing resources and Monitoring
The last step after creating marketing strategies is to allocate all the marketing
resources or elements and monitor it to ensure the effectiveness as well as positive outcomes of
the marketing plan. The H&M monitor the budget of the plan for increasing the sales and create
a detailed action plan in order to ensure the stability in the marketing plan.
Marketing Mix of Zara
It is clearly shown in the strategies of marketing in Zara that they are working with the new
strategies of market their products and they attract their clients towards their products. The
marketing mix of Zara or the strategies of Zara are given below:
 Product
When it is assessed that in the fashion sector there are many brands which are working
globally but Zara is one of the leading brand in them. There are a huge number of
varieties in Zara which is for the gents, ladies and kids according to the fashion of the
day. The products of the company are included clothes, bags, shoes, shirts, skirts,
knitwear and tops with jeans. Products of the company are producing in different styles
as per the demand of the society and modernism (Lee and Carter, 2012).
 Price
The most important factor of the products of Zara is their price tags which are very
economical and acceptable for everyone. Those prices are affordable for even a normal
person who can’t go for the high prices. The main thing which attracts the people and
makes them happy in shopping from there is that the things are available with the current
fashion and the prices are very normal. This fact helps to establish the company
productions (Lee and Carter, 2012).
 Promotion
This is an interesting factor of Zara that they are not spending money on marketing
strategies but they believe on investing money in opening new branches and outlets

because it the words of their marketing management that the company has no need to
advertise because their products’ quality is enough to make customer satisfied. So when
they are offering differentiation to their concerning clients then their quality will make a
contrast from other companies.
 Place
Place management is one of the most important aspects of the progress of Zara because
they are developing their company by opening outlets in different states. This time Zara
has almost 30 outlets in different nations.
 Physical Evidence
Physical existence is the most important thing which Zara is following religiously
because their core focus uses their spending in opening new outlets and products are in
access.
 People
Human resource management is fully concerned with the hiring of wonderful and capable
workforce so that they can provide the best services to their respected customers.
 Process
Process of the marketing mix is done well and this is for the benefits of the company and
gives advantages of their services to the customers dealing with them (Nystrom and
Converse, 2007).
P 4 Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for H&M.
Executive Summary
The motive of the research report about the other companies and their marketing strategies was
to get the information about others what they are doing and adopting new strategies. The
management of H&M Company is going to launch a new product in the market and for this
purpose they want to get information whether there are some other or new strategies are
available in the market. A competitive company is always followed because of their ideas and

advertising methods. So, H&M is launching a long pocket shirt for women. This report is for the
evaluation of other competitive companies. The material used to make this report is taken from
the secondary sources in which the use of internet is common in all. The information is taken
from the websites, online journals regarding companies and their management skills for the
marketing their products and some online case studies of well-known companies (Puddle, 2015).
Objectives of H&M
H&M are one of the famous and well-known companies in UK and they are famous in retail
stores and the factors of its establishment are the strategies they use for the marketing of their
products. They are following many researches on it and study some online cases about the
competitive companies. It is also a factor that they focus on the quality of the products with the
quantity factor and consistency in their quality production and low prices make them different
from others. Objectives of the company are totally based on the enhancement of the market
position and expanding their business outlets in different countries.
Current Situation Analysis
The current situation of the company is very positive that the company is going towards progress
and this is all about their production and marketing methods. They are following neutral
strategies to make themselves a highly ranked company in all over the world. They opened an
outlet in Turkey in 2010 as well as their online shopping services make them differentiate from
others. Lanvin which is a well-known designer and when he attached with the company the sales
of the products increased. The designer was selected by the collaboration of all employees of the
company especially management marketing (PwC, 2017).
Company is facing some issues too in which the most important is price issue because they are
offering low prices for their quality products and the customers thinking is if the price is low
then definitely the quality of the product will be on lowest side. The other issue is the
competition in the market with the other competitive companies because if they will increase
price level, customer will go for the best price he will have in the market.
Product

If it is assessed what the fashion is nowadays following then it is the scarf and the long pocket
shirts with jeans are some of the styles which choosing and consuming by eh people. It is very
clear that people are now focusing on the new fashion so the company should go for the
production of new styles according to the demand.
Price
Now the price issue must be solved by following the proper strategies by the management of the
company because they have to offer the best prices which must not be so low and not so high. So
if the quality of the products is maintained on the highest level then the price should increase a
little and if the quality is going on same condition then it can be same on the low price. These
two levels of price tags will attract the customers. This will not only attract the customers but
also give them an option to choose the product as per their convenience.
Place
Enhancement of the product demand of the company is all based on the working of the
management and they have to notice which strategy makes their products mostly needed in the
market. If they are focusing on the distribution on the urgent basis then the management should
increase the price and value of the products so that the customers know the worth of the
company. In other hand they should maintain the stores and go for the production of those
articles which are used most of the time by the clients. Online shopping is one of the attractive
factors for the customers and it can be the right way to establish the company on good notes in
the whole world (Chapman and Dhall, 2014).
Promotion
Promotions are necessary for the success of the company so the management should work on it
and do offer promotions on the launching of new products. This strategy will not only work for
promoting business but also advertising new products which may can’t be known without
informing.
People and Physical Evidence

People means the employees and the customers and they both have to be satisfied and happy
from the company because if they are happy with the services and employees with the rewards
they get from the company, they will promote the organization by their products. People are the
basic force of any successful organization. Physical existence is also an important factor because
by showing the actuality and existence in the market people attract more and become the cause
of the success of the company (Nystrom and Converse, 2007).
Evaluation
Evaluating the marketing plan is one of the most important step as it helps the management in
ensuring that the intended results are being achieved. There are various methods that can be used
by H&M for assessing the success of marketing plan. The first method that can be used by H&M
is ROI. The company can measure the return on investment to assess the success of marketing
plan. ROI is used to measure if the marketing plan has generated profits from the investment
made on it. Second method that can be used by H&M is sales rate. Measuring the sales generated
after the implementation of marketing plan helps in assessing if marketing plan has helped in
improving the sales of the company.
Conclusion
By summing up all the above information and research about the most known and high ranked
companies of the clothing in UK it can be said that H&M and Zara are two well-known brands of
clothing in UK and they both are working in the strategy of attracting customers by providing
them new fashioned clothes. Nowadays people are very conscious in selecting clothes as per the
fashion which may suits them and they can move in the society confidently. If both the
companies will have their all focus on the new fashion and produce the clothes as per the
requirement of kids, ladies and gents, then they can go on the next level of success which is
shown on the peak as the market.

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